Earlier this week, Rockstar announced that they are developing the sequel to 2003’s snuff-arific Manhunt for the PS2, PSP, and Wii, which will be cleverly dubbed Manhunt 2. All three will be released sometime this summer.
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Many of you will probably remember Manhunt as the game that had you creating elaborate snuff films for the corrupt “Director,” using items like plastic bags and shards of glass to off your victims. It definitely wasn’t the nicest game ever made. You aren’t going to find any cute little bunnies running around with adorable smiles on their faces in this game.
So how the hell did this game end on the Wii, a Nintendo system, without the requisite cute little bunnies? You do have to wonder how Take2 and Rockstar decided to bring it to that system, based on the fact that Rockstar has put out very few games for any Nintendo system in the past. In fact, the only game they released for the GameCube was Smuggler’s Run Warzones – one game.
Then add in the fact that Nintendo systems have never been home to a considerable amount of mature-rated games and you have a recipe for confusion.
If I put my thinking cap on, I would have to say it’s because of two reasons. One, the Wii is extremely popular right now, and has been since launch. You can’t discount the Wii when people are still lining up for the thing. From a business stand-point, the Wii is where it’s at right now.
Second, it’s based on last-generation graphics. With graphics comparative to an original Xbox, many companies that are still developing PS2 games can just port the game over to the Wii, only needing to add wii-mote controls. Developers don’t have to start from scratch like they have to do when developing for the 360 or PS3.
And I’m pretty sure that Rockstar was not really looking to make a game that pushed the boundaries of what a Wii game is with Manhunt 2. It probably worked out that it’s just a very easy port to do, nothing more. The game may be good, adding in some neat features, but my money’s on it being just “average.”
What was really cool in the original game was the incorporation of the USB headset. When the Director contacted you, you would actually hear the guy’s voice on the headset. If Rockstar does the same thing with the wii-mote’s speaker, just like Red Steel’s multiplayer, I think that would be a great way to show some innovation with the Wii. But, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.