Controversial Video Game Classic! (Manhunt (PS2))

Member Name: mcicp19

Product:	Manhunt (PS2)
Date:	14/08/08 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliantly written, full of dark humour, closest thing to films like Saw and Hostel you can get.

Disadvantages: Will be too violent for some, others will not have the patience to sneak about so much.

Somewhere in America criminal James Earl Cash is waiting to receive the lethal injection on death row. The moment comes, he trys to fight it but cant break out his straps and sinks into the dreary darkness of the afterlife.

Or so he thinks! Cash wakes to the sound of a ear piece, in a sealed room. A voice comes through from a man at this point only referring to himself as 'the director' (we soon find out his name Starkweather), he tells cash he was only sedated but the whole world thinks he's dead, that if he just follows his instructions he'll be a free man before the night is out. Cash takes the earpiece and is then directed into what can only be described as a ghetto like neighbourhood, instructing him to sneak through the shadows and brutally murder every member of a gang know as 'The Hoods', using whatever he can find (with broken pieces of glass and plastic bags being the weapons of choice for the first level), while the director films everything for illegal 'snuff' videos.

Don't get me wrong this is NOT a game for the weak at heart or the easily offended. This is one of the most violent games you can find mixed in to stealth game at the level as such others like Splinter Cell. You have no hi-tek gadgets, just basic weapons (bricks, bottles, crowbars, hammers, baseball bats etc, with it moving on to firearms later into the game) to batter your enemy senceless with or use to misdirect them and skip past.

The main way to kill people is to sneak up behind then, wait for the targetting circle to go white, hold the button in till the circle changes colour depending on what you wish to do (white is a quick kill, yellow medium violence, and red for the most violent), release and watch as you kill another gang member.

The guns add another dimension to the game as once these are available you can use the free aim for head shots for quick kills, but of course your enemys come packing aswell.

There is a particular level near the end where you are in the grounds of a massive mansion, with a maze, graveyard etc and a whole lot of 'hunters' looking for you. The level is very dark (as is most of the game) which I used to my advantage to take out each one of my enemy one by one, either with head shots or the sneak kills, then picking up the bodies and hiding them so no-one was alerted to my presence. You don't have to do it that way, in fact you can get where you need to be on this level without having to kill alot of the enemys, get into the mansion and find a sniper rifle to take out any people you passed by in the gardens, it just shows that several levels can be completed in varying ways depending on your own choice.

The option of using the PS2's headset/mic combo brings a new level to the game, with Starkweathers instructions coming through the headset only and the user having to be very careful not to cough or speak into the mic for fear of alerting gang members to their presence.

There are 4 bonus games which can be unlocked by finishing the games normal levels with high scores, (execution like kills getting the highest) which are quite fun to play. I'll not spoil it for you what they are but I will say they are worth unlocking.

The controls are easy to use and shouldnt be a problem for most people, but I do warn you have patience the first time you are about to sneak up and execute someone, it does take alittle bit for the circle to change colour from white.

Many people will be put off by the violence, many wont have the patience to spend so long sneaking about in the shadows, but if your a fan of films like Saw or Hostel and you have the patience to play this sort of game then Manhunt is a must have!

Summary: Violent stealth classic