Manhunt (Xbox, 2004)

Let me start by saying that I quite simply LOVE this game. I have played it through almost ten times between my PS2 and my X-BOX. And between the two consoles there really is not any discernible difference. The game is the same as well as the graphics.
The story of the game is more like something you might here of happening in the old ex Soviet bloc countries of eastern Europe but takes place here in the U.S. in the game. Convicted killer James Earl Cash has been sentenced to death. On the day of his execution however, instead of a lethal injection he is given a very heavy sedative. He wakes up in a broken down deserted town where a movie director by the name of Lionel Starkweather has created a city wide movie set where James Earl Cash is set to be the next "star". The movie, a snuff film of course.
Now just like most video games the first couple of levels are training missions to get you acquainted with moving your character around the city. Even your first kill is set up for you to see if you have what it takes to be a leading man.
The weapons in this game pretty much start of extremely basic and slowly build up to guns later in the game. For example, the first weapon made available is something we see lying on the street all the time, a plastic shopping bag. Now you may say to yourself, "How is a plastic bag a weapon?" Well trust me it is. In the first kill that is set up for you, you must creep up behind the victim and suffocate the victim with the bag. But here is where the game gets more gruesome. You are rated on your kills by how violently you execute these people. When you creep up behind your victim and target them the targeting reticules start off white, keep holding it though because then it turns green and then red. With each of these colors the execution you are about to perform goes from a hasty kill to violent to gruesome. A different cinematic shows the execution for each level of kill you perform and is different for every weapon in the game. Some of the different weapons include: the plastic bag a glass shard a black jack
a baseball bat (my favorite cinematic for gruesome) knives machetes axes
a piece of wire a crow bar a wood stake a nail gun a sickle a cleaver
a nightstick several different guns
and the crown prince of weapons in the end
A CHAIN SAW!
Anyway I digress. In the towns there are groups of people all with their little quirks out to hunt you down and kill you. So, you must in turn hunt them down and kill them instead. The gangs of people are all different but all deadly. They start out simple enough, just some street hoods and then you get some gang banger types. There also are insane inmates from the local insane asylum as well as mercenary types and (my favorite to kill) skin heads of the neo nazi white power type.
Now the reason I love this game so much is because no game has ever got me so absorbed into it that my heart starts beating fast and I get all anxious. When in the game, I'm running from a group of guys with machetes that all want to hack me up, my heart starts racing. Basically it all comes down to the fact that no other game has ever had me so involved that I'm nervous and anxious waiting to strike. In the end this is for sure not a game the kids should be playing. It's rated M for mature for a reason. Even though most younger kids these days can tell the difference between what they can do in a game and in real life are two very different things. I love this game!

This game was very original. This game is for mature adults only because there is no socially redeeming quality about it. It allows you to enter a fantasy world that no law abiding citizen would ever think about in their daily lives. My kids were not allowed in the room when I was playing this game. At first I did not like the way you had to kill the characters in the game. After getting into some of the harder levels I found that it was just as challenging as any game I have played. My favorite part of the game was listening to the characters as they walked their rounds. "Tonights the night I ratchet up another kill" is one that I remember one of the characters saying. There is a serious adrenaline rush that occurs when you have a bunch of maniacs looking to find you and kill you. I have thought the AI in GTA San Andreas was hooky at times but Manhunt's AI was pretty good.

I would recommend this game to mature adults that don't play violent video games in front of their kids. You will find yourself challenged and also laughing about the way some of the characters in the game act. I am totally jealous of the designers of the game. I would love to be paid to create Manhunt 2. Good job Rockstar, keep up the good work. Parents, please don't let your kids play these games, they are for adults only.