MANHUNT 2 BANNED IN THE UK The Facts

WHATS HAPPENED?

The BBFC (Brittish Board of Film Classifications - the body that decides the age limits for films and videogames) has refused to give Manhunt 2 a rating. Effectively, it has been banned it will not appear on shop shelves in the UK. The original games has an 18 certificate from the BBFC so it can still be distributed and sold in this country to people over 18. The BBFC's American equivalent, the Entertainment Software Rating Board, has given Manhunt 2 and Adults Only rating. In line with it's policy on AO-rated games, Sony refused Rockstar a license to publish Manhunt 2 in the USA. Subsequently, developer Rockstar has decided to temporarily suspend release of the title in all countries.

WILL WE EVER GET TO PLAY IT?

Rockstar is entitled to appeal legally against the BBFC's decision. However, the press release issued by the BBFC following the announcement, paints a bleak picture for any kind of appeal. The release says "Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing" It goes on to say that Manhunt 2 features "sustained and cumulative casual sadism" and that the game gas a "focus on stalking and brutal slaying" with a "sheer lack of alternative pleasures on offer to the gamer".

WHAT DOES ROCKSTAR HAVE TO SAY?

Rockstar tells us that although it respects the BBFC's judgement, the developer "emphatically disagrees with this particular decision", Rockstar went on to defend Manhunt 2 by saying "the adult consumers who would play this game fully understand that it is fictional, interactive entertainment and nothing more".

HAS THIS HAPPENED BEFORE?

The only other game to be refused a rating was PC and PS1 game Carmageddon in 1997. Following an appeal under the Video Recordings Act, the game was eventually released with changes made to meet the demands of the BBFC. The human pedestrians you were encouraged to run down in Carmeggeddon were replaced by green-blooded zombies. However the BBFC feels that changes and cuts like this would not be possible in Manhunt 2.

WERE THEY RIGHT TO BAN?

OPS2's verdict on Manhunt 2 and the BBFC's refusal to rate it.

Censorship is a thorny and sensitive issue, and with tabloid media's incessant heralding of videogames as 'sick and evil' for so many spurious reasons, it's little wonder that the BBFC's decision to decline Manhunt 2 a rating has been surrounded by such a noisy outcry. However having played the game for several hours, we support the BBFC's decision. Developer Rockstar has long pushed the boundaries of gaming and game design. This time, however, it has taken a step too far, and in the wrong direction. The BBFC is not the enemy of videogames and it is not a political body. It is an independent organisation that is widely regarded to be very liberal in nature. Indeed, it has been a vocal supporter of the games industry in recent years, and it's 'banned' in 10 years. How many violent games has it allowed through during that period? Thousands.

AMERICAN PSYCHO

Many people have citied the SAW and Hostel movies while debating the Manhunt 2 issue, suggesting that if these films, with their ultra-violent content and brutal imagery, can escape the censors then surely Manhunt 2 should be permitted a release. The argument does not hold water. Yes, these films are shockingly brutal, but the horror is viewed largely from the perspective of the victims. In Manhunt 2 you control a psychopath and are offered dozens of different fashions in which to kill those standing in your way. What's more, the ways in which you kill off your enemies are not straightforward. We are not talking about a silenced pistol to the back of the head or a slit throat. There is a relentless, remorseless inventiveness to the killing. An example: armed with a pair of wire cutters, lead character Daniel Lamb sneaks up behind a man reaches behind the man's legs and cuts off his testicles; then, with testicles still attached to the wire cutters, repeatedly stabs the guy in the back until he's dead.

During our time playing the game we found it impossible to feel any attachment to Daniel or sympathy for him. And we detected no underlying intellectual comment such as you'll find with the Saw films or in similarly disturbing literature such as novel American Phycho - or, for that matter, the original Manhunt game.

ABSOLUTELY NOT

We believe the BBFC's decision stemmed from the way the whole game centers around killing in ways such as our example, with barely and relief from the slaughter. But what of freedom of choice, speech, of artistic expression? Abhorrent as the game may be, surely it is our right as adults to choose whether or not to play it? Sure, these democratic freedoms are certainly a mainstay of out society. But they are not absolutes.

HAVING PLAYED THE GAME WE CAN ONLY SUPPORT THE BBFC'S DECISION

I can't stand in the middle of a busy street preaching racial and religious hatred, but does that impair my right to free speech? If i drop my trousers in the middle of a busy street, defecate on the pavement and claim it as a peice of performance art, is my right to freedom of artistic expression being eroded when i get arrested? Of course not, and for the same reason i can't go into a shop and but a magazine containing child pornography. Society does not deem any of these things socially acceptable, and we all understand why.

HARMED AND DANGEROUS?

The BBFC's statement regarding it's decision ends "[The game's] availability, even if statutory confined to adults, would be unacceptable to the public." And this is a crux of the matter. Manhunt 2 would be unacceptable to the public, and the BBFC has a responsibility to the public. The usual critics of videogame would have lined up to use the game as yet another stick to beat us with - as gamers, as an industry and as an entertainment form. The BBFC also suggest both adults and minors. If it has been released, of course, those under 18 would not have been allowed to buy it, but it would be naive to think that game would not have been played by a significant number of under-18s rating or not.

Would the game have caused them 'harm'? Impossible to say, but I can tell you that the night after I played the game I experienced the most horrific of nightmares that included imagery directly related to what I'd seen the day before. And I'm 33. Finally and perhaps most importantly from our point of view: based on our hands-on experience of playing several of the game's levels during the latter stages of development, we don't think Manhunt 2 is actually a very good game, regardless of the nature of its content, as Andy explains below. Nick Ellis

How many of you were actually looking forward to playing Manhunt 2? I’m willing to bet the answer is 'fewer than you might think'. Sure, this is the most controversial title ever created, but that doesn't necessarily make it a game that will be greatly missed.

Having played a limited selection of stages from a pre-release build of manhunt 2, i think the BBFC's refusal to rate it will spare plenty of manhunt fans the disappointment of having their hopes shattered by a decidedly ordinary game.

Yes, the violence is more brutal and uncompromising than that of the original, but the game mechanics are still average at best. In the build I played, the stealth was sub-Splinter Cell, the AI was unbelievably dumb and there was far less of the menacing atmosphere that made the original such a hit.

In many ways it felt like brutal violence for brutal violence's sake and that isn't the foundation for a groundbreaking game.

No rating? Big deal. Andy Hartup