Manhunt

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Manhunt is a stealth, horror-survival videogame developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was originally released for the PlayStation 2 on November 18, 2003. The game was later released on the Xbox and PC on April 20, 2004.

A psychological horror title in which players are forced to participate in a series of snuff films, Manhunt was highly controversial among videogame critics at the time of its release, although it received positive responses from game reviewers for its atmosphere and depiction of violence.

Manhunt is notable for its tie-ins with Rockstar Games' flagship series, Grand Theft Auto, especially with games within the 3D Universe continuity. It is noted for its usage of Carcer City as its primary setting; a location originally mentioned in 2001's Grand Theft Auto III.

A sequel, Manhunt 2, was released in 2007, still containing references and relations to the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

References and crossovers with the Grand Theft Auto series

Grand Theft Auto 2

• GTA 2 features a series of gangs, one of which goes by the name The Loonies, they are described as ‘Mental Patients’ and have a very similar look to the Smileys gang from Manhunt. The cars they drive have a small smiley face on the top of them, similar to the simplistic design the Smileys use for their masks, or draw on walls. In Manhunt, the Smilieys are referred to as ‘Loonies’ by Starkweather, during the scene ‘Mouth of Madness’ The fact that they are also mental patients bears too much of a similarity to the ‘Loonies’ from GTA 2 to simply be a coincidence.

Grand Theft Auto III

• On the Lips 106 radio station, the host Andy states: "So I'm sitting here, reading the Liberty Tree, and it says 'In nearby Carcer City, a good day for law and order as police chief Gary Schaffer was cleared of corruption charges in a controversial decision by the court.' Let's hope those missing witnesses turn up safe and sound.” This is also a potential timeline conflict. Grand Theft Auto III is supposed to take place around 2001, yet at the journalists apartment in Manhunt we can see from the calendar on her kitchen wall that the events of Manhunt take place around November 2003. The only other explanation is that this is the second time that the Police Chief has found himself in trouble.
• The bathroom which the player must jump down to during the third scene in Manhunt (Road to Ruin) was originally used in Grand Theft Auto III, where the player meet up for missions from Ray Machowski in Staunton Island.
• When the player picks up a weapon, or other pickups, the sound that it produces is the same as in GTA III.
• Sometimes, a Hoods member might mention the Maibatsu Monstrosity.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

• There is a Sprunk soda machine that can just be seen in the background during one of the cut-scenes backstage at the Love Fist show. The Sprunk logo design was significantly changed for Manhunt and has maintained the aesthetic designed for Manhunt in later Grand Theft Auto Games.
• During the introduction, titles and opening scene in Manhunt there is a drug store called Ryton Aide. The same store can be found at Little Haiti.
• There is a mattress store that has a poster that says ‘The Best Mattresses in Carcer’, this is likely a reference to Joe's Beds from Manhunt.
• The junkyard in the scene 'Fuelled by Hate' has the same car crusher and surroundings as the junkyard of Vice City.
• During one scene (View of Innocence) on the second floor of the shopping mall, one of the counters has the words Tarbrush Café and a picture of a coffee cup. In GTA, the characters Tommy and Lance had to destroy the Tarbrush Café during the mission Cop Land.
• The player can find multiple blue and white shopping bags with the word Gash written on them in the journalists apartment during the scene ‘Press Coverage’. In GTA Vice City, there is a department store of the same name, the store is located at the North Point Mall.
• One of the idle comments members of the Hoods make is "Yeah, we got it all, a BJ Smith grill, the works, she’s real happy." In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, BJ Smith is the former tight-end of the Vice City Mambas football team. This line is clearly a spoof of the real world George Foreman Grill.
• The 24/7 made a brief appearance in Manhunt.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

