There has been so much controversy surrounding this one title since its announcement. Whether it be a certain lawyer or senator, you probably have heard at least a little bit about the controversy by now. In case you have missed it. (Check earlier entries in this topic.) Manhunt 2 was rated AO for Adults Only, and Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all stated that they would refuse to License A.O. Titles. So to keep making the story short, they appealed the game with one execution removed and a filter placed over the rest of the gruesome deaths, in order to maintain an “M” rating.

Now, onto what I think of the game. Manhunt 2 is a good game, not super mega awesome, not stupid stinky lame-o! I feel like it does not live up to the controversy, but at the same time, if you are into horror games, or even the first one, give it a shot.

Manhunt 2 starts off with Daniel and Leon escaping from a asylum, and plotting there revenge against “The Project.” You mainly play as Danny but there are points in which you’ll play as Leon, other than that I won’t really get into much more plot wise except for below. The story has nothing to do with the original Manhunt, and thats for better or worse. For all the controversy surrounding the cold hearted nature of the 2nd game, I don’t really understand why its so bad. Once you get a little deeper into the story and see what is going on, it didn’t feel as dark as the first game did to me. Your main protagonist even vomits after he kills his first victim. He is more apologetic for all the wrong that he does, more than Cash ever was in the first. Granted, Cash did try to do the the right thing in a twisted kind of way towards the end. I am in no way condoning any of the violence that is being committed in the game, but I think that you guys probably get what I’m saying…. Right? With that being said, I can understand why people are getting so upset about this game. In the first five minutes of the game, they try really hard to basically shock you with the amount of tension your thrown into. There are some really dark ideas thrown into this game, if you are not into watching horror movies or the genre in and of itself, your probably not going to enjoy this. Also Unlike the first Manhunt, you are in larger environments that are somewhat more open in feeling.

The controls for Manhunt 2 are not to shabby in my opinion. One of the things that really are a step forward in the series to me, is the hand to hand combat. The original Manhunt was not very fun at all to punch someone if you had to. Due to this game being very sneaky it made allot of sense, but this game lets you punch by pushing the remote or nun chuck forward in a thrusting fashion. It is just much more enjoyable than the original ever was in that department. One of the Wii specific features is: When you are sneaking behind someone holding the b button down, a wii-mote or nunchuck gesture will appear at the top of the screen. Simply make the gesture to start the execution. When doing the kill, you may or may not be required to make several gestures before you have performed a complete execution. If you happen to mess up and miss on one of the gestures, your enemy still dies, but just not as horrifically as he could have. One of the things that hampers this experience is the fact that you really can’t tell what is going on during the execution. Once the kill is initiated a blurry filter is covering up the entire animation, making the kill less engaging than it would have been. It doesn’t completely ruin the experience, but it is annoying none the less. The more annoying part of the executions is the fact that depending on the level of the execution you perform, it will make the kill even more blurry and will last a second or 2 after the kill is over. The Gesture execution system is neat and doesn’t feel like the HAD to do it, it kind of adds to the game instead of just having to hit a button like the first one. The next Wii specific feature happens while you are hiding from your enemy, or they just want to investigate the area you are in. The screen will show your a circle and your cursor. The idea is to keep the cursor inside the circle to help control your breathing, all the while said circle is shrinking. It adds to the tension, especially if you have shaky hands as myself, or need to sneeze. Its a pretty cool idea to keep designed to keep you on your toes. One of the last few things I would like to talk about are the environmental executions. On you radar there will contain skulls, and if you can manage to pull off an execution there it will with a manhole lid, or a toilet, whatever is around you at the time. This system adds some neat scripted events, but it isn’t mandatory to the series in any way…… But, I’m glad its in there none the less. I almost forgot….. The gun controls! Once you find a gun you can press b to fire and c or c +z to aim. The aiming in Manhunt 2 takes a little to get used to, they seemed to adopted a kinda weird aiming idea. if you just hold c to aim its a little slower to move your reticule and you can’t move the screen up and down. Hold c + z and you cursor not only moves faster, but it moves the screen around allot better. If you get a sniper rifle just zoom in with the analog stick, no pushing the remote towards the screen required.

Cons:

Throughout my playtime with the game there have been a few issues with it. Lets say that you have two enemies in a line. If you walk up to the last in line and perform an execution, the guy in front of the line doesn’t seem to notice, at least on a couple occasions. There have also been a few times where the gun cursor seemed to kind of “wig out,” for whatever reason. Though this problem really was infrequent, it was a real annoyance when it did occur. This may be seen as nit-picking but, early on in the game you are told that you can smash some lights to create shadows to hide in, I was really disappointed when I found out that I couldn’t shoot out some ceiling or wall lights later on to make the room darker. It seems that only specific light sources are able to be destroyed. I also don’t think that the game is as tense and atmospheric as the first one was. The filtered Executions are also a bit of a bummer, but at least we can play the game now, right? Manhunt 2 seems to be easier than the first one was.

Pros:

I like the fact that the game still has some of the things that made it memorable the first time. Manhunt 2 does have a some tense moments, and the Wii-specific features are a nice addition to the series. I also like the fact that they put allot of shock effort in to the first 5 or 10 minutes of the game. If you didn’t know what you were in for when you bought it, you will know very quickly.
The hand to hand combat is soooooooooo much better than the first time around, you still don’t want to fist fight everyone, but you cry if you have to. Using the Wii-mote as a pointer is a lot better for gun play than the right analog stick was. Blood that hits Danny stays on him for a little while, not necessary but nice to have. I think the game looks a little better than the first one, also Daniel just seems to get around a bit better.

Conclusion:

Overall this game is not in any way, shape, or form horribly in my opinion. If you are into stealth games, Horror games, or the prequel you may want to check it out. Manhunt 2 seems to have its problems, but I won’t be ashamed to display it on my shelf.

(Note: User review by Infendo forum’s FnbyDstryr)

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