Manhunt 2 Rockstar prepares another gift to the tabloid press as Manhunt stalks back onto the scene.

Sequels are supposed to be the easy option. Manhunt 2, however, is likely to be anything but. Lost in amongst the mix of tabloid scandal, murder enquires and retails bans that accompanied the release of Rockstar's Original title was the fact that Manhunt was a supremely well-realised game, with solid play mechanics, genuinely edgy subject matter and a take on stealth the understood the need for adequate visual playback after all that creeping around. A demanding experience, it dared to explore a link between entertainment and violence that most other controversial, titles are happy to simply capitalise upon. Thought-provoking and often disturbing, Manhunt's distribution paid the price for its innovations. The big question for a sequel, therefore, is not how it will play, but how the developers expect to get it released in the first place?

Rockstar is understandably unwilling to enter into any kind of discussion on the subject, but judging by the game itself some escaped mental patients, and a sinister conspiracy that needs to be unravelled, the game has opted for a more traditional narrative, but one which may not serve the series’ psychological elements as well.

Watching one of Rockstar's developers play through the opening tutorial section, however, echoes of the original show through quickly. Opening with an asylum escape during a lighting storm, the main character Danny's heavy, apelike gait calls to mind James Earl Cash from the first Manhunt, and most of the on-screen furniture still looks familiar and functions the same way.

Stepping forward to a later level set in a brothel, Rockstar's promised elaborations become clear. There are four weapon sets this time around, ranging from one-shot-kills like syringes and pens through to distance weapons like shotguns. As ever, there's horrible creativity at work with the tools at your disposal, and the game flawlessly caters to your lowest instincts. It’s no surprise to discover that objects like pliers, needed to revel secret passages, can also be used in executions, with cartoonishly squeamish consequences - what should surprise is that you though to try them out in the first place.

Stealth also gets a slight overhaul with the limited ability to smash lights and make your own shadows to hide in. This plays a crucial role in Manhunt 2's big evolution luring enemies towards the new environmental executions. Set-peices in which goons are dispatched via open fuse boxes and toilet bowls, these moments are scripted but profoundly visceral.

What's remained unchanged, however, is the execution mechanic itself: a perfectly calibrated play on risk in which intensity of the execution depends on how long the enemy has been targeted. In many ways Manhunt's take on gratuity has always been deeply perverse - rewarding those with the patience to wait the longest before acting.

The narrative also seems to be as linear as the originals title's, but with room for each set-piece to play out differently given the player’s actions and AI that remains unpredictable in the good sense of the work. What's yet to be seen, though, is how the game will cope with losing the Director, whose disembodied ravings were such a large part of the ambience of the original Manhunt. It’s possible that without him, the sequel will lose much of that unique pressure cooker atmosphere and sense of claustrophobia. Although amiable psycho Leo Kasper performs a similar function, he provides less moral complication for the player to chew on, and the lack of a changed subject matter like snuff films seems to make the games content less thematically meaningful. Manhunt 2 will certainly make you tense - but it may not make you as uncomfortable.

The big question of how a game like this will play out on the Wii remains unanswered at this point. Although Rockstar is saying that the game will be essentially the same across all platforms, there's no real indicator yet of how the Remote and Nunchuck will feature in the version being developed by Rockstar Toronto. Environmental executions, such as strangling enemies with a phone cord, look like the obvious choices, yet, as with much of the Wii's current portfolio, Manhunt 2 runs the risk that, not being built for the console for the ground upwards, this most intriguing of propositions may fail to live up to it's potential.

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