Manhunt

***Manhunt* Main Theme**

GAME

***Manhunt*** (also known as *Manhunt: The Final Cut*) is a stealth-based survival horror video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games, originally released for the PlayStation 2 in November 2003, and for Microsoft Windows and Xbox in April 2004. Manhunt was released through the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 in 2013, PlayStation 4 in 2016 and PlayStation 5 in 2020. It is the first installment in the *Manhunt* series and the first game in the 3D Universe of the series, and was followed by 2007's *Manhunt 2*.

Set in the fictional American settlement of Carcer City, *Manhunt* chronicles the story of James Earl Cash, a death row prisoner forced to participate in a series of snuff films for disgraced film producer Lionel Starkweather, earning his freedom by murdering criminal gang members sent to hunt him on camera.

A pet project of Rockstar North, *Manhunt* was developed by a different team than the one focused on its previous *GTA* titles. Development lasted for three years, with employees concerned about the controversy the game would gain for its violent nature and more serious tone in comparison to previous games by Rockstar.

Upon release, *Manhunt* received mostly positive reviews from gaming publication, and was signaled out for its originality. It was praised for its atmosphere, nihilistic tone and presentation, though it was also criticized for being repetitive. The game's gameplay and difficulty polarized critics, as did the overall violent nature and graphic content of the experience.

*Manhunt* was subject to a significant controversy after its release; it was banned in several countries, accused for glorifying murder and vigilantism, and implicated in a murder by the UK media, although this implication was later rejected by the police and courts.

## Synopsis

In 2003 in Carcer City, a journalist reports on the news about James Earl Cash, a death row prisoner recently executed by lethal injection. However, Cash was only sedated, awakening to an unknown voice referring to himself as "The Director" giving him instructions through an earpiece. The Director promises Cash his freedom, but only if he murders "Hunters" – gang members sent to hunt him – in special areas filmed by CCTV. Cash is instructed to kill members of "Hoods", a gang of corrupt police officers patrolling an abandoned area of Carcer City. Cash kills the Hoods but is abducted by the Cerberus, a unit of mercenaries working as private security for the Director. Cash is told he "has more to do before the night is out" and subsequently forced to kill a series of increasingly dangerous gangs. First, Cash faces a skinhead gang called "The Skinz" in a junkyard. Then, Cash faces a sadistic paramilitary called "Wardogs" in an abandoned zoo, using Cash's family as hostages to bait him out. Then, Cash faces a gang called "Innocentz", consisting of Hispanics, occultist gangsters known as "Skullyz" and demented perverts known as "The Babyfaces", in the streets, a shopping mall, a graveyard, and a chemical factory in an abandoned area of Carcer City. Cash discovers that the Director had his family killed and furiously vows revenge.

The Director forces Cash to face "The Smileys", a gang of schizophrenic psychopathic inmates who have taken over their insane asylum. Cash is instructed to follow the "White Rabbit", a man dressed in a rabbit costume, through the asylum until the Director ultimately betrays him for the "final scene" of his film. Cash unexpectedly survives and escapes the asylum, prompting the Director to deploy the remaining Wardogs, led by the vicious Ramirez, to hunt Cash down and kill him. Ramirez catches Cash and decides to play a final game of cat and mouse with him. Cash manages to kill Ramirez and the Wardogs, and the journalist reporting on Cash suddenly arrives in her car and rescues him. She explains that the Director is Lionel Starkweather, a famous former film producer from Hollywood who now produces for a snuff film ring. The journalist has been compiling evidence against Starkweather and now has enough to expose him but needs to retrieve some from her apartment. Starkweather blackmails Gary Schaffer, the corrupt chief of the Carcer City Police Department, to apprehend Cash and the journalist. Cash escorts the journalist to her apartment, protecting her from the police, and heads off to deal with Starkweather personally. Cash fights police and SWAT teams hunting him through the subway and streets until he is cornered in a train yard. Cash is almost summarily executed before the police are killed by the Cerberus, who recapture Cash and bring him to Starkweather's mansion compound where he is almost executed again. The Cerberus are distracted when Piggsy, a mentally disturbed, chainsaw-wielding psychopath who wears a pig's head as a mask and is normally kept chained up in Starkweather's attic, breaks free. Cash progresses through the garden and mansion, killing members of the Cerberus along the way, until he is confronted by Piggsy in the upper levels of the mansion. Cash triumphs after luring Piggsy onto a grate that collapses under his weight and falls to his death. Cash finally confronts Starkweather in his office and disembowels him with Piggsy's chainsaw before killing him.

