Line #82 VideoGame/Stranglehold


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stranglehold_game.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:[[CowboyCop Honor is his code]]. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Vengeance is his mission]]. Bloodshed is his ''[[GunsAkimbo only]]'' [[OneManArmy option]].]]
3
4	->'''Captain Ed Lee''': I told you to not go in alone!\
5	'''Inspector Tequila Yuen''': I didn't. Brought my [[GunsAkimbo two friends]].
6
7	->''Today, your blood will pay for everything!''
8	-->-- '''Mr. James Wong'''
9
10	A Hong Kong policeman is killed in what looks like a regular murder by TheTriadsAndTheTongs and [[ItsPersonal it's a personal challenge]] for [[CowboyCop Inspector "Tequila" Yuen]] investigating the case. Before long, his [[StarCrossedLovers star crossed love interest]] Billie and her daughter Teko are kidnapped by [[TheMafiya a ruthless Russian crime syndicate]], too. ''Much'' HeroicBloodshed ensues.
11
12	''[[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt John Woo Presents Stranglehold]]'' is a 2007 ThirdPersonShooter by Creator/MidwayGames that is both an affectionate pastiche of the classic HeroicBloodshed movies ''and'' a sequel to the probably most famous example of the genre, ''Film/HardBoiled''. And it was produced with Creator/JohnWoo participating, while Creator/ChowYunFat reprises his role as Tequila. As you may have expected from that lineup, the game is much more about marrying RuleOfCool to RuleOfFun and [[EverythingBreaks trashing each next level]] in impossibly awesome ways than anything else.
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14	A sequel, titled ''Gunrunner'', was in the works and was set to feature a DarkerAndEdgier narrative starring Creator/VinDiesel as a new partner character for Tequila, alongside driving segments a la Midway's own ''Wheelman'' (which also starred Diesel). However, it was cancelled due to Midway's severe financial troubles that led to their bankruptcy in 2009.
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16	The game, after being out of circulation for years, finally resurfaced on Website/GogDotCom in 2019.
17	----
18	!!Tropes:
19
20	* AsHimself: John Woo is credited "As Himself" in the end credits.
21	* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Mr. Wong.
22	* AvengingTheVillain: Mr. Wong is the father of Johnny Wong from ''Hard Boiled''.
23	* BadassInANiceSuit: Tequila himself during the Chicago missions.
24	* BattleButler: Dapang.
25	* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Jerry, as Tequila finds out.]]
26	* BlingBlingBang: The Golden Gun.
27	%%* BoringButPractical: The pistols.
28	* BossBanter: Just about everyone.
29	* BottomlessMagazines: Partly averted, as you have a limit on the ''total'' ammo... though it goes away, too, when you activate a Tequila Bomb. Although your ammo ''is'' finite, even if you run out, it's a simple matter of backtracking two steps and picking up bullets dropped by the dozens of dead {{Mooks}} you ''will'' leave in your wake.
30	* TheBrute: Dapang.
31	* BulletTime: Partly automated -- when your reticle finds a bad guy during a shoot-dodge, you automatically enter bullet time.
32	* TheCakeIsALie: [[spoiler:Tequila's mission to rescue Billie from the Zakarovs turns out to be a ploy by Wong to eliminate his deadliest competition -- and Wong has ''no'' intention of letting Tequila and Billie live happily ever after, or their daughter Teko for that matter because he is a bastard who wants Tequila to pay for the death of his son]].
33	* CheckpointStarvation: The game features some ''very'' long gunfight sequences with nary a checkpoint in sight.
34	* CowardlyBoss: [[spoiler:Jerry]].
35	* CowboyCop: Not surprising, since Tequila has been a prime example of this trope ever since ''Hard Boiled''.
36	* CreatorCameo:
37	** Creator/JohnWoo is the bartender in an early level.
38	** He also runs a store to buy extra goodies, and is a playable multiplayer character.
39	* CycleOfRevenge: Every misery Wong has heaped upon Tequila and his family stems from [[spoiler:Tequila's killing of Wong's only son, Johnny Wong, in ''Hard Boiled'', which Tequila did because of everything Johnny had done all movie, including the killing of two of his partners]] -- and once Wong [[spoiler:turns Tequila's newest partner against him, has Billie murdered and kidnaps Tequila's daughter Teko]], it becomes ''very'' personal for Tequila.
40	* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler:Jerry]].
41	-->''"One of us is gonna die -- and it ain't me!"''
42	* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Teko kills Wong by shoving him off a balcony to his death when he nearly gets a fatal shot on Tequila.]]
43	* DisturbedDoves: Does it even have to be mentioned?
44	** Hell, conjuring these out of nowhere, being on the dock or a ''luxury casino'' seems to be yet ''another'' of Tequila's powers of AwesomenessIsAForce.
45	* DragonsUpTheYinYang: Wong's chamber has a giant jade dragon statue.
46	* EmbeddedPrecursor: The [=PS3=] version contains a HD remaster of ''Film/HardBoiled'' on the same blu-ray.
47	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Blast a car enough times or let a car take enough bullets, and it will go BOOM.
48	* EverythingBreaks: ''Especially'' under a Barrage.
49	* ExplodingBarrels
50	* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Jerry]].
51	* GoingNative: Jerry.
52	* GoodOldWays[=/=]HonorBeforeReason: Wong proudly presents himself this way to others. [[spoiler: He's not.]]
53	* GrindBoots: One of the standard combat maneuvers.
54	* GunsAkimbo: Tequila does this with normal handguns, [[BlingBlingBang Golden Guns]], and [=SMGs=].
55	** And several of the bad guys do this as well, including the EliteMooks, Dapang (who uses dual shotguns) and [[spoiler:Jerry]].