• While at Zero's RC Shop in San Fierro mock-up action figures from past games developed by Rockstar North, including Cash and Piggsy from Manhunt can be seen on the shelves. These figurines were originally found in the bonus art gallery once the player had gained a 3 star ranking on 'Trained to Kill'. The image has since been altered to display the final design for Cash, as opposed to the beta model shown in the bonus art panel in Manhunt.
• Inside some bars like the Ten Green Bottles, the artwork on the walls includes a Cerberus guard mural.
• At the Police Department Headquarters in Las Venturas there are two pictures of Cash and three wanted pictures of members of the Hoods posted on a bulletin board.
• During the Casino Heist mission "Architectural Espionage", the player is required to enter the City Planning Department within Las Venturas. There are various blueprints pinned within a few of the rooms, one of the blueprints is of Starkweather's mansion, as featured in the last few scenes of Manhunt. The blueprint is titled ‘Starkweather’s Estate’. Also there is a picture of Carcer Church and surrounding districts in another room. It titled ‘Development site’.
• San Andreas makes use of a minimalist Manhunt inspired stealth mechanic on select missions (particularly Madd Dogg's Rhymes); CJ can perform a level one execution from Manhunt with the knife by creeping up behind a pedestrian. After performing a stealth kill in San Andreas the fallen victim's death pose is exactly the same animation as in Manhunt. There are other animations that were originally used in Manhunt.
• Using the same aiming and targeting system featured in Manhunt, when a pedestrian is targeted three triangles circle the targets head, the triangles are color coded: green triangles indicating an alive pedestrian, which progresses to yellow, then orange, red and finally black, which indicates dead pedestrians. In Manhunt, however, these indicate the level of violence: the darker the color or the target, the more gruesome the execution.
• Other in game models that look to be taken from Manhunt include the boxes of ammunition and nail gun boxes that can be found laying around in the various Ammu-Nation stores.
• The wheelchairs within San Andreas appear to be exactly the same models from Manhunt, including the textures used.
• In the countryside a few of the pedestrians wear overalls with a tartan shirt on, which appears to be a reused texture from one of the Smilieys.
• One of the gangs that roam the San Fierro countryside has a tattoo of the word RIFA on his chest; in Manhunt the Innocentz have this same tattoo in exactly the same location.
• During one of the commercial breaks on K-Rose and several other radio stations, Carcer City is advertised.
• During the radio talk show Area 53, a caller by the name of Vivian calls in from Carcer City and talks about crop circles. On another radio station WCTR, a woman calls into the show The Wild Traveler from Carcer City.
• There are pedestrians that can be heard saying comments about Carcer City such as "this is why I am moving to Carcer City" other lines of dialogue include "Hey! This isn't Carcer City, okay!" when bumped in to. There is a male pedestrian that sometime says "Where do you think this is, Carcer City? Watch out!"
• In Manhunt 2, there is a billboard advertising a tour for a band called "ManZone". Clearly a parody of Boyzone, the billboard depicts some crude renderings of San Andreas pedestrians and Marco Forelli.
• Some objects were reused from Manhunt, such as the explosive Carcer Gas barrels or the hippo statues around Santa Maria and Verona Beach.
• Several doors the player encounters inside interiors are re-used, such as the doors inside Big Smoke's Crack Palace and Madd Dogg's Crib.
• The same junkyard model from Manhunt and GTA Vice City is reused in GTA San Andreas.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

• Many weapons in GTA LCS also appeared in Manhunt. The weapons include a hand axe, baseball bat (aluminum), and a handgun. Some of them even appear to be the same weapon model as used in Manhunt, if not then certainly based on the same designs.
• Another possible hint to Manhunt include a mission titled Snuff, in this mission the player has to eliminate members of the Sindacco Family that are putting pressure on a fellow Sindacco member who would like to become a member of the Leone Family. The turn coat in question is JD O'Toole, he runs a sex shop. During the mission he is watching from a nearby building and video tapes it all for his very own snuff movie, he calls Toni to express his gratitude for the clip.
• A man calls up from Carcer City on Chatterbox FM.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

• Various pedestrians in the game can be heard claiming to have had previous occupations in Carcer City, such as 'I was a plumber in Carcer City!’

Grand Theft Auto IV

• Some of the pedestrians have familiar Manhunt characters printed on their shirts. It can be hard to locate some of these pedestrians due to the fact that they seemingly only appear in specific locations and at certain hours of the day. These characters include The Smileys among beta gangs and characters that were cut from the final game including The Jury, The Scarecrow, and The Monkeys.
• The criminals section of the Liberty City Police Department's website includes two characters that are listed as originating from Carcer City. 
• One of the statistics maintained in Grand Theft Auto IV is 'Distance traveled', under this statistic it is possible to achieve 'Liberty City to Carcer City' as the distance traveled. This is achieved fairly early into the game, no more than a few game hours, this further indicates that Carcer City is in close proximity to Liberty City.

