Pros: Shocking premise; very creepy atmosphere; great graphics and an incredible audio performance.
Cons: ULTRA VIOLENT!!! This may be too disturbing, even for some adults.
The Bottom Line: Manhunt is a frightening effort from Rockstar North that achieves exactly the type of "snuff film" horror that it's going for...and does it extremely well.
mystical81's Full Review: Manhunt for PlayStation 2
"Do exactly as I say, and I promise, this will all be over before the night is out..." - The Director
In the past decade, software developers for video games have been presented with an increasingly difficult challenge. Their goal: to consistently "up the ante" and "raise the bar" in terms of creativity and excitement with every new release. Really, though, just how many stories can you possibly tell without rehashing the same boring ideas and similar gameplay mechanics over and over again...? It would seem that the vast majority of games these days have done exactly that, and it's not simply because they don't offer a challenging and immersive experience for players. No, it's because they are merely copying off other games' more innovative designs and applying them to their own half-assed storylines. Even though the visual quality of video games have become sleeker and more advanced with the advent of the seventh generation home consoles like XBox 360 and Playstation 3, the superiority of their subject matters are lagging somewhat behind. Indeed, it is extremely rare in today's gaming community to find a title with the courage to stand on its own unique merits, while at the same time, having the balls to actually push the envelope and go way beyond them.
Enter Manhunt...one of the most violent, shocking, and controversial video games of 2003 and, quite frankly, of all time. Rockstar North (developer behind the mega-popular Grand Theft Auto series) really stretches the limits of what is morally right and wrong in home entertainment with this dark, visceral stealth/action thriller. Imagine a major American city that has become a rotting cesspool of crime, violence, and corruption...where miles of square blocks have been quartered off into mazes of urban jungle called "hunting zones"...and hidden surveillance cameras roll on empty streets that have been recently stained in the blood of senseless, brutal murders for sport. It is in this depraved world that you, the player, have been unwillingly thrust for a sick game of "cat and mouse" by a sadistic madman, where only your quick instincts and primal cunning will get you out in one piece. Does this sound like an ethical approach for a video game...? Well no, but you have to remember that this is a project created by Rockstar North, the Scottish-based studio that is notorious for making some of the most violent games in history. What really matters to me is that this little gem turns out to be an awesomely satisfying adventure with solid gameplay to back up its completely original premise. Simply put, Rockstar's Manhunt is a no-nonsense slasher that does nothing but depict one man's ultimate fight for survival...and the unthinkable atrocities he will inflict onto others to stay alive.
This begs the question, "Just how far is too far in video game violence...?" There really is no easy answer to that issue, especially when considering that it's an industry predominantly marketed to impressionable kids. I think the solution lies in the fact that not all games are intended to be for a young audience, there is also an adult market out there wanting something a little edgier for them that's suited to their maturity level. That's not to say that every adult will love the intense content of this game, however. Manhunt is one of those games where you either like it or you don't. People who are turned off by excessive amounts of gore and psychologically disturbing situations should not play this game. But anyone who can actually stomach the intense, graphic violence of Manhunt will also find themselves totally engrossed in a unique horror experience, and playing one of the better stealth games available for the Playstation 2.
Welcome to your worst nightmare.
The story of Manhunt revolves around James Earl Cash, a death row inmate sentenced to be executed in Carcer City's federal penitentiary. On the night his conviction is to be carried out, the lethal injection he receives is actually a mixture of strong sedatives that merely render him unconscious. James is awakened some time later by the voice of a raving lunatic, alone and disoriented, locked in a dirty industrial room located deep within the abandoned "hunting zones" of Carcer City. The haunting voice informs him over a loudspeaker that he is not dead...he has been given a reprieve, a second chance..."another roll of the dice."
The man behind the voice is Lionel Starkweather, a deranged psychopath known only to Cash as 'The Director', an exceptionally wealthy former Hollywood filmmaker that creates "snuff" and distributes his movies throughout a secretive underground network. By bribing the prison officials and Carcer City's corrupt police department, Starkweather recruits Cash as his latest star, forcing him to slaughter local street gangs that have been hired to track him down and kill him on camera in the most gruesome ways possible to make extremely violent, high quality "snuff films" for his demented clientele. Meanwhile, The Director stays in constant communication with Cash over a wireless earpiece that he wears throughout all of the "hunts", and provides real-time verbal harrassments and sadistic cheers to him based on his actions.
If Cash can make it through the night, he will be rewarded his freedom. But to earn it, he must first fight for his survival against an army of ruthless killers...all while appealing to the bloodlust of a watching madman.
Kill or be killed.
