Manhunt 2 Preview

Amazingly, it has been four years since the tabloid controversy. Four years since Rockstar Games was accused of corrupting the nation’s innocent children with the story of James Earl Cash, a crazed director named Starkweather and a bloody, gory killing spree. Obviously the fact that the game was 18-rated made no difference to the red tops, which argued for its banning, but in whipping up such a media frenzy actually raised the game’s profile, increasing sales. Yet behind the furore, Rockstar North had crafted a genuinely mature “Mature” game, with reason and consequence to the slayings, and an adult atmosphere worlds away from the cartoon bloodshed of the GTA games.

Rockstar’s brand new division, Rockstar London, has taken over development of this sequel, but fans of the early game needn’t worry too much, as the original developer is overseeing the whol project. As is the Rockstar way, very little has been reveled about the game sofar, suffice to say it should play very similarly to the first game. This time taking control of amnesiac asylum inmate Daniel Lamb, it’s your job to take advantage of a power outage to escape your prison and find out how you got there. We’re in third-person stealth territory again, with the same killing process as the first game – each murder becomes more violent the longer you’ve spent standing behind the victim, as the cursor goes from white to yellow and finally red for the most gruesome executions. Added to the mix are new environmental-specific kills, which trigger more elaborate death sequences, for the more gratuitously violent players. Mean while, there’s added tension to remaining in the shadows, as certain enemies can now see you if they look in your direction long enough.

In this case, more of the same can’t possibly be a bad thing, though we’re concerned that without your lead being at the behast of a directorial madman, the executions will be killing of killings sake.

How complete? = 90% Excitement = 90%

Gorier certainly, but better? We hope so.

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