| Manhunt 2 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Rockstar North (overseeing development) Rockstar London (PlayStation 2, PC) Rockstar Leeds (PSP) Rockstar Toronto (Wii) Rockstar Vienna (former developer)[1] |
| Publisher(s) | Rockstar Games |
| Designer(s) | Christian Cantamessa |
| Series | Manhunt |
| Engine | RenderWare |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | NA October 29, 2007[2] UK October 31, 2008[3] NA November 6, 2009 (PC) |
| Genre(s) | Action, stealth, psychological, survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | Optical disc |
Manhunt 2 is an action/adventure video game developed by Rockstar Games and the sequel to 2003's Manhunt. The game was released in North America for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii on October 29, 2007.
Originally scheduled for release in July, it was suspended by Take-Two due to a rating rejection in the United Kingdom, Italy and Ireland and an AO rating in the United States.[7] Rockstar eventually submitted a modified version of the game, which was re-rated with an M by the ESRB and allowed for an October 29 release date in North America.[6][8][9]
Contents |
During a severe lightning storm, the security systems at the Dixmor Asylum for the Criminally Insane go offline, allowing inmates Daniel Lamb (Ptolemy Slocum) and Leo Kasper (Holter Graham) to escape. Daniel is disoriented and amnesiac, unable to remember anything about himself. Under Leo's guidance, he makes his way back to the ruins of his old home, which is located nearby. Inside, Daniel recovers drugs which help to clear his head, and discovers hints about the details of his former life. He and Leo follow a series of clues to unravel the secrets of Daniel's past, killing anyone who interferes; along the way, they are pursued by bounty hunters and agents of a mysterious organization called "the Project".
As the plot unfolds, Daniel learns that he was once a scientist in the employ of the "Pickman Project", a government-sponsored weapons program involving brainwashing and mind control techniques. The Project's goal was to create the perfect assassin; to accomplish this, they developed the "Pickman Bridge", a brain implant containing the personality of a ruthless killer which could be activated on command. In theory, the two personalities would coexist in the same mind and would be completely unaware of each other, allowing the assassin to be remotely triggered, carry out his mission, and then revert back to normal; this would leave the subject with no memory of the killing, meaning they would show no signs of guilt, and would effectively be immune to interrogation.
While searching for Dr. Whyte (Linda Orth Pallavincini), a Project researcher and one of Daniel's former coworkers, Daniel and Leo are ambushed and sedated. Daniel wakes up in a room with Whyte, who reveals the whole truth to him. Six years ago, Daniel volunteered to be implanted with the Pickman Bridge, hoping that the resulting payoff from the Project's work would allow him to clear his family's debts and provide them with a financially secure future. However, the Bridge malfunctioned soon after it was implanted, causing Daniel to suffer from dissociative identity disorder, resulting in him being able to directly communicate with the "assassin" personality—Leo—whom Daniel perceives as a real person. Furthermore, Leo is dangerously unstable, and has been working against Daniel from the very beginning; after the implant went haywire, Leo—in Daniel's body—went on a rampage across the city of Cottonmouth, murdering police officers and members of the Project, destroying the Project's records of Daniel and himself, and finally making his way to the Lamb household where he killed Daniel's wife, all for the purpose of weakening Daniel's grip on reality so that Leo could take complete control of his mind. Afterward, to cover up Leo's killing spree, the Project erased Daniel's memory, torched his house, and had Daniel committed to Dixmor, where they had been working to study the effects of the implant and repair the damage, without success.
The game's final level is a surreal, introspective experience where Daniel enters a deep hypnotic state and faces off against Leo within the confines of his own mind. Daniel is able to let go of the guilt he feels over his wife's death, allowing him to "kill" Leo once and for all. Daniel awakes on a deserted road with his memory erased once more; he is left with an envelope informing him that his name is "David Joiner", providing him with a new home address in San Fierro and wishing him luck. Daniel briefly hesitates before walking down the road and toward his future. An alternate ending portrays these events from Leo's perspective, in which he is able to defeat Daniel and wakes up in full control of Lamb's body.
Manhunt 2 entered development in 2004 at Rockstar Games' Vienna studio with a PSP port entering development shortly after at Rockstar Games' Leeds studio.[1] In 2006, Rockstar Vienna was closed by Rockstar and main development of the game was handed to the London studio. A little while later, Rockstar Games' Toronto studio was tasked with developing a Nintendo Wii version.
