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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:VideoGame.Manhunt 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:VideoGame.Manhunt, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license)
 
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''Manhunt'' is a controversial [[Stealth Based Game]] series made by Rockstar Games. There are only two games in the series to date; they share gameplay mechanics and similar settings, but little else.
 
In ''Manhunt'', the player controls Cash, a criminal who is believed to have been executed; in fact, he was spared the death chamber by a man named Starkweather, a disgraced Hollywood director. Starkweather's most recent "independent" films are actually [[Snuff Film|Snuff Films]] that he sells on the black market -- and Cash is about to be [[Condemned Contestant|his newest star]]. Starkweather promises Cash that he will gain his freedom if he can make it out of the abandoned city he's been dropped into alive -- but there are trained thugs belonging to various gangs that are going to do everything they can to ensure Cash becomes another bloodstain on their boots. The gameplay mechanic revolves around "executions" (gruesome [[One -Hit Kill|One Hit Kills]] the player can perform when sneaking up behind enemies); the longer you wait behind the enemy, the more drawn-out and elaborate the execution is...and if you perform enough high-level executions, your ranking at the end of the level is higher than if you hadn't.
 
The second game casts you as an amnesiac scientist who wakes up in a mental asylum and is forced to escape with the aid of another inmate in order to unravel the government conspiracy that locked him up. It added jumping, gun, and environmental executions, but it's mostly notable for attracting far more attention than it had any right to because it was denied a rating in several countries over its graphically violent content (effectively making it impossible to sell). ''Manhunt 2'' arguably did the most damage to the pro-videogames movement in over a decade than any of its violent contemporaries. To add insult to injury, when it was finally released -- in a revised form that heavily censored the execution scenes -- reviewers across the board reported that [[So Okay ItsIt's Average|it really wasn't that great anyway]].
 
This game series has a [[Manhunt (Video Game)/Characters|character sheet]].
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=== Contains examples of: ===
* [[A Date With Rosie Palms]]: Starkweather (see [[Rule Thirty Four34]] below)
* [[And Now for Someone Completely Different]]: In the sequel, Danny is the main character but Leo is playable in the chapters that takes place 6 years ago.
* [[Anti -Hero]]: Cash. Could almost be considered a [[Villain Protagonist]].
* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Played straight with [[Egomaniac Hunter|Ramirez of The Wardogs]] and the [[Gas Mask Mooks|Cerberus Team Leader]], both heads of their respective gangs and both playing out like standard boss battles, complete with health bar. [[Contractual Boss Immunity|Executions don't work on them]], forcing you to beat them in gunfights.
** Averted with [[Big Bad]] Lionel Starkweather, {{spoiler|who you simply gut open with a chainsaw}}. [[Climax Boss]] Piggsy is an interesting case, because while he doesn't play out like the previous boss battles, he can only be killed by [[Puzzle Boss|performing multiple executions on him]].
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* [[Escort Mission]]: Not as bad as most, since you can tell the escorted individuals to hide in the shadows until you've dealt with all the hunters.
** Although, if you take too long, she starts to freak out and run, grabbing the [[Idiot Ball]] on the way.
* [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Monkeys]]: One of the bonus missions in the first game, unlocked after you finish all the scenes with a perfect score, has you revisiting the Carcer City Zoo to deal with a gang of psychos dressed up as monkeys.
* [[Executive Suite Fight]]: It's hardly a spoiler to say you're going to meet Starkweather face-to-face at the end of the first game, and it's not hard to guess where.
* [[Eye Scream]]: One of the executions in the first game, a few in the second.
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* [[Groin Attack]]: One of the executions in the first game, a few in the second.
* [[Have a Nice Day Smile]]: The masks of the 'Smilies' gang.
* [[Hey ItsIt's That Voice]]: The female reporter in the first game is [[Sealab 2021|White Debbie]].
* [["Hey You!" Haymaker]]: One of the executions, albeit with a hatchet rather than bare fists.
* [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]]
* [[Hyperspace Arsenal]]: ''Almost'' completely averted - Cash can only carry three weapons and one lure, and every weapon he's carrying is always visible on his person. However, no explanation is given for the spare ammunition he carries.
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* [[Non Linear Sequel]]: The second game.
* [[Off With His Head]]: And you can scare other mooks with them.
* [[One -Man Army]]
* [[Pun -Based Title]]: A great many of the names of the levels in the first game, e.g. "Trained To Kill" takes place in a train station, "White Trash" takes place in a junkyard full of white supremacists. [[Fridge Brilliance]] when you realize that the levels represent scenes from a snuff porn film, and lots of porn films have really terrible puns as titles.
* [[Punch Clock Villain]]: Some of the hunters aren't really crazy, they're just doing their job.
** This, however, [[Voodoo Shark|begs the question]]: what sane human being would pick "snuff porn hunter" as their occupation?
*** This argument is addressed over on the [[Career Killers]] page, and people like this are diagnosed as insane.
*** Obviously, the hunters have no idea they're in a snuff film - or if they do, they presume they're meant to be the ''star'', not the victim. [[Xanatos Gambit|Either way, Starkweather gets plenty of bang for his buck.]]
* [[Rule Thirty Four34]]: The first game's premise hinges upon this. As if to make sure the players were as squicked-out as possible, Starkweather repeatedly makes oblique (and [[In Love With Your Carnage|not-so-oblique]]) references to how well he's responding to Cash's performance.
* [[Same Content Different Rating]]: Most of what was cut to take the second game from AO to M was present in the first game.
** Although, the second game looks more realistic, and its executions are much more sadistic.
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** In the first game this trope also applies in that, while certain sections require you to kill everyone in order to progress and you're rewarded with unlockables for indulging in the [[Gorn]], it's perfectly possible to play through the game ''not'' going for maximum gore just to spite Starkweather who applauds more brutal executions and remains awkwardly silent if you're not "performing" up to his standards. The star rating system is essentially how much you're having Cash play along with Starkweather's game.
* [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot]]: In ''Manhunt 2'', if you stand around long enough after making your first kill, Daniel will vomit in horror at what he just did.
* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Several of the Skinz talk to themselves about wanting to make their dead fathers proud of them.
* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: {{spoiler|Danny's two kids}}, no mention of them aside from "they're fine" shortly before the game's final moments, after that in the good ending {{spoiler|Daniel adopts a whole new life as David}}, basically implying that now {{spoiler|two children won't have their father, Daniel, back.}}
* [[White Gang Bangers]]: The Hoodz in the first game, the Red Kings in the second.
* [[X Meets Y]]: It's ''[[The Warriors]]'' meets ''[[The Running Man]]'' meets the [[Slasher Movie]] genre.
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