Manhunt Wiki has an article on Manhunt series

Wikipedia has an article on: Manhunt (video game series)

Manhunt is a stealth, horror-survival videogame duology developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. The first game, Manhunt, 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, and its sequel, Manhunt 2, was released on October 29, 2007, on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii, and later for PC in November 2009.

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 North's Grand Theft Auto series, sharing continuity with the 3D Universe. It is noted for its usage of Carcer City as its primary setting; a location originally mentioned in 2001's Grand Theft Auto III. Its sequel, Manhunt 2, still contains references and relations to the first title and the 3D Universe of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

Manhunt 2 began development by Rockstar North in 2003, shortly after the release of Manhunt. The sequel project was outsourced to Rockstar Vienna due to active development of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and later Grand Theft Auto IV. After the Rockstar Vienna studio was closed, Rockstar London finished the development of the sequel in association with both Rockstar North and Rockstar Leeds, with the latter creating a subsequent port for the PlayStation Portable.

Synopsis

Manhunt

Manhunt Wiki has an article on Manhunt

Manhunt 2

Manhunt Wiki has an article on Manhunt 2

Setting

Manhunt

Manhunt Wiki has an article on Carcer City

Manhunt is set in Carcer City, a city in an unspecified state of the Rust Belt region of the United States, near Liberty City, in 2003, specifically on the night of November 19.^[1][2]

Manhunt 2

Manhunt Wiki has an article on Cottonmouth

Manhunt 2 is set in the city of Cottonmouth^[3], a city in an unspecified state in the Gulf coast of Southeastern United States.^[4] The game takes place circa 2007, with flashback segments set six years prior, in the same night as the Pickman Project malfunction incident. The city is in a derelict state in the present-day events due to recent hurricane damages.

References and Crossovers with the Grand Theft Auto Series

3D Universe

Manhunt Wiki has an article on 3D Universe

Manhunt Wiki has an article on Grand Theft Auto

As mentioned in Grand Theft Auto III and Manhunt, both series are set in the same universe and share the same continuity, with the events of Manhunt first being foreshadowed through radio station dialogue in Grand Theft Auto III, and Manhunt 2 featuring a former San Fierro-based doctor as a lead character.

In addition to city names and brands, a few characters and celebrities from both series are briefly mentioned by name across both franchises, including Gary Schaffer, Phil Cassidy, BJ Smith and other characters.

A few vehicles from the 3D Universe return as static vehicles and wreckages in Manhunt, as well as introducing other vehicles to the 3D Universe lore such as the Laton, the CJD Hauler, canonizing the Blista Compact GPX, introducing static variants of existing vehicles (such as the Patriot, Mule, etc.) and later featuring Maverick variants as hunter-controlled vehicles.

Grand Theft Auto III

• On the Lips 106 radio station, the host Andee 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 implies that Gary Schaffer found himself in trouble prior to 2003 in Manhunt.
• 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 meets 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.
• The Mr Whoopee ice cream vans feature the slogan "Please Stop Me!" , verbatim to what is transcribed on some of The Smileys' masks in Manhunt. The vans' other slogan, "I Will Chill Again!", is a pun on the continuation of the phrase ("Please Stop Me Or I Will Kill Again!").

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

• There is a Sprunk soda machine that can just be seen in the background during one of the cutscenes 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 in Little Haiti, albeit with an interior unlike in Manhunt (for which it was originally designed).
• There is a mattress store that has a poster that says 'The Best Mattresses in Carcer'. This asset is reused from Joe's Beds, as it would later appear in Manhunt (the latter having been in development before Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and the asset having been made for Manhunt first).
• The junkyard in the scene 'Fuelled by Hate' has the same car crusher and surroundings as the junkyard of Vice City (again, this having been made for Manhunt originally. but debuting in GTA Vice City first).
• 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 three-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.
• A certain cab driver ped, internally named vwmycd bears a striking resemblance in attire and appearance to Manhunt protagonist James Earl Cash's beta model. Cross comparison of the textures reveals some identical features, thus likely making this deliberate.
• 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 Estate, as featured in the last few scenes of Manhunt. The blueprint is titled 'Starkweather's Estate'. Also, there is a picture of Carcer City Church and surrounding districts in another room. It is 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 GTA 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 target's head, the triangles being color coded: green triangles indicating an alive pedestrian, which progresses to yellow, then orange, red and finally black, which indicates dead pedestrians.
• 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 Smileys.
• 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 the 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 The Wild Traveler show, a woman calls 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 into. There is a male pedestrian that sometimes 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 GTA 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 Beach and Verona Beach.
• Several doors the player encounters inside interiors are reused, 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.
• One of the strip dancer models is used for the Shaniquwa advertisement in Manhunt 2.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

