XBOX-HQ.COM - Rockstar: “We Didn't Neuter” Cleared Manhunt 2

Jeronimo Barrera, Rockstar’s vice president of product development, has stated that Manhunt 2 wasn’t neutered in order to receive a revised rating and secure a US release.
The controversial game, which went on sale on Tuesday in the US for Wii, PS2 and PSP, was initially given an Adults-Only rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), effectively barring it from release on Sony and Nintendo platforms, and blocked from sale in the UK after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) failed to grant the game a rating due to its “unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone.”

In Manhunt 2 the player assumes the role of Daniel Lamb, a tortured man who wakes up to find himself in a mental institution he must escape. What follows is a murder spree using weapons including guns, plastic bags and shovels, in locations such as graveyards and red-light districts.

While a revised version of the title was granted an M for Mature rating (17+), Barrera told MTV that the company’s artistic vision wasn’t compromised by the revisions, and insisted there was more to talk about than just the violence in the horror title.

"We are very happy to have the game out, and we feel we kept the original vision and the content and we didn't neuter the game as people say we have," Barrera said of the changes, which didn’t alter the story or lead to the removal of any scenes.

Of the changes made, the depiction of successful executions has been blurred somewhat and altered in color, making the brutal action a little less visible, while a scoring system that rewarded the most gruesome kills has also been dropped.

"You know, a lot of people just believe this is a murder simulator and all you do is kill people. But the reality is that there's a really strong narrative... There are conversations to be had about this game — intelligent conversations," he added. "That's what we want to do: get people interested in those [things], rather than ban this game because of X, Y and Z."

Barrera also noted that Rockstar would consider a multiplayer Manhunt game. "That's a very interesting question. ... Who knows where the Manhunt series is going to go? And that's definitely something that warrants some exploring on our part for sure."

Earlier this month Rockstar told Next-Gen it would continue to appeal the decision not to grant the revised version of Manhunt 2 a UK rating

News-Source: Next-Gen