Manhunt 2 is a game by the infamous developer Rockstar. It may be rated M for Mature, but the irony is that mature adults will probably find it a bit juvenile. Ok, your character kills people violently. He passes through seedy S&M bars and chaotic insane asylums. People use foul language and speak of hookers ever so casually. Yes, these things are in the game. However, it feels like the game developers are just tossing you bits of material that are intended to be shocking just for the sake of getting more press attention on this game. Because all of these things are put together so haphazardly, it doesn't create an atmosphere, a mood, or convincing characters to give you the motivation to do horrible things. Therefore, (as many have said about the previous game) despite the mature rating, this is the kind of game that will probably only entertain 11-14 year olds just because the language, sex, and violence contained herein are taboo for them at that age.

But moving on to graphics, Manhunt 2 does not do much to impress on the Wii. Characters are rather blocky and textures look a little too close to last gen. For a supposed stealth game, shadows and lighting are rather poorly done. It's rather difficult to predict where it will be dark enough to remain unseen, and lighting hits your character in only two ways: you're either lit up or you're slightly shaded. Lack of attention to detail is apparent throughout the game. For example, aside from the main characters, there are no mouth movements while characters are talking. Come on people, we can manage two frames for open and closed mouths nowadays. In one area, I found a patient in the asylum to be occasionally spouting blood from his mouth, only it looked like fog from someone's breath on a cold day that was colored red. I was confused, but I'm sure I was supposed to be disgusted. Add it all up, and the realism factor is pretty low.

But what about the blood and the extreme violence you were promised? About that, it seems like a lot of that was censored out. No doubt, you can still hit people about the head with sledge hammers and all manner of violent instruments, and it's bloody and violent, so no, it's not Care Bears now. Execution moves, however, have been put through a mixture of filters and blur effects until it's nearly impossible to tell what's going on. Let's be honest, a big draw for this game is the expectation of brutal execution sequences using all manner of weapons from plastic bags to crowbars. You're just curious as to how your character will possibly use each item in order to kill. It seems at the last minute, Rockstar had to mask these sequences in order to get away with a rating under Adults Only.

I mentioned the foul language. This game is uncensored, and people in the game curse freely and talk about some pretty dirty things. It just doesn't have much impact since the writing isn't even up to B-movie standards. For example, during the opening sequence, the staff are cursing and yelling at the residents, telling them "I've been waiting for this" as they beat on them. You overhear from one staff member that he's glad he's getting paid so he can "get some hookers." Wow, ok, we get it: they're unsavory, evil characters - all of them. Now wake me when they have more depth than a kiddie pool.

The environmental sound effects and background music contribute to an eerie, insane atmosphere. After a while, it felt like it was intended the same way as everything else in the game: throw in more scary, gory, or sexual stuff to really push things over the limit. There's a creak here, and a scream there, but it's all on a loop, and sometimes certain sounds and voices play out of cue, so after a while you don't pay attention to the sound effects, as they don't contribute to gameplay. Again, this is not optimal for a stealth game.

Manhunt 2 starts off with Daniel Lamb, apparently a patient, attempting to find his way out of an insane asylum. You're really thrown into the plot here, and not in a good way. I mean, you really just don't know who you are or what's going on, but you're missing that air of mystery that motivates you to figure out what's going on.

Anyway, let's say a burning curiosity moves you to find out what's happening to Danny. His past is gradually revealed through cut scenes and flashbacks. It's not really much of a spoiler to tell you he's part of some sort of secret experiment called simply "The Project." Everyone involved with it seems to want Danny dead. Men dressed in suits called Hunters pursue you, but in general, anyone Danny encounters wants to tear him apart.

Your goal is to survive, and piece together the past that Danny can't seem to remember. He's also accompanied by Leo, who obviously resides in Danny's mind, or does he? But even in story alone, plot holes really take you out of the experience. For example, Danny mysteriously produces a matchbook at one point and insists on going to the club it came from. But where did this matchbook come from? Can we at least have a cut scene where Danny finds it in his pocket?

Manhunt 2 is one of those games that is frustrating due to poor game mechanics. I hate to include this in difficulty, but it does make it a hard game. There are two different difficultly levels. Insane isn't as impossible as it sounds, but what it does is take away your radar. In this game, where the camera control is an issue, I consider the radar an essential to make up for it. It's pretty silly to up the difficulty by taking away something that made up for poor mechanics. It's a stealth game, as mentioned before, but one where it's very difficult to hide yourself, or predict where you can hide yourself. I suppose to encourage stealth, it's nigh impossible to survive a fight where there is more than one opponent at a time. First of all, Danny can't take hits or hit very well. He staggers and hesitates when he's received too many blows or handed too many out. Your enemies don't seem to have this problem, so that's too bad for you.

Ironically for a stealth game, the tides turn in your favor when you get your hands on a noisy, position-revealing gun. It seems it's simply easier to pick off enemies with the gun than it is to endure the agonizing wait for them to get in the right position for stealth kills.

This is where Manhunt 2 proves it's just pandering to those who want to see some sex and violence in their games and they don't care how they get it. The short story is: it's a clunky, glitchy game.

To elaborate, let's start with the main premise of the game: stealth. The level design is not your friend here, as it's very hard to determine where you will be able to hide. And please help me here, why can't I have decent control over the camera when preserving my life depends on seeing what my enemies are doing? You pretty much have no free camera control. If you want to look to Danny's left, you need to point him left and then wait for the camera to slowly wheel its way around. If you want to look up or down, you have to reach down to the 1 button and get into First Person View. In this mode, however, you are immobile. Your other option for looking around is to lean left or right. You do this by tilting the Nunchuk left or right. This gives you a slightly extended view in that direction, but I found few places to safely use it, as once again, you are rendered immobile in this mode.

There were several instances of glitchy and just poorly designed behavior. Once, while sneaking up behind two people, one guy began his "panic" audio track. He was yelling and begging for his life. The problem was, he was just standing there, and so was the Hunter beside him who should have been alerted by his screaming. So moving in a little closer to investigate, the guy finally starts running, and the Hunter beside him finally reacts appropriately. Early and inappropriate audio triggers are actually so common in the game that you tend not to trust audio cues for what they are supposed to be. Enemies also have general trouble with doors and walls: those tricky things always seem to get in their way.

General movement just doesn't feel right. Danny goes from a slow walk to what seems like a rocket-propelled sprint. It's great for getting away from a fight that's gone bad, but it's not very realistic. Add that to the camera issues, and you'll be running around like a true madman in no time.

Ok, there are indeed some tense moments. Sometimes you can rise above the frustrating controls and mechanics and actually get into the feeling of fighting for your life. Wow, people just hate Danny for some reason (they actually continue to kick and insult you even after you're dead), so stepping into his shoes, you really do want to force a thug or two into a gruesome end.

Because of the censored executions, much of the appeal for Manhunt 2 has been lost. Even so, this game still has about the same shock value as sneaking into a badly written R-rated horror flick: it's only shocking if you've absolutely never seen or heard anything like it. No, it's not for kids, but it's not a great game for adults either. This game really shouldn't get the press it gets. It's a below-average stealth/action game with a bunch of dirty words and gratuitous violence.