Manhunt 2

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Manhunt 2

"No one can stop us! WE'RE MOTHERFUCKING INVINCIBLE!" — Leo Kasper.

Protagonist(s):	Daniel Lamb Leo Kasper
Genre(s):	Third-person shooter Stealth Survival Horror Action
Rating(s):	ESRB: M (PS2/PSP/Wii)/AO (PC) BBFC: 18
Platform(s):	PlayStation 2 PlayStation Portable Wii Microsoft Windows
Release Date:	PlayStation 2 PlayStation Portable Nintendo Wii NA: October 29, 2007 EU: October 31, 2008 Microsoft Windows NA: November 6, 2009
Engine:	RenderWare
Developer(s):	Rockstar London
Publisher(s):	Rockstar Games
Country:	United States United Kingdom
Series:	Manhunt
Predecessor:	Manhunt

Manhunt 2 is a stealth-based survival horror video game developed by Rockstar London^[1] and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sequel to Manhunt (2003) and was released in North America on October 29, 2007 and in Europe on October 31, 2008.

Plot

The game follows Daniel Lamb, a mental patient suffering from amnesia as he tries to uncover his identity, and Leo Kasper, a sociopathic assassin who guides Daniel in his journey.

Good Qualities

Yet another thrilling survival horror experience brought by the creators of the Grand Theft Auto series.
There are Easter egg evidence that this game and the first Manhunt share the same continuity of the GTA (before the GTA IV reboot) and Bully franchises, such as taking place in recognizable locales and places that were mentioned in several GTA games.
Good plot, in a similar vein to Fight Club. It is convoluted on purpose: except for minor unanswered questions, everything will make sense near the end of the game.
Much more violent and gruesome than the first installment with better accuracy on violence, especially on the uncensored PC port, which is saying a lot.
Fluid controls and gameplay, a rather big step up from its predecessor.
Many new and more diverse weapons than in the first game, there are also plenty of improvised weapons like syringes and even pens to use for executions.
Blend between stealth and survival horror gameplay, much like its predecessor, relies on slow and intense stealth over constant action.
Each weapon has its own animation for stealth kills, and there are also more unique kills for each weapon.
Stealth kills come in three varieties depending on how long the weapon you are holding is charged. The longer it is charged, the more violent and brutal the kill is. Also, the game features environmental and jumping executions.
You can now use firearms to perform executions, even with a sniper rifle, a crossbow, or a flare gun!
You get to control two characters instead of one. Also, there are two endings as well.
It has a fantastic psychological and survival horror experience, especially as it goes deep into the psychology of Daniel and has a lot of intentionally creepy design, like with a film grain in plenty of parts and some horrifying music.
Good optimization.

Bad Qualities

The box art (shown here) is WAY too nightmarish, even for its target audiences. Though to be fair, it's scary enough to discourage kids from buying this game.
Manhunt 2 is way easier than the first Manhunt. Even the Insane mode is far from being difficult like Hardcore mode in the first game. This happens not because there are more checkpoints, but also because the enemy AI was downgraded and the levels are more linear and closed giving the player a safer path to follow.
- Sometimes the enemy AI is also broken. This is more notable on the level Domestic Disturbance: it is possible to finish the level without any kills because of flawed enemy AI. It seems that this level was rushed during development.
Originally, there would be innocent non-hostile NPCs through the levels, and the ending would be triggered based on how many such innocents the player killed or left alone. This feature was removed, presumably because of censorship, and many of these NPCs are restored only on the PC version in a few missions, like Red Light, Most Wanted and Domestic Disturbance.
In the console versions, the censorship filter is pretty annoying. This holds true for the one from the PC version, though it can be modded out of that version.
Some weapons are system-exclusive (such as the Mace from the Wii release) and cannot be found in the PC version, unless through modding.
The console and handheld versions of the game have notable changes due to censorship, such as:
- Removal of the style points system which would award the player these points depending on the different executions performed, time spent completing a level and difficulty played on.
- The maximum amount of style points a player could achieve is 5 points. This also makes the requirement to get at least 3 style points on each level in order to unlock Release Therapy level absent, and it will be unlocked anyway after completing the game.
- Some of the executions are heavily censored beyond the censorship filter, such as violent (yellow) and gruesome (red) variants of the katana executions for example, which would normally cut Hunter's head off when performed in the uncensored version on PC, but instead it just plays appropriate animation without doing so.
- Some of the original voice lines of Leo are absent during gameplay, such as telling the player to kill an enemy more violently and cheering on after certain kills.
- Fortunately, these are present in the PC version.
While the graphics are decent, they look pretty dated for a 2007 game.
The game is rather short, ranging between 4-5 hours to complete.
Similar to Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and MLB Power Pros 2008, it makes absolutely no sense why this game hasn't been released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, which is inexcusable for a game that came out in the late 2000s.
There are a few downgrades from the previous manhunt game such as:
- The dark and scary vibe atmosphere

Reception

Manhunt 2 received "mixed or average reviews", according to reviewer aggregator Metacritic. Positive reception came from the game's presentation of graphic violence and its psychological horror-based storyline. Mikel Reparaz from GamesRadar stated that "if you're in the mood for something creepy and horrific that'll leave you feeling a little dirty, Manhunt 2's still-shocking murders and eerie, is-it-real-or-am-I-just-insane storyline won't disappoint. Game Informer gave the Wii version of the game 7.75/10, saying "Manhunt 2 is every bit as grim and brutal as the first the writing, as is typical of Rockstar's games, is top-notch, and Daniel and the rest of the characters do come off the screen as very real and human. It's a testament to this quality that I was really driven to see the tale out to its end. Similarly, Nintendo Power gave the Wii version 7.5/10, stating that while the game does deliver for the most part, they were disappointed by the way external influences led Rockstar to change the game and that the story, while interesting, is "highly predictable". Yahoo! reviewed the PSP version, stating "There's simply never been a game quite as squeamishly immersive as this it's even more terrifying for seeming like the most real thing in a game this year.

Trivia

TBA

Videos

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↑ Additional work by Rockstar North and Rockstar Toronto. Ported to PlayStation Portable by Rockstar Leeds, and to Nintendo Wii by Rockstar Toronto.

[1] Additional work by Rockstar North and Rockstar Toronto. Ported to PlayStation Portable by Rockstar Leeds, and to Nintendo Wii by Rockstar Toronto.

[1]