Manhunt (video game)

This article is about the 2003 Rockstar game, for the two DOS adventure games by Sierra Online please see Manhunter: New York and Manhunter 2: San Francisco.

Manhunt
Developer(s)	Rockstar North
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows
Release	November 18, 2003 (PS2) April 20, 2004 (Xbox & PC)
Genre(s)	Action, Survival horror, Psychological horror, Stealth game
Mode(s)	Single player

Manhunt is a controversial third-person video game released by Rockstar Games in November, 2003. Generally well received by critics, the game created a media frenzy on release, was banned in several countries and was blamed by media as a cause in a UK murder investigation, though police stated it was the victim who owned a copy of the game, not the murderer, and was not connected in any way. The sequel, Manhunt 2, was postponed indefinitely after the ESRB rated the game as Adult-Only.

Synopsis

Plot

The story revolves around a man on Death Row named James Earl Cash, sentenced to death by lethal injection due to a grievous crime, the nature of which is never explained. An exceedingly wealthy former Hollywood director named Starkweather, who runs a seedy community in an impoverished town named Carcer City, bribes the doctors to inject Cash with a powerful sedative instead.

The Director, as he likes to call himself, creates and distributes snuff films through a company named Valiant Video Enterprises. He sets up Cash as his latest star using the corrupt Carcer City police force, as well as his personal "Cerberus" guards, to corral Cash into butchering Carcer's local gangs on camera to make violent, visceral, underground snuff films.

Gangs

File:Manhunt3.jpg

The Smilies

There are five gangs encountered during the course of the game, as well as the corrupt police force and the Cerberus, the director's elite bodyguard. According to an unlockable survival bonus round, the Hoods, Skinz, and Innocentz hate each other.

• The Hoods: Street thugs and off-duty police officers that usually use baseball bats, crowbars and clubs as weapons. Some of them wear hoods, and they also wear jackets and sport coats. The Hoods are the first gang Cash encounters.

• The Skinz: A gang comprised of white supremacists, they are out to get Cash because they believe that he is of mixed race. They are armed with knives, nail guns, and baseball bats and are found throughout the junkyard. The Skinz either wear hockey masks, masks with the Confederate flag on them, or have the word "Skinz" tattooed on their head.

• The Wardogs: A group of military veterans. They are outfitted in camouflage, some wear C.I.A. caps, and carry tranquilizer rifles, revolvers, machetes and knives. They are found throughout the zoo, and later in the game armed with shotguns and sniper rifles in the apartment building. Ramirez, their leader, is one of the Director's top lieutenants.

• The Innocentz: A gang located in the shopping mall and various other parts of the city. They are the first gang encountered who use sawed off shotguns, but are also armed with knives, hatchets, and sickles. The Innocentz have two different types of gang members: the Skullyz, a group of mostly-latino Peyote users who wear masks and hooded sweaters, and the Babyfaces, who are fat and wear porcelain doll masks.

• The Smilies: A gang of truly insane inmates suffering from Psychosis. They wear yellow smiley face masks, usually with things such as "Kill" and "Please stop me" scrawled messily across them. They are covered in tattoos and sometimes wear blouses and dresses. Many of them can be heard mimicking women. The Smilies appropriately occupy the Darkwoods Penitentiary mental asylum. They are armed with meat cleavers, revolvers, sawed-off shotguns and SPAS-12 shotguns. They are apparently very restless and discontent, as evidenced by the many things scrawled on the walls of their residence (in what appears to be blood.) Such an example of these messages is when the player encounters a picture of a smiley face with the words "Happy, really fuckin' happy" below it.

• Carcer City Police Department: The police in Carcer City are following the orders of the corrupt police chief Gary Schaeffer (who is also mentioned on the radio in Grand Theft Auto III), who is working for the Director. The police are patrolling around the reporter's apartment, in the subway and at the trainyard. They are armed with nightsticks, revolvers, semi-auto pistols, SPAS-12 shotguns and sniper rifles.

• The SWAT Team: The SWAT Team is called in at the subway and the trainyard and are armed with Desert Eagles, Uzis and SPAS-12 shotguns.

• The Cerberus: A group of mercenaries on the Director's payroll, they sport combat armor (that offers mediocre protection against bullets) and infrared goggles as their standard dress. Within their dialogue, they repeatedly point out the fact that the goggles impair their peripheral vision and have no use whatsoever. The Cerberus are equipped with Desert Eagles, SPAS-12 shotguns and M16s. Over the course of the game, they ambush Cash and bring him to a new area, taking his weapons when they do so. They guard the Director's mansion and the surrounding grounds, and also make an appearance at the end of the asylum.

• Monkeys: The Monkeys are a group of men in monkey suits, although the game speaks of them as if they are real monkeys. They are located in the bonus level in the game. They walk the grounds of the zoo. They carry machetes, sawed-off shotguns, and SPAS-12 shotguns. When encountered they gibber in monkey noises, but when hurt they scream in normal human pain. Note: This gang is supposedly responsible for taking the Clown gangs place in the game.