Like most games in the stealth genre, Manhunt focuses primarily on staying hidden in the shadows and sneaking up on patrolling enemies than actually fighting right out in the open. In fact, it plays like the perfect marriage between Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and IO Interactive's Hitman 2: Silent Assassin...offering all the stealthy "lurking about" in the darkness of the former, and the satisfying weapon selection and options in killing people of the latter. Like those games, it also incorporates a rather crude (but somewhat functional) fighting system that is very simplistic and easy to use, but is really only intended as a last ditch alternative to the real meat-and-potatoes of the game --- sneaking up behind a Hunter and offing him in the most grisly way imaginable.
To perform an execution, Cash must first be equipped with one of the many hand-held weapons available throughout the game...including the most primitive of tools (plastic bags, glass shards, piano wire, hammers, crowbars, and baseball bats) to the most lethal instruments of death (knives, sickles, machetes, nail guns, revolvers, shotguns, and M16 assault rifles). The formula for success in this game is to lure in a Hunter with a distraction, by either making a loud noise or exposing yourself from a considerable distance away, hiding in the shadows and patiently waiting while he attempts to look for you, then sneaking up behind him when his back is turned. If Cash is within an acceptable range for a kill, he will raise the selected weapon behind his head, and it's at this moment that the player begins holding down the X button. The longer the button is depressed triggers one of three distinct methods of execution, each one more savage than the last and signified in degrees of intensity by a set of color-coded arrows swirling around the victim's head. Gray arrows indicate a "hasty kill", yellow arrows a "violent kill", and red arrows a "gruesome kill". Starkweather's clients pay top dollar to see the nastiest executions possible, so he will constantly urge you to perform the red ones throughout the game, and applaud you everytime you do.
Keeping in line with the dark "snuff film" theme of this game, the executions cut to a stylish, grainy-looking video effect that simulates a live feed while they are being performed...as if they were an excerpt from one of Starkweather's brutal films. These segments are quite shocking the first time you see them, showcasing such macabre acts of violence as Cash decapitating a Hunter with a machete in three vicious swipes, or impaling their head with a crowbar in a gushing red spray. Blood often spurts onto the lens of the camera during these visceral displays, adding to the whole effect of actually witnessing a cold-blooded murder on film. More bonus points are awarded to Cash at the end of every level for performing gruesome executions, which in turn unlock extra levels and concept art in the bonus material on the DVD-like main menu of the game. With the variety of hand-held weapons available, and the three different methods of execution possible for each one, you never really get tired of dishing out death to the bad men over the course of the story.
To break up the somewhat monotonous pacing of the executions, Rockstar North also turns Manhunt into more of a fast-paced, adrenaline-charged shooter during the second half of the game...equipping the members of the Innocentz and Wardogz gangs with pistols and sawn-off shotguns; the Carcer City police force and SWAT teams with Desert Eagles and MAC-10s; and Starkweather's own personal guard of elite mercenary commandos, the Cerberus, with pump-action shotguns and M16 assault rifles. The game features an "over-the-shoulder" manual aiming mode that is actually very well done, even more so than most shooting games on the market today. This feature ends up being a surprisingly essential core mechanic in the overall gameplay...you can switch between the manual aiming and third-person views seamlessly, with each one being just as good as the other in playing the game. In most instances, when in suffocating areas with multiple armed bad guys patrolling the vicinity, the manual aiming mode adds more suspense and an intense cinematic flair to the visual presentation. Shooting Hunters in the head is an effective way of killing them, and much to the verbal delight of Starkweather...he compares headshots to a gruesome execution with a hand-held weapon in the quality of material for his "snuff films". Using a gun in this game is also very easy, smooth, and feels just right. Cash can hug walls, peer over the corner, and jump out on Hunters with a quick shot to the head before they even knew what hit them. This is an especially useful tactic in the later levels of the game when luring Hunters to your position in hallways and other closed-quarters areas.
Overall, the control scheme may be a little quirky for some at first, but after awhile, starts to feel so totally natural that you just couldn't imagine it being implemented in any other way. The mechanics in controlling Cash are very smooth and responsive, everything from walking to running to strafing around corners. It is all finely-tuned with absolute precision into the palms of your hands. I especially like switching between the first-person and third-person views while either walking or hugging against a wall with Cash...the transition is so seamless that you feel as though you are really there in this hostile world, stalking through the shadows, where one false move can cost you your life.
A sinister landscape painted in evil.
The look of Manhunt is also one of its most striking features, commanding a very strong sense of visual style. The overall tone is dark and foreboding, bringing to life a vile and nasty world that just sucks you right in. Carcer City is one of the most barren and desolate places that I have ever seen, the type of post-apocalyptic environment that you would expect to see in a film about the end of humanity or something. Abandoned automobiles and burning trash can barrels line the debris-ridden streets, while dilapidated buildings and rundown housing projects stand empty and boarded-up against the nighttime sky like the dead bones of some decaying economic exoskeleton. The city looks polluted and down-right filthy, which is an appropriate setting given the dark subject matter for its story. If I were to compare this atmosphere with another classic game, Streets of Rage or Crime Fighters are the two that immediately spring to mind.
