This round, the theme was ’Touched By Fame’. All game suggestions had to either have a famous actor or actress starring in or developing them.
I was never much of a dancer — Always too uncomfortable in my own body and I don’t have any real dance training. Birthdays/weddings/parties, whenever people would hit the dance floor, I would mostly hang back and find some way of pretending to look occupied (stacking half & half cups, picking at a plate of food, letting my little cousin talk to me at length about The Regular Show, etc. (these examples are age/location dependent)). I was like this all the way through childhood, high school, college, and even part of my adult life. Things changed for me at the age of 26. In June of 2021, I married my wife, Libby and we had what I will recount as the best day of my life. Oddly enough, the highlight of the day for me (besides actually getting married) was the dancing. Turns out this wallflower likes a little bit of the spotlight on the dance floor. There is something to be said about being surrounded by all of your loved ones while you innovate and execute your awkward dance moves to late 2010’s greatest hits. Somehow, in a situation where I had all of the metaphorical spotlight on me, I found a way to summon the courage needed to get out on the dance floor and absolutely cut it up in front of my close friends, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, coworkers, and vendors. Afterwards, the persona I embodied that night came to be known as ‘Wedding Justin’ in certain, select groups. Since my wedding day, I have fully embraced the dance floor whenever it has been presented to me. I will carry on with my head held high, knowing that I am actually not THAT bad at making up dance moves on the fly. You know who else is not bad at making up dance moves on the fly? Inspector Tequila Yeun from ‘Hard Boiled’ and Midway’s
Stranglehold is a video game sequel to John Woo’s 1992 Hong Kong action film ‘Hard Boiled’ starring Chow Yun-Fat. The game is a third person cover shooter that takes Woo’s “gun ballet” concept and puts it into video game form. The result is a Max Payne-esque murderfest where the main character, Inspector Tequila uses bullets and flashy moves to chew his way through the game’s levels and enemies.
To be quite honest, I was really excited to watch “Hard Boiled” and then play Stranglehold so I could follow Inspector Tequila’s journey through both pieces of media. I had an excellent time watching the movie with the other members of GameClub and we all really liked it, but there didn’t seem to be much of a connection between the movie and the game. Sure, you play as Inspector Tequila and he is the main character of the movie, but that’s really it. The movie and game are more like vignettes of Tequila’s life rather than an epic, media-spanning journey, so that ended up being a bit of a letdown.
Getting back to Stranglehold, the story follows Tequila as he ignores direct orders from his boss and goes rogue to save a fellow officer that has gone missing. In the process, he stumbles into the middle of a turf war between three rival crime syndicates — hijinks ensue. By the end of the game, you are on a different rescue mission to rescue Tequila’s old flame and coincidentally, daughter of the main villain.
As mentioned previously, the gameplay is akin to a Max Payne style murderfest where the player performs slow-motion jumps and dives while firing bullets in the enemy’s direction. The difference here is that Tequila has a little more dexterity than his counterpart, Max Payne; In Stranglehold, the player is able to slide over tables, swing from chandeliers, and run along hand railings all while aiming and shooting at enemies in slow motion. Tequila has a few abilities that allow him to do these incredible acts: Tequila Time is his slow motion ability that is represented by a meter that drains while in use and refills over time. The good inspector also has four more abilities he calls Tequila Bombs: A heal, a slow motion snipe with his pistol, a barrage of bullets, and a spin attack. Tequila bombs are recharged by getting stylish kills and collecting origami cranes hidden around the levels.
While the slow motion stunts make for some impressive-looking gameplay, that is really the only type of gameplay in Stranglehold, making the game very one-note and pretty boring after playing through a level or two. I played through the game in 4 or 5 sittings and by the time I made it to the last stage, I felt like the game had far outstayed its welcome. I enjoyed this game as a look back at what was happening during the time of early ps3/360, but other than that, I found Stranglehold to be a bit of a bore and super repetitive. Almost two decades after its release, I wouldn’t really recommend this game to anyone unless they are a massive John Woo or Chow Yun-Fat Fan.
Unfortunately, I am unable to compete with Inspector Tequila’s ‘ballet’ moves, but nevertheless — I will not let that stop me! I have a birthday party coming up in February where there will be a DJ and a dance floor. You best believe I plan to be cutting up the dance floor with my awkward, improvised movements all night. If you’re a bit of a wallflower yourself, that’s okay. I would, however urge you to let loose a time or two and give the dance floor a shot. When you let the self-consciousness go, It is a whole lot of fun — I promise.
"I wish Tequila Bombs were real.."
"Movie was better than the game"
"RIP to 10,000 goons"
