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Manhunt (Xbox) Review
Gruesome themes and stealth play are what makes Manhunt an intriguing gaming experience. Those who have played the Playstation 2 version have taken a look at it from one of two different perspectives. On the one hand, you have some people who refuse to look beyond the bloody wrapper, and choose to degrade the game by citing only its darker qualities. On the other, you have the people who have looked deeper under the cover to find a deep and effective stealth game that does more than the average genre entry would Gruesome themes and stealth play are what makes Manhunt an intriguing gaming experience. Those who have played the Playstation 2 version have taken a look at it from one of two different perspectives. On the one hand, you have some people who refuse to look beyond the bloody wrapper, and choose to degrade the game by citing only its darker qualities. On the other, you have the people who have looked deeper under the cover to find a deep and effective stealth game that does more than the average genre entry would. For the sake of noting it, Manhunt is nowhere near as revolutionary as Grand Theft Auto 3 was when it was first released. For all those expecting Rockstar to break tremendous boundaries each time they make a game, you need to cool down. Rockstar has made an eerie and disturbing gaming experience that has pushed the buttons of many anti-game activists. Does it have enough of the “other” qualities to work in its defense? You can pretty much count on that. The premise of Manhunt isn’t entirely original, but it is a new twist on a commonly reissued tale of one man being hunted by another. If you are familiar with a famous short story titled The Most Dangerous Game, then this might feel quite familiar to you. In that story, a man was washed ashore on an island and was hunted by the island’s owner, for sport. In Manhunt you play a death row inmate, kidnapped from the jaws of death and placed in an even more horrifying position. The “director” has thrown you into an abandoned city and made you the starring role in his ultimate horror film. You play Cash, who against his will must fight through the city to finish the maniac’s film and find the “director” himself. Manhunt is one of those games where the story begins off being very nonexistent, serving only to progress the gameplay, but it picks up significantly towards the last half when the director’s motives become more and more clear.
 
Manhunt plays like most other stealth action games in the sense that you are given limited weaponry and placed into a position where stealth is the best option for survival. You will find most of the common stealth gameplay features, including the wall hug, radar and alert signs, but two of those have been given a shot of adrenaline. The radar no longer just tells you where the enemies are, but it shows you if they are at different elevations, and exactly when they are aware individually. The radar isn’t too forgiving though as it covers a much smaller area than most other games would. This adds to the tension. The alert signs are shown through the triangles that represent enemies. When you have a normal patrolling enemy walking about, their color will be yellow. When they are suspicious of something or are looking for you, then it will shine orange. When they are directly on your tail, it will be blood red, meaning you better run, or face them head on. Facing an enemy head on is usually a big mistake unless you have a better advantage weapons wise. An enemy can usually get more hits in than you can, and if you are outnumbered, forget it. Since the actually gunplay doesn’t come in until later, it isn’t recommended, and even then, stealth is usually the best option. The goal of the game is to reach the end of each mission, on your journey to find the director. In each level you are placed in the compromising situation of sneaking past numerous gangs that have been hired to die for the director and kill for him. Being a deathrow inmate yourself, both you and the gangs know, its kill or be killed and it will be done maliciously. The biggest controversy surrounding the game has been surrounding its sometimes extreme death sequences. While the early ones are pretty tame, ones used later in the game are cringe inducing. Normally if it was a small little perk, people wouldn’t mind, but the game’s most heavily emphasized feature surrounds it. The way you must get to the end of each level is by sneaking by and killing your enemies before they even know you are there. When they have their backs turned you must sneak up behind them and use the X or A button to slaughter your enemy. Depending on how long you hold the button down, the death scene will last longer and become much more gruesome. You will find many different weapons to use and all of them can be used in this same manner. It is important to note that while bludgeoning an enemy may be fun, you cannot always just leave the body there, so it is important to pick them up and hide them. To hide from your enemies you must hide behind walls, trash cans, and in the shadows so you can plan your move. If you by change are caught by an enemy, you can either run or fight them with your weapons. It is usually better to run.
 
Boss battles are usually Cash versus the various gang leaders he is pitted against and the game will take most people around ten to fifteen hours to complete. The menu’s have been set up DVD style so you can go back and play any completed level over again to acquire better rankings. Aside from that though, unless you have a fetish for beating the crap out of people, there isn’t much to go back for. A nice perk of getting the Xbox version of the game is that the controls are much more refined and comfortable, while the load times have become significantly shorter. Visually the game has improved a lot since its original Playstation 2 release. While the new PC version can easily edge this one out in terms of detail, the textures are still simply amazing. The Playstation 2 version never really made you feel part of the sprawling city you were running around in, but the new Xbox version does a great job at that. The framerate has been evened out to run at a perfect pace, slowing down only in areas where large environments are drawn. The sound quality of the game is as great as ever. The voice acting is chilling, especially from the director who is voiced by Hollywood movie veteran Brian Cox who was seen last as the villain in the massively popular X2: X-Men United. He provides a psychotic and disturbed feeling that only very capable actors can, and Rockstar was right for choosing him. Lets not forget, he did play a very good version of Hannibal Lector in the original version of Manhunter (no relation). The sound effects also provide a good feeling to the experience and when a loud noise goes off, you can surely expect an enemy to follow.
 
Manhunt is not a perfect game by any stretch. It does suffer from having a sometimes insane difficulty level that may push the more casual gamers away. It could have been longer and if it had a few more innovations for the genre, it could have been a perfect recommendation for a purchase. As it stands, Manhunt is simply a great game, and unless you are picky as hell, what more can you ask for?
Written by Joseph Bennett. Posted year 2004.
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Released on
April 20, 2004
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