manhunt is a survival horror video game developed by rockstar games and released on ps2 on November 18th 2003. in the game you take control of your character cash who is threw into a game show type of event where he has to make his way through 20 different levels murdering hordes of enemies in any way the player see fit. be it a hammer or even a plastic bag suffocating enemies. this sets the stage pretty much for the entirety of the game.
Legal issues and controversy:
In many countries it was completely banned right of the bat, and when it was originally released, Canada refused to give the game a rating meaning that it could not go on sale in that country. In New Zealand possessing the game was actually a criminal offence
The game also caught flack from a murder in Leicester after a 17 year old boy killed his 14 year old best friend. His friends said that Stefan Pakeerah was obsessed by this game and the murder was heavily influenced by the game as he killed the boy with a claw hammer just like in the game the main protagonist kills with a hammer.
The victim's mother released a statement saying: "I can't believe that this sort of material is allowed in a society where anarchy is not that far removed. It should not be available and it should not be available to young people." During this many retailers pulled the game of the shelves such as Game and Dixons. Rockstar themselves came in and released there own statement about the matter: "We have always appreciated Dixons as a retail partner, and we fully respect their actions. We are naturally very surprised and disappointed that any retailer would choose to pull any game. We reject any suggestion or association between the tragic events and the sale of Manhunt. Rockstar Games is a leading publisher of interactive entertainment geared towards mature audiences, and markets its games responsibly, targeting advertising and marketing only to adult consumers ages 18 and older."
In Russia they banned the game from being on sale on PC after a young man named Dmitry Vinogradov killed 7 of his co-workers at the pharmacy he worked at. According to friends and family he was a fan of violent video games including Manhunt. Dmitry had no history of violents but according to friends he had been heavily drinking when the attack happened. There was no solid evidence that Manhunt were too blame for the killings but the game was still banned.
In my opinion i think Rockstar milked this game for all it was worth. maybe when they started work on this game they had a vision of making an intensely violent game and attempting to really push the boundaries when it came to art in video games. but once press caught wind of just how violent it actually was they blew it completely out of proportion trying to ward parents away from the game. but any publicity is good publicity when it comes to game sales.
Manhunt 2
while the whole controversy of manhunt 1 was going on Rockstar decided to get working on a sequel to the original. taking no note to the full on tsunami of hate coming from a large amount of parents around the globe. The game surprisingly is very similar to the original with all the blood and gore intact meaning companies like Sony and Microsoft not allowing adult only exclusives meaning Rockstar had to go back and edit out and blur some of the gore and violence in the game to just get it out on the shelves to sell. the game was then given an M rating in america but in England they still refused to give the game a rating but was eventually released as an 18.
Story:
after the story of Daniel Lamb and Leo Kasper. It begins in a mental asylum and after a huge thunderstorm the security systems at this Asylum temporarily go down and the inmates cells are opened. Daniel and Leo are able to escape the Asylum and Daniel takes some medication that is meant to help with Daniels memory of his life before the Asylum. During these events they are pursued by a gang of Bounty Hunters going by the name 'The Project'. Daniels learns he was once a top scientists in a project thats main aim was to make a brain implant that would make triggered assassin who in theory would be activated, carry out the assassination and then be deactivated with no memory of what has just happened, cancelling out the problem of interrogation. After learning more of his past they go to track down Dr Whyte who Daniel believes was a co-worker during the project.They are captured and awake to find Dr Whyte who explains to Daniel that they had tested the implant on Daniel, it had malfunctioned and he was able to speak to his alter assassin ego. This alter ego turns out to be Leo Kasper. Dr Whyte explains that Leo is dangerous and that he took over Daniels mind before he was admitted into the Aslyum, turning him physcopathic, stemming a rampage in which Daniel killed police officers and his own wife. After capturing him, The Project erased his memory and admitted him to the Asylum whilst they could try and fix the brain implant.
After learning this Daniel enters a hypnotic state in which he will face off against Leo within his mind. He is finally allowed to let go of the guilt of killing his wife and is able to defeat Leo and assert control. After doing so, Daniel awakes in a deserted place, his mind wiped once more, he is holding an envelope explaining that explains his name is David Joiner and his address wishing him the best of luck.
Controversy
Later on this debate was settled and Jack Thompson said he will not attempt to sue or make any further threats. Rockstar agreed to dismiss a court case they had against Jack for a previous debate over another one of their games, Bully.
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