Manhunt

The Basics:
Platform: PS2
Developer: Rockstar Games
Price: $40-50
ESRB rating: M (17+)

Summary: As the star of the show you are James Earl Cash, a criminal who is on death row. Following your supposed execution, you wake up to find you have been "rescued" by the "director." The director's goal is simple, he wants to tape you assassinating men he has hired to hunt you down and kill you. Get rewarded for bloodier and more brutal deaths.

Note: An incredibly violent and gruesome game. Parents, this game isn't for kids.

Further Breakdown:

Overall rating: 0 out of 5 stars

Best for ages: 17+
Playability: Good
Graphics: Good
Entertainment value: Some, the game gets the adrenaline going
Educational value: None
Reading Level: 7+
KidScore Rating

Ages 3-7: Red
Ages 8-12: Red
Ages 13-17: Red
Violence Amount: Red
Fear: Red
Illegal/harmful: Red
Language: Red
Nudity: Green
Sex: Yellow

Review:
Words cannot really be used to describe Manhunt-however, a few that come to mind are disturbing, sick, and scary. Not much else can be said for a game of which the entire focus is having the player assassinate people in the most gruesome way possible, all for the delight of a "director" who is taping your every move. If for any reason we needed to train kids to be expert killers, Manhunt could be the textbook.

As the star of the show you are James Earl Cash, a criminal who is on death row. Following your supposed execution, you wake up to find you have been "rescued" by the "director." The director's goal is simple, he wants to tape you assassinating men he has hired to hunt you down and kill you. You are beaten and abused by the director's men, then thrust out into a world of thugs, gangsters and psychotic killers who make every effort to hunt you down. Murder isn't the central theme-it is the game. Every aspect of a gruesome death is covered in slow-motion detail. The director is not happy with a simple death, instead you need to make the assassination bloodier, more cunning and more horrific to get the director's praise.

To kill you are given an arsenal of weapons. The game starts with instruments such as baseball bats, plastic bags (for suffocation), machetes, sickles and crowbars. Later, players graduate into firearms such as pistols and sawed-off shotguns. Each weapon has three "levels" of use. Supposedly, each level is to be more gruesome, but in reality, all levels are equal in their disturbing qualities. For example, at the first level, a shard of glass is used to slice open the victim's neck, sending out a stream of blood as they fall to the ground. Whereas in the third level the victim's back is slashed, then they are turned around and stabbed in the face several times until they are dead.

Bottom line is that Manhunt should make hardened criminals queasy, much less your kids. Keep your kids away from this one.