The censored exections point out shoddy AI and poor camera contorls. This review contains a video review.
http://www.gamespot.com/v/JyE2xDr45b8FvT7d
Here is the written review:
Manhunt 2 suffers from a crisis of conscience. In a game centered around stealthy violent action, the addition of guns and blatant censoring tarnish most of the game’s polish.
Many people have heard that Manhunt 2 is the most violent game ever to reach the market. The hype around the game has been some of the biggest in the industry, and not necessarily for a good reason. In Manhunt 2 you will play as Danny Lamb, a resident of a mental asylum. In the first few seconds of the game, there is a massive riot of said asylum and the inmates break free of their cells. This will give you the opportunity to escape, and right some wrongs in your past. Of course the guards won’t just let you leave, so you will have to brutally murder them in order to be free.
For all the talk about bloodshed, the game’s story is decently fleshed out. Form the beginning you are influenced by Leo, your split personality. Leo is a psychopathic murder who incites you to kill. Though-out the entire game he will be “in your head” giving you hints and ordering you around. For it seams Leo has a mind of his own; a mind to burn “The Project” to the ground. The Project is responsible for putting a “mental bridge” inside of Danny’s head. Leo believes that this bridge is preventing him from reaching his true potential as a blood thirsty manic. So you will set forth on your path of destruction, attempting to right former wrongs, and force The Project scientist to remove the bridge from your brain.
The game’s stealthy action is its strongest point. You will want to stay in the shadows where your enemas can not see you, and strike while their back is turned. Going toe to toe with adversary is never a good idea, and battling more than one foe is suicide. You will want to sneak around distracting agonists with cans and taking them out one by one. Sound as well as sight plays an important role in your escapades. You will use noise to attract the enemas attention else where while you access guarded areas and assonate people in your way. The noise of running deters you from galloping around and forces you in to a slow meandering pace. Certain surfaces will also amply your footsteps, so it’s best to be the turtle in this race.
You will obtain a whole host of melee weapons for which to dish out punishment. There are the series regulars, such as the glass shard, plastic bag, and baseball bat, as well as new weapons like the shock sticks. Weapons can be found scattering the levels and in the hands of assailants. Certain weapons will fair very well in melee combat, while other are geared strictly towards sneak attacks. There will also be distraction items, items like cans, or bottles can be thrown to distract enemies toward different areas.
Weapon selection however is where Manhunt 2 becomes confused with what a stealth action game is all about. Along with all the melee weapon choices, you will also get guns. Pistols, submachine guns, and assault rifles have found there way in the hands of your foes. Guns are the anti-stealth, loud, but extremely efficient tools of destruction. Rare is the case when you have a gun and not want to use it, as it not only kills foes very quickly, they shorten the game’s downtime.
A major problem with the guns is that they are so effective against enemies, and very ineffective on Danny. Most enemies take only a few bullets to drop, in some cases only one with a head-shot. Yet Danny’s skin seams to be made of Kevlar. You can take a lot of abuse from the normal guns, and fair surprisingly well against assault rifles. Using guns completely removes any stealth and turns the game in to an action shooter. In certain areas Manhunt 2 removes all pretenses of being a stealth game, and throws tons of gun toting enemies at you for you to mow down. It’s not until much later in the game that you receive a silent ranged weapon, the crossbow, for stealthy ranged kills. Unfortunately in the level that you receive this weapon on, all the enemies know you are coming already, and have guns of their own. You are afforded little time with the only silent projectile.
With all the talk about weapons it is time to discuss the part of Manhunt 2 that sparks all of its controversy. Executions are back, more variant and less gory then ever. From cover of shadow you can target your enemies with the L1 button and lock on. Three little triangles will adorn their head. If the triangles are green, it means they are looking in your direction, when they turn white they can not see you. Now is your time to strike. Slowly you will pace them from behind and when close enough pressing the R1 button executes. Executions consist of Danny, brutally murdering the foe in extremely graphic and realistic ways. Each weapon will be used in a different fashion, correlating with those weapons strong points. If one execution style per weapon is not enough, you’re in luck. Danny knows 3 ways for which to dispatch foes with each melee weapon. The longer you stalk your foe from behind while holding the R1 button, determines how brutal the murder will be.
There will also be environmental executions. If you lure an enemy to the correct spot, Danny can use certain objects in the environment to take them out. These area attacks range from fuse boxes to manholes, and can only be used once. Danny also has one gun execution per weapon, but since the gun it’s self is so powerful there is little reason to perform these actions.
Manhunt 2’s executions seam to have garnered more controversy than the last time Rockstar unleashed a serial killer. This is evident by the censorship of these cut-scenes. Every time Danny strikes a foe with a weapon, or blood is sprayed, the game puts a filer over the action. This filter makes the images on the screen “wash-out” with an over amplified black and white transition. You will know exactly what just happened, but get to see very little of the actions preformed. It’s as if you are watching a rated R movie that has been edited for television viewing. The transitions aren’t too distracting however, and their toned downed down nature shouldn’t detract form the experience too much.
Since the executions have lost a little luster, more attention can be paid to parts of the game in which you actually control Danny. Rockstar seams to have thought that having a fixed, over the shoulder camera angle was the best way to display the action. While this view is fine, the inability to rotate the camera causes major problems. During your walks around the areas you will have no control over the camera. The right analog stick, which for generations has been used as a simple, yet effective camera control, has been removed. In the many instances where you need to get a better look at the enemies patrolling, you have to actually move Danny backwards and forwards to get the camera to cooperate and show you what you need to see. Many times shuffling back and forth not only causes noise, but exposes you via stepping out of the shadows. The only times where you will actually get control of the camera is when shooting a gun. In gunplay the camera becomes a first person view that uses the right analog stick to aim. In short, having such a bad camera in a 2007 game is unacceptable.
Bad camera aside, if you stop to take a look at the Manhunt 2’s environment you will be very impressed. The games levels look gorgeous. There is a lot of variance to the areas in which you will play, from mental ward to T.V. Studio. Each level is impeccably designed and pushes the playstation 2 to the limits of its technology. Lighting plays a key part in your shadow driven world, and the way the levels are lit maximizes the shadows distance thus giving you plenty of areas to hide. The levels are not only impressive visually, but also grand in scope and scale. Many levels have multi tiered sections where you’ll go up and down numerous stair cases to reach your goals. Having different floors gives the levels a greater scene of vastness.
In these expansive levels you will find many guys waiting to bash in your brains. Unfortunately, crushing your skull is about the only brain wave these assailants have. It soon becomes common practice to sit in a shadowed area, make a noise to get them to come over, wait for them to “not see anything” and turn their back so you can execute them. This is a process that repeats it’s self over and over again on almost every single level. You can make some attempt to hide a body if you like, but since finding a dead body affects a guard in virtually no way, there is little incentive to do so. In fact, you can repeatedly kill multiple guards from the same shadowed comer. Even if the bodies pile up right next to where you are, as long as you are in the shadows, the guards will come over to investigate, give up looking, and die.
Manhunt 2 is like a gory and violent movie released in theaters, which has been censored for the television audience. Unfortunately its filtered executions take the attention away from the cut-scenes, exposing poor camera controls and shoddy AI. Overall you will be left with a healthily portion of decent game-play in vast and detailed levels. However, it’s many flaws over shadow it’s controversy.