Gouging an enemy's eyeballs with a glass shard, gutting him with a sickle, sucking the life outta him with a plastic bag -- Manhunt's sadistic executions sure did get people's attention. Unfortunately, those gruesome acts also helped get the original game banned in some countries. Lesson learned, right? Pfft -- Rockstar has only cranked up the violence dial for the sequel. And as much as we'd like to say that the gore doesn't impress us (ya know, that'd be the politically correct thing), we couldn't help but want to see more. Some of the new tricks in this game include plunging a syringe into an enemy's heart, or chopping off his head with an ax and then tossing it to distract others in the area. Yet it's the wire cutters that win the prize here: If you perform a level-three execution ( just like in the last Manhunt, the longer you wait before attacking, the more grotesque the death blow) with this weapon, you'll reach underneath the enemy to grab on to his family jewels, rip 'em off, and then stick the wire cutters into his back and tear out the spinal cord.
The game's stylish killings don't stop there; Manhunt 2 will also introduce both gun and environmental executions to the fray. "Environmental executions increase the interactivity within the game and allow you to take advantage of objects found throughout the area," says Washbrook. We especially enjoyed the scene where you strangle a foe with a telephone wire. Oh, and that other one where he lit up like a tiki torch after a face full of fuse box.
Difficult not to respond when you read nonsense like this, though: