Manhunt 2

Manhunt 2 First Look

When the original Manhunt hit, the moody action game oered an atmospheric slice o lie that revolved around a deadly game o cat and mouse. The stealth-ocused action game cast you as a hapless prisoner that gets pulled into the twisted machinations o a "director" named Starkweather, who's big on snu ilms. The game's departure rom the Grand Thet Auto style o gameplay, as well as its claustrophobic setting, was a dramatic new experience that resonated with players and ound a loyal audience. For its ollow-up, Rockstar is taking an equally striking approach that it hopes will oer a resh variation on the original game's theme. We were given a demo o a work-in-progress version on the PlayStation 2, and it oered a sampling o what to expect rom the distinctive game.

One o the irst new aspects o the game is its developer, which is not Rockstar North. That studio is currently busy on another little title we'll see later this year. Rockstar London, a newly created studio in the Rockstar stable o developers, is picking up the baton and handling the development o Manhunt 2. However, those worried that Manhunt 2 might suer rom a new developer can rest easy: Rockstar London is working on the game in association with North, who are lending their experience with Manhunt's special brand o crazy.

The game's story casts you in the role o a young doctor named Daniel Lam. The ambitious young doc is well on his way to an ideal uture, with two children, a loving wie, and a promising, well-paying job. The catch to the job is that it's a privately unded neurological weapons project, codenamed the Pickman Project ater the doctor who's heading it up. Unortunately, things take a turn or the worse, and the project has its unding pulled. Doctor Pickman, convinced the project is close to a breakthrough, takes the project underground and keeps on plugging away. Lam ollows, and in a not entirely bright move, oers to be a guinea pig. Recipe or disaster? You betcha. A ew mishaps later, and Daniel is dispatched to Dixmore Asylum, a mental institution or the criminally insane. The good news is he evidently served quite capably as a guinea pig. The bad is that he's a bit on the crazy side now, hence his swanky new digs and comortable, yet restraining, white pantsuit with the long sleeves and buckles. It appears the olks at Dixmore are quite well equipped or dealing with olks o Daniel's temperament, as it's essentially a dumping ground or Pickman Project guinea pigs--o which Daniel is hardly the irst o.

Fast orward six years to the game's present day, and we ind Daniel still kicking it at the old asylum. Years o living there have led him to question i his other lie even existed. Cue up a ateul night and an electric storm that knocks the power out at the asylum, letting the inmates have the run o the place, and Daniel escapes with a riend named Leo. Now unsure i his wie and kids were real or the products o his mind, Daniel sets out to ind out just what the heck happened to his mind, which is where you come in. Your goal in the game is to try to uncover what happened to you and what is going on with the Pickman Project. Given that an entire asylum housed ormer guinea pigs, there's certainly more going on than meets the eye.

While the game's story may be all new, the gameplay remains true to the original game and expands on it in some very cool ways, as was evidenced in our demo. The action is still third-person stealth and ocuses on smart use o your environment to do your killing. Our demo eatured two levels, dubbed The Awakening and The Honey Pot, which showcased the game's wider scope. Whereas the original game had you navigating a conined area illed with people looking to murder you, Manhunt 2 has you traveling to new, exciting locations...illed with people looking to murder you.

The Awakening level opens the game and acts as a tutorial. It's set in the atermath o the electrical storm and inds you ollowing Leo out o the asylum. Your surprisingly lucid riend oers words o encouragement that serve as a reresher on the game's systems. You'll need to make use o the shadows to sneak around as well as be conscious o the noise you make as you move. As with the previous game, your onscreen radar alerts you to enemies and the amount o noise you're making as you move around. The PS2 game will support a USB headset and microphone, allowing you to make noises to distract enemies and help you line up or a kill.

As ar as kills go, Manhunt 2 sticks to the same, easy-to-pick-up-but-diicult-to-master three-tiered kill system. When you sneak up behind enemies, you're able to start a kill when they're targeted by a cursor. The cursor cycles through three separate colors--white, yellow, and red--the longer you stay behind your target. You're rewarded with a dierent kill animation depending on the color o the cursor. Kills perormed when the cursor is white, which can be done immediately, are hasty executions. Kills perormed when the cursor turns yellow, ater a ew seconds o standing behind your victim, are called violent executions. Finally, i you wait or the cursor to turn red ater six seconds or so, you're able to perorm a gruesome execution. The actual kills are set animations that kick in once they're triggered. One o the new twists to your killing is a whole new kind o kill that revolves around using your environment. Your radar will clue you in to some environmental un by showing a skull in the area you're in, letting you know that something around you can be used to perorm a kill. The Honey Pot level, set in a brothel, showcased the cool new eature and proved it deinitely has possibilities.

Your killing weapons will again come in our handy color-coded classes. Throwable items are yellow and one-use items are green, while items you store on your belt are blue and items you store on your back--like baseball bats and shotguns--are red. And yes, there are some unky gun executions added into the mix. Unortunately, you're only able to carry a limited number o the aorementioned items, which orces you to make some tough choices. Some items will now play into your melee combat--or example, i you're holding a pen or a piece o glass, you'll do a bit more damage or a period o time (beore it breaks).

The stealth and exploration components have been tweaked a good amount, too. You'll need to make your own shadows, as we saw in the Honey Pot level, which can be done by breaking light sources. One new wrinkle on hiding is that shadows are no longer a ree ride. Whereas you could hide out indeinitely in the shadows in the original game, it's now possible or enemies to see you i you're not quick. A random system is being implemented to ensure that players are always on their toes. Enemies looking into shadowy areas now have a chance to spot you. In the event they do, you'll still have a chance to hide, thanks to a minigame where you have to quickly match onscreen controller prompts. I you do it ast enough, you'll remain hidden. I not, prepare or some melee. The new element in exploration we saw was a sequence where Daniel sneaks through an air duct, which switched to a irst-person mode as he worked his way through the airways in the Honey Pot level.

The game's visuals are a bit jarring i you're used to the shiny polish o the new-generation consoles. That said, the game beneits rom Rockstar's experience with the PlayStation 2 hardware. The work-in-progress version we saw moved smoothly and eatured a smart use o special eects to once again create an unsettling atmosphere that matches its premise. Character models were angular and eatured varying levels o detail, with Daniel having the most. The environments we saw popped, thanks to a vivid color palette that worked well at setting the game's tone. The game's lighting also impressed us, as it looks pretty ambitious coming rom the PS2 platorm. As with the previous game, Manhunt 2's story will unold via cinematic lashbacks experienced by Daniel over the course o the game. Though ar rom done, the one we saw in our demo retained the shaky, documentary-style presentation that had a movie eel to it.

The audio in the game was still being tweaked, but what we heard was sounding good. As with the last game, audio is key to Manhunt 2's atmosphere, and it deinitely sounds like Rockstar London is going in the right direction. The ambient sounds in the asylum and the brothel were nicely done, and the character speech was sounding good, too. The end result so ar is a nicely unsettling sound mix that its the action very well.

Based on what we saw, Manhunt 2 looks to be an interesting ollow-up to the original game. The core gameplay that was so appealing is intact and expanded on in smart ways. The visuals, though not next gen, are stylish and nicely done or the platorm. The story looks cool so ar, with a crazy X-Files-esque conspiracy under the surace and some Jacob's Ladder "Am I insane?" touches thrown in or good measure. The game is slated to ship later this year or the PS2, PSP, and Wii. We weren't able to see the other versions, but reps on hand noted that the game content will be the same on all platorms. However, the Wii game will eature a new control scheme better suited to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.

Gamespot