 The ESRB really dropped the
ball when they gave Manhunt an "M" rating. They probably saw the little
note that it was by the same developer that made Grand Theft Auto 3 and
Vice City and must have assumed there would be more of the same in
Manhunt. Boy, were they wrong. Manhunt is the first and only game that I
know of that fits that crackpot David Grossman’s description of
videogames as being "murder simulators", because that is all you do in
Manhunt. You walk around and kill people in the most gruesome ways
imaginable. What is most disturbing about Manhunt is that you brutally
murder people with everyday objects, and you get a very clear view of
exactly how it is being done. I can just imagine that some kid is going
to play this game and then kill their little sister or best friend with
a plastic bag. Everything in the game is so realistic and it is so easy
to reproduce in the real world that I am absolutely serious when I say
that kids should absolutely not play this game.
 What is
most surprising about Manhunt is just how little attention it has
gotten. The Grand Theft Auto titles set off a media firestorm where even
ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption was blasting it for its mature theme.
Acclaim’s BMX XXX was banned outright by several retailers due to its
content. No one seems to care about Manhunt, despite the fact it is
potentially far more damaging to children than GTA 3 or BMX XXX ever
could have been. Even Wal-Mart, a store that has done everything
imaginable to shield its customers from boobs, bad words, gore, and
violence has Manhunt prominently displayed in their game case. It would
seem that a game where you do nothing but stab people in the back of the
head with a piece of glass or beat them to a pulp with a baseball bat
would grab the attention of the mainstream media, but it hasn’t happened
yet.
 When I
say kids shouldn’t play this game, I mean kids 16 and under–and anyone
else should be considered on a case-by-case basis. If you are mature
enough to handle the carnage featured in Manhunt, you’ll find a game
that is surprisingly fun even though it is pretty offensive. The
presentation is top notch and really draws you into the twisted world of
movies featuring murderers doing what they do best. The gameplay mostly
consists of stealthily executed surprise attacks, but there is quite a
bit of shooting involved as well. There are lots and lots of ways to
execute your victims and they are pretty impressive to watch. Not
everyone will enjoy this game; in fact, most people will probably be
turned away by the violence almost immediately. Horror fans will
definitely dig it, though. For people that can stomach it, the game is
fun enough that it is worth investing some time in if only to satisfy
your morbid curiosity.
 In
Manhunt, you play as James Earl Cash. He was supposed to have been
executed, but the lethal injection he was given only knocked him out.
When he wakes up, he is thrust into a sick game where he must kill or be
killed and so the manhunt begins. The person behind this horrible
scenario is known as Lionel Starkweather, a shady character who speaks
to Cash through an earpiece. Starkweather makes movies of real life
murder called snuff films, so the more gruesome the murders, the happier
it makes Starkweather. He promises Cash his freedom once he completes a
few scenes for his films and guides him around the levels so that there
can be a maximum number of executions. The story is interesting but
never rises beyond anything more than an excuse to add new, more
difficult enemies like SWAT teams into the mix and doesn’t ever come to
a very satisfying conclusion.
 The way
you execute the thugs patrolling each level is by walking up behind them
undetected and killing them with one of the many weapons that Cash will
find along the way. The weapons include plastic bags, baseball bats,
knives, several types of guns, and even a chainsaw. Each weapon can
perform three different executions, and the way you do them is by
walking up behind an enemy until Cash raises the weapon to the ready
position and then holding the X button until an onscreen cursor changes
from white to yellow to red depending on which execution you want to
perform. When Cash is in a gunfight with enemies, he automatically
targets their heads and they usually explode in a nice cloud of goo.
Manhunt will keep you playing for days on end simply because you’ll want
to see what executions each new weapon you pick up will do. Just about
the only thing you can’t do in Manhunt is beat someone to death with a
sack full of kittens, but what is included in the game is interesting to
say the least.
 A
majority of the game plays like the many other stealth action games
available where you can hide in the shadows and have to rely on surprise
attacks in order to advance through the level. If an enemy sees you, you
can simply run around a couple of corners and hide in the shadows and
they’ll stop looking for you. At which point you can sneak up behind
them and perform an execution. You can also lure enemies to your
location by tapping on the walls or throwing bricks or glass bottles in
order to get their attention. As long as you are in the shadows, they
won’t find you, and you can quietly sneak out and kill them while their
backs are turned. The last few hours of the game present you with more
powerful enemies that are packing guns, and the stealth gameplay is
pushed aside in favor of more straightforward gun battles. The
firefights get repetitive pretty quickly, though, and the more
stealth-oriented levels are a lot more fun for the most part.
 Manhunt
is also a rather scary game. It really feels like a perfect mix of
survival horror, stealth, and straight up action games. It is a
frightening feeling to be walking around the streets of this abandoned
town and know that there are people around every corner that want to
kill you. Even though you have radar so you know where nearby enemies
are, enemies will jump out from behind dumpsters and scare the crap out
of you. Everything about this game is meant to make you feel uneasy. On
many of the walls there will be messages written in blood that are
eerily relevant to your current situation. An example of this is early
in the game when you need a crowbar to break a lock and enter a room
that has "Here is your fucking crowbar" scrawled on the wall and you
only have just enough time to read it before the enemy rushes at you
from the shadows. It is sort of like Silent Hill or Clock Tower 3 in
that it tries to be as disturbing as possible, but what makes Manhunt
even scarier is that everything is so much more realistic. People are
trying to kill you, and you are trying to kill them, with realistic
weapons in a realistic setting. Absolutely horrifying.
 The game
takes place in a run down town called Carcer City where dilapidated
buildings and empty streets make up most of the scenery. The levels are
very linear and you are led from one thug to execute to the next with no
opportunity to choose a different path. However, the game is so
entertaining that you look forward to the executions enough that any
exploration would ruin the pacing of the game and kill the survival
horror atmosphere. Most of the levels are nothing more than alleyways or
buildings with quite a few big open areas thrown in for good measure.
You don’t have a lot of choice as to where to go next, but this is one
case where linear level design is a good thing.
 Graphically,
Manhunt is surprisingly good. You can tell it uses the GTA engine since
a lot of the buildings seem familiar and the character models have the
same sort of blurry looking faces on them, but it still looks very good.
Everything has a dark and dirty and gritty look to it that suits the
game very well. During executions, the screen changes to a sort of a
hidden camera view so you can see each execution the same way
Starkweather is seeing it, which is a nice touch. The blood and gore
looks very good as well.
 The
sound is every bit as good. The soundtrack is dramatic and well suited
to the game and builds and builds, as you get closer to your next
victim. The voice actors did an exceptional job and fit the characters
very well. The enemies say a lot of different things as they are
patrolling the levels, and if Cash is hiding in the shadows where they
can’t see him they will yell all sorts of insults at him to try and get
him to come out into the open. The presentation in Manhunt is truly
outstanding in terms of both the audio and visuals.
 Overall,
Manhunt is an excellent game if you can stomach it. Great stealth
gameplay combined with lots of weapons and impressively crafted
executions all wrapped up in some very advanced graphics and sound. Not
everyone will enjoy the disturbing content, though, so hopefully you
have figured out whether you’ll like it or not by what I have said in
this review. I just want to repeat what I said at the top of the review
one more time. Kids don’t need to play this game. It has very realistic
depictions of murder that kids don’t need to see and try to imitate, and
the dialogue is littered with enough swear words and references to
genitalia that I’m sure you don’t want your kids repeating it. If you
can handle it, Manhunt is worth a rental at the very least but the
15-hour game is fun enough to play through more than once so I think it
is a solid purchase.
Eric Qualls (12/13/2003) |
