Author: Crossfire

Playstation Portable
Rockstar Games
www.rockstargames.com

Those lovely people over at Rockstar Games certainly know how to create a stir. Their titles are consistently dragged over the coals by sections of the media, fuelling anxiety in the minds of concerned parents and politicians the world over. Titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Canis Canem Edit are key protagonists in a fervent debate dealing with the supposed harmful effects of interactive media.

The moral panic leading up to a new Rockstar release is simply profound, but perhaps more striking is our inability to avoid the arguments whether you play games or not. Of course, the hardcore gaming crowd are unlikely to be swayed in their opinion by the deranged rants of the Daily Mail, but with Manhunt 2, it seems the other side have won. Banned outright in the lead up to it’s release in this country by the BBFC, but eventually released in the States on condition that several cuts were made to the game’s content, Manhunt 2 may never have seen the light of day at all. It’s not the first time a videogame has been treated in this manner, but rarely has a gaming product caused mass debate on this level.

Should responsible adults be prevented from playing the game? Is it not down to bad parenting if a title clearly aimed at adults falls into the wrong hands? Is pixellated violence any less harmful that the ‘real’ violence we see on our cinema screens? These questions will never be definitively answered, and i’m certainly not going to try. The question I intend to answer is one that has probably been overlooked amidst the rows and court cases, and it’s one that many critics of Manhunt 2 and gaming as a medium would do well to try and answer, once they’ve calmed down and had a cup of tea. What’s the fucking game like?

Let’s answer that question with another question. Remember when your parents told you about how terrified they were by The Exorcist, or how sickened they were by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Remember the disappointment when you actually saw these films decades after their original release? That’s what playing Manhunt 2 is like. This isn’t to say the aforementioned works aren’t great pieces of cinema, or even that Manhunt 2 is a particularly bad game, because it’s not. It’s just an incredibly average one.

Playing as mental patient Daniel Lamb, it’s clear that the game’s opening environments are just as menacing as the BBFC made out. The flickering lights of the asylum and an S+M club lifted straight out of Hostel are two particularly striking examples of the game’s dark side, but once you move out of these atmospheric, dread soaked settings the game turns very bland very quickly. This isn’t helped by the fact that the storyline simply doesn’t hold a candle to its predecessor. The deranged whisperings of Starkweather in the original Manhunt were genuinely threatening, but Daniel Lamb’s story simply isn’t as engaging. The narrative jumps back and forth throughout the game which marrs any sense of immersion offered by the game’s early stages.

Crucially, there’s not as much reason for the violence here. Lamb does not have a psychopath breathing down his neck every inch of the way forcing him to commit the brutal acts witnessed in Manhunt 2, though the game significantly ups the ante in terms of violence. You’ll get the chance to burn, suffocate, bludgeon and even castrate your victims at various points in the game, but ultimately there’s less reason to do so. Cynics may be tempted to accuse Rockstar of resorting to shock tactics to sell the game. They could be right.

However, Manhunt 2 does feature some interesting mechanics to compliment the stealth based gameplay, most notably the QTE’s which occur as an enemy stares into your hiding place. They add a considerable level of tension in the game’s closing stages, especially as the gangs become more powerful and numerous. You’re also able to perform ‘environmental’ executions which require an added level of skill. Luring an enemy near these areas takes patience which is ultimately rewarded by the brutality of these types of execution, and you’ll have to know the environments fairly well if you want to perform them. Good ones to go for are the manhole covers and industrial mangles. Ouch.

Sequels can go either way. The problem with Manhunt 2 is that it exploits the aspects of the original which gave it notoriety rather than those which made it an entertaining videogame. As such, the sense of threat which made the original feel like a snuff movie is lacking here, and the nagging feeling that Manhunt 2 is a wasted opportunity is resident throughout. This title could and should have revitalised the stealth genre; inventive in part as the game is, it’s a shallow, depressing and ultimately dull experience.

5/10

Jon Beach

Nintendo Wii
Nintendo
www.nintendo.com

The year is 1997. There’s an excitingly large present under the Christmas tree. It’s rectangular, bulky, exactly the shape it should be to fit your dreams. You’ve been thinking about it for months. The day finally arrives, and in front of your smiling family you tear off the wrapping to reveal a brand new, factory sealed Nintendo 64 console and a copy of Super Mario 64.

