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John Woo's Stranglehold hands-on
Take the gun out of your mouth folks. John Woo's Stranglehold looks like more than just a shot-to-sh-t cash-in on the Hong Kong action auteur's single-syllable last name. Senior Game Designer Patrick Curry (a loyal Joystiq reader) pulled me out of the crowd for a little quality time with Midway's homage to Woo's bullet ballets and I came away impressed. This 360 game is from the same team that did Psi-Ops: Mindgate Conspiracy, an awesome Xbox title that was on everybody's "best game that no one played" list. After commiserating with the staff over the inexplicable disappointing sales of that game, I picked up the controller to try out its "spiritual" next-gen sequel. Stranglehold plays like Max Payne with, better graphics, more style and more ridiculously cool slow-mo moves. Midway's pitch focused on the destructable environment, which allowed me to blow up everything from wall tiles to frozen pigs. Combined with an array of Woo-ish bullet-time maneuvers, the level I saw did a good job of recreating the vibe from the tea house shoot-out scene in Hard-boiled. I asked executive producer Brian Eddy for the honest truth about Woo's involvement and was told he really did write the script. He also personally nixed blown off limbs, which sadly aren't his stylistic bag. Fortunately, he does prefer that perforated enemies stack up a la The Killer rather than disappear, so the team is working on that feature. They're also adding melee moves beyond the standard pistol whip present in the current build. Employing a common E3 tactic, Midway is keeping multiplayer details close to the shoulder holster, but I was assured that bullet-time will be implemented in an innovative way. Oh, and no warehouse levels.
18 Xbox Live Arcade titles revealed [update 1]
Here's a quick n' dirty breakdown of the 18 Xbox Live Arcade games that were playable at Microsoft's after (media breifing) party: Cloning Clyde - indie platformer Contra - arcade port; Konami code works; diagonal shooting was spotty Defender - arcade port Frogger - arcade port Galaga - arcade port Heavy Weapon - indie side-scrolling tank shooter Lumines Live - like PSP version, but with downloadable videos Mutant Storm Empire - indie sequel with upgraded visuals; continuous levels; room-to-room (a la Smash TV) Pac-Man - arcade port RoboBlitz - indie title using Unreal Engine 3; build was unplayable unbearable Scramble - arcade port Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting - arcade port; controls (on gamepad) were inconsistent Small Arms - indie Smash Bros. ripoff Texas Hold 'Em - poker (without real money) Time Pilot - arcade port Totemball - indie camera-controlled musical platform adventure Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - arcade port Uno - card game A Microsoft representative told us that these titles should be available by the holiday season, with some seeing summer/fall releases. Street Fighter, Texas Hold 'Em, and Uno will represent the next available batch of XBL Arcade games and should be released in the coming weeks.Update: Uno is (available on) Live! [Thanks, Dan]
John Woo's Hard-Boiled sequel
Everyone knows that Max Payne's gameplay ripped off...er...paid homage to the cinematic genius of John Woo. Ten-thousand slow-motion perforations later, it's only Hollywod—make that Hong Kong—justice that Woo would return the favor in Stranglehold. This up-coming Midway release is the video game-only sequel to Hard-boiled, perhaps the most spectacular of the action auteur's celluloid Glock-fests. Hopefully, Woo's participation will ensure an equally satisfying bullet ballet on the 360.I used to buy Woo movies in Japanese-sub-titled Mandarin. Couldn't understand a word and didn't care because watching Chow Yun-Fat get shot 54 times before he fell down made gun-less MacGyver look lame. Midway makes things easier now-a-days with easily-to-comprehend media events. Gamespot has details and video.According to the press release, Woo played an active role in developing this title. No word if his directorial influence extends to in-game advertising. Stranglehold will be be one of the first games affected by Midway's Mephistophelian marketing deal with ad agency Double Fusion. Both partners promise that the product placements will be "organic and credible." Given the ballistic subject matter, look for Eddie Eagle to show up before gamers complete stage one.
Revolution can handle Unreal Engine 3
Game developer Midway revealed in a job posting that they were looking for a designer for a next-gen first person shooter using the ultra powerful Unreal Engine 3. The game is being developed for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and......wait for it......wait for it......Nintendo's puny-wuny, wimpy, wittle Wevolution Revolution! Here's where the Nintendo fanboys cry out in unison, "Told you so! The RS will be just as powerful as anything else out there, except more so!" We understand that claims of the Revolution being 2-3 times as powerful as the Gamecube still means it'll be one powerful little box but let's keep things in perspective.Middleware packages, especially ones like Unreal Engine 3 that have a large PC client base, are designed to be scalable. In other words, sure it will run on the Revolution, but don't expect it to have the eye candy turned up to 11. That being said, this is promising news for any hopes of seeing games ported to all three next-gen consoles. Developers who use software like Epic's engine will not only save themselves from reinventing the graphics wheel every game, but they'll also find it easier to scale their app across all three next-gen platforms, making us happy gamers. [Thanks to everyone that sent this in]
Unreal Championship 2 review round-up
We've already stressed that UC2: The Liandri Conflict is not for everyone. But for those gamers that welcome the challenge, UC2 offers arguably the most intense players-vs-player(s) action on the Xbox. Whether FPS or 3rd-person hand-to-hand, UC2 exploits the Live! medium almost flawlessly. Current reviews: EGM (82) Game Informer (93) GamePro (80) Games Radar UK (90) IGN (93) Maxim Online (100) Official Xbox Magazine (93) Play Magazine (65) TotalGames.net (74)
Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict
Unreal Championship is not for everyone. Around here, we like to think of it as Halo on speed, a lot of speed. Old school Quake-junkies eat this kinda thing up-along with any unknowing newbies. Just be aware of what you're getting into and prepare to learn the true definition of "respawn". A look at some print scores: EGM (82) Game Informer (93) GamePro (80) Official Xbox Magazine (93) Play Magazine (65)
Unreal Championship 2 is coming
And it's for Microsoft's little black box. This preview of "Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict" drops some interesting facts. Like finishing moves for your character, ala "Mortal Kombat". Hmm... There are various other features that raise an eyebrow too, but then I'm looking at the game from an "Untreal Tournament 2004" perspective, having never played the first game. It sure sounds like good chaotic fun, though. While I don't think I'll ever get the urge for a Nintendo machine (sit down big "N' fans, that's not an insult, just personal choice), Microsoft's box is looking more appealing with each big release...
