Manhunt 2.

[Brendan]

Forget all the drama. How does it play?

[TomChick]

Skip it. It's a bad game made even worse by the obscured executions, which means it's not even particularly titillating. It's also missing a fairly crucial element of the gameplay, which is the risk/reward dynamic of going for more gruesome executions. Since kills aren't scored, there is no reason not to just dispatch everyone as quickly and easily as possible.

-Tom

[malkav11]

I'd been wondering about that last bit - the first Manhunt had two incentives to do so: unlockables, and your need to show off for the cameras. (which latter was, I think, mostly notional. but it was still an incentive.) Manhunt 2 hasn't seemed to have any other than watching the gorier animation. Which is of course almost pointless on a censored copy.

Still, if you get the PSP version and run custom firmware on your PSP, you can remove the censorship filter on the executions (which doesn't completely decensor them, since they toned down the actual animation(s) in a couple of instances). Gamewise...it seems so far to be a lot like Manhunt, except with a few more options for stealth kills and more creative locations. And the aforementioned lack of reason to go for the higher level kills.

[DavidKaye]

Rented for the Wii. Holy god, what an appalling game. Stealth mechanics from ten years ago, awful plot with a 'twist' so heavy handed I kept waiting for the *real* twist to happen, and the censored executions make it completely pointless. Literally the worst game I have played all year.

[Sockpuppet]

I was a big fan of the original Manhunt, and had been looking forward to Manhunt 2. I picked it up for PS2 and finished it in about a week. I'd sort of put it up with something like "The Suffering" as a decent but not spectacular game that will give you your money's worth if (and I realize this is a big if) you were a fan of the original.

The stealth mechanic remains fun (if unbelievable), and I found myself thinking that Assassin's Creed might have benefitted from some of the use of lurking in and striking from the shadows. It's too bad that so much of the game descends into gunplay (although I did have fun blasting my way through factories, warehouses, and office buildings). In the first game, I really responded to the feeling of being the hunted, where every single encounter was life or death. In the sequel, the sensation is much more of being the hunter. I wasn't afraid of the bad guys - I felt kind of sorry for them for when they turned their back and I brained them with a toilet seat.

I have a lot of affection for the Manhunt license, and I got my money's worth out of the sequel. I think the key problem with this title is that the gameplay isn't good enough to justify playing the game if you don't like the subject matter. That is, your inner Mortal Kombat fan has to get a kick out of the prospect of using a leather-daddy's severed head as a hand puppet for you to get a return on your entertainment dollar.

If you don't dig on the splatter, then you'd probably get better stealth action out of Splinter Cell and better gunplay out of Max Payne. If you loved the first one, I think you'll probably enjoy this one, if you go into it willing to forgive a few flaws.

[malkav11]

See, I dunno. Splinter Cell et al certainly have more *complex* stealth, but that series in particular seems to me to be a constant start-stop of trial and error until I finally get past that little chunk of level and then screw up some more on the next. Whereas with Manhunt, I screw up and I'm not totally fucked - I can run around a bit, lose my pursuer, hide in a shadow until they've stopped searching, and then go gank them. There may not be that much to it, really, but I find it more fun and more satisfying. The splatter is just a bonus.

The gunplay I could have done without, though.

[Tom Ohle]

I'm another one in the "loved Manhunt" camp. I patiently ignored all of the BS surrounding Manhunt 2's release in hopes that I could get into the game with an untainted opinion. Having now played through about an hour of the sequel, I gotta say I'm fairly disappointed. As mentioned earlier, I'm not really scared in Manhunt 2 -- I don't feel like I have to hide, as it seems easier to kill a group of enemies if they spot you. The kills so far have been okay, but the filter that obscures the action sucks... I'm no bloodthirsty idiot, but the first one had some very satisfying gore.

I'm giving it some more playtime before I cement my opinion, but so far it's definitely not as enjoyable as the first.

[Sockpuppet]

Whereas with Manhunt, I screw up and I'm not totally fucked - I can run around a bit, lose my pursuer, hide in a shadow until they've stopped searching, and then go gank them.

One of the neat things that Manhunt 2 did was have the hunters actually search in the shadows for you, and you needed to pass a quicktime event in order to stay hidden. (They also upped the ante by having searchlights and helicopters and so forth sweeping the shadows so that in many levels you couldn't just stay put and wait it out, which I thought was really effective.)

For whatever reason, I'm terrible at QTE mechanics, so I frequently got busted in the shadows and dragged out to face my attackers. However, in that instant before he would start laying a beatdown, I'd have time to line up a headshot and blow his head off. Great bloody fun, but absolutely none of the sense of threat that made the first one so engaging.

[Cubit]

This is getting an AO PC release soon:

http://kotaku.com/5394298/ao+rated-manhunt-2-is-available-next-week

[sam and the firefly]

I have this on PSP, and while it's pretty impressive on the platform (like most Rockstar stuff) the game itself is kind of terrible. The fighting is way too easy, so it turns from a compelling stealth game into a boring brawler.

[malkav11]

This is getting an AO PC release soon:

http://kotaku.com/5394298/ao+rated-manhunt-2-is-available-next-week

What a bizarre decision - a 2 years late stealth port of a game everyone forgot about almost immediately. And thrown into the holiday grinder, too.

I'll probably investigate it - a legitimately uncensored version on the platform I wanted to play it on to begin with is nothing to sneeze at. But...jeez, you'd think they could have been a little more timely.

[Paul_cze]

They did the same thing with Bully. I wonder what are they thinking with this strategy.I bought Bully PC, but I suspect I am one of those 4 people that did.

[malkav11]

They did the same thing with Bully. I wonder what are they thinking with this strategy.I bought Bully PC, but I suspect I am one of those 4 people that did.

Bully wasn't the same situation. With Bully, they hyped up a storm about this new version that they were bringing to 360 and Wii with new minigames and such, and then as an afterthought it came out for PC a bit later. But that was a much smaller gap, more predictable (once you've done it on 360, it's a lot easier to bring to PC than it would be to go straight from PS2 to PC), and for a game that many, many people loved, including me.

No, I didn't buy the PC version, but that's because I played the original PS2 version to death and my experience with a rental of the 360 version (partly to see the new content, partly to get achievements) was less than positive and all accounts were the PC port was even shakier.

I have heard -nothing- about a PC version of Manhunt 2 before this. Hell, the size of this thread says something about how much attention people paid to the original release, I think.

[Paul_cze]

Okay, it wasn't completely the same, but still, similar.Releasing PC version 6 moths later after 360 and wii one and also completely without any hype, and thus condemning it to superlow sales.

Anyway.Who cares about Manhunt.I want my Gay Tony dammit.

[intruder]

Wasn't the only uncensored version a internet-released PSP version so far?
Think the other versions have some grainy filter that obscures executions.

I probably will buy the game if it is uncensored since I support free speech in games for adults and oppose censorship in any form!
If a "AO" rating doesn't ring the bells at parents buying it for their kids than they should ask themself if they are fit at paranting in general...

[malkav11]

Yeah. I think someone may have done a decensor on the PS2 version, too, eventually, but getting that to play would be trickier than doing it on PSP.

And a Rockstar-done decensor is the main reason I'm even interested in this. Fan decensoring removed the filter, but that's kind of a hack. (Note that AO games are not carried by most retailers, so this will almost certainly only be available online. Maybe not even through Steam, etc.)

[Omniscia]

(once you've done it on 360, it's a lot easier to bring to PC than it would be to go straight from PS2 to PC)

Tell that to the EA Sports folks.