On June 19, 2007, the game received an ESRB rating of Adults Only, effectively blocking the game from being sold in the US, with the UK ratings board BBFC preventing it from being sold. As a result, Rockstar was forced to censor the game in order to get a Mature rating. In August 2007, Rockstar submitted a censored version of the game to the ESRB and received a Mature rating allowing the game to be sold in the US. This modified version was again rejected by the BBFC;[10] Rockstar won its appeal against this rejection on December 10, 2007,[11] but the BBFC challenged that decision through the courts.[12]
On January 25, 2008, the BBFC won their case in the High Court that the game had been approved for release on a misinterpretation of the law. The VAC, however, approved the game for release a second time on March 14[13] and the game was released on October 31, 2008 in the United Kingdom,[3] a year after the game was released in the US. The original, unedited version remains banned in the UK.[14]
Five voice actors were confirmed to have recorded dialogue for the game. Even though two of them chose to remain anonymous, the third voice actor James Urbaniak publicly announced it on his blog on March 16, 2006, only to remove it days later. Of the other two voice actors said to have recorded dialogue for the game, one of them also recorded dialogue for the original Manhunt, like Urbaniak.[15]
On October 31, 2009, Rockstar started taking pre-orders for a PC version of the game. The PC version was released on November 6, 2009 with an AO rating from the ESRB.[16]
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | 67%[17] (PS2) 69%[18] (PSP) 62% (Wii) |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | D+[19] |
| Game Informer | 7.75/10[20] (Wii) |
| GamesMaster | 88% (Wii) |
| GameSpot | 7.5/10 (PS2) 7.5/10[21] (PSP) 7.0/10[22] (Wii) |
| IGN | 7.5/10[23] (PS2) 7.5/10[24] (PSP) 7.7/10[25] (Wii) |
| Official PlayStation Magazine (US) | 80% (PS2) |
| Play Magazine | 82% (PS2) |
| PSM3 | 83% (PS2) |
| X-Play | 2/5[26] (Wii) |
Manhunt 2 was met with mixed to fair reviews. 1UP.com stated that "really, the game warrants a 4 [out of 10] because it's technically playable and, despite its best efforts, probably won't plunge the industry into a period of navel-gazing and political sanction. Everything else about it is largely forgettable."[27] Gamespot said the game's "not as shocking as you'd expect, but Manhunt 2 still satisfies your primal instincts." IGN declared that "Manhunt 2 isn't the tour de force title that will grab your attention and keep you there like the first one did." The review went on to state that "the AI doesn't feel as good as the first game, the setting and environments don't feel as menacing, and the story is definitely weaker. That isn't to say that Manhunt 2 isn't a good game, because it is."
GamesRadar reviewed "if you're in the mood for something creepy and horrific that'll leave you feeling a little dirty, Manhunt 2's still-shocking murders and eerie, is-it-real-or-am-I-just-insane storyline won't disappoint."[28] Game Informer gave the Wii version of the game 7.75/10,[20] saying "Manhunt 2 is every bit as grim and brutal as the first... the writing, as is typical of Rockstar's games, is top-notch, and Daniel and the rest of the characters do come off the screen as very real and human. ... It's a testament to this quality that I was really driven to see the tale out to its end."
Similarly, Nintendo Power gave the Wii version 7.5/10, stating that while the game does deliver for the most part, they were disappointed by the way external influences led Rockstar to change the game, and that the story, while interesting, is "highly predictable." They did praise the game's audio and uses of the Wii Remote. X-Play suggested that the game would be "nothing more than obscure footnote in Rockstar’s history".[26] Yahoo! reviewed the PSP version, saying "there's simply never been a game quite as squeamishly immersive as this... it's even more terrifying for seeming like the most real thing in a game this year."[29]
Following Manhunt 2's announcement, former attorney Jack Thompson promised to file suit to block the sale of Manhunt 2 and Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV. Take-Two petitioned U.S. District Court, SD FL to block Thompson's pending lawsuit.[30] Thompson immediately filed a counter-suit, accusing Take-Two and various other prominent game media outlets of racketeering.[31] The dispute was later settled: Thompson agreed to not sue or threaten to sue to block sale or distribution of any game published by Take-Two. In turn, Take-Two agreed to drop a prior suit accusing Thompson of contempt-of-court in a previous suit over Take-Two's Bully.[32]
In a letter to Wendy's CEO Kerrii Anderson, Thompson demanded that the restaurant drop an upcoming promotion featuring children's toys designed after the Wii games Excite Truck, Wii Sports and Super Mario Galaxy because Manhunt 2 was scheduled for release on the console. An excerpt from Thompson's letter states: "Dave Thomas never would have tolerated the use of Wendy’s good name to promote Nintendo’s Wii, not with this game available on the Wii platform."[33] Particular controversy was repeatedly heaped upon the Wii version of the game due to the console's highly immersive nature, with certain gaming sites that had a hands-on preview of the game reporting that Manhunt 2 used the Wii Remote in an interactive manner; for instance, in order to stab someone in the game the player would have to flick the Wii Remote forward, in much the same fashion one would do when actually stabbing with a knife.[34][35]
A method that removed the game's censoring code of the M rated PSP and PS2 version thus restoring parts of the AO state was released by a group of PSP crackers.[36] ESRB commented on this crack stating that it was not Rockstar's fault that this occurred and stuck with the M rating.[37] Later, it was discovered the same method also works on the Wii version of the game.[38]
In September 2007, an uncensored PAL PS2 copy of the game was leaked onto the internet[39] by an employee of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, who was later fired.[40]
In 2009, a fully uncensored version carrying an AO rating was officially released for PC download from Direct2Drive.[41] However, the game was later removed from the service after Direct2Drive was acquired by Gamefly, due to Gamefly's policy of not carrying AO-rated games.[42]
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