Manhunt 2: Extensive First-Hand Preview

Danny doesn't really know where he's going, so we must explore all the avenues of this dangerous and hostile place before we can progress to the next stage of the game. the level design and layout seems non-linear and interesting; a quick check of the security monitors in the control room shows that chaos is unfolding on the other floors. Think back to the vulnerable Sarah Tancredi trapped in Prison Break series one, remove the safety of the locked door she had protecting her, and this is your nerve-wracking position.

Your first real encounter is with some random wacko with a weapon, but Danny is a bit out of practise with people and not about to get violent - yet. But the mysterious Leo - who currently we can hear but not see - advises: "You kill him, or he kills you - you don't have any choice." Danny soon gets into the swing of things, defending himself at first and the figuring what the hell, and marking the start of the game's unapologetic, lavish killing violence. "Kill that son of a bitch", recommends Leo.

Interestingly, the player can't choose to start attacking until it becomes a matter of self-defence - try to punch before Leo really starts egging you on, and you'll throw no punches and just whine, "no, I can't!" - and only when your damage is down a little, can you dish some back. Tabloid media take note - Manhunt 2 is all about self-defence. "I killed him! I feel sick!" complains Danny after stabbing someone with a syringe, Sarah Connor style. "You don't have a choice," reminds Leo, "...and you stop them from harming others."

Pretty much anything can be a weapon in Manhunt 2. There are four types of weapon: these one-off stabbing weapons like syringes and pens, then knife style weapons which are reusable, followed by bigger melee weapons like baseball bats and sledgehammers, and then firearms - with a brand new d-pad menu system to select the weapon type you need - but only one of each type can be carried at one time. Furthermore, there are three levels of brutality for the executions in Manhunt 2 - hasty, violent and gruesome - the longer you hold down the square button, the more gruesome the execution. These executions have been thoughtfully concocted and lovingly animated, resulting in some sequences that are unquestionably going to have the press up in arms. This stuff really makes Grand Theft Auto look like Tom and Jerry. But it looks cool and artistic in Manhunt 2, and the chilling film-like atmosphere in the game make it all seem well suited.

At one stage in this increasingly tense level the elevator gets stuck between floors, but Manhunt 2 lets you climb over objects as well as crawl underneath them and shimmy through tunnels. With a tap of the triangle button you can press up against walls and peer around corners undetected. Players will find medication throughout the levels to replenish health, and defeated adversaries may also drop some. We can lock some unsavoury guys away in their cell without getting into too much trouble, but like all half decent prisons, the cells have to be under lockdown in order for the next set of gates to be opened, so we have to make sure all the doors are locked before we can go further. A doctor is monitoring another CCTV station and since we don't want to be spotted later, he must be 'taken out' also. Hey, it's nothing you wouldn't see Jack Bauer carrying out in the midst of such conspiracy and cover up.

"Progress requires a bit of thinking... for environmental execution, you have to get this guy to this point, and think, how do I do that?"

But the point is that progress through the level requires a bit of thinking. "Some things will take a while to figure out, because there are puzzle elements to certain things, like making sure all the cells are shut for example; it might take a while to figure out that's what you have to do, but trial and error, and experimentation with different things, will mean that there's some good strategy. With things like the environmental executions (more on this later), you think, I have to get this guy here, and make it all come together, how do I do that?"

Once it's time for Danny to escape the facility, we spot a truck outside in the rainy moonlit yard that seems it could be our ticket out of the steaming hole. A few kills later and we're a free man, for the time being. There's been a lot of creeping around so far; the focus is constantly on the build up to the next strategic kill, and the release of adrenaline each time is what seems to fuel the gameplay.

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