Grand Theft Auto V

• While going to the bank in The Paleto Score, Michael De Santa says that his first score was in a small money deposit on the outskirts of Carcer City.

Grand Theft Auto Online

• During The Last Team Standing Event Weekend, players who completed the event playlist would receive as a reward a Smileys’ “Please Stop Me” Manhunt throwback mask.

• As part of The Diamond Casino Heist update, several new masks based on Manhunt gangs. This includes the Smileys, Innocentz, and Wardogs. Also included are the Piggsy and White Rabbit masks and an Ape mask based off a bonus mission called "Monkey See, Monkey Die!" in Manhunt.

Vehicles

Many vehicles from the GTA series appear in the Manhunt games, both as props and working vehicles.

However, there are also a few vehicle models in the Manhunt series, that while they look similar to various GTA vehicles, were not taken directly from the GTA series. These include as a step van that resembles the Boxville, a box truck comparable to the Yankee, and the Cerberus armored van, which is similar to the Securicar.

In Manhunt

• The Journalist drives a red beta Blista Compact. However, perhaps due to an oversight, it changes to the final model during cutscenes.
• The Police Cruisers used by the Carcer City Police Department are based on the Police Car from Vice City, with a black and white livery, an additional bullbar and different sirens.
• A beta Virgo appears in a picture in Starkweather’s Estate. The same picture later appeared in San Andreas in several safehouses.
• Wrecked Stallions can be found in the game.
• Both the GTA III and the GTA Vice City rendition of the Pony appears as a wreck throughout the game.
• An Admiral makes a brief appearance during a cutscene.
• A wrecked Coach from GTA Vice City appears at the beginning of the game.
• A Linerunner wreck from GTA III appears at Denton's City Junkyard.

In Manhunt 2

• The Trashmaster from GTA III is used at the beginning of the game to escape from Dixmor Asylum. However, it has a different front fascia, which makes it more similar to a Ford Cargo rather than a Mack MR.
• The Police Car reappears in identical form as in the first game. It also has a civilian green variant based on it, which can be found in a parking lot of TVMK Studio.
• Mule trucks from GTA IIIcan be found throughout the game. Some of them have company logos on their sides.
• The Kuruma can be seen in some chapters of the game. It also has an unique black variant used by the Watchdogs gang.
• The Blista appears during the game's introduction and later in Wooddale. It has slightly different front fascia, somewhat resembling a Chrysler PT Cruiser.
• The Bloodhounds gang uses Patriots from GTA Vice City as their transport.
• The Burrito from GTA Vice City can be found in the game. It also has a variant with a camo paintjob used by the Bloodhounds.
• The Enforcer can be seen during a chapter used by Project Militia soldiers.
• A grey Stinger from GTA Vice City appears in a house's driveway.
• The Greenwood can be spotted a few times during the game. It also has a wrecked variant found in the Sewer System.
• Several Admirals can be found at an Auto Shop.
• The Voodoo appears outside the Strip Club and Fetish Dungeon.
• A Linerunner from GTA Vice City appears at RSV Gas Station.
• The Reefer is docked at the jetty of Blackwell Island.
• The Maverick is seen several times during the game, used by the police, the Watchdogs, and the Project Militia.

General

• Many models for objects that enhance the scenery can be found around 3D Universe games are shared with Manhunt. This includes, but is not limited to, chairs, tables, flower beddings, buildings and billboards. This is done to maintain a certain level of consistency between games due to them all being in the same universe.
• Footstep sounds in Manhunt are identical to those in the 3D Universe games.

Gallery

Manhunt figurines on the shelf at Zero RC in GTA San Andreas.

Manzone poster using +GTA San Andreas NPC models.

Manhunt-Mask.jpg

GTA Online "Please Stop Me" Mask.

External links

Wikipedia has an article on: Manhunt (video game)

• Official Manhunt website.
• Manhunt Wiki.
• NTSC-uk dissects Manhunt.
• The Manhunt Fiasco, timeline of a related lawsuit.
• Dixmor Hospital