Manhunt

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Now I Have A Nail Gun!"

Not so long ago... I was a dead man. My last memory is of struggling to escape as my captors strapped me mercilessly to a cold hard table. It was there that I was going to die for my crimes and pay for my misdeeds. Rather than dying however I awoke here. Neither truly alive nor truly dead... I am now both the hunter and the hunted. In this nightmare of mine, the once clearly defined lines separating the two have blurred, leaving me terrified beyond all belief. Kill or be killed. Survival of the fittest... the laws of the jungle are at work now. Out there in the darkness are the men who would have my head in return for a bounty. To them, this is all just some game orchestrated by one sick puppy with a death fetish. It's this bastard that speaks to me through my headset... my kills are being filmed he says. God... his muttered desires of a gore drenched fame make even me, a convicted killer, want to gag.

There... quiet now... in the darkness before me! My next victim lays in wait! Facing the other way, his back is exposed and vulnerable... "just perfect" I think to myself. Carefully and deliberately I approach him, every step between us seems like an eternity in the making. The baseball bat, stained and bloodied from my previous prey is raised high above my head, eagerly anticipating the blow that is to come. Directly behind him now I stand, and still my presence has gone un-noticed. Fat and bloated from his own trailer park excesses, the white supremacist whose life I now own has just demonstrated to me that regardless of race, all men are born equally as damned. Swiftly now I swing my bat down across the back of his skull. As his head cracks under the heavy impact, I revel in the sickly warm feel of his blood as it splashes violently across my face... yes... he made a very satisfying thump indeed...

Fade to black...

It's with such explosive blunt forced trauma that Rockstar's controversial "classic" finally hits the Xbox. Bringing new meaning to the term "gratuitous violence", Manhunt certainly appears to be the self-same murder simulator that politicians have been warning parents about for years. Execution style killings abound then as players step into the shoes of convicted killer James Earl Cash with only one goal in mind... survival by any means necessary. Win or loose no matter what, you will be entering a whole new world of madness and depravity. Be warned, this is not a game for the wee ones. From the abundant usage of foul language to the gruesome little details evident when exposing brain matter to fresh air, virtually every aspect of Manhunt's presentation and gameplay is guaranteed to upset the delicately balanced sensibilities of society. That's right everyone, you can now officially fear for the future of our youth...

Upon starting a new game, players are given a few peaceful moments with which to become familiar with Manhunt's excellent controls. The analog system employed is perfectly tuned to make sneaking up on gang members a breeze while the ease of which said thugs can be dispatched execution style is truly astounding. By standing behind your prey and holding down the attack button, a number of increasingly violent executions can be performed. Simple in technique yet horrific in result, the cinema-style presentation of each slaying truly hammers home the full impact of the situation. Shards of glass are used to stab gang members in the eyes as sickles are brought to bear on unsuspecting genitals. If only my Mother could see me now! With some 15+ execution weapons and an impressive assortment of firearms to choose from, even the most violent players are sure to find their blood lust at least temporarily sated. And though the execution draw card may seem relatively simplistic in its... execution, that doesn't mean to say that Manhunt is lacking in other more advanced techniques.

Due to our leading man's poor fighting skills, players will want to spend most of their time lurking in the shadows... emerging only to drive a crowbar between someone's third and fourth vertebrae. There will inevitably be moments however when approaching an intended victim through stealth will prove to be impossible. And when this happens, it's time to get twisted and break out the mind games. If you're looking to get an enemy's attention, players can try tapping on a wall or throwing a bottle in the hope of distracting the AI... fairly typical sort of stuff really. It's lucky for us then that Rockstar have also taken this opportunity to have a bit of fun with this age old concept. Players who feel the need to indulge in a little decapitation action can hack off someone's head and attach it to their belt thereby giving themselves something far more interesting to throw at a later time! Or if that's too much for your stomach to bear, you may just want to leave a corpse in the open for a patrolling enemy to find. As it should be, the choice is always up to you...

