When I was at the game store, I wanted to rent a game. I had like 3 or 4 games in my mind and none of them were there. So I closed my eyes and randomly picked a game from the shelf. And that game was Manhunt 2.
Storyline
The Storyline is unique. If not completely weird. I'll try to explain it the best I can. You play as Daniel Lamb: A nerdy guy whose whole life was ruined by a scientist named Pickman, who used you as a Guinea Pig for one of his sick little experiments called the Pickman Project. The things you saw, the things you were brainwashed into doing. These things forced you to be placed into a Mental Asylum for the criminally insane. With no clue of what's going on around him, Daniel strangles a nurse half to death. Then his cell door lies open. Leo Kasper, another Guinea Pig for the Project and got committed into the asylum with you, is the one who opened it. Now, you must get revenge on the Project and take your life back, along with your past. If this game sounds hard to understand, trust me, it is. It took me 3 hours after beating it to figure out exactly what the hell happened. It's still interesting, nonetheless.
Gameplay
Okay, now I've read reviews of this game and I've seen scores as low as 2.5 out of 10. But I have to say, this game is pretty good, to be honest. Let me go into detail, though.
Manhunt 2 plays like 2 different games at once in terms of Gameplay. In the beginning, you basically must scrap for weapons which you'll then need to use them to sneak up on enemies and brutally mortalize them, which is made a little disheartening at the fact that a screen filter had to be put in place during the more brutal scenes to avoid the AO rating. Nonetheless, it still feels meaty, as it should.
But when you get your first gun at around the 5th or 6th level (There's 15 in all, by the way) the whole gameplay style changes from a hide-then-kill to a TPS game. You aim your guns with the Wii Remote which has a behind-the-back camera angle that goes a long way.(Think exactly like RE4: Wii Edition when you aim. Hey, if you're going to steal, steal from the best, right?) Manhunt 2 in unique in that it switches between which Gameplay style you need to use almost effortlessly. Other little things, such as responsive controls and a mostly flawless camera help seperate Manhunt 2 from the rest.
Unfortunately, as great as these 2 Gameplay styles are, Manhunt 2 suffers from a badly broken melee combat system. Even little weak hits will send Danny into a 2-4 second hit animation, which allows enemies to continue to beat on you and sometimes knock you down. If you're down, it takes 10+ seconds to get up. So the enemies can continue to beat you and will probably kill you. In short, use stealth kills.
Crappy melee combat or no, Manhunt 2 suffers from some other flaws as well, such as weak AI (If enemies are chasing you, they seem to forget about you the moment you leave their sight) and no extras after beating the game (1 extra mission and that's it) ultimately bring down what could've been a 9 or a 9.5 in the Gameplay department.
Graphics
The Graphics are another big flaw that Manhunt 2 suffers from. Details look pixelated, and there's a lack of individual fingers. It actually looks along the lines of Bully or GTA: Vice City (All 3 are developed by the same company, I might add), and that just shouldn't be happening on a system that's given us such beautiful games as Super Smash Bros. Brawl and RE4: Wii Edition.
Sound
The music is eerie and scary, which helps add to the overall horror experience. And the sounds coming out of the Wii Remote's Speaker, such as Gunshots and knocking on doors, help add a great layer of immersion. Good value in this department, overall.
Final Word
After all of the hype and the publicized delay to avoid the notorious AO rating, Manhunt 2 actually dissapoints a little bit. Still, if you enjoy stealthy gore mixed with high-quality gunplay (as long as you don't mind the terrible melee system) then Manhunt 2 definitely fits the bill, and is, without a doubt, a good game despite it's shortcomings. :)
The 2000s was a great decade for a lot of brilliant video games. Here are the ten best games of the 2000s that you may not have played.
You know usually when someone says "you may have missed" it's games that were lesser known, hidden gems, underrated games. These are all super high profile games that sold extremely well.
You know the 2000s is 20 years ago too? Maybe, just maybe this wasn’t an article targeted to 30+ gamers? Still says at the very beginning of the title “THE BEST GAMES you may have missed”. Regardless of how well they sold there’s tons of gamers who haven’t touched these older well known games lol.
It's games you "may have missed", insinuating you were around and gaming in the 2000's and were there to miss them. If it was aimed at everyone else then they missed literally everything, not just the top games.
The original commenter is right, this is a badly written article at best pointless at worst.
Besides only being able to miss it if you were around during that time..if your point stands then this is a horrible list. Tons of better games people may have missed
Oh yeah thanks for reminding me I totally forgot they were doing it. Also what the hell happened to Kingpin: Reloaded? On Steam coming soon and nohting from the dev.
Yeah, I was just going to say. It's interesting seeing them back behind the series. Max Payne 3 was amazing, but then Rockstar just sat on the IP.
Well, they sit on virtually anything that isn't GTA and Red Dead now.
What is this list? These are all hugely popular games. I was expecting games like Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, Advent Rising, Arx Fatalis, etc.
the title didn’t say lesser known titles from the 2000s. This is 20 years ago now lol. Big assumption this list was made for older gamers.
I've only played 3 on that list. Part of me feels bad about how little I used all the consoles I've owned as a kid. One bright side is, there's over 30 years of games to experience for the first time.
Rockstar Games are notorious for a select few games - but little do people know they actually have a wide selection of video game series other than Grand Theft Auto, L.A. Noire and Red Dead. This list is for 5 Rockstar Games titles that need another chance, whether that's through a reboot, remaster, or even a sequel.
Manhunt. Definitely Manhunt. That game was a cult classic.
Unfortunately, if Rockstar released Manhunt with today's graphics technology it would be the equivalent of a snuff movie, an the media hate would bury the game. Heck I can't remember how many countries it was banned in. I know Manhunt 2 got banned in so many countries Rockstar had to censor the game to the point it became something else. But yeah I would love a remake of Manhunt.
Personally I loved Max Payne 3, I'd love to see a remaster of that for next gen consoles as well.
The original was banned in my country but I got to buy it digitally for PS3 from a US PSN account last gen. Using a fibrewire to decapitate an enemy, then throwing their head as a distraction was pretty funny.
I hope they rerelease Max Payne 3 on current consoles. It’s still one of my favorite 3rd person shooters and I’d love to get back into some slomo action online again
Jerry from BagoGames says, "Rockstar has never been one to dodge controversy, but Manhunt 2 carried quite a lot of it when it gained an AO rating in the United States."
