Review: Manhunt 2

EuroTrash

74%

The first thing I wanted from Manhunt was some insane gruesome killing and immediately I was busier than a three legged cat trying to bury shit on ice. If you want to see exactly how far a game can go this is where to begin. The game was rated adults only until they whittled it down to an acceptable level, but just barely.
   The controversy surrounding Manhunt is immense. The UK high court banned it. In an appeal Rockstar seemed to have won, but upon review the high court sent it back for a re-review by the appeals committee in an obvious "keep looking till you see things our way" power play. Perhaps there is some law against ridiculously blurred graphics that cause you to not have any clue what is going on? After all, under all that confusion could easily be an image of Diana's nude corpse being raped by a paparazzi or something. There is really no way to tell.
   Aside from the motion blur making me hate it the game was ok. The stealth play is some of the best since metal gear. The ability to pick up any object any use it as a weapon is endless fun. Imagine Dead Rising with much better graphics and game play, just that when you are about to hit someone with that baseball bat the graphics go out the window and you feel like someone branded a swastika directly onto you eyeball like the guy on the box.

Newton

79%

Can anyone explain the stupidity of this game to me? You create an ultra violent title, have spectacular death scenes (including tearing someones throat out with a wrench), and then bow to pressure and add in motion blur until you don't get an adults only rating. What the fuck is up with that? It's like making a hardcore porn movie and then putting black censored boxes over all the good bits until it is rated pg-13. If you think that would be remotely watchable then you would understand this game, but it is beyond me. It makes no sense.
   Games that are designed to be "shocking" absolutely need to be able to give the reviewers the finger when it comes time to be judged. You lose all artistic integrity by taking the violence out of your violent game. It's like when a cartoon infuriates some religious group into a violent frenzy, so we all throw up our PC beyotch hands and say "OMG we'll never do it again". The proper response would be to make an entire issue of the NY Times dedicated to the most vile and offensive cartoons we can imagine.
   Why the fuck didn't they make two versions, leaving one as Adults Only and pussifying the other one to get a Mature rating? Why am I, an adult, unable to buy the adult version of a game that is supposed to be shocking?

ComradePepp...

90%

I am fortunate enough to have experienced Manhunt 2 the way it was supposed to be -- without the stupid blur. The only way you can do this is on a hacked PSP. Just like Manhunt 1, you get to massacre your foes in the most brutal ways imaginable, but unfortunately, Manhunt 2 does not have a great story.
   The voice of Lionel Starkweather is missing and replaced with the annoying teenage Leo Casper who is not scary at all. The money-shots in the game are the violent kills, and I can't imagine how badly the censored version must suck with these taken out.
   In the uncensored version I got to see the impressive variety of executions. Not only do you do object executions, but you also get to do weapon ones and drop down kills. There is a saw, a katana, and my favorite the two handed battle axe that decapitated foes in one swing.
   Everything this game tries to do it does well. Several missions involve fast paced shooting. You can sneak up behind 3 guys walking in front of you; you pull of a handgun execution on one, then quickly blow the other 2 guys heads off and it's not hard to do. The game gave me a huge amount of entertainment and thrills. Unfortunately in the censored version everything is tainted by the huge ESRB blur reminding us that we are only allowed to see what our government allows us to see.