The level design is mostly linear and straight-forward, including such gloomy locations as the Carcer City streets, a vacated shopping mall, a forgotten animal zoo, a rotting mental asylum, and even the spacious mansion of The Director himself. Each level (known as a "scene" in the story, representing a seperate film of Cash's exploits that Starkweather will sell on the black market) is remarkably dark and evil-looking, but highly detailed and well drawn in a very realistic way. This game is presented in an intentionally gritty and rough texture, and when combined with it's highly violent gameplay, generally makes you feel "dirty" after playing it for a few hours. But that's exactly the point! This is a darkly beautiful game, with some impressive environments and creepy character models backed by a strong gaming engine and ultra smooth animation.
The Hunters that have been hired to kill Cash are equally threatening and imposing. As mentioned, you will go toe-to-toe with the worst gangs this city has to offer..."The Hoods", average-sized street thugs dressed in hoodies and stockings over their faces; "The Skinz", a fanatical group of muscular white supremacists covered in tattoos and wearing hockey masks, convinced by Starkweather that the man they are hunting is a 'half breed'; "The Wardogz", crazy ex-military vets dressed in ghillie suits; and "The Smilies", a group of psychologically insane patients found in the Darkwoods mental asylum, to name a few. As the game progresses, each gang gets considerably harder to take down, and becomes a full-fledged nightmare by the time the Cerberus army comes into play. The final encounter with the main boss, an obese maniac named "Piggsy" (who wears a severed pig's head over his own and wields a razor-sharp chainsaw) is an exceptionally difficult affair that dishes out tons of frustration and sheer, white-knuckle terror.
Don't make a sound...
Besides the amazing premise and top-notch gameplay, the soundtrack is really one of the best things that Manhunt has going for it. The sonic landscape featured here is absolutely fantastic!
The sound effects are meaty and jarring, adding an authentic realism to the game. From the deafening cracks! of gunshots that leave your ears ringing...to the bone-breaking thuds! of inflicting punishment on someone with the business end of a metal baseball bat...or to the sickening sounds of butchering a Hunter in the grisly execution cutscenes. Nothing is quite as effective as chopping off a bad guy's head one agonizing slice at a time while he attempts to scream, but can't. Instead, he can only gargle on the blood that's flooding into his severed vocal cords before you deliver the final, excruciating blow. The sound of Cash's heartbeat while sneaking up behind an unsuspecting Hunter was an especially nice touch, too.
Manhunt's musical score is another well-crafted achievement. This is one of the eeriest, skin-crawling, and most effective pieces of "mood music" that I have ever heard in a video game before. Reminiscent of a horror movie, soaring synthesizers and ambient sound effects illustrate the real-time actions of the characters onscreen, and steadily builds in layers as Cash draws closer and closer to danger. This adds an almost unbearable amount of tension to the gameplay, and works quite well in putting you at unease.
But perhaps the most memorable aspect of the game's audio is in its masterful voice work. The character acting of the bad guys (especially the brilliant performance turned in by Brian Cox as the sadistic Lionel Starkweather) is some of the best recorded vocal work you will find in a game anywhere. The lyrical content is chock full of profanity, vulgar words, and hateful slurs, but it fits right into the dark context of this game perfectly. Hunters will constantly ridicule you while they actively search the area for you, threatening promises of what they will do when they finally catch you. This can be truly terrifying at first, and there were even times when I was honestly shocked at some of the things these guys were saying.
Final Thoughts:
It almost feels like Manhunt was Rockstar North's attempt to lash back at its critics for their remarks regarding the controversy surrounding its Grand Theft Auto franchise...as if to say, "You think that was bad? You ain't seen nothin' yet!" And up to that point in time, no one in the gaming community really had. True, Manhunt is one of the most disturbing games to come out in recent years on any platform, with its dark subject matter and intense displays of graphic violence. However, it is also highly deserving of bonus points for its total originality, its ability to boldly go where no game had ever gone before, and for actually having the balls to tackle an issue as taboo and unconventional as "snuff films" for its overall theme. While the game does get bogged down in certain places by repetitive sneaking and monotonous killing, the storyline is so absorbing to first-time players that it will make them want to reach Starkweather by any means necessary to find out how it all ends.
They just killed Cash. Now, they want to kill him again. America is full of run down, broken rust-belt towns where nobody cares and anything goes. In ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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