ignorance

I'm all for restricted access to things inappropriate for children.

BUT.

"Games are meant to be about fun and yes I will admit that sometimes an acceptable amount of violence can be fun but there is no excuse for realizing such a game where the object of the player is to be a murder that has to kill innocent people; this is only one victory against the sick minded mentality of the media these days but an important one non-the-less."

I haven’t paid much attention to Manhunt 2, but having played Manhunt 1 (and finished it). In light of the content of Manhunt 1 I would like to comment.

For starters you are an anti-hero.

The games story has you as a death row inmate who is being executed (because your character did murder someone, there is no dispute). The execution is faked and you are smuggled out of the prison and taken to some rich (I think politician) mans private estate. He gets his jollies by taking hardened criminals and dropping them in his custom little playground. He has invited various groups of thugs and killers to hunt you (hence the title of the game Manhunt).

None of the people trying to kill you are ever depicted as anything better or more human then your character (in fact they are often worse). Even the level with the police it turns out they are all on the take from this guy and just as bad as all the other killers in the game.

You are not killing "innocent people". When you are faced with innocents you must protect them.

There are at least 3 points in the game where you have to save people. In the first instance there is a homeless guy you are told you need to get from point A to point B alive and intact through these groups of murderers. In the second you have to save some of your family members (they are not murderers or anything, just normal people) that the rich guy has kidnapped and placed in danger (if you do manage to save them, the rich man has them killed anyway later in the game and you are shown this via some TV sets in the mall level). In the third instance I can think of there is a reporter you have to keep safe (as I remember dirty cops are out to kill her) so she can expose the whole thing that is going down.

Is it a game of huggy-kissy full or moral actions and good? No, it is not. But neither are many entertainment products available to adults with no more control then a rating notice.

Just because you can kill someone graphically in the game does not mean that you have to use those methods. Yes the rich man likes it when you are brutal and if content (art and such as I remember) are a goal they give you more "points", but you have free will.

AFAIK no one has made a game that matches your made up reality of what the content in Manhunt 1 is and after checking the web for info about 2 it seems to be not what you describe either, looks more like a V for Vendetta type situation (but localized to the people who were doing the research).

How about people stop attacking imaginary demons and go deal with some of the things that exist in the real world?

Just goes to show...

... I think the posts on this story highlight just how many responsible adults we really have in this country (not enough, hardly any) and how many selfish people we have with a complete lack of respect for the other human beings that live in the society they share. We have complacent parents because they live in a culture where we cotton wrap our kids because we have killers/rapists/peedo's about. Now the real question is are they prominient now because we are more liberal with our media (films/news/games/TV) or is it because we try and shut these sort of things down that they turn to the real thing.

Lets face it, if someone is that way inclined, then the material that will give them cheap thrills will only satisfy them for a short while before the tension has built up so much that they need it for real.

Because we are so liberal and blase about things nowadays help's to create certain stereotypes (ie, CHAV - Council House And Violent, in case anyone didn't know what it stood for).

And WooHoo, I'm not the only person who thinks you should need a license to have a child, just a shame that it's covered by human rights.

Reality of the situation is... No people can't be trusted to think for themselves, because generally all they think of, is themselves, human nature unfortunately.

Slightly missing the point

To whoever wrote: Excellent Decision by the UK Censors

The sheer fact you are missing is that everything you wrote is about how YOU FEEL about the choices made by the censor, your writings are your own opinion. You even seem to have an opinion on just how bad the game is clearly without having any exposure to it what so ever.

So you like a game with a little bit of violence, you dont mind telling everyone else exactly how you feel about the game and in this case that happens to fall in line with what the BBFC tell everyone is acceptable to be exposed to. However, a lot of other people may not be overly bothered by the level of violence in Manhunt 2 but are not free to voice their opinions to any forum of influenced and power that will listen and are denied their right of choice to this game.

And yes, it is a game, anyone who decides to re-enact their gaming experience through real life endevours clearly has a problem in the first instance, and if the game didn't trigger the reaction, something else on the market of equal disturbing value certainly would have.

The main gripe here is clearly towards the BBFC removing choice from responsible adults because of having to cater for the lowest common demoninator, shite parents. Its about unknown people who are put in a tremendously hard position making choices for an entire nation. I personally fall in line with the people who are seemingly outraged that the punishment for lacking parental skills and responsibility now affects (effects?) me as an adult. I probably would have bought Manhunt 2 if only because there isnt anything else on the Wii worth buying at the moment but the sheer fact that I am unable to now because a bunch of people decided I'm not allowed to is angering to say the least.

The new Rambo film that now has a trailor out looks more brutal than anything I've seen in ages, and hell I feel sorry for all the 16 and 17 year olds out there who have started a family but aren't actually allowed to purchase explicit sexual content on any sort of available media. I think something needs to be done to actively encourage people taking more responsibility for their kids and a review to make these censorship rules actually make some sort of sense.

I personally wouldn't go out of my way to mod-chip my machine to play this game on import (which seems less likely now its banned in the states too) but what this will have certainly done is put the game on all underaged kids wish list. Forbidden fruit.