Characters

• James Earl Cash: A supposedly vicious criminal who was sent to death row, but instead of a lethal injection, he was only tranquilized due to the interference of Starkweather, who bribed the police and prison officials. After waking up, Cash is forced by Starkweather to participate in his "Manhunt" snuff films, promising that "it will all be over before the night is out". Unbeknownst to him, this is exactly what Starkweather intends.

• Lionel Starkweather: Known for most of the game simply as "The Director," Lionel Starkweather is the twisted mastermind behind the whole scenario, the director communicates to the player through an earpiece until after the asylum. According to bonus material, he was once a prominent director who fell out of favor in Hollywood due to some unknown indiscretion and went insane, turning to slash films and underground pornography to rebuild his funds and using it to turn his enemies into "extras". He tells the player where to go and sometimes gives special instructions on murdering certain people. He also compliments Cash on his work frequently, saying things such as "Killer shot, thatta boy."He is later killed in the game by the player. His voice was provided by the Scottish actor Brian Cox. Starkweather shares his last name with a notorious spree killer, Charles Starkweather.

• Ramirez: An enormous man with one eye and leader of the Wardogs, Ramirez is seen giving orders to various gangs throughout the game. Due to his size and physical strength, he is able to instill order amongst the various gangs and bend them to Starkweather's will. He is even able to cow the bigoted Skinz. Cash himself encounters Ramirez at the apartment building with the Wardogs in a scene entitled "Divided They Fall". Ramirez has orders to make sure that Cash is killed, and by the end of the scene only one will be left alive. Ramirez is later killed by Cash as he attempts to call in reinforcements. Ramirez shares his surname with a notorious serial killer, Richard Ramirez.

• Piggsy: Piggsy is a morbidly obese, mentally retarded man who wanders around completely naked except for a severed pig head which he wears like a mask. Before Cash, he was Starkweather's main "star," being featured in an entire line of snuff films in which he butchered people with a chainsaw. Initially kept chained up in Starkweather's attic, Piggsy breaks free of his bindings and goes on a homicidal rampage through the director's mansion, murdering several Cerberus Guards before retreating back to the attic to hide. As Cash attempts to ride an elevator to the director's office, Piggsy, hearing the approaching car, drives his chainsaw through the elevator doors in an attempt to kill Cash. Cash manages to climb on top of the car (dropping his weapons in the process) and ends up in Piggy's lair, where the two men stalk one another until Cash wounds Piggsy and lures him onto a section of the floor comprised of fence just outside the room Starkweather directs from; the grating buckles under Piggsy's immense weight, causing him to fall through. Though he manages to maintain his grip on the edge of the grating for a few moments, Cash attacks him with his own chainsaw, slicing his hands off and sending Piggsy falling to his death.

• The Tramp: In one scene ("Drunk Driving"), Cash must lead the tramp through the city to the cemetery, protecting him from gang members along the way. He is an alcoholic homeless man and is constantly swigging liquor. Seemingly oblivious to the danger he is in, it is Cash's obligation to keep him safe and lead him to the end of the scene. Though little information is known about the tramp, in the bonus feature's material he goes by the name of Kenneth Jesperson or Scarecrow. He was formerly a head hunter amongst the Smileys (top photo) and was ranked responsible for Piggsy's debacle.

• The Reporter: a reporter who has been researching Starkweather's activities for some time; Cash must lead her back to her apartment so that she can collect evidence on the snuff ring, protecting her from the corrupt police force along the way. If she is left on her own too long she will panic and come running to find Cash, which puts them both in danger. According to the game's closed captioning, the first part of her name is "Rob-."

Gameplay

Players must survive the Director's planned carnage by performing "executions" on gang members (known as Hunters). When the player targets an enemy to initiate an execution, the cross-hairs around the gang member will initially be white (representing a "Hasty" kill); after a waiting period of three seconds, the cross-hairs will eventually transition to yellow (a "Violent" kill) and finally red (a "Gruesome" kill). Executions are shown via a cut scene from the perspective of the Director's security cameras. The time code shown at the top of the screen shows how much time you have spent in that scene. Each weapon has its own set of executions: for example, a plastic bag's usability ranges from strangling the victim with it to pulling it over his head and breaking his neck. The player can choose to kill an enemy any time he is targeted, but more grotesque executions will net a better rating upon the level's completion. As a result, players must risk being sighted by enemies for getting closer and performing more violent executions.

Because of the sheer number of enemies the player is pitted against, stealth plays an important factor in the game. Executions must be carefully performed by sneaking up behind an enemy and keeping him targeted until the desired level of gore for the execution is reached. If a player is spotted, all nearby enemies will pursue Cash and attack him; however, if they merely hear the execution being performed, they will assume a state of suspicion rather than outright pursuit. Because of Cash's poor skills at hand to hand combat, Cash can easily be killed if he is discovered by anyone. The game's HUD displays a silhouette of Cash that shows if he is hidden in shadows or not to aid the player.