Later, the media and the police arrive at the mansion, with the journalist exposing Starkweather's snuff ring and police complicity, and Schaffer is criminally prosecuted for corruption. Cash, however, is nowhere to be found.

## Development

Development on *Manhunt* began around 2000 and lasted almost three years, concurrently to the development and releases of *Grand Theft Auto III* and *Grand Theft Auto: Vice City*. The production on *Manhunt* was commenced by a different team than the one which worked on the *GTA* titles, with former Rockstar Games employee Jeff Williams noting the game was a "pet project" of Rockstar North.

According to the game's lead character designer Alan Davidson, the team "wanted to create a fucked-up game using AI controlled gangs hunting the player and it all snowballed from there". The story was developed and written by Davidson, regular *GTA* co-writer James Worall and lead level designer Christian Cantamessa. The game was aimed to "explores the depths of human depravity in a vicious, sadistic tale of urban horror". The game's script was 200-page long.

*Manhunt*'s violent nature was a piece of concern for several employees within Rockstar, with Williams claiming that "most of [them] at Rockstar Games" wanted no part in the game's development due to being weathered down by the controversies surrounding the *GTA* series. The conflicting opinions on the game's realistic depiction of violence almost caused a mutiny within the company.

*Manhunt* was officially announced by Rockstar North at E3 2003, on May 14, 2003. Rockstar remained silent about details for the game until July of the same year, when the company revealed the boxart in addition to a supplementary site entitled "Fetish Hardcore and Brutality", which included cryptic videos and comments.

## Reception

### Reviews

*Manhunt* received generally positive reviews across gaming publications upon its release in 2003, with the PS2 version aggregating a score of 75/100 on MetaCritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews" by the site; it was cited as the 81st best rated PS2 game of 2003, and was the ninth most discussed title of the console that year.

The game's later releases on the Xbox and PC platforms also granted it generally positive reviews. The PC version aggregated a score of 76/100 on MetaCritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The Xbox version aggregated a score of 74/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

*Manhunt* received significant praise for its dark tone and premise. GameSpot's Ben Kasavin called it Rockstar Games' "darkest, most violent game yet" and praised the game's ability to execute its violence "in style". IGN's Douglas Perry admitted that he originally considered the game's violent nature to be a mere marketing gimmick, but found it to be "visceral" upon experiencing the game, and ultimately chided moral guardians for overreacting over the game's violence. GameSpy's Bryn Williams claimed that the game's "intense violence and carnage" were a key part of its success as a stealth and action game. Game Informer's Andrew Reiner called the premise "frightening" but enjoyed how the combination of the game's atmosphere and gameplay made for a "thrilling" experience.

Several gaming publications signaled out the game's originality.

The visuals and aesthetics received positive reactions. GameSpy's Williams favorably remarked on *Manhunt*'s technical improvements over Rockstar's previous game *Grand Theft Auto: Vice City*, and noticed how the "gritty, dirty" textures helped creating "terribly claustrophobic" environments. GameSpot's Kasavin called *Manhunt* an "exceptionally good-looking game" and remarked that the "grainy, washed-out look" suited the title's subject matter. IGN's Perry praised the character designs, finding Cash to be "unique" and signaled out enemy designs as "striking".

The stealth gameplay was met with positive responses by most critics.

Several critics criticized the game's pacing and design in its later stages.

### Controversies

The game's controversy derives mostly from the visual method in which the player executes enemies. Former Rockstar employee Jeff Williams said in 2007 that the game's degree of brutality made even the game's employees uncomfortable; "there was almost a mutiny at the company over that game." Williams felt *Manhunt*'s controversies are "different" from previous *Grand Theft Auto* games. According to Williams, the game "just made us all feel icky. It was all about the violence, and it was realistic violence. We all knew there was no way we could explain away that game. There was no way to rationalize it. We were crossing a line."

