Chuck Berry
Gold Member
In 2003 Rockstar Games still had balls. They were still experimenting with ideas. What wound up as one of the most violent and controversial games of all time paved the way for them to continue pushing the boundaries of what a game could be with the cult classic The Warriors in 2005 (arguably the greatest movie based game in existence) and Bully in 2006.
This was Rockstar's first full attempt at a stealth driven title, something they had only really briefly experimented on in GTA San Andreas. Perhaps they were driven by the surging popularity of stealth action hits such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Splinter Cell. Or maybe the guys at Rockstar North just wanted to create an unapologetic bludgeoning of game standards, creating a deteriorated, barren, bloody and yet darkly comic world that would make your violence desensitization meter hit meteoric levels. Whatever the case, at the time Rockstar was untouchable.
This was a game that reveled in the levels of how dirty, disturbing and trippy it could reach. Taking place in the fictional Carcer City, the player takes control of James Earl Cash, a man on death row and set for execution. However on his death day he is only merely sedated, and wakes up later to a voice in his ear calling himself "The Director" and voiced by none other than the great Brian Cox. Cash is promised freedom, but only if he obeys The Director's orders to hunt down and murder various gang members throughout the night while he is recorded by closed circuit cameras placed around the city. What starts as a skin crawling hide and seek horror show slowly becomes more focused on brutal up close and personal gun battles which test your stop and pop cover skills (And you can decide which you find more squirmy: suffocating someone with a plastic bag and then beating them to death with your fists, or taking a sawn off shotgun and literally blowing a hole through the persons face). The storytelling is sparse, but intriguing specifically because of the sparseness. It ends with what I can only describe as perhaps the scariest, most disturbing end "boss" fight I've ever experienced.
Upon release it was banned in several countries and actually blamed for a time for the cause of an uptick in murders in the UK (this was later disproven but still interesting regardless). Another case of controversy fueling sales, despite only selling a fraction of GTA numbers, the reviews were still solid and Manhunt was even nominated for several awards at the end of the year.
"'It may sound surprising, but there was almost a mutiny at the company over that game. It was Rockstar North's pet project - most of us at Rockstar Games wanted no part of it. We'd already weathered plenty of controversy over GTA3 and Vice City - we were no strangers to it - but Manhunt felt different. With GTA, we always had the excuse that the gameplay was untethered - you never had to hurt anybody that wasn't a "bad guy" in one of the missions. You could play completely ethically if you wanted, and the game was parody anyway, so lighten up.'
'Manhunt, though, just made us all feel icky. It was all about the violence, and it was realistic violence. We all knew there was no way we could explain away that game. There was no way to rationalize it. We were crossing a line.'"
-Former Rockstar employee Jeff Williams
Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/manhunt-nearly-caused-a-mutiny-at-rockstar/
The original Manhunt has been in my top 10 since first playing it on the original Xbox 20+ years ago. Im a huge fan of 70s cinema, particularly the films that take place in the dirtiest, worst parts of NYC and this game delivers that energy and tone in spades. Like watching a favorite old movie, it's worth revisiting and holds up remarkably well to me despite having a bit of a learning curve with the controls. I urge all of you if you havent played it, to hunt down a copy and give it a shot, especially if you're well versed in stealth action games where a combo of cunning and taking it slow is the path to bloody freedom. Reviewers have referred to it as the "Clockwork Orange of videogames." That comparison couldnt be more apt.
So GAF, what's your history with the game? Have you played it? Have you only heard about it? Were you even alive when it released? And lastly, Fetish or Hardcore?
This was Rockstar's first full attempt at a stealth driven title, something they had only really briefly experimented on in GTA San Andreas. Perhaps they were driven by the surging popularity of stealth action hits such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Splinter Cell. Or maybe the guys at Rockstar North just wanted to create an unapologetic bludgeoning of game standards, creating a deteriorated, barren, bloody and yet darkly comic world that would make your violence desensitization meter hit meteoric levels. Whatever the case, at the time Rockstar was untouchable.
This was a game that reveled in the levels of how dirty, disturbing and trippy it could reach. Taking place in the fictional Carcer City, the player takes control of James Earl Cash, a man on death row and set for execution. However on his death day he is only merely sedated, and wakes up later to a voice in his ear calling himself "The Director" and voiced by none other than the great Brian Cox. Cash is promised freedom, but only if he obeys The Director's orders to hunt down and murder various gang members throughout the night while he is recorded by closed circuit cameras placed around the city. What starts as a skin crawling hide and seek horror show slowly becomes more focused on brutal up close and personal gun battles which test your stop and pop cover skills (And you can decide which you find more squirmy: suffocating someone with a plastic bag and then beating them to death with your fists, or taking a sawn off shotgun and literally blowing a hole through the persons face). The storytelling is sparse, but intriguing specifically because of the sparseness. It ends with what I can only describe as perhaps the scariest, most disturbing end "boss" fight I've ever experienced.
Upon release it was banned in several countries and actually blamed for a time for the cause of an uptick in murders in the UK (this was later disproven but still interesting regardless). Another case of controversy fueling sales, despite only selling a fraction of GTA numbers, the reviews were still solid and Manhunt was even nominated for several awards at the end of the year.
"'It may sound surprising, but there was almost a mutiny at the company over that game. It was Rockstar North's pet project - most of us at Rockstar Games wanted no part of it. We'd already weathered plenty of controversy over GTA3 and Vice City - we were no strangers to it - but Manhunt felt different. With GTA, we always had the excuse that the gameplay was untethered - you never had to hurt anybody that wasn't a "bad guy" in one of the missions. You could play completely ethically if you wanted, and the game was parody anyway, so lighten up.'
'Manhunt, though, just made us all feel icky. It was all about the violence, and it was realistic violence. We all knew there was no way we could explain away that game. There was no way to rationalize it. We were crossing a line.'"
-Former Rockstar employee Jeff Williams
Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/manhunt-nearly-caused-a-mutiny-at-rockstar/
The original Manhunt has been in my top 10 since first playing it on the original Xbox 20+ years ago. Im a huge fan of 70s cinema, particularly the films that take place in the dirtiest, worst parts of NYC and this game delivers that energy and tone in spades. Like watching a favorite old movie, it's worth revisiting and holds up remarkably well to me despite having a bit of a learning curve with the controls. I urge all of you if you havent played it, to hunt down a copy and give it a shot, especially if you're well versed in stealth action games where a combo of cunning and taking it slow is the path to bloody freedom. Reviewers have referred to it as the "Clockwork Orange of videogames." That comparison couldnt be more apt.
So GAF, what's your history with the game? Have you played it? Have you only heard about it? Were you even alive when it released? And lastly, Fetish or Hardcore?
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