The aftermath of each pitched battle is almost as much fun as creating the carnage in the first place. Just about every object in the game is destructible, right down to individual tiles on the walls, and so every level will end up looking different the next time you play. Inspector Tequila himself won’t come away unscathed either, with plenty of blood oozing from his shirt. It’s visceral stuff - and doesn’t shy away from pumping out gallons of blood.

It may sound like a cliché, but playing the game is just like watching one of Woo’s earlier Hong Kong-made films. This is largely down to the kinetic bloodshed, but it’s also due to the way that the game moves seamlessly between its cutscenes and player-controlled action sequences - especially when you trigger one of the Tequila Bomb moves. Plot and dialogue seem to be kept to a minimum, which could be Stranglehold’s biggest strength - or its biggest weakness depending on how repetitive the action gets.

Even if Stranglehold turns out to be all style and no substance, the pumped-up action, ridiculous stunts and levels that descend into no-holds-barred bloodbaths mean that it’s still hard not to feel massively excited.