Slashdot Mirror
Manhunt Delivers Stealthy Shock For Rockstar
Thanks to U.S. Playstation Magazine for its review of Rockstar North's ultraviolent PS2 stealth action title Manhunt, which it rates as "a solidly constructed third-person affair." The reviewer also explains the most unique feature: "As an interesting gimmick, Manhunt supports the USB headset. With the headset, the Director's comments [as voiced by Brian Cox] are heard only through the earpiece." GameSpot also largely rates the title positively, approving of the "tension and grim satisfaction" in the stealth action gameplay, but highlighting the ways the "game unflinchingly depicts intense graphic violence" as the Director "captures on video the bloody executions" carried out by your in-game character. This leads Playstation Magazine to question the ESRB rating system, suggesting that if Manhunt "didn't merit an AO rating, then I don't know what will", while IGN PS2 simply says, with regard to the gore: "No videogames to date have gone as far."
So am I the only one who read the title and thought this would be an article about Michael Jackson?
They mostly define AO (Adults Only)-rated games as games that would involve nudity or sexual acts - a few hentai games from Japan would warrant this, but not much else. As it is, though the game is brutally violent, it's pretty much the same stuff that a 17 year old could see in some of the more violent R-rated movies. The problem is that people have become used to allowing under-17-year-olds to play M-rated games; in this case, the game is clearly *not* targetted at that demographic, though I'm sure that I'm about to be shocked when I hear some ten year olds talking about that awesome cleaver murder they committed in Manhunt...
--- Bwah?
Really ? What about the adventures "Phantasmagoria" and "Post Mortem"?
...another State of Emergency?
"As you go into battle, just remember what the MPAA says: Horrific, deplorable violence is okay, as long as nobody says any naughty words!"
where the comment ends and sig begins
No major film is released as NC-17. Kill Bill Vol 1 had a long scene edited to be in Black & White soley to avoid an NC-17.
No major game meant to be profitable is going to be released as AO. The same religious conservatives and "watchdog" groups that threaten to boycott any theaters showing NC-17 films will raise a rukus over any AO game.
Sad though, as in principle I firmly believe in ratings like AO and NC-17. Occasionally, I want to go to see movies intended for adults only, such as Crash, which was NC-17 and recieved a limited release.
.
If you RTFAs, OPM points out that the game includes sodomizing someone with a crowbar. Doesn't that count as sexual? Or is it OK because cops do it to criminals?
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Didn't the latest Rainbow 6 game on the Xbox do the 'use the headset as a headset,' and also let you give verbal commands to your AI squadmates?
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
If I am anti-animal sex, would I be considered a bigot? Clearly I am not respecting the views of another person, therefore I must be a horrible member of society, correct?
...do we really need this kind of "entertainment"?
I don't have anything against videogame violence when it makes sense, or even when it doesn't make sense but is done in an over-the-top comic book style, but a game where you sodomize your enemy with a crowbar while a freak with a videocamera tapes it? What next, one where the objective is to kidnap and rape as many women as possible?
This is a new low. I love the GTA series (one of the over-the-top comic book variety I mentioned), but I am unlikely to buy the next one because it would be giving money to the same company responsible for this.
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
I happen to enjoy movies and games with gritty content. They give me a window into a dark world that I'll thankfully never intersect with in real life, but that I still find conceptually intriguing. That being said, I can't play Manhunt for extended periods of time because the tension and the ultraviolence start to get to me...but that doesn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the game.
Out of curiosity, since you plan to stop buying games by Rockstar because of Manhunt, have you also boycotted all of the movie studios who have put out films with extremely gory content? I mean, you should clearly be skipping the Lord Of The Rings films because New Line Cinema also put out Seven...
...any form of entertainment that allows you to experience something that you've never experienced before automatically has value.
I disagree. Would you buy my hypothetical kidnap-and-rape game for that same reason? Would you buy a game where the goal was to vivisect realistically-modelled babies? There are some things that simply have no inherent value to humanity, and I think that games like this fit into that category.
I mean, you should clearly be skipping the Lord Of The Rings films because New Line Cinema also put out Seven...
I haven't seen Seven, but if it's like most psychological thrillers then the killer isn't portrayed as the protagonist. The reason Manhunt disturbs me is because it is the player's character who is doing the brutal murdering for someone else's entertainment.
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
If there were high-quality titles with strong gameplay that happened to veer into those areas, I wouldn't summarily reject them just because of their content. And even if the games that covered that material were crappy, I still think that the fact that they'd offer a unique experience (however grotesque) would give them some inherent value.
For example, in Postal 2 you can apparently urinate on people, which makes them vomit. Gary Coleman also appears as an NPC in the game. I don't know if Postal 2 is any good or not, but those are some pretty unique gameplay elements, and the title deserves recognition for that. Whether those gameplay elements are desirable or not is an entirely different issue.
> I haven't seen Seven, but if it's like most psychological thrillers then the killer isn't portrayed as the protagonist.
No, but he's a central fixture of the film, and he plays a very up-front and personal role toward the end. He also isn't treated like an evil caricature.
> The reason Manhunt disturbs me is because it is the player's character who is doing the brutal murdering for someone else's entertainment.
But within the context of the game, Cash is no better or worse than any of his opponents. They're all vicious murderers who have been put in a kill-or-be-killed situation. And your character isn't lionized for his actions -- in fact, the more violent you are, the more the antagonist cheers you on.
Manhunt is a meditation on violence, not a celebration of it. It doesn't make any judgment calls -- it just puts the situation in front of you and lets you decide how you feel about it. I don't see anything wrong with that.