‘STRANGLEHOLD’

‘STRANGLEHOLD’

(Midway) for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Genre: First-person shooter

Rating: M, for Mature

Grade: C+

When I was in college, my roommate, Luke, introduced me to John Woo’s “Hard Boiled,” a crazy Hong Kong action flick in which Chow Yun-Fat’s character has two handguns that never run out of bullets. Everyone faces the same over-the-top death by gun battle, and by the end you’re both laughing at its hilarity and marveling at its beautiful brutality.

“Stranglehold” is the collaboration between Midway and Woo to release a sequel to the “Hard Boiled” movie in a game format.

For the most part, all you really need to know about this game is that you will be shooting a ton of people, and you will spend almost all this time in “Tequila Time.” This is appropriately named after Yun-Fat’s character, Inspector Tequila, but it’s nothing more than glorified bullet time that you’ve seen in everything from games like “The Matrix” and “Max Payne.”

The game is very fun while it lasts (not long enough), because you can dart all over the place and use the environment to your advantage. Sliding down rails, flipping over crates and down stairways, riding in wheelbarrows and much more — if you can see it, chances are you can interact with it, and it will aid in putting a bullet into your enemy. Once you are done with the story mode, there’s not much left. And considering how short a game this is, that’s quite disappointing.

Luke probably wouldn’t hesitate to blow people away as Chow Yun-Fat, but hard-core gamers may want to rent this game before buying it.

‘HEAVENLY SWORD’

(Sony) for PlayStation 3

Genre: Action

Rating: T

Grade: B-

Just like in “Stranglehold,” you are going to have one heck of a fun time playing “Heavenly Sword,” but you’ll only have the air of satisfaction for the better part of a day’s worth of work.

In “Heavenly Sword,” you play as Nariko, who after being labeled an outcast must now defend her family’s honor and save the day, as all outcasts must, of course. What makes this such an outstanding game is the sheer volume of action and the cinematic quality of the presentation. Oh, and it’s also ridiculously nonstop, which is fantastic. If ever a game symbolized the term “button mashing,” it is this one.

The game may sound simple with its puzzle-solving and constant battles where you use combos and ranged attacks, but the story and scope of the visuals bring an extra oomph to the game that you just don’t get in regular action titles.

You’d be a fool to miss out on “Heavenly Sword,” and you’ll be left wishing there were more to the game than is presented, but all things considered, this is a must-play game.

‘OPERATION: VIETNAM’

(Majesco) for DS

Genre: First-person shooter

Rating: T, for Teen

Grade: C

You’ll play from the typical “god” view as you try to take your commandos across the jungle and shoot it out with Vietnamese forces. The controls are not intuitive, and the lack of stylus use brings into question why this game was made for the DS at all. However, there is some decent strategizing to be had, so it’s not a total lost cause.

What it lacks in production value, it gets positive marks for fun and price. For only $20, many DS owners will probably relish the idea of having a T-rated shooter for the device, since games of this sort are few and far between.

Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard