Manhunt 2 - First Look Preview

It's been a long three years since Rockstar shocked the mainstream media into a fury of action, caused by the highly controversial release of Manhunt - a game still crucified in the present day whenever violent videogames are mentioned. Lying beneath the brutal killing moves, Manhunt offered a tension-filled, highly atmospheric, take on the stealth genre and won just as much praise from gamers as it did criticism from the right-wing conservatives.

Seemingly waiting for the dust to settle, Rockstar Games are back with a sequel that promises to be very different, but at the same time welcomingly familiar. Although the original served as a refreshing break from the heavy demands of the GTA franchise for Rockstar North, the development of GTA4 has afforded no-such luxuries. Instead, it's up to Rockstar's latest studio, Rockstar London, to take the harness and push on with the sequel, although we're assured there's plenty of collaboration on the project between both sides of the border.

The main message from our recent first look at Manhunt 2 focussed on the disassociation between it and the original. This is an entirely new sequel, with new characters, a new setting, and an entirely new storyline that doesn't revolve around Snuff movies; from what we can gather there will be no references to the original whatsoever. Despite the differences, Rockstar are keen to ensure the sequel stays faithful to the original in terms of themes, particularly those of paranoia, psychosis, and judging by our first look the overriding senses of desperation, desolation, and despair.

Criminally Insane You Say?

With a completely new setting, Manhunt 2 focuses on the story of Daniel Lamb, a former scientist and test subject involved in controversial and secretive experiments that make up the Pickman Project. Under fire from the government, the closure of the project forces Lamb and his colleagues to continue testing on themselves. A nearby asylum provides covers for the defective test subjects, and it's here where Manhunt 2 begins, six years after Lamb is first locked away. A freak electric storm provides the chance for Lamb to escape his confinement, aided by fellow psychotic inmate Leo Kasper, who provides a running commentary for Lamb during the initial tutorial stage in a similar manner to Lionel Starkweather's guidance and encouragements during the first game.

Initially reluctant to use violence, Lamb soon discovers that he's going to have to get nasty if he wishes to break for freedom and escape the confines of the Dixmor Institute for the Criminally Insane. Serving as a tutorial to the action, the initial escape level reacquaints fans of the original with the core stealth techniques, and serves as a good learning curve for newcomers. Moving in and out of shadows, sneaking up behind crazed patients and orderlies, before unleashing a killing blow with whatever comes to hand, it's immediately evident that Manhunt 2 is walking a very close line to its predecessor. A subtle and slight movement to the traditional third-person camera lends a sense of unease and uncertainty to the presiding action, whilst the overriding sense of depravity is apparent around every corner.

This time around, Manhunt 2 features an entirely dynamic light system, which beyond creating some authentic shadow effects, serves as a gameplay factor later in the game, allowing Lamb to switch off or break lights to create patches of darkness to hide in. Darkness this time around won't however provide the 100% safety and sanctuary of the original, as patrolling guards and enemy characters will occasionally stumble upon you. In the event that a guard becomes suspicious of your position, combo button presses are required to regulate Lamb's breathing, although the completely random nature of these meant that we never caught sight of them during our demonstration.

Further additions to the standard gameplay include the ability to climb over obstacles and crawl through narrow gaps, both of which should allow for an improvement in terms of level design and complexity compared to the original. Despite coming across as a largely linear experience, we're told there's a fair amount of freedom when it comes to the level designs and the choices that players make

New weapons were always going to feature in a Manhunt sequel, and yes, they're as disturbing yet equally normal as you'd expect from the series. Beginning with the one-shot, instant-kill, qualities of the various syringes dotted around the asylum, the demonstration also introduced the deadly virtues of the nibbed fountain pen. Using an all-new weapon interface that pauses the action, the game still restricts the use of weapons to one in each class, whilst fragile weapons such as the syringe will easily break in normal combat. Employing the same three levelled killing system as before (Hasty, Violent, and Gruesome); Manhunt 2 should easily manage to match the original's knack for causing hysteria amongst the conservative tabloids when it's released later in the year. Beginning with a straightforward jab to the back of the neck, variations on the syringe attack finds Lamb stabbing his victim brutally into submission before administering a blow to the eye, whilst later attacks used all manner of weapons such as the traditional shard of broken glass and a snip to the nether-regions with a pair of wire-cutters (painful).

As they struggle to escape, the stage also involved some mild puzzles to solve, such as ensuring all doors were locked-down to pass through the main gate; it's not much of a brain-teaser, but it should at least provide some respite and variation to the wanton bloodshed on offer.

The Honey Pot

Moving onto the second stage of the demonstration, taking place at an undetermined point later in the game, finds Danny and Leo chasing after a lady named Judy who can possibly reveal some information about their situation. Taking place in a brothel aptly titled "The Honey Pot", the stage served as a platform to demonstrate further new features being added for the sequel.

At the fans request, one of the most notable new additions is the inclusion of 'Environment Executions'. Initially this took the form of sneaking up behind an unsuspecting victim and using the nearby telephone to whack him over the head, before throttling him to death with the cable. A further demonstration required a little more technique, requiring Lamb to attract the attention of a nearby guard, only to dash in the shadows and watch as he investigated what appeared to be a faulty fuse-box; as you can probably imagine, he looked a little too close and soon found his head blown clean off his shoulders as Lamb turned the switch back on.

Playing an important role in building the tension filled atmosphere on the original, sound takes on even more significance in Manhunt 2. Beyond the ribcage shaking bass effects, sound serves a specific gameplay factor such as the noises of a construction worked allows Lamb to walk safely past, or the groans of a couple getting it on next door providing a distraction to break a window to climb through - provided you get the timing right!

As Lamb works his way through the brothel, he comes up against armed guards, which provided an opportunity to highlight another fan-request that has been included for the sequel. Suggesting that armed weapons will make an appearance earlier in the game than the latter stages they were left for in the original, Manhunt 2 carries on the brutality with the addition of 'Gun Executions'. Sneaking up behind one of the mask-faced, Lamb innocently prods the guard with the barrel of a shotgun, only to blast his head clean from his shoulders when he turns around to see who it is. The grossly disfigured, head splattered effect is something that you'll see a lot in Manhunt 2, particularly when you're playing close-quarter shootouts with double-barrelled shotguns!

The demonstration concluded as Lamb catches up with Judy on the roof of the brothel, only to watch her being shot and falling to her doom just as she advises him not to trust anybody... a cliffhanger in both senses of the word, and a suggestion that Manhunt 2 will have plenty of twists and turns along the way.

Although the demonstration focussed squarely around the PS2 version, we're assured that both the PSP and Wii versions are shaping up well and on-course for release simultaneously. It's the Wii version with its hands-on motion-sensitive commands that's exciting us the most, and likely to procure the wrath of those with a conservative nature - particularly as you're throttling somebody to death with a plastic bag! Whether or not it can be the game to sell Wii to the typical 16-24 male gamer remains to be seen, but having such a title on its catalogue should appease the hardcore gamer who bemoans the lack of mature themed titles on Nintendo formats.