Imagine Syphon Filter crossed with the movie Saw II.
Graphics: Top notch here. The same grainy, video camera feel you know and love from Manhunt is back and better than ever. With over the top violence to compliment each of the 70+ different execution moves, you won’t be too frustrated by the blurry filter forced upon the game by the ESRB. Infact, you may even wave at your first amendment as it haplessly flutters by; I did. After all it’s pretty subjective. Allowing a pretty clear view of little spurts and nasties but more severely phasing out things like a man hole cover to the head, crowbar to the jewels, etc. Graphics wise, while nothing is dramatically improved, from the first installment, it never fails to amaze what can be packed onto a psp screen.
Sound: A horror movie soundtrack will keep your heart pounding throughout the game, with jump scene quality spikes in tone at every turn. In short, the music never gets old. The sound effects and voice work is great as well, with FTW moments plus a slew of phrases that will make you laugh out loud. No doubt about it, Manhunt 2 was the first time I was ever told by a video game character that he “bet my butt meat tasted good”
My brother and I nearly laughed ourselves sick. I mean come on that’s worth at least 15 dollars right there.
Gameplay: Same fun stealth action with new weapons and kill animations. It seems even more geared towards stealth this time around as you will almost certainly die if you’re caught with your pants down by more than 1 enemy. If your caught weaponless? You’re already dead. This makes for a fairly difficult experience but not infuriatingly so. As there are so many options to get through the baddies in Manhunt 2, you don’t find yourself pissed from dieing 5 times in a row. More like excited to try something new. And lastly in the words of MHF fans, this game DOES take more skill than your average action game. It also does a great job of rewarding you once you’re able to master it.
Controls: The port from ps2 to psp could not have been done any better. That said, everybody knows the psp can only do so much with one analog stick. So after about 30 min of getting used to it, (probably more for ps2 Manhunt fans) you will be sneaking and killing like a pro. The only drawbacks control or camera related coming from the open combat, such as when you botch an execution, or get discovered by an enemy. The attacks are slightly clunky, with different weapons swinging in extremely different ways. All the while it’s pretty easy to be caught in a never ending combo by your attackers. Each of their strikes connecting just before you’re able to come out of a daze from the first. However, open combat is something you will learn to avoid in Manhunt 2. So this problem occurs less and less often as you progress through the game.
Value: No sugar coating here. While the Warriors gave users a slew of additional options to go with its engaging story, Manhunt 2 gives users story mode, and a replay mission mode. That’s about it. But not that it’s a bad thing. As the story mode is fairly lengthy for a psp title, and the retail price is 29.99 new so the experience seems well worth the cost. Bottom Line: If you’re a fan, or a player of the original Manhunt, Splinter Cell or Syphon Filter series, go out and buy this game, now. At MSRP it’s a steal and while it lasts, you won’t be able to put it down. If you don’t know what to expect, ask yourself if you enjoyed any other Rockstar psp titles such as The Warriors or the GTA series. Odds are you’ll enjoy this one as well. Lastly, if you are sickened by all this video game violence and truly believe it’s to blame for corrupting America’s youth, go out and buy the game for your son. And know that the next time I toilet seat cover a punk rocker to the back of the head in game, I’ll be thinking of you