Retrospective Stranglehold

How the once-maligned videogame sequel to 1992 movie Hard Boiled ultimately put a Stranglehold on its critics.

- Ben Wilson

Across the history of this beautiful medium, few terms have filled gamers with dread so consistently as “official movie tie-in”. Imagine the collective global eye-rolling, then, which greeted the May 2005 announcement that a sequel to John Woo’s cult celluloid smash Hard Boiled was finally underway after 13 years of fan clamor—but in game, rather than film, form. The news that Chow Yun-Fat was to reprise his acclaimed role of Inspector Tequila only added to fan cynicism. Evidently, Illinois studio Midway had splashed big dollar on bringing these two Hong Kong heavyweights aboard, in the hope of shifting copies based on name value rather than game quality.

It was an unfair assumption. “After so many years of working with John Woo as a movie director, I’m thrilled to venture into the world of videogames with Woo and Midway at the creative helm,” said Yun-Fat upon the announcement of Stranglehold. “Being able to bring movie-like action where people can watch and enjoy, to the world of videogames where they can experience the adrenalin-filled action first hand is a great experience to be a part of.” During an era where any rent-a-quote celebrity could be attached to a game for publicity purposes in exchange for a few quid, which reached its nadir with 2010’s Get Fit With Mel B, few anticipated that Yun-Fat might actually be telling the truth. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.