56	* TheGunslinger: Tequila. He combines ImprobableAimingSkills of the Trick Shot, MoreDakka of the Vaporizer, the GunFu of the Woo, ''and'' is a master of {{Mexican Standoff}}s. Also, Jerry who was Tequila's student and is the Woo.
57	* HeroicBloodshed: This game is a shining example of this genre in video game form, and is the sequel to one of the biggest HeroicBloodshed movies ever made.
58	* ImprobableAimingSkills: The Precision Shot Tequila Bomb.
59	** Which results in graphic shots of the {{Mooks}} taking and suffering from the bullets.
60	* InterfaceSpoiler: The game’s multiplayer mode character select groups all the characters by their affiliation and accidentally reveals that [[spoiler:Jerry and Mr. Wong]] are villains. Oops.
61	* ItsPersonal: All of it.
62	* KnifeOutline: During the cutscene that begins the teahouse shootout from the first stage, one hapless mook winds up behind a tipped-over table, and Tequila uses his gun to shoot an outline through the table all around the guy, just before putting a final bullet into the middle of the outline and through him.
63	* KungShui: Just about everything in the environment can be wrecked with sufficient amounts of gunfire and explosions.
64	* LeapAndFire: A standard move in Tequila [[spoiler:and Jerry's]] arsenal.
65	* LimitBreak: The Tequila Bombs. By spending points off your Style Meter, you can do anything from restoring health, landing precision and high-damage shots against opponents, blast the living hell out of enemies in a Barrage attack, or clearing an entire room of enemies in a beautiful slow-mo spin attack.
66	* MexicanStandoff: At multiple points throughout the game, you are faced with a standoff, which faces you against multiple opponents all of whom have guns pointed at you. Your objective is to take out each one of them while dodging their bullets, and when the standoff ends, if any of your enemies are remaining, you have to take them out the regular way.
67	* MobWar: Between the Golden Kane, the Zakarov Mafiya, and the Dragon Claw triad.
68	* TheMole: Jerry was an undercover cop, making him this. But then he went native and joined Wong for real, becoming TheMole for his side.
69	* MoreDakka: Except for the Barrage Tequila Bomb, you also get to shoot a minigun at one point.
70	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Wong orders one of these on Tequila in a flashback, one of several KickTheDog moments that Wong pulls in the game.
71	* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Mr. Wong's.
72	* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:Poor Billie]].
73	* OneManArmy: Tequila.
74	* ParentalMarriageVeto: Mr. Wong is ''not'' happy about the fact that his daughter has married a cop-especially the one who killed his son.
75	* RespawningEnemies: ''Normally'' their respawns are limited.
76	* RevengeByProxy: [[spoiler:Mr Wong [[OffingTheOffspring orders the death of his own daughter]] to get back at Tequila for the death of Johnny Wong.]]
77	* RevengeMyopia: Mr. Wong wants revenge on Tequila for killing his son Johnny. The fact that Johnny was a psychopathic monster who brought his fate on himself never seems to register. Even worse, to spite Tequila further, Wong [[spoiler:orders the death of Billie, the woman Tequila loves, even though she's ''his own daughter'']].
78	* RewardingVandalism: Destroying stuff restores your Tequila Bomb meter.
79	* RuleOfCool: So does leaping, sliding and falling while killing mooks.
80	* RuthlessForeignGangsters: The Zakarovs. [[spoiler:Though they pale in comparison to Wong's Dragon Claw]].
81	* SenselessViolins: Guitar cases full of guns.
82	* ShortRangeShotgun: Averted. The shotgun's only real drawback is its low ammo capacity.
83	* ShoutOut: A ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' strip about the game featured an achievement called "Testikill" for shooting enough mooks in the groin. When the game's DLC came out, this was made into an actual achievement.
84	* SpinAttack: When doves go flying, Tequila kills everyone in the manner most awesome to the most beautiful soundtrack you can imagine. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kacy00P7TKE&fmt=18 Kinda like this.]]
85	* StarCrossedLovers: Tequila and Billie.
86	* TakeCover: The game features a basic cover system, although most of the time you'll be jumping around in bullet time. And when you ''do'' take cover, because EverythingBreaks, you can't stay there forever.
87	* TheSyndicate: The Golden Kane, the Zakarov syndicate and Dragon Claw.
88	* ThrowAwayGuns: When running out of ammo. Again, this is a reflection of the John Woo movies, whose protagonists did this frequently.
89	* TitleDrop: Zakarov does it [[spoiler:in his ultimatum to Wong, which Tequila only finds out the full details about after killing Jerry]].
90	-->''"Your stranglehold has lasted far too long."''
91	* TrampledUnderfoot: During Billie and Teko's kidnapping.
92	* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: It wouldn't be a Hong Kong action game without them, with the syndicates in question being Yung Gi's Golden Kane gang and James Wong's Dragon Claw triad.
93	* UnstoppableRage: The Barrage Tequila Bomb. Not only does everything go into [[{{overcrank}} slo mo]], but Tequila is invulnerable, has endless ammo, and rapid fires -- even with rocket launchers!
94	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: Wong's Estate.
95	* VillainousGlutton: Dapang.
96	* WhiteShirtOfDeath: [[spoiler:Mr. Wong]].
97	* WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings: It's really too bad about the Chicago History Museum.
98	** There's even an achievement for completely demolishing a dinosaur skeleton.
99	* WhyWontYouDie: Tequila provokes this reaction in Vlad, after he survives not only a whole mess of mooks, but a helicopter gunship aimed to take him out.
100	-->''"Dammit! What do I have to do to make you die?!"''

Context VideoGame / Stranglehold