While not on par with the original, Manhunt 2 is still a solid sequel that remains most of the great stealth gameplay.
Despite the title, Manhunt 2 storywise has absolutely nothing to do with the original. While the core gameplay remains unchanged with some improvements to the mechanics, the overall snuff movie theme has been ditched in favor of a more psychological horror/mental patient approach. No characters from the first Manhunt appear in this (unless the White Rabbit's corpse as an easter egg counts).
The plot is more complex in this installment, we instead focus on mental patient Daniel Lamb, a former scientist of the "Pickman Project" who can't remember how or why he got where he is. When the security system malfunctions at the asylum, Daniel escapes along with fellow inmate Leo Kasper, who accompanies you throughout most of the game. You even play as Leo in some flashback levels. As you escape from the asylum and enter the streets of Cottonmouth, you are hunted down by gangs and bounty hunters hired by the Project to silence the truth from coming out, much like in the original game. Hiding in shadows doesn't completely obscure your location as enemies can now search harder, which requires to enter in a button combination to avoid detection.
While you'll still be sneaking up behind and executing enemies while hiding in shadows, there have been some changes to the overall gameplay mechanics. The gunplay is pretty much the same only it feels more wobbly than before, and a bit more realistic aside from the fact you can use the smallest of handguns to blow enemies's heads to pieces. You can also climb onto obstacles and crawl under tight spaces, a feature the first game was severely lacking. The melee system seems to be an improvement slightly so you may find yourself being able to take on at least a couple of enemies considering you have a powerful weapon. One annoying thing is the third-person camera, that feels WAY too close compared to Manhunt 1. You do get used to it however.
Some of the execution methods have expanded greatly. While you can still use weapons to execute your victims in three increasingly violent ways, you are now able to use parts of the environment to unleash death upon them such as fire extinguishers, manholes, toilets, fuse boxes and more. In conjunction with the climbing feature, you can jump from a surface and execute your victim while in mid-air. You are also able to use firearms to perform executions on enemies. There are no separate levels for these types of executions unlike the traditional manner, though it is still satisfying nevertheless. Most of the weapons from the first game return along with many new additions like syringes, fountain pens, shovels, hedge clippers and saws.
Many would consider these features let down by the blurry filter that is shown whenever you perform executions. Like I said earlier, this game was considered too violent to pass for an M/18 rating, so it had be censored with a red and white blurry filter that appears whenever you perform an execution. Although you still get a good idea of what is happening and see some blood, this will not satisfy people's bloodlust as much as the first one did. The scoring system from the original has also been completely removed which makes attempted speedruns and your high level of brutality very unrewarding.
If you're lucky enough to have a cheat disc like me, you can put in a code that removes the filter altogether. Even then though, the game doesn't feel that much more gory than the original though the level of sadism does seem somewhat higher. I own the PS2 version, though it does seem as the graphically superior Wii and PC versions have higher detail of gore, making those versions somewhat AO worthy. Decapitations during executions seem to have been completely removed as well. The whole game regardless of version is still very brutal and still satisfy someone's bloodlust fairly enough.
Daniel is a very different and somewhat more interesting character than Cash. Although his killing methods are more sadistic, he'll feel remorse for his victims at first (throwing up being a sign of this) but later seems to get used to it. Leo on the other hand is a fairly deranged individual who has no problem with relentless killing as long as it destroys the Project once and for all. What seems weird is he is able to speak to Daniel (much like Starkweather did with Cash) without alerting any nearby hunters.
The atmosphere is still pretty good this time around. Although Cottonmouth (name not mentioned in-game) appears to be a cleaner city than Carcer, there are still some dark unsettling environments such as an insane asylum, a nightclub, a torture chamber, a sleazy porn theater (along with a short softcore flick playing on repeat) and a TV studio with massacred crew members. Craig Conner provides the soundtrack once again and although the synthesized John Carpenter influence is still there somewhat, it's not heard nearly as much in Manhunt 2 as it was in Manhunt 1 which is quite disappointing. The graphics are fairly detailed for a PS2 games though some character models can be a bit of an eyesore. One huge problem is the framerate which doesn't feel as smooth and will often drop depending on the amount of enemies on-screen.
With the exception of one or two levels, Manhunt 2 is noticeably easier than it's predecessor, a little too much for me. Although I found Manhunt's difficulty rather frustrating at times, I feel as though it's sequel's difficulty does not do it justice. I only recall dying about 5 times throughout my entire run. There seems to be very little challenge compared to Manhunt 1. You seem to have almost twice as much health this time making you almost feel invincible in some instances, or maybe it's the fact that enemies are bad at shooting. In some levels, you can just run through gunning down any enemies that get in your way despite the flawed shooting mechanic.
There are once again two difficulty levels (Sane and Insane), where the harder one removes the radar. Even then though, it still feels quite easy compared to the original. Despite the more disturbing theme, you don't feel as threatened by enemies as you did previously, hence the lack of suspenseful music. Like Leo says, "You shouldn't be scared of the Project, they should be scared of YOU!". This is even more apparent when you look at the fact that Danny is killing to try and find an answer to his past, whereas Cash in the original was forced to kill to escape an incredibly brutal situation.
In conclusion, although Manhunt 2 doesn't feel as good as it's predecessor, it is still a pretty solid sequel that is worth checking out for those who can't get enough of the original, despite the various censoring and less challenging difficulty. While these points bring the game down alot, there has been plenty of improvement made here and there such as the new features, gameplay improvements and new execution methods. The only uncensored version I know of is a PC version that isn't available legally right now unfortunately. Whichever system you feel most used to, I do recommend giving this game a try if you liked the first.
Whenever a Manhunt 3 will be made at this point is questionable, though it seems unlikely considering both games are probably the most controversial of all-time. We'll have to see what happens I suppose...
8.5/10