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davidTaylor's Manhunt (PS2)
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| [March 5, 2008 01:20:53 PM]
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GAMEPLAY:
This gameplay session introduced me to a new gang. The previous gang was the Hoods a group of gentlemen who liked wearing either ski masks or pantyhose over their heads. The new gang is a group of white trash white supremacists that call themselves the Skinz. Unfortunately they aren't much smarter than the Hoods, an can still be easily dispatched using the 'make a noise then hide' tactic. One new gameplay element that was introduced in this gameplay session was the wire. Stealth kills with the wire decapitate the enemy, then their severed head can then be picked up. The heads can be thrown to distract other (still living) enemies an lure them into an ambush. Other than that the gameplay remains much the same, hiding in the shadows and figuring out where and when to dispatch the enemies. The level design is okay, but the levels take place in a variety of dilapidated shitholes and the problem is that the design sometime just isn't all that convincing especially when compared to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. which was a masterpiece in terms of convincing dilapidated shitholes.
DESIGN:
The three tiered kill system is an interesting idea but in many ways to fails to live up to it's potential. Ideally it would be a matter of risk vs. reward, the problem is that the only reward the player receives for completing a red level kill is a more violent kill sequence, and even the most bloodthirsty gamer will grow tired of the scripted kill sequence after 4 or 5 times. I can't help but think that if there was more of an in-game incentive to take the risk the game would be much better, for example if the player pulled of the more difficult kill it would be quick and quiet, while a more hasty kill would be drawn out and loud, drawing the attention of anyone nearby. This would give the player a much stronger motivation to take the risk of getting seen.
While much of the log has been deeply critical of the game, I still think that there are some elements of the game that are quite good. For example the film director's voice actor is very good and manages to capture the director's bloodthirsty insanity distressingly effectively. But also the director manages to serve as something of a satire of game developers, arbitrarily forcing the player to perform tasks for their own sick pleasure. Taken from this angle Manhunt becomes a blood soaked satire of videogame conventions and manages to be fairly successful at it. While the gameplay is not always stellar I'm interested in playing for at least a little while longer to see if the developers go somewhere with this angle or not.
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| [March 5, 2008 12:46:53 PM]
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NOTE: I played this game on PC, not PS2 but for some reason GameLog won't let me add a PC version of the game. The gameplay is exactly the same across all versions, except that the PC incarnation has higher resolution graphics and controls with mouse and keyboard.
SUMMARY:
You play as the rather stupidly named James Earl Cash, a convicted criminal who is given a reprieve from his death sentence by way of a disgraced film director who recruits you to be the star of his snuff films. Gamplay takes place in a third person perspective, and consists primarily of sneaking around and killing the gang members that patrol the various levels with a variety of melee weapons. Later levels feature some gunplay as well.
GAMEPLAY:
The first section of the game consists of a tutorial that introduces the player to the core gameplay mechanics. The main mechanic is the stealth kill system. The player sneaks up behind an enemy and holds down the attack key, a targeting cursor will appear on the enemies head, the cursor will go from grey to yellow to red the longer the player holds the button down. The color of the cursor corresponds to the brutality of the killing blow performed on the enemy. Grey is quick and simple, red is elaborate and brutal. The execution is viewed through a faux video camera view (example: http://pc.ign.com/dor/pc/621239/images/manhunt_042004_008.html). The effect of this presentation is oddly distancing, but not in a bad way. The hand to hand combat is much less interesting and is simply a matter of exchanging blows with the enemy, there's little or no strategy and is pretty boring.
So far the enemies have been pretty stupid, all of them can be taken out by simply making some noise and then hiding in a nearby shadow. Any nearby enemies rush over and look around for awhile, then go back to wherever they came from. As they walk back they are very easy to sneak up on, and can be easily dispatched with whatever weapon is currently at hand.
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davidTaylor's Manhunt (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 5 March, 2008
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