Manhunt

Manhunt
Developer(s)	Rockstar North
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Release date(s)	November 18, 2003
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature
Platform(s)	PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Media

Manhunt is a violent and controversial video game released by Rockstar Games in November 2003.

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 never explained. An exceedingly wealthy former Hollywood director, 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 for the purpose of sexual gratification. Cash escapes The Director's final trap and begins a gore-soaked quest for revenge on his "savior." After rescuing a local reporter who was investigating the Director's activities, Cash learns his tormentor's location, as well as his real name: Lionel Starkweather. After a bloody rampage, Cash finally corners Starkweather, a rumbling chainsaw in hand...

Gameplay

Manhunt is a third-person stealth action game. The game consists of twenty levels, and four bonus levels that can be unlocked; the levels are referred to as "Scenes". Players survive the Scenes by dispatching enemy gang members know as "Hunters", occasionally with firearms but primarily by stealthily executing them in gruesome over-the-top ways. Executions are preferred in order to gain a higher score, thus encouraging players to play as viscerally as possible. The game's locales are full of 'dark spots' and shadows where the player can hide while being chased by the Hunters; hiding in these dark areas makes the player invisible to opponents.Over the course of the game, the player uses a wide variety of weapons, ranging from plastic bags, baseball bats, crowbars and all sorts of bladed items to firearms later on in the game. If the player is running out of health, painkillers can be found which replenish health. The player can strike walls or throw items such as bottles, cans, bricks and severed heads to make noise to distract Hunters.

Gangs

The Hoods

• They consist mostly of off-duty police officers and local thugs whose appearance consist of dark colored clothing, as well as balaclavas and tights worn over their heads. They can be heard talking about things which have nothing to do with the hunt on hand, thus further evidence that they are under-estimating the danger they are really in. They are generally unorganized and unfocused, and do not always work together, making them easy to pick off one by one.

• This is the first gang where Cash encounters.

The Skinz

• A gang of white supremacists and neo-Nazis, they are often heard shouting derogatory racial remarks about Cash's supposed "mudblood" and mixed-breed heritage.
• They're choice of weapons are knives, metal baseball bats and nailguns.
• Some members have the stereotypical skinhead look wearing form fitting t-shirts, army boots, shaved heads and suspenders, while others wear a hockey mask, and are covered in tattoos.
• Some wear what looks like a swastika on the back or front of their shirts. It has a red background with a white circle and a complex black design in the white.

The Wardogs

• A group of war veterans, hunting enthusiasts, and survivalists who are among Starkweather's most efficient killers, using tactics such as flanking, baiting, and full frontal assaults. They are outfitted in camouflage along with ghillie suits, combat boots, and face paint.
• Their leader is Ramirez.
• Their choice of weapons are tranquilizer rifles, machetes and knives.

The Innocentz

• A gang located in the shopping mall and various other parts of the city.
• They are the first gang Cash encountered who use firearms, but are also armed with knives, hatchets, and sickles.
• They are comprised of two groups: The Skullyz, a group of Latino-style goths who wear skull masks and hoodies, and the Baby Faces, who are fat and wear bright flowered shirts and doll-like masks.

The Smileys

• They wear yellow smiley face masks, usually with things such as "kill" and "please stop me" scrawled messily across them.
• They are the most aggressive gangs Cash had encountered.
• Many of them can be heard screaming and ranting. Like, they saw an imaginary dog running or about a drunk man.
• The Smileys occupy the Darkwoods Penitentiary mental asylum carrying meat cleavers, knives, pistols, and shotguns.

Carcer City Police Department

• Their leader is Gary Schaffer, though, he is unseen throughout the game.
• They are armed with nightsticks, handguns, shotguns, and sniper rifles.

SWAT team

• The SWAT team is armed with Desert Eagles, MAC-10s and shotguns.
• They also wear body armor and can take more damage than the other gangs. The only way to kill them is headshots.

The Cerberus

• They're the most dangerous enemy in the game.
• The Cerberus wield Desert Eagles, shotguns and M16 rifles.
• They usually come in groups. They usually lure Cash in different tactics.

Controversy

The controversy surrounding the game stems from the graphic manner in which the player kills enemies. Almost all of the game's special "stealthy" kills result in large amounts of blood.

The game was banned in New Zealand in December 2003. Manhunt became the first computer game in Ontario to be classified as a film and was restricted to adults in February 2004. It was banned in Australia in September 2004 after having earlier received a classification allowing it to be purchased by under 15 year-olds accompanied by their parents. The game has been declared illegal for players of all ages in Germany. In the UK, the game received a BBFC 18 certificate, legally prohibiting its sale to anyone under that age. The game is the only video game to ever be awarded an "18" certificate in the Republic of Ireland as censorship laws in Ireland allow only games with an 18+ PEGI rating to go forward for certification, where they are treated as if cinematic releases of movies. In the UK, games of any type may be submitted for BBFC rating.

In the United Kingdom 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 leading to "significantly increased" demand. The police denied any such link between the game and the murder. The presiding judge also placed sole responsibility with LeBlanc in his summing up after awarding him a life sentence. It was later discovered that Manhunt was not what infulenced the death but instead a Child's Play movie that LeBlanc had earlier seen.

Trivia

• In Grand Theft Auto III, another Rockstar North game, a news segment on the in-game radio station, Lips 106, reports, "in nearby Carcer City, police chief Gary Schaeffer was cleared of corruption charges. Let's hope those missing witnesses turn up safe and sound." This is an obvious allusion to a prominent character in this game, even though GTA III precedes Manhunt's release date by two years.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas contains numerous references to Manhunt:
  • Manhunt action figures can be found in Zero's RC shop, and also various Manhunt artwork on the walls of bar interiors, most notably a Cerberus in Ten Green Bottles.
  • During the missions in which the Carl Johnson must find and photograph the blueprints to Caligula's Casino, one of the other blueprints found in another room happens to be of Starkweather's mansion.
  • The Skins carjunk arena can be seen when the player drives past the rural district of Flint County towards San Fierro.
  • The playable character can use a knife to perform "execution kills" similar to Manhunt. After a stealth kill, the pose of lying on the floor is same as Manhunt.
  • In any bar bar interior (namely Ten Green Bottles) there is a Cerberus guard painted on the wall.
  • Sprunk, featured in San Andreas as a drink players can buy for regaining health, is also featured in many levels of Manhunt.
  • A bulletin board in the Las Venturas police station has photos of Cash and a Hoods member tacked to it.
  • Certain radio station(s) in San Andreas mention Carcer City by name.
• An abandoned shop named Ryton Aide appears on the first mission of Manhunt. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City there is a similarly named store known as Ryton Aide. Also in GTA Vice City, Phil Cassidy lives in a trailer in a junkyard, much like one of the Skinz members, with the Interiors of both trailers having a near identical layout.

External Links

• Official Manhunt Site
• NTSC-uk dissects Manhunt.
• The Manhunt Fiasco - timeline of a related lawsuit