Guess who’s back...

To begin, a small story – an insight into the usually clandestine world of magazine journalism, if you will. If you are a long-time reader of this fine tame, you may remember a scathing review of the original Manhunt back in issue ten. It received a well documented three out of ten, causing backlash from the forums and many a heated debate around the pub tables. Of course, that reviewer is absolutely entitled to his opinion and it’s as valid as any other, but that reviewer no longer works on game tm. In fact not a single member of our current editorial team (bar the returning Editor in Chief) worked on the magazine back on issue ten. And do you know what? The present team loves Manhunt – in fact one of our number recently referred to it as ‘the tensest videogame of all time.’ Quite a turnaround, we’re sure you’ll agree.

So that leaves us with a dilemma. Should we remain consistent and choose to ignore the impending sequel? Or do we wipe the slate clean and get as excited about Manhunt 2 as many of you surely already are? Well, you can probably tell the answer by the four-page spread that you find yourself waist deep in right now. Games tm is a Manhunt fan from here on. Please excuse our self-indulgence, but we felt it necessary to explain why:

Talking of wiping the slate clean, this is exactly what Rockstar is trying to do with Manhunt 2. The ludicrous notoriety surrounding the original drowned out its real achievements, a list of brilliant mechanical and atmospheric techniques that have gone on to influence not only the publisher’s own output but the genre as a whole. So, let us cease talk of Pakeerah and Thompson, of The Daily Mail and conservative outrage, let us discuss a provocative, intelligent and genuinely original sequel. Let us as they say move on.

Manhunt 2 tells the unfortunate story of Dr Daniel Lamb, a seemingly innocent scientist who finds himself embroiled in a nightmare of conspiracies and cover-ups. Six years before the game’s opening sequences, Lamb was hard at work on a top-secret weapons programme, one that used dangerous, mind-altering narcotics in order to inflict its damage inevitably, things go wrong – as we all know, you can’t work on a secret military project in a videogame without it eventually coming back to bite you in the face – and Lamb’s experiments begin to go away. In fact, ends up testing the drug on himself, a move that causes the scheme’s financial backer – the Project – to apprehend Lamb, lock him up and throw away the key.

Today, Daniel Lamb is a man of a fragile mind. Locked up in a private asylum among the kind of inmates even Hannibal Lector would find troubling, he has resigned himself to a life of misery. Until, that is, the day of the freak electrical storm, and the mildly contrived set up to Lamb’s escape. As the weather rages outside, a bolt of lightning causes the power to short. With no electricity, Lamb’s cell dorr unlocks, and the opportunity for emancipation presents itself. Obviously, roaming the corridors in a darkened container for the criminally insane is not a particularly safe business, so it’s up to Manhunt’s familiar and unfussy stealth mechanics to make a welcome return.

As before Manhunt 2 plays its game of hide-and-seek in the shadows. If you’re shrouded in darkness, you cannot be seen. In gaming terms, it’s this mechanic that is the truest source of controversy. Of those that had problems with the original, most fund fault in this – the suspension of disbelief required to accept standing an inch away from an enemy who cannot see you was too much for some. Of course, following the game’s instructions to dip the TV’s brightness helped immeasurably, but who needs game manuals anymore? Aware of this major criticism (one that, if you were prepared to let it, shattered the original’s atmosphere leading to some widely contrasting review scores). Rockstar London has incorporated a terrifying random element to the stealth. Now, even when covered by the security blanket of the shadows, there’s a slim chance any given enemy can spot you. It’s entirely random and happens only sporadically and means that you never feel safe.

If an enemy does spy you lurking in the dark, a brief QTE-style mini-game pops up on screen. Complete it successfully and your potential assailant will walk away. Fail, and you’re in big trouble, it adds another layer of dread and unbearable tension to the proceedings further adding to Manhunt’s bulging list of accomplishments. With all the nonsense surrounding the first game, there was little time to mention the wonderful sound design (BAFTA award winning, no less), the incredible, and perhaps Manhunt’s greatest achievement, the fact that it wasn’t fun to play, but remained thrilling nevertheless. It’s something that only a few games have ever managed successfully – Silent Hill being the prime example. Turning a corner in Manhunt is not something you greet with open arms as you do in, say, God of War or Zelda. In Manhunt, all you feel is dread, it’s what makes it brilliant. And it’s exactly why Manhunt 2 is shaping up so well.

The intension here is clear: to shock, to appal, to scare and to thrill. Everything has been ramped up considerably, from the brutality of the executions (still played out disconcerting camera angles) to the dark psychology. Where the original’s James Earl Cash, was forced into his actions by both circumstance and the vile director. Lionel Starkweather, Lamb is batting with his own psyche. A reluctant but able killer, he’s guided by the rather unpleasant Leo, a fellow inmate with a penchant for bloodlust. And it’s this Leo who acts as Manhunt 2’s interior monologue audibly urging Lamb to commit grisly acts of murder and provoking him to let go of his remaining threads of sanity.

As ever, Manhunt 2 is a fine example of single-minded design. Not keen to pander to current trends, next-gen technology or the mass market, Rockstar London, in conjunction with the great minds of Rockstar North, has created the game it wants to make. This is a gruesome exploration of the fragility of the human: an exercise in skin-tearing tension and (still) an active comment on videogame exploration. Time will tell if Manhunt 2 can recapture the originals engaging story and it’s grubby fascination with the seedy underbelly of urban Americana. One thing’s for sure, it’s not going to please everyone. And what great pieces of art do?

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