Gaming-Age Manhunt 2 Wii Review

Easily one of the most controversial games released this year, Manhunt has had quite a bit of unfavorable hype surrounding it for quite some time. Now that the game is reaching its release date this week, we finally get a chance to see how well everything came together.

The plot of Manhunt 2 isn't connected to the first title, and ends up being a sequel purely by theme and content. Instead, this one focuses on two characters, Danny and Leo, who share a history and begin the game together in the same situation by being stuck inside of a Prison/Asylum ward.

When the game begins, it places you in the control of Danny, and Leo acts as your tutorial guide, taking you thru the initial steps and basic controls of the game. A prison riot has broken out, which allows you to go free, and you've got to fight your way out of the prison to the outside world. In this opening sequence, you'll get acquainted with the basic controls, using the nunchuk to move about, and the remote to perform your basic melee attacks.

Once you pick up a weapon, then you'll enter into the real meat of the game, the flashy executions. This is also where the Wii version really stands out with the motion control element. Basically, if you have a weapon equipped, you can sneak up behind an unsuspecting enemy, and once you draw close enough your stance will change and a prompt to hit the A button will appear on the screen. Once you do, icons that signify what motion you'll need to make pop up, and once you act out those motions you'll perform a fairly gory kill on your unsuspecting victim. Each weapon requires its own set of movements, ranging from simple swiping motions to more drawn out procedures that do tend to capture the effect of what you're doing on screen.

This is also where most of the controversy for the game stems from, and where the most noticeable change arrives compared to how the game was initially made. The actual visuals for the kills take on a blurred effect, and instead of giving you an unobstructed view of the gory details, you'll just get a general idea for what's happening. Obviously people have issues with this, but if you actually watch the kills you'll notice that while there isn't a mass amount of blood splattering across the screen, you can still easily tell what's going on. The biggest problem I actually have with the Wii controls compared to the other versions is that they distract you from viewing the kills, because you're more concerned with whatever action you need to be making to pull them off. In the PS2 and PSP version, you merely need to hit the square button and then watch the execution happen, and if you're primarily interested in this part of the game, they might be the better versions for you.

The rest of the game plays in a similar fashion to the previous Manhunt. As you make your way thru each level, you'll try your best to stick to the shadows and use the element of surprise to take down your enemies. The game will force you to do this for the most part, because if you try to take on more than one enemy in hand-to-hand combat you most likely won't survive the encounter. On screen you're provided with a minimap that will show icons for nearby enemies, but these icons only become visible when they make noise. There are three different colors that represent different levels of awareness, which become useful when you're trying to lure someone in for a kill.

Manhunt 2 also uses a basic cover ability that allows you to creep along the side of a wall and peek out from around the corner (done in the Wii version by tilting the nunchuk to either side), and certain weapons will even allow you to pop out from around the corner and surprise an enemy with a quick execution. Also, skull icons will pop up on the minimap from time to time, which signify locations that you can perform environment kills, basically allowing you to use objects in the level to kill your opponents. These become particularly useful later on; because when you start each level you don't carry over any weapons you earned in the previous level.

The plot of Manhunt starts well enough, but about halfway thru I thought it really lost some steam. It does provide a couple twists along the way, but I suspect a lot of gamers will figure things out far in advance, and so the twists end up falling a bit flat. Because of this, and the overall repetitive nature of kills (you'll encounter the majority of what you're able to do halfway thru the game), the last part of Manhunt 2 really drags along.

As far as visuals go, the Wii and PS2 versions are nearly identical, but the PSP version looks surprisingly nice, especially when compared to the two GTA titles that have released on the platform. The character models are definitely made in the Rockstar mold, and they don't look much improved from the stuff we saw in Bully a year or so ago, but they hold up well. It would have been nice to get a widescreen mode tossed into the Wii version, and some upgraded textures, but the game is so dark and gritty that the downgraded visuals do add a bit to the overall atmosphere. The levels are all pretty varied, and while most of the early assets have featured some dark and gritty locations, you'll come across more varied settings like a movie/TV set, a business high rise, and a few other surprises.

The voiceover work is top notch, something we've all come to expect from Rockstar, and the little character interactions and quips that you'll pick up from enemies as you're sneaking around are just as well done as they were in the original Manhunt. There's a lot of really dark humor in the game, and there's some pretty funny pieces of dialogue that pop up. The music is pretty subdued throughout the title, and rightfully so. You might not be humming along to the tunes as you play, but everything fits the feel and mood of the game quite nicely.

I played thru the entire Wii version, and dabbled a bit into the PSP/PS2 versions. The biggest draw for most will be the controls, but while you might enjoy the added effect that mimicking the executions with the remote can bring, I found it a bit tiresome later on, and distracting from the visuals. Other than the executions, some sections of the game will require heavy use of guns, and you do gain a bit of an edge with targeting when it comes to the remote. Outside of these two things, the Wii controls don't bring a whole lot else to the table.

Obviously if you're a fan of the original, or most of the Rockstar titles, you'll probably end up enjoying the content of Manhunt 2. Obviously it won't be for everyone, but if you've been on the fence about trying it out, I'd say give it a go. All three titles are identical in story and content, and for the most part play the same way. They've done a good job of capturing a niche style of horror and putting it into a game, and the overall effect manages to walk a fine line between entertaining and disturbing.

Grade B Great

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