That may be all well and good I hear you say, but where's the innovation? Where's the reason to feel excited? Fear not young one, for the best is yet to come. Further adding to the range of ways players can lure and entrap an enemy is the excellent Xbox Live headset support that Rockstar have thoughtfully included. Though it isn't absolutely essential to the Manhunt experience, players who do go to the effort of using one will find that their time spent in Carcer City is a whole lot more... umm... rewarding. By speaking into the headset, players can taunt the enemy AI into looking for them, thus adding a whole new dimension to the game. Need to cough? Need to sneeze? Well then, you had first better make sure that there is no one else around within earshot. Furthermore, the effect generated by having messages relayed to the player via the headset rather than the TV speakers is simply first class. And on the whole, makes the entire game that must more immersive.

In fact, throughout Manhunt's 20 stage challenge, players will find that both the background sound effects and those generated by the player's actions are an integral part of the overall experience. Whether you're quietly creeping down a dark alley way or simply exploring a rundown shopping center, every little sound that you make might mean the difference between life and death. Open that door gently and be careful where you step! After all, if they hear you coming they will no doubt take your head. Paranoia... this is a word to live by. Even with the background working against you, some consolation can be taken in the fact that the third person perspective offered gives players the widest possible view of their surroundings. And while much of it will inevitably be filled with the darkest of shadows, there should be no reason to go stumbling blindly through the challenge that is to come.

As a port of an older Playstation2 game, Manhunt manages to look surprisingly good. While they may not have taken full advantage of the Xbox, Rockstar have gone to great lengths in order to fuse each and every stage with just the right amount of social decay and disorder. Rubbish and old newspapers blow gently in the breeze as burnt old cars lay abandoned in the streets. If you can spare the time, then why not stop and read the graffiti strewn walls as well. To be sure, the decrepit nature of your surroundings is as oppressive and terrifying as the voice that whispers sweet nothings into your ear. Complimenting all this is a filter system that imbues the action with a grainy caught-on-film effect that is reminiscent of so many amateur videos. It's a creepy look that works wonderfully well within the confines of the game's theme! Surprisingly enough however, there are also several instances of slowdown that while annoying, do not detract from Manhunt's uniquely bleak charm. A small mercy to be sure...

If you think you know violence in video games, then you're probably yet to play Manhunt. Here is a game that makes everything you've experienced up until now look like child's play in comparison. For Manhunt not only plunges to new depths in its depiction of gratuitous violence, but it stops for a while to bugger the corpses of the recently deceased before continuing its journey downwards. Unlike some of its contemporaries however, Manhunt actually has the gameplay to entertain players long after its shock value has worn off. It's stealth action though simple in design is highly competent and the many different objectives given to players throughout the course of the game manage to keep things entertaining and fresh. Well, as fresh as you can get in a corpse filled environment at any rate. Manhunt is yet another excellent addition to Rockstar's already strong line up of Adults Only titles and is one game that is sure to appeal to players with a strong constitution. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to have to check your identification. Pre-pubescents and easily misled teens need not apply...

Pros
----
* The Adults Only content is ground breaking in its gruesomeness
* The excellent though simple stealth mechanics make it pick up and play friendly
* Rockstar have thoughtfully varied the action throughout with many interesting objectives
* With such a large range of weapons, players will always have a new stealth kill to check out
* There's a great variety of locales to be explored across Manhunt's 20 level challenge
* Each level is filled with a number of background objects that may work either for or against players
* The learning curve has been nicely balanced in order to gently ease players into the carnage
* Xbox Live headset support adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay
* Did I just see brains? The level of detail is at times disturbing

Cons
----
* Believe it or not, players can actually become desensitized to such high levels of violence
* Being a PS2 port, the graphics are not all that they could have been
* The slowdown is equally as baffling for the very same reason outlined above

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/11/04, Updated 05/19/04