Manhunt 2, Wii

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Manhunt 2, Wii

POSTED: Wednesday, November 7, 2007, 2:04 AM

Filed Under: Video Games Wii

Screenshot from 1up.com, obviously

People think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time.

Within the first two minutes of Manhunt 2 I wake up in a mental institution where i am spit at, pissed at and have shit thrown at me (it's all kinda funny). The place looks Reznorriffic and Byberrylicious. I pick up a syringe.

OK, right now Drew Lazor is sneaking up on people and waiting for just the right moment to swing a huge hammer at their heads. He does so and it's sick, the sounds are juicy and crunchy, and the people are dead really quick. But Drew's not happy. He knows there a really gruesome way to kill and he's trying to figure it out. Still he kinda laughs when a guy falls down; he keeps hammering, adjusting his swing to a downward motion. Dude is not getting up.

Marc Steel is facing off on some dude in a black hat and some sort of breathing apparatus. After beating the shit out of him, he vomits on the corpse. Which is weird, because our character — the Moby-looking Daniel Lamb — has already murdered his way out of the mental institution, so killing should be no big thing. Except. This game — this violent, bloodthirsty, amusingly disgusting game — would like us to believe that it's wrestling with a moral question. Famously, Rockstar games was forced to tone down the game's violentest moments. Most complainers agree they didn't tone it down very much. (Target won't carry it.) ...

Daniel's guide, Leo, is constantly reminding him (us): You have to murder people to survive, it's kill or be killed, sometimes you just gotta pick up a shard of glass and slice into a mentally ill person. It's like dude, I know. I don't think i'm a bad person for killing someone in a video game, or for enjoying it. More to the point, Leo, proxy for the game makers, you shouldn't feel so bad about creating a game where killing is enjoyable.

Of course the killing isn't like super-super-fun 24-7. Sometimes it's so gross. you feel kinda woozy. Sometimes you wander around dingy, plain-looking places and you can't find any pills or people to kill or anything to do. Other times you have to pick up the body you just beat the life out of and hide it in the shadows. VG noobs like us have no instinct for this shit. And it's Wii, so we're all just kinda waving our arms around. Ooh, Marc just found a circular saw. I wanna see somebody kill with a plastic bag. Now Marc has a sickle.

Screenshot from game-reviews.ca

Also: Manhunt 2 as a happy YTMND.

Posted by Patrick Rapa @ 2:04 AM Permalink | Post a comment

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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