Manhunt

The Good
With Manhunt 2 looming on the horizon, and the current controversy surrounding its release on Nintendo’s Wii format, and people screaming “murder simulation”, provoked me to write some words about the original game. To this point I have been apprehensive about covering this game due to the highly questionable subject matter. Many wrote this game off after the first five minutes of play, and quickly reported how disgusted they were on-line or otherwise, and I can understand this mind set, but after staying with the game for the whole duration, I found it to be more than a purely contrived piece of software which only feet to stand on are its shock and controversial nature. Any mature individual to approach this as strictly escapism entertainment should find something here, as the underlying mechanics are crafted in such a way to draw the player as deep as never before into a virtual world that is believable on its own terms, and can forge a genuinely harrowing experience, and this is the first time I can admit to this, bring forward a level of immersion where you aren’t reminded your sitting at your desk with a cup of coffee, and this is a truly mean feat to accomplish in my book.

The basic premise sees the games’ anti-hero protagonist, James Earl Cash, a convict on death-row, whom is plucked from certain death by a snuff film director, and subsequently being forced against his will to participate in a city wide manhunt, effectively as the hunter hunted, with it all being caught on surveillance cameras, for the disgraced director’s final stab at making the big-time. The games’ visuals are deliberately rough around the edges, and a layer of grain has been imposed onto the display to generate the cinematic celluloid feeling, and this gives an extra level of authenticity to the proceedings. The opening sequence features a suitably heavy downbeat score, which deftly sounds like from some trashy 80's action flick, and is fluid with the overall gritty, unappealing atmosphere. The game takes place from the third-person perspective, something not so dissimilar to Max Payne 2 specifically, in terms of atmosphere and the complexity of the game engine, but no further. The entire game is effectively broken up into ‘scenes’, where upon in each you are dropped into a location in the game world, carcer city, which is rife with a gang of thugs of whom are promised a fictitious bounty so they perform convincingly for the camera. A bunch of heavy’s in gas masks, whose actions are dictated by the heinous director, drops you out of the proverbial frying pan into the fire, and you must employ all your stealth and cunning to survive.

The AI in this game particularly caught my attention, especially how the hunters operate in unity in their pursuit. They will survey the surrounding in pattern formations, and if an area is left unattended, the commanding hunter will demand a follower to check it out. If you are seen, the observing hunter will scream out to the others of your location, and promptly advance on your position quickly. Hiding, or disposing of bodies is an incorporated game facet here, and if an individual hunter finds a body, he will subsequently pair up with a teammate to assist him, making life infinitely more difficult for you. Should you find yourself in a compromised position, you can run like the wind, and retreat to some dark recesses to catch your breath, which is usually prudent. When you steal away in the shadows, you are effectively invisible to the hunters, but there is a chance grey area when a hunter could be in front of your face, and looks to be staring right at you, and he could conceivably turn around and go on with his routine, or scream out like all hell has broken loose, and attacks you viciously. When you are pursuing a hunter, there is always that risk that he will turn around suddenly, or the possibility of being spotted by an unknown party, which really builds the tension. These types of unpredictable moments really drive the games’ motive to manipulate the players’ ultimate feeling of emotional discomfort and unease.

The game often offers means of using chance things found in the environment, such for being able to collect a glass bottle, or tin can, which can be used in ways you can imagine to manipulate your aggressors. As well as this, you can also tap a wall with an object when leaning against it, or kick a barrel, and various other things to draw attention. Of course, there are also unwanted ways of creating awareness of yourself, such as walking on gravel, and other noisy uneven surfaces.

The fact that you cannot save your game at any point is a strong plus here, for if you could, it would strip the game of its great immediacy, which keeps the player on edge. Checkpoints are still employed due to the large nature of the scenes, so you don’t have to start from scratch.

In terms of the story telling aspect of the game, it does manage a semi movie like feel with the pre rendered cut-scenes in dispersed throughout the course of the game. As you would expect from a mature title of this nature, the dialogue sometimes contains profanity, but the underlying script is intelligently written, and carries the narrative with conviction.

Concerning controls, the use of the mouse, as for looking and aiming is much more intuitive than on the console versions.

The Bad
I personally didn’t derive any pleasure from the cruel and sadistic aspects of the game. The game contains levels of simulated violence of which is quite dehumanising. On the same token however, I don’t think the visualisation is quite as impact full as that of the sort of images a film can generate. Nevertheless, most certainly the content here should be restricted to the classified mature adult age group.