Over the course of the game, Cash will use a variety of weapons ranging from blunt items (baseball bats, hammers etc) to bladed weapons (sickles, machetes etc) and ranged weapons (nail guns, pistols, shotguns etc). Each melee weapon has its own unique set of stealth kills. Also, items (bottles, cans, bricks, severed heads) can be thrown to make noise to distract Hunters.

Manhunt also makes use of the Playstation 2's optional USB Microphone and the Xbox Live microphone feature. When such a device is connected, the player can use the sound of his or her own voice to distract in-game enemies. This in turn added a new twist to the stealth elements, as the actual player would have to refrain from unwanted noises such as talking, coughing, etc. or risk creating inadvertent "in-game noise".

Reception

Reviews

Manhunt was released to generally favorable reviews, receiving an average critic score of 76%, according to Metacritic.

• IGN gave the game a rating of 8.4/10, calling it a "solid, deep experience for seasoned gamers pining for some hardcore, challenging games."
• GameSpot scored the game 8.4/10, saying it is "Seriously intense, and anyone with a stomach for the game's concept ought to find it fiendishly entertaining."
• 1UP.com gave the game a score of 5.0/10, citing the critic quickly becoming "tired of its violence ... AI quirks ... [and] repetitive level design."

Controversy

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Cash electrocuting an inmate at the asylum

The controversy surrounding the game stems from the extremely graphic manner in which the player kills enemies. Almost all of the game's special "stealthy" executions result in large amounts of blood. The manner in which the player kills enemies can be extremely grotesque at times (ie: decapitation, suffocation using a plastic bag, jamming a crowbar into an enemy's skull), both visually and audibly, as enemies will also groan and scream in pain.

In the UK, the game was linked to the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, 14, by his friend Warren Leblanc, 17. Giselle Pakeerah, the victim's mother, claimed that Leblanc had been 'obsessed' with the game after the former pleaded guilty in court. During the subsequent media circus, the game was removed from sale by some vendors, such as the UK and international branches of GAME and Dixons, leading to "significantly increased" demand both from retailers and on internet auction sites. The police denied any such link between the game and the murder however, citing drug-related robbery as the motive. The presiding judge also placed sole responsibility with Leblanc in his summing up after awarding him a life sentence. GAME have since returned Manhunt to their shelves, after it transpired that the murderer did not even own or ever play the game. It was apparently the victim who owned a copy of Manhunt, even though he was under 18.

Legal status

• New Zealand: The game was declared objectionable on December 11 2003. Possession is an offence.
• Canada: Following a meeting in Toronto on December 22 2003 between Bill Hastings, the Chief Censor of New Zealand, and officials from the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Business Services, Manhunt became the first computer game in Ontario to be classified as a film and was restricted to adults on February 3 2004.
• Australia: It was refused classification (banned, but possession is legal) on September 28 2004 by the Classification Review Board after having earlier received a classification allowing it to be purchased by those aged 15 years or older.
• United Kingdom: The game received a BBFC 18 certificate, legally prohibiting its sale to anyone under that age.
• Germany: On 2004-07-19, the Amtsgericht Munich confiscated all versions of Manhunt for violation of § 131 StGB (representation of violence). The game, the court said, portrays the killing of humans as fun, and the more fun, the more violent the killing is. They also sensed a glorification of vigilantism, which they considered harmful per se.

However, apart from Ontario, it is interesting to note that Manhunt had little or no controversy elsewhere in North America. The British Columbia Film Classification Office reviewed the game after the controversy in Ontario and believed it to be appropriately rated Mature by the ESRB and comparable to an 18A film rather than an R rated one.

Rockstar continuity

Rockstar, the developers of Manhunt, have included a number of references to their previous games in Manhunt. The setting of the game, Carcer City, was mentioned in Grand Theft Auto III and was said to be a neighbouring city, as was the Maibatsu Monstrosity motorcycle, though advertised as a very fuel-inefficient SUV, not a motorcycle. The shop Ryton Aide, which appears in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, appears as an abandoned shop in Manhunt. "Sprunk", the soft drink advertised on the radio and sold in the soda machines all over San Andreas in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, is on the soda machines in Manhunt. An advertisement for "Sprunk" can also be seen in the trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV. Manhunt action figures can be seen in Zero's RC shop in San Fierro in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Shopping bags for 'Zip', a clothing shop in GTA games can be seen a few times in the game.

External links

• Official Manhunt website
• Valiant Video Enterprises - Manhunt tie-in website
• NTSC-uk dissects Manhunt
• Full report of decision to ban Manhunt, New Zealand
• Manhunt at MobyGames