I think it would be wise to start this review with a statement, particularly considering a recent tragic event in which a psychopathic 17 year old (allegedly obsessed with the PS2 game Manhunt) killed a 14 year old "friend" with a hammer and a knife (and incidentally, as it turns out, the game actually belonged to the victim, not the killer, and the Police have catagorically stated that the crime was drugs-related): Games don’t come any more violent than Manhunt – within moments of the start your character kills some poor unsuspecting sap by suffocating him with a plastic bag, and the methods of killing just get more and more violent and gory; including shootings, stabbings, clubbings and decapitations. It clearly shouldn’t be played by persons under the age of 18, or by persons of a delicate or impressionable nature. It has an 18 certificate for a bloody good reason, and in regards to that issue, it’s about time parents took some responsibility for what their children are exposed to, and also for the socio/psychopathic actions of their offspring, and in doing so didn’t blame every antisocial act on video games and movies. - OK, warning message and mini-rant over, onto the game…

Apart from the aforementioned makeshift weapons you’ll use quite a variety of others throughout the game too, and can carry several at once; baseball bat, knife, nailgun, sickle, hammer, revolver, automatic pistol, various shotguns, assault rifle, sniper rifle and even a chainsaw… You get the idea.

The core gameplay involves sneaking around, using the shadows to avoid being seen by the dangerous hunters. Much like MGS2 and Splinter Cell, for gameplay purposes the enemy are pretty dopey and poor-sighted, but this doesn’t stop the game from producing some heart-stopping moments as you turn the tables from being the hunted, to being the hunter. They even give you a rear view so you can glance over your shoulder as you flee – and you will run away - a lot – it’s often the only way to stay alive. You want to avoid face-to-face confrontations wherever possible, and although Cash is one tough cookie and one-on-one can usually take an enemy out with his bare hands, most of the time he’s outnumbered and it’s a matter of luring, isolation and quietly executing your hunters – never in a game has the ‘hunted’ been such a dangerous predator. You can also conceal bodies to avoid drawing attention, although there aren’t any lockers to stuff them in. There's also the occasional "escort" type mission, but unlike most games I actually enjoyed these as the escortees do as they're told and you genuinely feel like you're protecting them.

A game “radar” screen lets you know vaguely where the hunters are, what state of alertness they are at, and if you’re in a multi-floored building, whether they’re on the same level as you. It even shows how far sounds that you make carry – a VERY handy gadget indeed (you can crank up the difficulty and play against better hunters with no radar).

Cash controls well with a typical third-person perspective; you can lean against walls, again MGS/Splinter Cell-style, or duck behind objects for cover. Perhaps surprisingly Cash doesn’t do much in the way of climbing up and over things (other than where there’s a ladder), this comes as a bit of a disappointment sometimes, when you see some of the potential ambush points around the levels...

Manhunt’s sound is nothing short of superb; the reactive music is excellent and creates a real atmosphere with light eerie music when creeping and walking, turning to intense chase music once you’re spotted. All the incidental sound effects; gunshots, stabbing and chopping noises, guttural screams and death rattles, and even the hunter’s voices (they’ll taunt you with some very bad language, to try and get a reaction out of you – stepping out of a shadow from behind and killing some of the mouthy buggers with a baseball bat satisfies some very basic instincts in this reviewer).