MANHUNT 2
Published by:
Ubisoft
Developed by:
Ubisoft
Montreal
Available on:
Xbox
360, Playstation 3
INTRODUCTION:
Here we go with Manhunt 2, the much ballyhooed sequel to 2003’s Gorefest, Manhunt. Original title, is it not? Anyway, in case you’ve been living under a rock for awhile, you know that Manhunt 2 has caused a LOT of controversy in the videogame world, most of it pointed towards Rockstar Studios, the game’s creators. Why all the hoopla? Well, Manhunt was released to be previewed and red flags went up all over the place- people said the game was simply way too brutal and too violent.
GAMEPLAY:
You see, you play as Daniel Lamb, a man who is escaping from
an insane asylum. You’re running from an evil group called The Project, a group
that seemingly tries to run people’s lives. It’s up to Daniel to fight for his
life by killing everyone around him before they kill him. And you do indeed have
to kill, kill and kill some more before the game is done. The whole game is
really based on how you can kill your enemies in the most brutal ways possible.
Flash forward to November 2007, after months of complaints,
the game is finally released. However unlike its predecessor, this one is
censored and toned down a bit by applying blur and grain effects to the kills to
take the oomph out of the violence. So, is there a good game under all of this
controversy? Read on to find out.
Well, the main appeal to this game is the way in which you
murder those who stand in your way, and Manhunt has plenty of ways to do
it. There’s a whole bunch of weapons that you kill with, ranging from real ones
like guns and knives to things you find like power tools and shards of glass,
other gross things like this. You also get the opportunity to kill people from
different planes, from up high and using certain context-sensitive kills. This
is generally pulled off pretty well on the Wii, as you use the Nunchuck and
Wiimote to bring the hammer down on your foes in as realistic a way as possible
(considering you’re holding two pieces of plastic). You have to get it right
though, or you’ll end up having to beat your opponent to death.
The death motions are neat and interactive, but you will
either feel very silly for virtually dropping a cinderblock on a foe’s head, or
feel sort of like a bad person for doing it. And unfortunately, the filters
slapped over the cut scenes really hurt the effectiveness of the whole thing.
You can’t really tell what’s going on, but you can guess after you see the
corpse of your fallen prey. Unfortunately for us though, the non-kill combat
you’ll stumble into often is frustrating and clunky, which really hurts the
game.
On top of this, you’ll get sick of the kills sort of quickly
due to the flashy and lame filters. Luckily though the game’s story is decent
enough, and although I figured it all out relatively quickly, you might be
interested for a bit longer than I was. Will that mean you’ll want to trudge
through level after level to find out what’s going to happen? I don’t think so,
but it doesn’t necessarily hurt.
This bad boy is atmospheric though, like the first one,
although enemies are dumber. Expect to hide in shadows a lot, and walk through a
lot of dark areas with your heart pounding. If you’re playing this alone, I bet
you’ll get a rush out of it. It’s a tense experience.
Gameplay: 6.5/10
GRAPHICS:
The graphics are decent enough, this one looking like about
1.5 times better than a Gamecube game, which is okay. The characters look
decent, and there’s lots of blood which animates well. The camera can be herky
jerky which gets annoying. The animation isn’t so hot, and certainly isn’t
ridiculously fluid. The filters we mentioned before really get in the way of
truly enjoying the game.
Graphics: 6.5/10
AUDIO:
Sound plays a huge part in this game and really is done well.
If you have a surround system, it really serves as a great companion piece
because you’ll need it to hear where your enemies are. There’s a ton of enemy
dialogue that’s well done, and each squish comes through in crystal clear glory.
Although the sounds may be vulgar and offensive, they’re well done and work very
well.
Audio: 8/10
FINAL VERDICT:
I doubt anyone would really play this game more than once
over, because of its heavy and ultra violent nature. It’s surprising to see this
released on a system like the Wii, given its family friendly nature. I got
through this game just fine, but I was really done with it by the time it was
over with. The overall effectiveness of the franchise has really been hurt by
the changes imposed on the game and I can’t say that I would recommend it
overall. Rent it if you’re hard up for a violence fix, but I’d recommend
sticking to the movies (Hostel or something) if you really want something nasty.
Final Score: 6.5/10
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