Manhunt 2 review (PS2)

Those of you that read the site regularly may remember my frustration earlier this year at the horrific delay of Rock Band, but the insignificant six months pales in comparison to Manhunt 2’s UK release following it being banned for sale and finally reaching stores over here a year to the day after the rest of the world. That’s a long wait for a game on a platform that is surely nearing the end of its life, the PS2, and coming at the centre of a flood of highly anticipated games, it will need all of the notoriety it can get if it is to beat the slump in sales it would otherwise receive. Now we have it, and I’m really not sure what the fuss was about?

Unfortunately, I’m not only talking about the apparently ban-worthy violence but also about the gameplay itself which has really suffered by having a long game filled year to wait. In fact, crazily, the game reminds me very much of Metal Gear Solid, and the morality surrounding the various killings you can perform through the game is reinforced right from the start.

Leo and Danny

Through the game, you’ll take control of Leo Kasper and Daniel Lamb, with the main story following Danny’s past, and Leo seemingly egging you on to kill to get out of whatever trouble you find yourself in. It all begins in a mental hospital, as you break out, having been incarcerated for an as of yet unknown crime. As your memory returns and you revisit your past you will discover how the characters and their pasts are related in what could be considered a spoiler, but is so obvious that if anyone is surprised at the revelation, they’re probably not old enough to play the game.

It remains a worthy 18 rating, but you do feel like you are killing more as a reactionary necessity. People, known as Hunters (Manhunt, get it?) are trying to kill you, and any game that comes down to a decision of them or me really give better justification than what everyone is lead to believe about Manhunt 2. Leo certainly has psychotic tendencies, but when he is teaching you the basics of gameplay and instructs you to stab an orderly with a pen, Danny’s reluctance is brought out further by the fact that he vomits straight after the deed. Even close to the end when the main character is shown a video of a murder, we don’t see it, and he seems visibly shocked at the extent of the violence, so I don’t think the game can be accused of glorifying or ignoring the morality of murder.

That’s Graphic Violence

The game itself basically takes the form of stealth action (rather than a murder simulator). The best, and quite likeable parts of the game involve you finding a weapon, whether a one shot (leave it in the body afterwards) item such as a shard of glass, or perhaps an axe that you can reuse in an education on efficiency, then it’s best to hide in some shadows and wait for a Hunter to pass you, creep up behind him and hit the attack button to reduce your enemies by one.

The longer you hold down the button for, the more gruesome the death will be, although it achieves nothing beyond giving you a different animated sequence to watch, and with the crazy colours, visual effects and last gen graphics it’s hardly going to shock you. In fact, you could say that the game encourages you to simplify the kill, by having a quick tap death give you no risk of an enemy turning around.

Hear someone behind me?

Your onscreen radar (on the easier of the two difficulties) gives you an indicator of the noise you are making and the range that it will make you noticed by an enemy. The system is quite well designed so that you can deliberately cause noise if you want to attract someone off their path to investigate, upon which they may peer into the shadows and you will have to freeze (by hitting a couple of buttons at the same time) to avoid detection.

If there is something in the environment making a lot of noise, that is also indicated, and you can make more sound yourself, perhaps running behind foes without them becoming aware of you. Keeping hidden in the shadows makes it a rather tactical game for the most part, as you do not want to be outnumbered in hand to hand combat otherwise you won’t stand a chance. Unfortunately the game ignores its best feature by throwing some powerful guns into the mix some way through the game which essentially turns it into a poor cover system based run and gunner. Sure, you could still sneak around, even assassinating people with your new found firepower, but it’s easier and quicker to just shoot everyone as soon as you see them.

Faults, no not just murder

While completing the game doesn’t leave much incentive to go back, it does unlock an extra level (of which there are 16 well paced environments to get through) with an alternate ending. Strangely, your first completion gives you the better of the two endings, while the extra level gives more of a negative feel to the conclusion. Trying the game in the harder difficulty however has more advantages than just giving more life to this quickly aging game.

Because of the toughness of enemies, and unforgiving gunplay in the harder difficulty, it incentivises stealth far more, up to a necessary level which actually makes the game more unique and enjoyable. Sure, the story may seem to drag on a bit, but arguably that just gives a little more bang for your buck, especially with a lack of any unlockables or multiplayer. Manhunt 2 isn’t a bad game as such, and had a lot going for it, if it had been released in the PS2’s heyday. It wasn’t, and a year later, those polygons aren’t looking any smoother.