Manhunt 2 Can you play madness

CASE STUDY #1

Background: For Manhunt 2 Rockstar has gone back to the drawing board to create a new city, new character and new villains for you to tackle from the shadows. If rumours are right then Manhunt 2 was near complete more than a year ago, but was stripped back and rebuilt to ensure this tale of eye-gouging revenge plays just right on PSP.

Your new alter ego for Manhunt 2 Dr Daniel Lamb, a scientist involved in a radical drug therapy to cure the insane. Trouble is the good doc took it upon himself yo test out the drug, which, naturally went wrong. The result was madness and incarceration. Years later a freak lightening storm strikes the asylum housing Lamb and his fellow loonies, freeing them from their cells to run amok; maiming, murdering and playing with their own trouser dirt. Lamb, it seems, is on the lamb. He's running from the law which his mad dog sidekick Leo, a strange and violent character who eggs Lamb on to commit his horrific crimes. The once peaceful scientist is on the loose and on a mission to find out what went wrong all those years ago, with the aim to push a pen through the eye of the man who messed with his medicine.

Manhunt 2 is a journey into despair; the road to ruin for the good doctor as he proves the pen is mightier than the sword - at least when it's in the hands of a psycho.

Case Study #2

Field Study: They say it's always the quiet ones. Clearly Lamb wasn't born a nutter but the drugs he injected have caused some serious instabilities in his mind. His 'friend' Leo - a violent, forceful personality who teaches Lamb to murder - is always on hand to offer advice "Use the wire cutters," he mutters as Lamb chops the 'nads off a brothel guard before tearing out his spinal column.

Manhunt 2 is violent and brutally so. It's a bloody exploitation of our senses and a game that's sure to court as much controversy as it causes. The opening sequence as Lamb escapes his cage is a path of murder and mayhem. Syringes are plunged into necks and ballpoint pens puncture eyeballs. As which the original game the longer you spend stalking a target, walking behind them with Square depressed, the gorier the attack. From hasty kills to full blown surgery with office stationary, Manhunt 2 rewards patient players with some shocking graphic bursts of violence. Doctor Lamb has more options to slay his prey than Cash did in the original game with a number of new environmental kills on the menu. We caught sight of one in action as Lamb lured a thug to his position by smashing a room's lights. Once in range he leapt from the shadows and smashed his foe's face into an electrical junction box, delivering both a bludgeoning and frying as his head went up in flames. Earlier we'd witnessed Lamb choke a receptionist with a telephone cable, dragging the man's limp body around the office before stamping on his neck, just to make sure. It seems the quiet ones learn quickly.

CASE STUDY #3

Field Study: Lamb is adapting. The longer he stays on the loose the more violent he gets. Leo is advising him, offering a series of handy tips on how to use weapons as well as everyday objects to punish his perusers. We saw Lamb pick up a shotgun from a guard - possible a member of the CIA - who he'd assaulted at the Honey Pot brothel. The poor guy had taken a wrench full in the face his eyes falling from their sockets and blood splattering against the walls, But Lamb had no time to wallow in his conquest; he collected the shotgun and took it deeper into the Honey Pot. With a gun in hand he could move faster, his confidence soared and the game's pace accelerated. The stealthy stalking had suddenly been replaced with a rampage. That isn't to say Lamb wasn't capable of slowing down to take time over a kill. By sneaking up on a guard he was now able to stealth kill with a gun, again something Cash couldn't manage in the first Manhunt. Lamb tapped the guard on the shoulder to get his attention before taking his head off with a single shot. By now the quiet scientist was beginning to enjoy his new work. Was he becoming too used to violence? Was it the result of listening to the mysterious Leo who had followed him from the asylum.

CASE STUDY #4

Background Edit: Lamb remembers he used to work with a girl; a fellow scientist called Judy Perhaps they were in love with each other? They worked together at the Project, the secret institute that financed Lamb's research and encouraged his drug tests. Once out, Lamb begins to remember places where The Project operated including the Honey Pot brothel. Once inside it becomes evident that Judy is in the brothel and can answer his questions: what went wrong? Who tampered with the drugs? Why the secrecy? It also becomes clear that the Honey Pot is a front, a way for The Project to kidnap new guinea pigs for its experimental treatments. It's clear that more care is being taken with Manhunt's script. The original soon boiled down to an explosive romp through Cash's made-for-TV nightmare. Manhunt 2 is aiming to explore Lamb's desent from nice guy scientist to brutal killing machine.

CASE STUDY #5

Unresolved Issues: Despite it's unique style the original Manhunt had some serious failings for the stealth games - the controls were clumsy, missions poorly balanced and pacing was as random as the acts of violence you instigated. With Manhunt 2 the aim seems to be to develop everything: the controls have been simplified, levels appear more focused and the plotting aims to offer an deeper story. you will want to see just how far Rockstar is willing to push the censors. Doctors' orders are to keep an eye on this patient.