Manhunt
Get the first details on what the GTA guys did next. Hardcore brutality? You better believe it.
Until this moment Rockstar\'s next game has been shrouded in secrecy. Now we know why. Manhunt looks like being such a brain-frying exercise in unpleasantness that to call it a game seems like missing the point. How do we know? The latest issue of PSM (our sister publication in the US) carries a six-page feature on the game, which we\'ve cherry-picked for the benefit of you good people. So what do you want first? Okay, let\'s start with the plot. Think The Running Man meets The Killer and you\'re halfway there. Manhunt is set in a derelict city controlled by a sinister figure called The Director. Basically this guy is richer than the Sultan of Brunei, but rather than splashing the cash on snorting gak from a supermodel\'s belly button, this sicko gets his rocks off running a murderous game.
Here\'s how it works. First, The Director fakes the execution of a convict on death row. Having expected a lethal injection, the poor sucker wakes up to find himself on the rotten streets of Carcer City. The place is dotted with CCTV cameras and populated by psychotic gangs. You can see where this is going, right? The object of Manhunt is to avoid starring in your own snuff flick. You play as an inmate called James Earl Cash. Alone and unarmed he must avoid the brutal attentions of the local nutcases. With stealth playing a major part in the proceedings, according to PSM the most obvious influence is Metal Gear Solid 2. Clearly, you aren\'t equipped with the range of guns and gadgets which Snake relies on, so Cash will have to use his wits and aggression to survive.
As for other influences, the brooding atmosphere nods nervously at the Resident Evil series, while the use of shadow to conceal Cash from his pursuers sounds like classic Splinter Cell. But here\'s where it gets innovative. Apparently the most important aspect of avoiding detection in Manhunt is sound. You can distract enemies by throwing objects or misdirect their attention by knocking on the scenery and then moving position. Don\'t run too fast though or they\'ll hear your footsteps. Fortunately there\'s an on-screen sound meter which shows how noisy Cash is being. Throughout the game you\'ll be kept updated on mission goals and objectives via a radio headset by... The Director. Sure, you\'d be a fool to trust such a sick puppy, but what other choice is there?
From what we can gather, the level of violence really is breathtaking. Some 20 weapons will feature in the game, each of which has a corresponding stealth-kill animation - at which point the camera shifts to a grainy CCTV perspective, allowing you to view proceedings from the same voyeuristic perspective as The Director. Firearms are rare but obviously of huge value, while melee weapons such as the baseball bat and machete will be familiar to every GTA-fan. Once the fighting spills out into the open, Cash uses a simple lock-on to target enemies. However, you\'re often going to need to improvise. Which might mean choking a guard to death with a plastic bag (someone at Rockstar North has seen My Little Eye) or using a shard of broken glass as a makeshift blade. Like we said, it\'s brutal.
"We feel pretty confident that this is going to be uncomfortable for some people," was what Rockstar\'s Terry Donovan had to tell PSM. And having seen the screens he\'s absolutely right. Sadly we can\'t show them to you yet, but visually it\'s very much Vice City plus Freedom Fighters multiplied by Silent Hill equals Manhunt. And if that hasn\'t got your imagination going into overdrive, well, you really are twisted.
*Manhunt will be released exclusively on PS2 in November.
Stolen
Killzone isn\'t the only hot third-party title SCEE has up its sleeve - first details on \'Stolen\' inside!
17:07 With the quiet Summer months offering precious little in the way of wholesome gaming goodness, all eyes are on Sony Europe, which is set to lift the lid off the massively anticipated third-party FPS, Killzone, in the first week of August. (Click here to read about the first concrete details).
But while the media circles around SCEE\'s office like a particularly bloodthirsty swarm of vultures, development on another secret third-party title that the publisher has snapped up is proceeding in secret at a nearby developer.
We can reveal that Camden-based developer Blue 52 is developing an action-adventure known as \'Stolen\' exclusively for PlayStation 2.
An insider source told us: "Stolen is a PS2 action-adventure that\'s still very early at this point. But the technology is amazing - one of Sony\'s remits was that it wanted something that was technically incredible just to prove that PS2 is still up to it.
"Sony signed it on the strength of the technology, but at that time it was just nice tech in search of a game. Now, it\'s still about a year and a half away from being complete."
Very little is known about the content of the game at this point, aside from its genre, but sources indicate that because of high technology values, the game is "room-based" like GameCube\'s Metroid Prime, which allows a lot of tech to be crammed into small areas.
Other unconfirmed info we\'ve uncovered is that Stolen is believed to be third-person and have a female lead. As for the title - \'Stolen\' - we\'ll let you draw your own conclusions...
We contacted Blue 52 for clarification, but a spokesperson edgily replied: "We can\'t say anything about that - you\'ll have to speak to Sony." Which is as good as: "Yes, we are working on the game, but Sony would lock us in a room and make us watch RI:SE if we told you anything."
As for Sony, a spokesperson would only state: "We haven\'t announced that game or any other game beyond Spring, with the exception of Killzone, at the present moment." Although SCEE hasn\'t strictly announced Killzone either, of course.
It\'s unlikely anything official on the game will be made available for a good while yet, but we\'ll do our best to uncover more from this mysterious title. Now we just need a good tag for it - if Killzone is PS2\'s \'Halo-beater\', then Stolen must be...
Johnny Minkley
