Contents |
Rockstar Games, creators of Grand Theft Auto, released a game called Manhunt in the year 2004. PC: Gamezone has dubbed manhunt as being ‘shamelessly grotesque’ and requires ‘gamers to have strong stomach’. Manhunt is based upon a convicted felon whose name is James Earl Cash, who has been sentenced to execution by lethal injection. The execution, while seemingly successful to the outside world, was a decoy intended to facilitate Cash’s transferal to a ruined city where he is to be hunted down and killed in what is supposed to be an underground snuff film (PC:Gamezone, 2005)
Hunters and trained soldiers roam the streets of the city and are all determined to be the one to find Cash and kill him. The role of the player is to be Cash, whose only way to escape is to hunt and kill those out to hunt and kill him.
The goal of the game is to hunt and kill the trained soldiers and hunters who are trying to kill Cash. The plot itself is a good indication of what to expect in the content of the game. Manhunt as a game contains extreme profanity and violence in the course of using stealth to carry out the murders of the soldiers.
The review by PC:Gamezone (2005) stated that ‘Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’s depiction of the various ethnic groups is miniscule compared to the shocking array of racial and ethnic slurs uttered by various hunters in Manhunt’.
James Earl Cash has a goal of trying to commit the most creative killings to appease the director of the illegal snuff film. In doing this, gamers are given the opportunity to try out various weapons to kill the hunters in the most creative and gruesome way possible. The game provides an array of weapons for the players to utilise including piano wire, shards of glass, crowbars and machetes.
By gaming standards, Manhunt has a high standard of realistic imagery and sound effects. After killing a hunter, the player is shown a cutscene which depicts the mutilation that resulted from the murder. The cutscenes vary according to the weapon used, though generally consist of grainy, shaky and distorted camcorder shots, presumably filmed by the directors henchmen. The cutscenes have been described by Action Trip (2005) to be an ‘incredibly ghastly sight, consisting of gushing blood and often dismembered body parts’.
The game also utilises shadows as an innovative feature that Cash can hide within and use stealth to wait for the opportune moment to attack a hunter.
Computer Games - Ethics
Computer Games - Ethics: Morals in Computer Games
Computer Games - Ethics: Effects of Media Violence
Computer Games - Ethics: Reflexes and Behaviours
Action Trip (2005), “Manhunt Review�?, retrieved October 25, 2005 from: http://www.actiontrip.com/reviews/manhunt.phtml.
PC:Gamezone (2005), “Manhunt Review�? retrieved October 25, 2005 from: http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r22235.htm
Sarah Harper 20:00, 27 Oct 2005 (EST)
