Hands on impressions of Manhunt 2

This weekend I was at a horror convention in Orlando and the fine people at Rockstar showed up and had a couple stations set-up to playthe full versions of the newly edited Manhunt 2.Originally I put this in my blog, but since I figure only about 15 active GS members read it, I thought more people would appreciate my thoughts here.

So in a word. . . damn. The boys at Rockstar have really created something that's all sorts of messed up. I spent only 10 minutes playing it myself, but I watched a friend spend another 20 or 30 minutes on it, so I think I've got a pretty good hold on the game, and frankly it's disturbing. If this is the edited version I can't say I blame the ESRB for rating it as they did the first go around.

Technically the game is well done. The controls were very responsive. In fact, I'm kind of surprised the game wasn't a Wii exclusive given how well they were implemented. There were a few times the character didn't react the way I wanted him to, but I think that's just something that happens with most of the motion controlled games on the Wii. I still needed a little more time with the game to fully understand the controls, but it's actually very simple, so once again good job by Rockstar. And visually I think everyone probably gets it. It looks like a great PS2 game. Oh well, we all knew that was coming.

And on another point that's worth mentioning, this game is essentially a stealth-action game. That's a point that tends to get lost in a lot of the previews for it. The violence and themes are always mentioned, but a lot of the game is spent sneaking around trying not to draw attention to yourself. There is still a lot of action though.

And speaking of the action, I know a lot has been made about the changes to the special, "sneak attack kills" or whatever the special kill mode was called when you sneak up on a guy. Those scenes probably aren't as overtly graphic as they originally were, but make no mistake about it if your kids are in the room, you'll want them to leave. If anything I think the blur effects they use only add to it, but not having seen the originls I suppose I can't really accurately judge.

But let's get on to the more meaty part of this preview. . . the story and the gross and nasty stuff. Minor spoilers ahead, but nothing major.

The game has an extremely dark and moody and depressing feel to it. It's ultimately one bad/violent/messed up scene after another.What makes it a little tough to endure is that there's just no breaks for the player. In most horror/violent games there's a little humor here and there to break things up. Not in Manhunt 2. It just seems to keep coming at you. Fortunately they keep things creative so it's not something that really makes you numb to after a while.

And what exactly is it that keeps coming at you? Well in the first 5 minutes of the game you're peed on, you see an inmate hang himself, you get feces thrown at you, and you throw up. That doesn't even count how you kill the first couple people you come across. I'll say no more than that, but yes it's a pretty intense game. I even got a chance to see that infamous S&M club chapter. It gets worse there. To top it all off your character is a very broken person. I won't go into more details than that, but it makes everything you do feel a lot more sad and desperate than in games where you might do similiar actions like in GTA.

Personally I'm not really sure I want to get this game. Generally I like my games a little light and fluffy. I like horror movies, but my interest in that genre never really crossed into gaming. As far as harder edge games, only RE4 and Vice City were exceptions in the last gen, so it takes a pretty special game to make me play it if it's excessively violent, and lord this one is.But this onemakes those other two games I mentioned look more like Disney games. But the thing is, the story is absolutely compelling. It's twisted as hell, but it's quality. And I am generally curious to know what happens.

So that's what I got. Despite all the hype, I do think there's a seriously good game here.

"game has an extremely dark and moody and depressing feel to it. It's ultimately one bad/violent/messed up scene after another.What makes it a little tough to endure is that there's just no breaks for the player. In most horror/violent games there's a little humor here and there to break things up. Not in Manhunt 2. It just seems to keep coming at you. Fortunately they keep things creative so it's not something that really makes you numb to after a while."

Sweet!

As for it not being enjoyable, brilliant! It might sound weird but we need more games that are emotional disturbing and not pleasent to play. I'm not sure you could call a book about the holocaust (no, not that girl's diary) written from the perspective of someone in a concerntration camp enjoyable but it could be very engaging and compelling and that's something that videogames as an art haven't quite grasped, and we need to.

Sounds pretty good from your impressions.

I'll have to try not to get too excited though because it will be RC'd in Aus.

Manhunt has always had that stealth factor to it I suppose it gives the feel of a "Snuff" movie, was it the Wii version you played? I think if I ever get to see this game in the UK I'd pick up the Wii version over the PS2 simply for controls.

All in all it sounds like it was good, now all I need is a EU release.

Manhunt has always had that stealth factor to it I suppose it gives the feel of a "Snuff" movie, was it the Wii version you played? I think if I ever get to see this game in the UK I'd pick up the Wii version over the PS2 simply for controls.

All in all it sounds like it was good, now all I need is a EU release.

KingKoop

Yes it was the Wii version that Rockstar made available. The PS2 and PSP version weren't there. And they did some interesting things with the control. Punches are thrown my swinging the controllers like you're throwing real punches. When an opponent you're fighting gets knocked on the floor you have to swing the wiimoted in a very stiff downward motion to start kicking him to keep him down for instance. The only thing I wasn't really sold on was the controls for using a gun. The perspective changes slight andit kind of becomes like RE4, but it didn't feel as sharp. I didnt' spent too much time with that though, so once again it's another case where I may have just needed a few minutes to adjust to the controls.

As a huge fan of the original game, I always knew that Manhunt 2 would be a high quality game, but also just like the original - horribly misunderstood. A lot of people see it only for its extreme violence, but there's a lot more to it than that. I thought Manhunt was a genuinely profound and unique experience - I'm not a big horror fan (honestly, I wouldn't even qualify Manhunt as a horror game, but whatever), and I pretty much despise stealth games and yet I finished Manhunt three times and plan on going through it once more sometime around Manhunt 2's European (hopefully uncensored) release.