Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Manhunt 2

1. Official Site
2. Platform: PS2
3. Publisher: Rockstar
4. Developer: Rockstar Games
5. Release Date: 10/29/07
6. Genre: Action/Adventure

by Mitch Youngblood

Manhunt 2 arrives after quite possibly the most insulting PR campaign in years. Are we really to believe that a game’s content was intentionally so horrific that it was banned from the UK and certain retailers across the globe? If anything, Rockstar Games should be banned from the industry for being stupid first and foremost.

I have played Manhunt 2 and the lone element that shocked me was how banal it is when stripped of its publicity. The story follows an escapee from a mental institute who struggles to regain his identity and discover the circumstances that lead to his incarceration. Along the way, he performs a variety of murders ranging from quick to messy. Play the game for any significant amount of time and it becomes rapidly apparent how little content there actually is. Since the story is paper thin, with any one over the age of 15 able to pick out the twists right from the start, Rockstar must have decided to generate publicity by ramping up the gore factor to the nth degree and calling it a day.

It’s too bad for Rockstar that The Suffering covered similar territory with more style and a better story and did so a few years ago.

The Grand Theft Auto engine is seriously long in the tooth by now and it shows. What looked good six years ago looks terrible now. Granted, Manhunt 2 fails so completely on its own merits that it is undeserving of a new engine but that may just be my own bitterness coming to the surface. Speaking of surfaces, it would be nice if a lot of the ones in this game didn’t blend in with their surrounding environment, unless the point was to camouflage furniture. In which case, well done, Rockstar.

Manhunt 2 is ugly on a number of levels, but visually it stands apart on the PS2 and not in a good way. Everything is a heightened caricature to give players the sense of gaming inside a nightmare, albeit one by Andy Warhol. This can be respected on its own merits, but it’s difficult to take anything seriously when the character models look, frankly, stupid. Finding the menace in a guy wearing a black suit and a gimp mask walking around on the street is a tough nut to swallow. Also, when a stripper in an S&M club looks like an animated gif, you know the artists were either woefully untalented or didn’t care enough to put forth any effort let alone their best.

Apart from the gangly and blocky character models, you have environments that are very small. One would imagine with such closed off levels that slowdown and tearing wouldn’t occur. People who assume that would be wrong. I managed to get the main character stuck on a wall in the early going which necessitated a reboot, and managed to win a fist fight through a closed door. Go me.

As with all Rockstar games, Manhunt 2 has world class voice acting and sound effects even if the script’s first spoken words are "Holy f&$%." That spells out everything players can expect from the game, but the actors give it their all. The main character is especially solid as he realizes he is into something way over his head, and that he is not man enough to compete against it. The many other voices scattered throughout the game are appropriately scary or twisted or both at the same time. The actors certainly bring their A-game.

The sound effects are definitely not for the squeamish. Whomever Rockstar used to simulate the sounds of what happens on screen deserves credit because they did their job extremely well. So much so that if anyone out there is even remotely grossed out by gore regardless of whether it is live-action or digital, then stay away from this game. The sound effects alone will cause you to pass out and as such Rockstar continues to justifiably score big in this category.

The majority of the buttons have multiple functions and you’re prompted by a message on screen when you need to hit what. Holding down the X button runs, when you are close to a wall and hit the triangle button then you will hug the wall. In this position, you can hit the square button to tap the wall and get someone’s attention. When in combat, the triangle button blocks and the square button fights. The circle is the all-around utility button because it uses an item or opens a door, picks up a body, crawls, or climbs depending on the circumstances. Targeting is accomplished through the L1 button while shooting or executing comes from the R1 button. The L2 and R2 buttons are both for strafing.

The reason the controls get a relatively low score is because of how they handle overall. Start to finish, it feels like your character is moving uphill through a river of molasses in January. Even when running, it feels clunky and overweight. Naturally, when enemies attack you they seem as nimble as Bambi and if you find yourself surrounded by two or more then go ahead and restart. The game’s focus is on stealth and that’s fine, but it is artificial because your character feels so restrained throughout. Cumbersome is probably a better way to describe how it feels when you move through a house or a building or even out on the street. It doesn’t help matters when you target someone then lose them and try to require only to find them circling behind you. The character can’t turn on a dime, which is why hitting the L2 and R2 buttons simultaneously will flip you 180 degrees.

Because that’s realistic.

Imagine a stealth game like the Splinter Cell series, then ramp up the gore to an 11, cut the levels in half, then throw out the fun for good measure. Playing Manhunt 2 winds up being exactly what the game puts its protagonist through – an exercise in pain. Is it fun to stalk bad guys then viciously murder them? Sure, the first and even second time. After the third or fourth it starts to grow tiresome and you wonder what else the game has to offer. By the 10th and 15th murders you realize that’s all this game has to offer, and without the sleazy pleasure of Brian Cox whispering in your ear from the first one.

I’m at a loss for words to describe Manhunt 2 other than repetitive, boring, and lacking any sense of fun. There is literally no point to playing this game because it ultimately achieves nothing and you accomplish little other than graphically murdering foes using a combination of weapons and the environment. The story is half-baked at best, poorly written to say the least, and it is nothing more than an empty shell. I’d expect a game like this 10 years ago to receive praise for how “life-like” it was, and how compelling the game play was.

But the current times demand greater satisfaction. I’m a simple guy when it comes to video games. All I ask is for a good story that is well told, or an experience that I enjoy. Neither of these elements are present in Manhunt 2 because it’s a vacuous, lifeless excuse for a game. I find it ironic that a Rockstar game is so lacking in content considering how jam-packed their other games are. Their other games are literally bursting at the seams with diversions, some fun, some not so much, but this one just sits there expecting a full game to come out of the execution mechanic. Some of the levels are well designed, but when your only goals are to kill a small number of opponents while locating the next plot point it becomes boring fast.

Apart from shock value, which wears off quicker than you might expect, there is no reason in the world to play Manhunt 2. Ignoring the gore factor and the expected media hysteria whipped up by Rockstar’s "dangerous" attitude towards "the children," gamers are left with an empty shell. There is little to no gameplay worth mentioning here because, frankly, there is little to no gameplay in the game itself. Kill people, find an item or a clue, kill more people, end of mission and the next one loads. Rinse, repeat.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz........

Rockstar’s intent with Manhunt 2 may have been to digitally simulate a snuff film, but it is hard to take things seriously when the murders and victims are both so blocky they may as well have been rendered by a first-year art student at Devry. Normally their games are solid in spite of controversy because, despite my feelings on their arrogance, I do believe them to be talented storytellers. While there are some game-killing faults in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (the mandatory flying sequence, for example) it has an extremely well-told story, as do the others in the series.

No such luck with Manhunt 2 which ultimately shocks only in being so bland.

Gaming Trend Score

48

1. Graphics: 70
2. Audio: 90
3. Controls: 75
4. Gameplay: 20
5. Value/Replay: 10
6. OVERALL:48