You deal with the lesser priorities of the next few hours with difficulty. Grandma has had her kisses, the Bond film draws to a predictable close, and the cracker toys are discarded on the carpet with the Quality Street wrappers. Christmas dinner feels like forever. Your parents give the all clear, and you tuck the lusciously weighty package under your arm and bolt upstairs.

Each slot of a new connector into your television set feels like sex. The adrenaline is palpable. It’s on. The first sounds: a coin being collected, and ‘It’s a-meee, Maaaarioo!’ You don’t know whether to follow the on-screen command and press start, or spend hours bending Mario’s stunningly rendered face. You do it with a sense of vague reluctance for a couple of minutes, chuckle slightly, and press start. You load your first game. Peach has a voice too. ‘Mario….please come to the castle…i have baked a cake for you’. Lakitu gives you a lengthy tour of the castle grounds accompanied by some sweeping orchestral music.

Come on, come on……Mario bursts out of the apple green pipe with the same sound effect you’d been hearing for years past. The camera settles, and your thumb gently pushes the analogue stick. Mario moves. Your heart is in your fucking mouth. Mum pushes her head through the door. ‘What’s it like then, Graham (or whatever)?’ You tell your Mum in not so many words that you can barely contain the sense of wonder and awe, let alone describe it. You share the next few hours with your new favourite video game, grinning from ear to ear with every second that passes.

The year is 2007. A decade has passed since your original experience with Super Mario 64, and you’ve been gagging for a sequel ever since. The Gamecube brings with it an element of hope in the form of Super Mario Sunshine, and although the game holds your attention for a good few months and is undoubtedly a superb videogame, it doesn’t quite bring the same magic as that original leap into 3D a few years ago. You’re not that fussed on the F.L.U.D.D. mechanic, nor the strangely trippy character design. You scour the gaming media for any new information on a true sequel. Miyamoto seems content to toy with the hardcore fans; hinting that a true heir to Mario 64 is indeed in the works. The Gamecube era comes and goes. Finally with the first real details of Nintendo’s revolutionary new console, it’s announced. Super Mario Galaxy.

You’re not quite sure what to make of the new gameplay elements seen in the new demos, or the fact that it’s set in space. You wonder whether placing their new project in space is the ultimate last resort for creative moguls running out of ideas. Your anticipation, however, remains feverish. Each month that passes brings new delays, but finally, nearly a year after the Wii’s launch, Mario Galaxy hits shelves. Early reviews suggest that this is Mario’s true return to form, but you attempt to restrain any hope until you can experience the game for yourself.

You are astounded to find upon playing the game that you are experiencing those same feelings of pure joy as you did a decade ago. The storyline is typically thin, but this is Mario, not Tom Clancy. You find yourself chasing small bunnies on a sphere, and are surprised to find that though this is an inherently simple act, there’s something so right and yet so alien about Galaxy that you can’t put your finger on.

Maybe it’s the disorientating feeling of running underneath the planet, knowing the game’s gravity system will keep you in place as tightly as you attempt to keep Mario in his. You’re not sure. Your first few galaxies are met with similar joy. The wonderfully playful, awe-inspiring soundtrack seeps its way deep into your brain. Each ten minute segment of play seems more enjoyable that the one before it, and within these are a further series of classic moments that you know you’ll be experiencing again and again in attempt to recapture that original sense of splendour.

You marvel at those gameplay mechanics you doubted back in March, whether it’s using the remote steer a ball-riding Mario through a frustrating yet immensely satisfying obstacle course, or dragging him through a spike infested ghost chase. Each hugely entertaining yet slightly short-lived boss encounter, inventive new environment, secret and surprise entices you to rifle through the game, poking your fascinated nose into every nook and cranny. It occurs to you that you never want Super Mario Galaxy to end. You realise that once again, you can barely contain the sense of wonder and awe, let alone describe it. You share the next few months with your new favourite video game, grinning from ear to ear with every second that passes.

10/10

Jon Beach