Manhunt 2 First Look Preview

There’s no doubting that Rockstar Games is the ‘coolest’ of all the game developers. Its deserved reputation as an edgy, controversial brand with an ear to the cultural pulse and an ability to produce must-have product has ensured that its games are as popular with hip non-gamers as with the youngsters lured in by the headline grabbing content.

The problem with being edgy is that to maintain your cool you keep having to move closer to the edge, and when your games are renowned for their violent content, that means upping the ante with every new product.

Which is exactly what Rockstar has done with Manhunt 2 – a game that, like its predecessor, rewards and encourages incredibly violent kills and revels in depicting them in glorious detail.

A website without age restrictions like Pro-G isn’t the place to go into too much detail, but you can bet that the gruesome meetings of knife, face, spine and pliers are likely to shock and astound even the most hardened fans of the ultra-violent, twisted and psychotic.

You can almost hear the rustling of paper and pencil as the people who will likely never play one moment of the game ready themselves to write a letter to their paper, lambasting Manhunt 2 for exposing children to unacceptable imagery, even though their own yelps of accusation are an admission of their irresponsible disregard for age-ratings.

Make no mistake; Manhunt 2 is a very adult game, with very adult themes and moments that are horrific in nature. The game is a sequel, though not of plot or character, but of concept and atmosphere. None of the original release’s characters or storyline elements return, but the twisted sense of terror and confusion is back and certainly isn’t for kids.

Exploring the torment of psychosis and institutionalisation, you play Danny Lamb, the innocent victim of a secret scientific project by the mysterious Dr. Pickman. The Doctor’s weapons project is shut down by the authorities, but Danny and Pickman go it alone, desperate to prove the worth of their work. Inevitably disaster strikes and Danny is sent to a mental health institution as a cover for the inexplicable effect on his wellbeing.

Incarcerated for 6 years alongside severely disturbed patients and victims of the Pickman Project, Danny becomes understandably confused by his own situation. On the night of an electrical storm that interferes with his prison’s security systems, Danny is given a chance to escape and claw back his sanity, and all the missing details that explain his current situation.

The opening level of the game, that picks up in Danny’s cell as the security fails, is essentially a tutorial, but quickly demonstrates both the kind of gameplay to be expected, and the level of graphic violence and disturbing imagery.

Slipping from your cell, the emphasis is immediately on stealth. In later levels some fast-paced gunplay does appear, but in general it seems that sneaking is the core mechanic in the game. As you tip-toe away from your cell, you must use the shadows to conceal yourself from other inmates that may draw the violent nurses to your presence. In one incident when Danny strays too close to a fellow inmate, he is treated to a generous spraying in the face with urine, and escaping around the corner he catches the final moments of a patient hanging himself, despite the cell doors being open and freedom staring the dying man in the face.

Triggered events of similarly disturbing nature pepper the entire game and, combined with the sneaking, add a tension and looming sense of fear that usually defines the survival horror genre. Manhunt is defiantly sound-up and lights-down gaming thanks to its twisted atmosphere, but it is the executions you carry out that make the bloody icing on this meaty cake.

Danny is a reluctant killer, but the violence that erupts in the institution that permeates the rest of the game means he has to resort to serial homicide as a matter of survival. As with the previous Manhunt, though there are standard kills, the executions are the mainstays of the game. Sneaking up behind your target, the time you hold the square button dictates the severity of your attack. Lifting your finger starts your attack, which sees the camera switch to a leering cutscene that details in close-up every moment of the murder you commit.

Again you must salvage weapons from the environment around you. The first you discover are one-use weapons, such as syringes and pens. It doesn’t take much imagination to work out how savage you would have to be to kill someone with a pen, but in case you aren’t of a psychotic mindset, Manhunt 2 lets you see just how nasty it would be. If the visuals alone weren’t enough, then some fantastic sound effects add a worrying realism to the killing.

A later level, set in the Honey Pot brothel, includes several of the new environmental execution points that were absent in the first game. These let the player use marked objects scattered around the levels to carry out horrific murders. Some of the delights demonstrated included strangling a brute with a telephone flex, and crushing a security guard’s skull into a highly charged fuse box.

Other new features for the series include the ability to climb and crawl, which while seemingly insignificant, should add a level of interaction absent in the previous game. Visually the game has improved, and even the unfinished code on display had some wonderful details and style.

With no details yet on the Wii version, other than the fact that it contains the same plot and characters, we will have to wait a while longer to see how the Wii-mote functions as a murder weapon.

Overall, it is the atmosphere of Manhunt 2 that should set it apart from other games that revisit the rather dated world of stealth. Changes in pace from the sneaking moments to the hasty gunplay sections keep you on your toes, and improved AI that compels guards to check the sanctuary provided by shadows means you can never let your guard down.

Yet it will be the nightmarish bloodshed that attracts all the attention. As you sit slack-jawed in morbid awe at the realistic shotgun wounds to the face or the creative use of a Biro as a murder weapon, it is all too easy to be distracted from the fact that Manhunt 2 looks like a fantastic game.