It’s not so secret that we’re fans of Rockstar Games’ infamous Manhunt. Controversial right out of the gate, Rockstar never shied away from showing just how depraved you could get in the game. Almost 20 years later, and many of the kills you can perform in the game still elicit a wince from many fans.
As luck would have it, seeing as the game was released around this time back in 2003, GVMERS has decided to revisit the original Manhunt in a new documentary. The video explores the controversy surrounding the game leading up to its release, and the ensuing backlash from concerned parents, the media, politicians, and the “usual suspects”.
For those who weren’t around, Manhunt didn’t exactly get the thumbs up from certain people in the United States and elsewhere. In fact, the game holds the distinction in Canada as being the first game in the province of Ontario to be classified as a film. That being said, people like myself were still able to buy it without any issues from Electronics Boutique (though I was 19 at the time). Of course, it didn’t help that I had bought the game for my brother for Christmas, and my mom wasn’t thrilled when she saw the news report about Manhunt.
This brings up the obvious question of if we’ll see Rockstar revisiting the series at some point. There’s no doubt that the game has a fanbase, but the series’ lifetime sales of just under two million copies across PC and consoles sadly might be the tipping point. But hey, you never know.
If you’re looking to snag a copy, you can dig around for the PlayStation 2 or the original Xbox versions, or you can grab it on Steam.