Manhunt
Description official descriptions
Manhunt casts you as James Earl Cash, a prisoner on death row. You are led down a corridor where you are about to receive a lethal injection. The needle goes in. You wake up hours later. A mysterious voice tells you to stick in the nearby earpiece, and explains that the "lethal" injection was just a heavy sedative. The man, later identified as Starkweather, turns out to be a director of snuff movies, where the people are really killed. He explains that if you follow his directions, manage to kill people and survive, you'll earn your freedom. This begins James Earl Cash's journey.
Throughout the course of the game, you'll have to make your way through different locales, such as a city and a mall, while killing gangs. You'll face lots of different gangs, from The Hoods and The Skins to tougher gangs like The Innocenz. Gang members carry weapons ranging from pistols and shotguns to knives and glass shards.
Manhunt is primarily a stealth game. You'll have to hide behind walls, flatten yourself against walls, crouch, hide behind objects, and walk to avoid attracting attention. You can also throw glass bottles to create a distraction, or you can punch surfaces and yell to get gangs to come to you.
You have a variety of weapons at your disposal, from the traditional, such as the shotgun and uzi, to the disgusting, such as a sickle and plastic bag. Each weapon has three different ways of attacking, depending on how long you hold the button. A quick attack will do the job, a medium attack will be bloody, but a high attack, requiring the longest amount of time, will earn you the most points, and will allow you to see your kill in a cinematic style, with blood splatting on the camera, and gurgling noises.
Manhunt also lets you use a USB headset, such as the one that came included with SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals. With the headset, you will hear Starkweather speak into your ears instead of through your speakers, and you will be able to shout into the microphone to attract gangs instead of pressing a button.
Groups +
- BPjS / BPjM indexed games
- Gameplay feature: Body dragging
- Games involved in legal disputes
- Games with game-altering copy protection
- Germany Criminal Code confiscations (§131: Excess Violence)
- Manhunt series
- Middleware: RenderWare
- PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits releases
- PlayStation 2 Platinum Range releases
- Weapon: Chainsaw
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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 71% (based on 47 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 102 ratings with 6 reviews)
The Good
This game did not have anything good about it. I feel that the company did not have anything good planed for a game. This game was very disappointing.
The Bad
Now, the creators of this game have had a history (in my thoughts) of bad, wasted games. Rockstar, I feel, does not try and make fun games. They try to make the most contreversal game on the market. Grand Theft Auto was another game that did not make me happy.
Now for what was so bad...
The controls of the game were very hard to keep up. The constant button mashing to fight is not a fun thing in my opinion. The camera was bad. The controls were just bad.
The gameplay was very pointless, very repetitive. There was no point to this game. This game got no more than 2 hours out, graphics from Rockstar make my sick (literally). You would walk the streets (pretty much crawl) to sneak up behind somebody and stab them in the neck with a piece of glass. Now when people are trying to ban games for gore, don't go trying to ban Resident Evil, try this game. There is no point to it and I wouldn't mind if it got banned. The swearing in the game was also very pointless. There should not be as much vulgar language in a game as there was in this one. Words were painted in blood across the wall.
The story did not interest me at all. A man was killed in jail and is brought back to life by a camera. A camera talks to the main character. The game is about killing people and getting it on tape.
The graphics are not what they should be for a Playstation 2. The graphics are the same as Grand Theft Auto and makes me feel like I am just playing a worse version of that. The graphics are very cartoony and do not show true physical features (like good looking arms, heads, legs). The graphics are not what they should be for a time like now.
The Bottom Line
I would never recommend this game to anyone, not even Charles Manson. This game is not worth your money. You should not contribute your money such a game company as Rockstar. All of there games have the same basic point behind them, they all have the same looking graphics, control, and lameness. This review could go for all games made by Rockstar pretty much. Grand Theft Auto for sure.
PlayStation 2 · by GNJMSTR (106) · 2009
The Good
The dark atmosphere of this game is just awesome, the characters are awesome, With gangs, to Starkweather, just awesome.
