Manhunt 2

"Is the portable version a let-down?"

Ah yes. A Manhunt game for the PSP. What more could you ask for? Ever since I got my PSP, I was dying for a game like Manhunt to be released on the PSP, and low and behold, our good ol' buddies at Rockstar Games, one of the best game makers ever, announced Manhunt 2 for the PS2, PSP and the Wii. Now, as you could probably imagine, I eagerly awaited the day I could pop the Manhunt 2 UMD into my PSP and play it until my battery ran out, then I'd just plug the PSP in to charge and I'd play it some more.

Well, it is indeed a good outing. Now, if you've played the PS2 version of Manhunt, you're getting essentially the same exact thing on the PSP. Storyline's the same, levels are the same and whatnot. The controls, however, have obviously been tweaked a bit to better suit the PSP's control scheme. For instance, instead of holding L1 to target the hunters, on the PSP, you must hold down L and R at the same time. Yeah, I know, it kinda sucks, and trust me, I've accidentally stepped out of the shadows while trying to target a hunter. It's annoying, but it's still not that bad. More than half the time, you can manage it just fine. Another tweak is you hold down the right and left buttons on the D-Pad to look to the right and left as opposed to the right analog stick for the PS2, and to be honest, I like it that way more. Pressing up on the D-Pad goes into first-person view, and holding down triangle and circle at the same time looks behind Danny, and the biggest problem with that is you can't really do that when you're running away from the hunters. It's just too big of a stretch to have to hold down triangle and circle while holding down X to keep running. But overall, the controls are pretty good.

The graphics are also very impressive for a hand-held. Sure, the character models and the environments have slightly less detail and color, but it's hardly noticeable unless you're really looking closely and observing the environments, which you probably won't be doing anyway. The weapons look good as well. The executions also look pretty good, and yes, the partial-censoring is on the PSP version as well, but you can still usually see what Danny's doing to his victim unless it's a quick execution. Like, once I performed an execution with a bat, and I literally couldn't see a damn thing I was doing, one because of the censoring, and two because it was too short. But I'd say 80% of the time, you can see what's happening, so no need to worry about that. Trust me when I say the censoring could be a LOT worse.

The sounds are also very good for the most part. The voice acting is just great for a hand-held. You can clearly hear everything the characters say and the killings sound great, too. Sometimes when you hit against the walls to distract the hunters, it sounds a bit muffled, but it's nothing to complain about. The music is very good, too, and really captures the feeling you're feeling. Like, when I was hiding from two hunters, the music was basically dictating how I felt, so the music is just great. But hey, this is Rockstar we're talking about, and Rockstar rarely if ever disappoints.

Bottom line, if you liked Manhunt for the PS2 and enjoyed Manhunt 2 for the PS2, you should enjoy the PSP version as well. It's a pleasant experience, even if it's a bit on the short side. It's still a good pick up and go type of game that I'm still playing, even though I've already beaten the game twice. The controls are simple to learn and are fairly easy to go from the PS2 to the PSP version and vice-versa without a lot of problems. I'd recommend this game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/07

Game Release: Manhunt 2 (US, 10/29/07)