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LordKanti309's Manhunt 2 (PS2)

[January 14, 2008 05:06:59 PM]

Summary:

They make the story pretty unclear at the beginning, so I'm going to have to go by what I know so far. What I do know is that the main character, Daniel Lamb, is a man who went through an experiment, which failed and basically made him go insane. It never really expalins why you're sneaking around and killing a bunch of random people, but it's fun to actually kill them.

Gameplay:

The style of playing this game is based around sneaking. In order to get through each level, you must sneak up behind you enemies and brutally kill them without being seen or heard. If you are seen or heard, either fight and most likely die or run and hide in the shadows until the opponent is no longer suspisious. Later on, the game becomes more of a 3rd person shooter, although you still have to hide and sneak.

When I bought this game, I expected it to be like the first one, only better; unfortuantely, I was quite wrong. Many of the aspects of the first Manhunt were either taken out or greatly altered.

For starters, the AI was terrible. Once in awhile, the enemies couldn't see you out in the open, but they could see you if you were behind a wall and in shadows, even if you never made yourself noticed. Also, the enemies sometimes get stuck in corners and the only way to get them unstuck is by making them see you. Another problem is that the camerawork sucks really bad. The only way to adjust where you're looking is if you turn your character around or go into 1st person mode.

One of the biggest problems I had with this game was their kill sequences, which were originally considered to be too violent. To ensure that Manhunt 2 got a mature rating instead of adult only, they dumbed down the kills by making strange effects engage as you're killing your opponent, which greatly obscures your vision. Basically, you know what your character is doing to the enemy, you just cant see it clearly at all.

Although this game had many flaws, there were some cool aspects added to it as well. For example, they added gun executions, which is basically just a "stealth" kill with a gun. They also added environment kills, which basically uses the environment around you to kill people, such as toilets, manholes, or power boxes. You can also kill people by jumping off a roof on top of them. They also added many new weapons, such as a syringe, an axe, a stun baton, a buzzsaw, and more.

Manhunt 2 was a fun game, but I wouldn't suggest buying it. It was very lacking in many areas and felt a little disappointing. I would recommend playing the game, but if you were a fan of the first one, you will find this one to be a letdown.

Design:

What motivates people to play a game like this is the killing, hands down. After each level, there is no score and, in most cases,, you don't get to keep your weapons. The idea of killing a man by shoving his face in a toilet and beating his head with the back of the toilet is fascinating.

The way the levels are designed gives people plenty of space to move about and many places to hide, whether it's in the shadows or behind a wall. Short ledges are placed throughout to duck behind during shoot-outs and lights can be destroyed to provide more shadows to hide in.

Manhunt 2 is a really challenging game, even though the AI isn't up to speed. Even so, if you're spotted and unarmed, you're basically dead un less you can find shadows. Even then, if the enemy sees you go into the shadows, you remain unhidden.

The best word I could give for this game is unorthodox. It incorporated sneaking, shooting, fighting, and killing all in one. On top of that, there's no real reward for beating the game other than finding out the storyline. The only thing you can get out of this is both a lame ending and a and a fun, fictional killing experience.