Manhunt
review by Billion$Baby

Rockstar must be laughing their bloody socks off. I know that they recieved criticisms from some naive and quite frankly, tiresome do gooders over the immoral content of the Grand Theft Auto series (the franchise has even been censored or banned in some countries). So what did Rockstar do about it? Create the most violent (but also tongue in cheek) computer game ever released to date. A more than suitable form of revenge I think.

You play Cash, a convicted murderer who is merely drugged with tranquilisers at his execution and then recruited by a snuff film maker called Starkweather. The very simplistic plot merely sets up the oh so fun and oh so violent gameplay. Kill folks in the most violent ways possible with the weapons available in each area - plastic bags, glass shards, lengths of neck slicing wire, bats and sticks, crowbars, hammers, knives, machetes, pistols, sawn-off shotguns, sniper-rifles, sub-machine guns, and in the last level, even a chainsaw (I felt like Leatherface!).

There's nothing more fun than hiding behind a corner, only to suddenly pop out with your sawn-off and blow a hole straight through a surprised criminal or policeman face I can tell ya. And the games not bad either. Whilst this is a stealth game where the player usually has to sneak up on victims from behind to perform the moderate, violent or gruesome level kills, there are later levels where the use of guns provides a non-stop exciting game pace. Killing coppers, racist skinheads and the members of a heavily armed swat team were probably my favourite victims!

The game has two settings - fetish and hardcore. The fetish setting provides a radar (MGS style) for locating your prey whereas hardcore doesn't. If your prey sees you, they'll attack and call over others in the area. Having passed the fetish setting (with a measley 53/100 stars final score), I'm currently trying out hardcore (wow, those last 2 or 3 levels are gonna be hard!). I have to say that I'm enjoying the hardcore mode even more as it's a lot more un-nerving without radar assistance. There's four so-so bonus games to be unlocked in addition to the standard twenty levels and in terms of replayability, the later levels are very enticing indeed. The asylum, underground station and mansion locations were my favourites.

The graphics are very good. In fact, Manhunt uses the same graphics engine that's also being used in the GTA sequel to Vice City. Interestingly the makers of the game have added some SLIGHT graininess to play upon the fact that your character is supposedly taking place in a CCTV recorded event. In fact, the actual stealth kills (or executions as they're referred to) switch to a camcorder type effect with a recording icon in the corner of the screen. As was the case with the recent GTA titles, full-screen or widescreen television versions of the game are an option. It always pleases me to see that.

A very important factor in the success of the game is the excellent choice of Brian Cox as the snuff film director's voice. As you play, your ear-piece wearing character (and of course, us) will listen to Cox offering advice, and his very funny criticisms or cries of pleasure based upon your game performance. Manhunt's sound effects are excellent, in fact, these are quite often as or more disturbing than the actual kill footage (eg, the sound on that gruesome hammer kill). The game's John Carpenter like score and environment sounds add very nicely to the creepy ambience and it's a lot of fun to listen to the stuff that the gang members spout out. I especially loved hearing what the police and swat team members had to say when discovering dead bodies or finding themselves under attack.

Not only do I expect this title to shift as many units as Grand Theft Auto but I'm also expecting a sequel to be released. Rockstar have created another impressive franchise for all stealth or gore hounds out there. You know who you are! This is a horror fan's wet dream, I love this game!

BTW A word of warning for parents:

This 18 certificated game (or Mature in the US) is extremely violent. For example, one gruesome level kill shows your character quickly stabbing into a victim's eyes before finishing them off. You might not have a problem with that - after all, they're only polygon game characters so why should we give a stuff?

However please bear in mind that the game is also full of swearing. I dunno if you'd want to play this game in front of your kids when the "fuck" word features quite so heavily or where references to pot, amphetamines or crack cocaine are sometimes made. Personally I think it's great! But probably not when young children are around to hear it.