Manhunt 2
The big bad wolf ends up being a paper tiger
Tags: Manhunt 2 Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews, Wii Reviews
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Nov 16th, 2007
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manhunt 2 (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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There are two ways to be shocking. One is thought provoking, and provides a doorway into further material. The other is quick, flashy and lacking any real substance. Rockstar games is no stranger to shock (both kinds) and Manhunt 2 has brought a lion’s share back to their doorstep. With threats of outright bans on the game looming, the company quietly edited the game, and brought it to a Wii and PS2 near you.
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I imagine that without these edits much of the aesthetic would have changed, as the quick jumps and static used to obscure the most brutal violence adds atmosphere to what amounts to a demented cartoon. Considering what length Rockstar went to call this game art, and defend it as if it had some sort of deeper meaning is misleading. Manhunt 2 has a right to exist because people want to play it, but it lacks Rockstar’s real strength: characters. They can pour on the violence and depravity, but what made the Grand Theft Auto games so much fun was that you immersed in the world of gangster movies, 80’s cocaine smuggling, and gangsta rap. Each of the games had an essential element of story and humor.
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Manhunt 2 may be set in the same world as the first, but placing the player inside a paranoid amnesiac escaping from an asylum doesn’t allow the player to get their bearings in a larger world. You take the role of Daniel, who is reluctant to kill. That seems to be one of the most problematic part of the game, their character is supposed abhor violence, but yet he becomes a more triumphant executioner with each passing level. These aren’t your usual shootings and stabbings, when you push someone’s head into a freshly used urinal before bashing their skull against the porcelain; it is a safe bet that you aren’t reluctant to kill.
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The gameplay itself falls somewhere between a third person brawler, and a stealth game. Neither the Wii, nor the PS2 controls allow the sneaking to be very predictable. The character ends up moving rather stutter-stepped whenever sneaking comes into play. To get any of those brutal executions, it is essential. That is Manhunts fatal flaw it never delivers what it promises. The brutal executions are hidden behind crazy camera angles, and video effects. The story is awash in contradictions, and two dimensional characters.
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Manhunt 2 brought a huge amount of debate about censorship. It showed the state of an industry that has been scapegoated for any manner of social ills. The game even in its edited form is generating calls for the FTC to investigate the ESRB. Target has announced it will pull the game from its shelves. For what, Saw or Hostel in video game form? The sad thing is that if Manhunt 2 showed the level of character development that those films do, it would be worth mentioning. In the end the game is just cheap shock, and once that façade loses its luster, all that’s left is a mediocre game.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ The atmosphere of the game manages to be equal parts crazy and creepy. |
3.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
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- The controls are a mess, and much of the non execution combat is simple button mashing. - The violence clashes with the character they've designed, making much of the violence pointless. |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Either version of the game is equally mediocre. The story holds some promise, but the action is so frustrating it's too much work to get to the meat of it. Rockstar has become a victim of their own controversy, as this game could have slipped under the radar. Manhunt 2 doesn't hold up under all the attention that the censorship conflict brought the title. | |
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Tags: Manhunt 2
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Nov 16th, 2007 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews, Wii Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
