But moving on to graphics, Manhunt 2 does not do much to impress on the Wii. Characters are rather blocky and textures look a little too close to last gen. For a supposed stealth game, shadows and lighting are rather poorly done. It's rather difficult to predict where it will be dark enough to remain unseen, and lighting hits your character in only two ways: you're either lit up or you're slightly shaded. Lack of attention to detail is apparent throughout the game. For example, aside from the main characters, there are no mouth movements while characters are talking. Come on people, we can manage two frames for open and closed mouths nowadays. In one area, I found a patient in the asylum to be occasionally spouting blood from his mouth, only it looked like fog from someone's breath on a cold day that was colored red. I was confused, but I'm sure I was supposed to be disgusted. Add it all up, and the realism factor is pretty low.
But what about the blood and the extreme violence you were promised? About that, it seems like a lot of that was censored out. No doubt, you can still hit people about the head with sledge hammers and all manner of violent instruments, and it's bloody and violent, so no, it's not Care Bears now. Execution moves, however, have been put through a mixture of filters and blur effects until it's nearly impossible to tell what's going on. Let's be honest, a big draw for this game is the expectation of brutal execution sequences using all manner of weapons from plastic bags to crowbars. You're just curious as to how your character will possibly use each item in order to kill. It seems at the last minute, Rockstar had to mask these sequences in order to get away with a rating under Adults Only.
I mentioned the foul language. This game is uncensored, and people in the game curse freely and talk about some pretty dirty things. It just doesn't have much impact since the writing isn't even up to B-movie standards. For example, during the opening sequence, the staff are cursing and yelling at the residents, telling them "I've been waiting for this" as they beat on them. You overhear from one staff member that he's glad he's getting paid so he can "get some hookers." Wow, ok, we get it: they're unsavory, evil characters - all of them. Now wake me when they have more depth than a kiddie pool.
The environmental sound effects and background music contribute to an eerie, insane atmosphere. After a while, it felt like it was intended the same way as everything else in the game: throw in more scary, gory, or sexual stuff to really push things over the limit. There's a creak here, and a scream there, but it's all on a loop, and sometimes certain sounds and voices play out of cue, so after a while you don't pay attention to the sound effects, as they don't contribute to gameplay. Again, this is not optimal for a stealth game.
