Violent, gruesome and disturbing, it would be great if the execution scenes didn't get repetitive so fast.
Convicted murderer James Earl Cash is brought back from the dead straight from his execution chamber, only to wake up under some very strange conditions. A voice sends him out on a game of survival while being watched by cameras the entire time. Remember the movie "8mm"? You can relate to it, you're in a snuff movie now, only this is in a much larger scale.
James is your main character, the rest of the cast is a bunch of street gangs and the set is Carcer City. The point of the game is to kill others before they kill you. But you don't limit yourself to just kill someone; you have to do it for the ratings. Yes, that's right, you're being filmed and you need to gain your public's support.
Who exactly is this audience, I have no idea. But Mr. Starkweather (the person who put you in this situation) is always watching, and he loves giving orders, criticize your performance and sometimes he will even encourage you to proceed.
Basically, you sneak around (yes, you have to sneak or you'll call attention upon you, so keep watching that noise level meter), pick up things that will become your weapons, some of them very unusual, such as a piece of broken glass or a plastic bag, and take the gangs down, one thug at a time.
When you encounter one of them, the process is simple: silently approach from behind while targeting your victim. Their execution will be more violent the longer you stay locked on target (it will change to red).
These explicitly gruesome executions are presented in a 3rd person point of view: you see them from one of the many cameras surrounding you, a grainy image with lots of static which makes the scene look even more disturbing than it really is.
Still, after a few hours of gameplay, the process becomes repetitive. I mean, how many ways are there to suffocate someone with a plastic bag or beat them to death with a baseball bat? And you can't even skip the execution cut scenes.
Manhunt has surely divided gamer's opinions. I can't say if it's good or bad, or if I liked it or not. This is just one of those games that don't compare to anything else, where the macabre environment sucks you in right from the start and makes you uncomfortable during play.
So, now that you know why Manhunt is violent, immoral, oh so wrong, and inspires the need of a new rating, why not give it a try? Just don't let anyone who's easily impressed catch you playing it.
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http://www.grrlgamer.com/review.php?g=manhunt