The controls are very well down, the ambient music helps set the mood, and it is just one of them games that you can never stop playing.
The Bad
The game was in my opinion way to short. I think that Rockstar could of done a longer game and they could of added more levels, more characters and what not.
The Bottom Line
A stealthy action game, where you play as James Earl Cash, a death row inmate who gets a second chance at life, and stars in a snuff film from director Lionel Starkweather, Starkweather is giving you another chance at life, if you can get by his obstacles, then you get to go free.
If you haven't checked this game out, I would highly recommend this game.
PlayStation 2 · by AaronGamer (29) · 2009
You should have killed me when you have the opportunity.
The Good
This game manages to create an atmosphere of depravity and decadence that I never have seen before; I think it's a perfect combination of the stealth in the "Thief 3: Deadly Shadows" and the thrill of the "Silent Hill" series.
This is not a game for the light hearted, it has a lot of gore, violence, strong language, and fun. And hell yes, it's fun. A lot more than I first expected a priori.
This is the point: you are a scumbag, a dangerous one; in fact, you are the last scumbag they should have messed with, because you're going to give them hell for (oops, no spoilers). That's why they should have killed you when they had the opportunity, now it's too late.
The gameplay is fast and clean: just a few buttons are used: the tutorial is very simple and short: learn to hide and kill.
The story is good! There is a reporter trying to disband the organization that has trapped you, so you both share common interests. All this could be very easy to be turned into a movie, but that's how Rockstar make their games, that's their seal of quality.
The Bad
Pretty much nothing, I liked it from the beginning to the end.
The Bottom Line
A very cinematographic adventure of depravity and sickness, with lots of blood and an unique atmosphere.
For people without moral problems who can distinguish between game and reality.
Xbox · by Tiroloco (15) · 2008
Trivia
1001 Video Games
Manhunt appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Coincidence
The Scottish actor Brian Cox, who features in this game, also featured in the (unrelated) film Manhunter.
Controversy
This game was banned in New Zealand for excessive violence.
On October 20, 2003, Manhunt was released in Australia with a MA15+ rating. Computer games with this rating are not suitable for anyone under 15 years old. The following year, the game was blamed for the death of a British teenager. Due to this, the censors met to review the game's rating on September 29. After this, the game's rating immediately changed from MA15+ to RC, meaning that it is illegal for anyone to purchase Manhunt, or import it into Australia.
In Ontario, Canada, the game was on February 3, 2004 the first ever to be slapped with a mandatory R rating (restricted to be bought or rented by those only of age 18 or older). It was applied by the Ontario Film Review Board, an agency of the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services, after its panel reviewed the game in part because of complaints by parents.
German index
On March 31, 2004, Manhunt (PS2) was put on the infamous German index by the BPjM. Both Windows and Xbox versions followed February 26, 2005.
For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.
In addition to the indexing, on July 19, 2004, the PlayStation 2 version was also confiscated for violating §131 of Germany's penal code (for showing cruel violence against humans etc.). Both Windows and Xbox versions followed July 21, 2005.
References
The game takes place in Carcer City, which is the city right next door to Liberty City, the locale of Grand Theft Auto III, and was also mentioned numerous times in that game.
Original build differences
In the original build of the game, the scene "Kill the Rabbit" was originally titled "Pool of Tears".
Information also contributed by ~~, CaptainCanuck, *Katakis*, Martin Smith, Scaryfun, and Xoleras
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Related Sites +
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IGCD Internet Game Cars Database
Game page on IGCD, a database that tries to archive vehicles found in video games. -
Manhunt
Official page -
Manhunt: Fully Loaded
A Manhunt fansite which includes the unlocked bonus art from the game, as well as fanart.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by JPaterson.
PlayStation 4 added by Charly2.0. Xbox added by Kartanym. Windows, PlayStation 3 added by Kabushi. Xbox Series, Xbox One added by Eufemiano Bullanga.
Additional contributors: tarmo888, CaptainCanuck, Victor Vance, FatherJack.
Game added November 30, 2003. Last modified March 30, 2024.