Manhunt 2: A Foray into Pornographic Violence

You would normally think that in any game, even rated M, should a child walk in there is at least a part you can turn to where the kid won't find themselves looking upon something they really shouldn't. Be it a simple hallway, maybe a save point, anything that isn't the meat of what made the game rated M in the first place. In Resident Evil I could easily retreat to a safe room if, for any reason, company would be about and I'd rather they didn't see zombies tearing victims' stomachs out - but perhaps the thing that stands out most of all to me is that nothing in Manhunt 2 is "safe". There's never a time you can just turn the control pad and find yourself in an environment that's appropriate for anyone, or even acceptable for that matter.

I had resolved to play Manhunt 2 almost entirely because of the controversy surrounding it - the more outrageous the critics of a game are, the more likely I am to try it. I'd heard it all, Manhunt 2 will incite violence in its players, the game is dangerous, it'll lead to serial killers, people will mimic what they see on the screen and so on - and by and large I pretty much tossed these into the same bin of nonsense I toss all of them into. But as the game progressed, I began to feel a churning dread that this was something different - it's not simply fighting your way through an enemy base and throwing grenades which arbitrarily send limbs flying in an almost cartoon-like orgy of blood.

Nor are there any mitigating factors - you aren't living on the streets, you aren't involved in gang warfare, and the setting isn't cartoony in the least. Perhaps the easiest way to describe this game is to say that a player is thrown into the cruelest parts of the film 9mm starring Nicholas Cage. When you're not cutting open attendants in a mental institution, you're fighting your way through a BDSM strip club and fighting men in leather "gimp" masks from Pulp Fiction. All the while there is sporadic use of hard drugs, fetish based sexual overtones, and a sick "Project" hellbent on killing you and those around you.

Therefore, the violence in this isn't against zombies, it isn't against communists planning to nuke the world, there's almost nothing fictitious about this game, and while I don't believe it will breed a society of serial killers, it's not a game I'd allow just anyone to play. For one in typically good mental health, all would be well playing this game, but violence is achieved for the sake of cruel violence with zero situational mitigation. Unlike the game Soldier of Fortune where the obviously exaggerated violence is so blown out of proportion that you downright stop taking it seriously, people's limitations are real, and the manner in which they are killed is real.

Such example includes strangling a man with a telephone to the point that he passes out, and then beating him with its base. When you are done, you must retreat through the hardcore adult sex store, where you find a man getting a lap dance and must evade him, only to use your wrench to crush another man's skull. This is all of course after you fight your way through the adult movie theater, where two characters are very visibly having sex on the big screen.

Therefore I am inclined to treat this game much like a film - where I would let a 17 year old watch Kill Bill for the simple comedy of this highly exaggerated, live action cartoon, I would not be so inclined to let them watch 9mm, and such is the case with Manhunt 2.

But in terms of the game itself, the ridiculous quantities of violence are really its only salvation. If marketed as anything but an orgy of gore and inhumanity, it likely would have crumbled on the market - as the already slashed prices demonstrate. In terms of gameplay, it's simply a poorly designed game. The graphics are not up to par and are certainly unworthy of even the limited Nintendo Wii. It looks like a poor hybrid between the original Dynasty Warriors games and Grand Theft Auto 3 - which perhaps is beneficial to one's stomach.

The controls, likewise, are awkward. The game does not seem to have a clear focus outside of quickly moving from one "execution" to the next - where the right analogue stick is traditionally used to "look around", in this game it has adopted a whole new habit of seeming to do little more than sharpen the camera's glance diagonally away from the player. The angles themselves prove inhibiting, which creates something of a cluster when it comes to trying to carry out these "executions", especially if you're hiding in the shadows from someone you've alerted.

If it gets to the point that you have no hope but to stand and fight, the combat system appears to be an after thought. Rather than be an integral part of the game, it rather appears to be an after thought, as though Rockstar remembered midway through development that there was an option for players to not stealthily kill their opponents. To this end, you use the square button on a PlayStation 2 to punch the enemy (or swing your weapon), and the triangle button to block. Unfortunately, odds are that in this form of combat, without a wrench or baseball bat, you are going to simply be reloading your checkpoint very quickly. Only through acquiring firearms, which themselves are also poorly designed, do you really stand a chance in combat.

Most of the game has you trying to hide in the shadows, with an occasional, charged, execution in order to satiate the player - and it could be argued, I suppose, that the reason for the impeccable violence when you do kill someone is because the frustration levels you feel dodging between enemies creates a need to just bash something's skull with a crowbar, and fortunately you have both of those readily available.

I've heard Manhunt and its sequel described as "works of art" and "masterpieces", however the games accomplish little outside of their goal, which is to be an almost pornographic level of sadistic violence, interspersed with drug use, and sex. If the movie 9mm appealed to you, you may like Manhunt 2, but I would personally refrain from buying it until it's in the bargain bin, if only because the systems outside of typical "executions" were so poorly drawn up that the game becomes more of a burden to play than an enjoyment.

If you can call wedging a crowbar into someone's skull, twisting, and pulling enjoyment.