The Bottom Line
If with this review it seems like I am defending the deplorable subject matter, I have failed in what I set out to accomplish. Despite what Manhunt presents on the surface, the underlying factors which construct the games’ unsettling nature lay much deeper than the immediate blood and gore violence which is so superficially prominent from the unseeing eye. What makes the game effective is how it generates tension, by creating an atmosphere of loathing dread and pure fear, by putting the player in a truly visceral situation, where it is nay, too impossible not to give the game you complete attention, and be consumed by the whole experience, as if your life was really at stake. Like your first viewing of The Exorcist, Manhunt has the uncanny ability to scar upon your psyche, and it is an experience that will undoubtedly stay with you forever.

The Good
The concept and story were absolutely superb. The music keeps up a constant tension that cannot be ignored and the outright explosions of graphic violence on screen can be as horrifying as they are thrilling and heart-pounding. Nothing compares to sneaking around in the dark corners, making fools of your enemies before you literally eviscerate them.

Now, as you read, you might be turning your nose up in disgust. That's the whole point of this game. Rockstar pushed this game out as a kind of social question: what will you allow? There is no way to avoid the dark, gritty story that glorifies violence as you literally work to create a gruesome snuff film in the game. If you enjoy every minute of the murders, you are pointed out by Rockstar as taking part in the dark underlining of humanity. If you abhor the violence, you are still taking part in that dark underside since you're simply ignoring the plight of these disturbed individuals.

A damned if you do, damned if you don't type of story. The controls are simple and easy to learn and the camera keeps the feeling throughout that you are simply watching a homemade slasher flick, complete with TV static and tape noise.

The Bad
There are only three kinds of attacks for each weapon, which can drain the excitement of the killings about halfway into the game. More variety would have been excellent. The voice acting can vary from superb to downright laughable (as in the case of some of your enemies) but you would never want to mute the audio since the bad moments are few and far between. The tutorial level is also lacking, as it doesn't detail how to actually play the most important part of the game: stealth kills, so the first few levels you may find yourself brawling it out with chumps instead of sneaking around in the dark like Rockstar intended. A minor gripe, fixed simply by reading the playing manual carefully.

Also, the extreme violence and horrifyingly mature content will alienate some players. That's just fine though. If the gore freaks you out, then Rockstar has done its job well of terrifying you. If you aren't bothered by violence of the extreme adult themes, then sit back, relax and prepare to be frightened until you crap your pants.

The Bottom Line
Like I already said, it's not for everyone. But those of you who enjoyed Grand Theft Auto or, especially the Splinter Cell games should find this game not only scary and disturbed, but an excellent play that will frighten and disturb your dreams. Rockstar has made many controversial games in the past and I doubt Manhunt will ever be replaced as the uniquely depraved game that it is. It is not only a nonstop ride of fear-drenched tension but a smart social commentary on the nature of violent media. And let me say this last: the final level terrified me in ways that no other game has managed to do.

Shut off the lights, turn up the sound, and get ready to KILL!

The Good
Almost nothing. The music / audio was good, I suppose. The voice acting teetered between good and hammed up. And believe me, I'm stretching with this. It's hard to come up with anything positive.

The Bad
Just about everything.

Graphics: sucks. Game play: sucks. Fighting: monotonous. Levels: tedious. The world is highly non-interactive. Physics engine: sucks. Windows and gas tanks are just about the only thing you can interact with (by breaking/blowing them up).

The only other games that I may like less than this would be the Blair Witch trilogy of games. Maybe. This may or may not be worse; at least the Blair Witch games have better graphics.

Oh, and to top it all off, it's one of those stupid "save point" games. You can't save your games until you hit certain points within the game. I hate that!

The Bottom Line
Some people focus on the violence in the game. Meh. I suppose there's some, but honestly, you're watching the same scenes over and over and over. You behead someone with a sword vs beheading them with a knife vs beheading them with a baseball bat. I pretty much got de-sensitized to the violence. Once that happens, there's really no point to the game. There is waaaaaaaay more gore and violence in a game like Doom 3. I really don't understand what people are yapping about with the gore in this game. Meh.

The game is boring. You pretty much sneak around slowly because fighting out in the open will get you killed quickly. It's a slow paced game.

The cursing? Meh. I love cursing, but this was too much. The great thing about cursing is that they're special words that you only use sparingly, so when you drop an F-bomb, it really means something. It accentuates a point. When the F-bomb is dropped on every other word you say, it kind of loses its potency. You get desensitized to it.

I really do NOT understand the other reviews -- I absolutely concur with the only other user submitted negative review by "ganjathief": I couldn't recommend this game to anyone. Not even Charles Manson.

If you have a 2 year old, perhaps you could use this game to put them to sleep because it is long and booooring. Booooring!

This game is boring and pointless. Keep away!