Glockstar
09-12-2007, 04:05 PM
I assume everybody knows the story of Manhunt 2, yes? It got rated "AO" by the ESRB (and outright banned in the UK), which meant that it would never see the light of day as all three console makers don't allow AO-rated games on their consoles; to which Rockstar protested, but eventually they decided to bite the bullet and make changes and concessions to the game so that their hard work would get published, and so that they could make some money, blah blah blah.
Well, IGN got their hands on an updated/revised build of the game and they reveal what some of the changes were. Link to full preview. (http://wii.ign.com/articles/819/819465p1.html)
Some excerpts - for the lazy, or perhaps specifically disinterested (such as myself):
In one cut-scene, a masked killer uses a power saw to slice into a man's bulging belly, as the victim lies helplessly strapped to a table. In another, a hunter prepares to electrocute a separate prisoner. Manhunt 2's new M rating does not appear to have any bearing on these sequences, as they look and play exactly as they did when we first saw them so many months ago. Indeed, the majority of main gameplay functions are intact, violence, gore and all. If Danny beats a hunter with a mace, the carnage will play out uncensored, and blood will splatter onto the main character's clothes.
But there have been some unfortunate content omissions, too. When we first wrote about Manhunt 2, we referenced a particularly nasty death sequence, in which Danny could use a pair of pliers to literally rip the testicles off a hunter. That murder has been completed removed from the updated build of the game.
The biggest and most disappointing change relates to the major death strikes. When Danny sneaks up on an enemy, gamers can hold the A button down, at which point they will be given the option to pick from three different murder animations (on Wii, they get to act them out with Nintendo's motion-sensitive controllers). In the AO-rated build of Manhunt 2, we could clearly see these over-the-top and horrific animations. In the M-rated version, Rockstar has added both an extreme blur effect and in most cases darkened the graphics so that it is nearly impossible to make any sense of what is going on. Players will be able to see character movement, blood splatters, and sometimes they may catch a glimpse of an identifiable action (for example, Danny jamming nails into the legs of a chair-bound opponent), but mostly it's guesswork - a garbled, motiony mess that's far less satisfying. This truth is doubly unfortunate because both everything else is unchanged and because these death strikes are what gamers will want to work toward; they're the pay off for a job well done, but now the pay off is not nearly as rewarding.
Our reactions to these maneuvers really speak volumes. The first time we played Manhunt 2, everybody in the office was very outspoken one way or the other about the grotesque Wii-motion-enhanced kills. (On-screen cues tell players to jab left or right with the Wii remote, to pull up or down with both controllers, etc., and only after the gestures are made does the animation continue.) Onlookers were crying out and laughing and several people were in awe of the game's brutality. But with the updated build, we couldn't fully identify what was going on. We could see movement and hear disgusting noises, but if Rockstar had told us Danny had just decapitated a hunter or strangled him instead, we'd have to take its word for it. Not to suggest that these sequences are completely ruined - they aren't. They're still fun to perform and some of the animations - especially when they're in well-lit rooms where more of the movement can be recognized - are still satisfying and entertaining.
Rockstar's title may have dropped the AO label and toned down the presentation of death strikes for an M rating, but this blood-soaked effort is still one of the grossest and most disturbing titles we've ever seen.
The game looks sick to me - and no, I don't mean that in the 'cool' way; it looks depraved and wrong - but the story of the game is very interesting to me. I've long been wanting to talk about it (further) here; post updates, etc; and share my thoughts on the proceedings and the industry... but haven't had the energy. Well, now it might be time. I hope to get to want I want to get to sometime over the course of this thread, but for now just want to leave y'all with this defacto, objective update/report - as I know some of you have expressed an interest in the game.
Well, IGN got their hands on an updated/revised build of the game and they reveal what some of the changes were. Link to full preview. (http://wii.ign.com/articles/819/819465p1.html)
Some excerpts - for the lazy, or perhaps specifically disinterested (such as myself):
In one cut-scene, a masked killer uses a power saw to slice into a man's bulging belly, as the victim lies helplessly strapped to a table. In another, a hunter prepares to electrocute a separate prisoner. Manhunt 2's new M rating does not appear to have any bearing on these sequences, as they look and play exactly as they did when we first saw them so many months ago. Indeed, the majority of main gameplay functions are intact, violence, gore and all. If Danny beats a hunter with a mace, the carnage will play out uncensored, and blood will splatter onto the main character's clothes.
But there have been some unfortunate content omissions, too. When we first wrote about Manhunt 2, we referenced a particularly nasty death sequence, in which Danny could use a pair of pliers to literally rip the testicles off a hunter. That murder has been completed removed from the updated build of the game.
The biggest and most disappointing change relates to the major death strikes. When Danny sneaks up on an enemy, gamers can hold the A button down, at which point they will be given the option to pick from three different murder animations (on Wii, they get to act them out with Nintendo's motion-sensitive controllers). In the AO-rated build of Manhunt 2, we could clearly see these over-the-top and horrific animations. In the M-rated version, Rockstar has added both an extreme blur effect and in most cases darkened the graphics so that it is nearly impossible to make any sense of what is going on. Players will be able to see character movement, blood splatters, and sometimes they may catch a glimpse of an identifiable action (for example, Danny jamming nails into the legs of a chair-bound opponent), but mostly it's guesswork - a garbled, motiony mess that's far less satisfying. This truth is doubly unfortunate because both everything else is unchanged and because these death strikes are what gamers will want to work toward; they're the pay off for a job well done, but now the pay off is not nearly as rewarding.
Our reactions to these maneuvers really speak volumes. The first time we played Manhunt 2, everybody in the office was very outspoken one way or the other about the grotesque Wii-motion-enhanced kills. (On-screen cues tell players to jab left or right with the Wii remote, to pull up or down with both controllers, etc., and only after the gestures are made does the animation continue.) Onlookers were crying out and laughing and several people were in awe of the game's brutality. But with the updated build, we couldn't fully identify what was going on. We could see movement and hear disgusting noises, but if Rockstar had told us Danny had just decapitated a hunter or strangled him instead, we'd have to take its word for it. Not to suggest that these sequences are completely ruined - they aren't. They're still fun to perform and some of the animations - especially when they're in well-lit rooms where more of the movement can be recognized - are still satisfying and entertaining.
Rockstar's title may have dropped the AO label and toned down the presentation of death strikes for an M rating, but this blood-soaked effort is still one of the grossest and most disturbing titles we've ever seen.
The game looks sick to me - and no, I don't mean that in the 'cool' way; it looks depraved and wrong - but the story of the game is very interesting to me. I've long been wanting to talk about it (further) here; post updates, etc; and share my thoughts on the proceedings and the industry... but haven't had the energy. Well, now it might be time. I hope to get to want I want to get to sometime over the course of this thread, but for now just want to leave y'all with this defacto, objective update/report - as I know some of you have expressed an interest in the game.