The game's violence grabbed the attention of U.S. Representative Joe Baca, who sponsored legislation to punish individuals who sell adult-themed games to users under the age of 17. "It's telling kids how to kill someone, and it uses vicious, sadistic and cruel methods to kill," Baca stated of *Manhunt*. The media get involved in the issue as well. The Globe and Mail, for example, commented "*Manhunt* is a venal disconnect for the genre. There's no challenge, just assembly-line, ritualistic slaughter. It's less a video game and more a weapon of personal destruction. This is about stacking bodies. Perhaps the scariest fact of all: *Manhunt* is so user-friendly that any sharp 12-year-old could navigate through the entire game in one sitting. Be afraid."

#### Steefan Pakeerah's murder

On July 28, 2004, the game was linked to Steefan Pakeerah by his friend Warren Leblanc, the police found a copy of *Manhunt* in Leblanc's bedroom. Warren's mother, Giselle stated that Leblanc is "obsessed" with the game. During the subsequent media publicity, various sellers, including both United Kingdom and worldwide branches of GAME and Dixons, pulled the game out from their shelves.

Later the police rejected any relation between the game and the murder, citing drug-related robbery as the reason and revealing that the game was discovered in Steefan's bedroom.

#### Legal status

On December 11, 2003, the game was banned in New Zealand, with possession considered a crime. The Chief Censor, Bill Hastings, declared "It's a game where the only thing you do is kill everybody you see, you have to at least acquiesce in these murders and possibly tolerate, or even move towards enjoying them, which is injurious to the public good."

The game was first classified as MA15+ in Australia, however the Australian Classification Board overturned this judgment in September 2004, banning the game and ordering a recall of all copies remaining on the shelves. *Manhunt* has already sold 18,000 units in Australia prior to its recall.

Following a meeting between Hastings and officials from the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Business Services in Toronto on December 22, 2003, *Manhunt* became the first computer game in Ontario to be categorized as a film and was restricted to adults on February 3, 2004. Aside from Ontario, however, *Manhunt* has little to no classification issues in the rest of North America. Following the dispute in Ontario, the British Columbia Film Classification Office evaluated the game and determined that the ESRB's Mature rating was appropriate.

On July 19, 2004, the Amtsgericht in Munich confiscated all versions of *Manhunt* for violating 131 StGB ("representation of violence"). According to the court, the game depicts the slaughter of humans as enjoyable. They also claimed that it glorified vigilantism, which they believed was bad.

### Sales

As of March 26, 2008, the *Manhunt* series has sold 1.7 million copies worldwide.

## Legacy

*Manhunt* has a cult following among fans, and was cited by a *Vice* article in March 2016 as one of Rockstar's "very best" games. Similarly, Game Informer considers the game to be a "dark, underrated masterpiece". It was recognized as one of the "best of gaming horror" by VentureBeat in October 2011, included in the *1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die* book in 2010, and listed at #85 on IGN's "Top 100 PlayStation 2 Games" list that same year.

A sequel, *Manhunt 2*, was released in October 2007. While the sequel retains many of the stealth elements used in its predecessor, *Manhunt 2*'s storyline is completely unrelated to its predecessor.

## Trivia

* On many of the covers, the title *Manhunt* is inside a black-and-white Mini DV label, a consumer-level videotape common in the 2000s when the game was released.

## Further Reading

* Removed and Changed Content in Manhunt
* Weapons in Manhunt
* Executions

## Official Site

* Rockstargames.com/Manhunt
* Valiant-ent.tv

## References

1. ↑     “The Final Cut” term is used for promoting the game.
2. ↑ Uncredited in-game. See Manuals.
3. ↑ "Recommendation of the Board of Directors to Reject Electronic Arts Inc.'s Tender Offer", Wayback Machine.
4. ↑ "Opinion — Manhunt Is The Dark, Underappreciated Masterpiece We Deserve", Game Informer