• JD O'Toole's gimp suit as worn in the mission "Bone Voyeur" shares similarities with some beta Perv outfits designed for Manhunt 2 but unused in the final game.
  • JD O'Toole advertises Rubber Fist sex toys manufactured in Cottonmouth on PauliesRevue.net.
• Another possible hint to Manhunt includes a mission titled Snuff; in this mission, the player has to eliminate members of the Sindacco Crime Family that are putting pressure on a fellow Sindacco member who would like to become a member of the Leone Crime Family. The turncoat 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 named Ken calls up from Carcer City on Liberty City Free Radio's Chatterbox.
• The Slash TV minigame, while obviously a thinly-veiled reference to Smash TV, is also reminiscent of Manhunt - the player being chased by gangs of hunters on the one hand and Toni's outfit (which resembles a composite of Skinz and Smiley attire) on the other. It is unknown if the events of it are ever recorded (in the vein of J.D. O'Toole's snuff film earlier in the game), though the camera angle unique to the minigame may suggest such. Said angle is more likely loosely imitating the perspective in Smash TV and furthermore accommodating for the game's original platform (PSP).
• The Silent But Violent and The Third Leg advertisements are reused in Manhunt 2.

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!"
• The axe weapon bears strong resemblance to the axe in Manhunt, possibly sharing the same model and texture.
• The Manhunt assets on the Vice City Mainland found in GTA Vice City are largely retained in the prequel.

HD Universe

As of 2008, a reboot of the Grand Theft Auto series' continuity started with the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, officially named the HD Universe by Rockstar Games.

Mentions of an HD Universe version of Carcer City and certain Cottonmouth-based businesses reappear in Grand Theft Auto IV's universe as different entities adapted to the HD Universe continuity.

Most notably, with the series' reboot:

• The Velvet Glove sex shop chain rebooted as a porn movie production business of the same name.
• The Rubber Fist sex toy brand no longer exists, as their logos are removed from returning Rubber Fist products.
• H4PP1 and Hingmyralgan drugs are not manufactured by Dixmor Hospital.

There are multiple Easter eggs referring to the Manhunt series in the HD Universe.

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 Scarecrow, The Jury, 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 travelled'. Under this statistic, it is possible to achieve 'Liberty City to Carcer City' as the distance travelled. 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 in the HD universe (much as it was implied to be in the 3D Universe).
• On the in-game website yourmexicandoctor.com, the drugs hingmyralgan and H4PP1 are sold. These originally debuted in Manhunt 2.
• The pornography store visited by Niko and Dimitri in Do You Have Protection? contains within it some polaroid photographs that depict members of The Pervs gang from Manhunt 2.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

• The side mission HoboTron has a similar premise to Slash TV from Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and by extension to Manhunt, with the premise being to survive an onslaught of (in this case vagrant) hunters (in a setting reminiscent of the last stretch the scene "Drunk Driving" in Manhunt). Just as with Slash TV, it is unknown if the blood sport is being viewed by anyone but the player - there is no security camera in this part of Colony Island.

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 in 1988.

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 were added to the game. This includes the Smileys, Innocentz, and Wardogs. Other assets that are included are Piggsy and White Rabbit masks, and an Ape mask based off a bonus mission called "Monkey See, Monkey Die!" in Manhunt.
• Mutt has a tattoo depicting Piggsy holding his chainsaw with the words "Sniff Sniff", referencing the same words written in blood inside Starkweather's Estate attic seen during Piggsy's boss fight in Manhunt.

Grand Theft Auto VI

• Cal Hampton has a tattoo depicting Piggsy's head on his right leg, partially visible in his promotional artwork.

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 Milk Van van that resembles the Boxville, and the Cerberus Armored Truck, which is based on the Securicar.

In Manhunt

• The Journalist drives a red Blista Compact GPX, which is a reused early model from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City used as the Blista Compact original design, also seen in promotional screenshots. In pre-rendered cutscenes, a copy of the Blista Compact's final model is used instead, including the Vice City license plate.
• The Police Cruisers used by the Carcer City Police Department are a retextured version of the Police Car from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, with a black and white livery, an additional bullbar and different sirens.
• The Virgo's early model (known as the Cougar in the game files) appears in a picture in Starkweather's Estate. The same picture later appeared in Grand Theft Auto: 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 Dentons 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 the TVMK Studio.
• Mule trucks from GTA III can 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.
• A Blista-based Minivan 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.
• A Burrito-based Delivery Vans 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 The Project Militia soldiers.
• A grey Stinger from GTA Vice City appears in a driveway of a house.
• 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 the 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 Bloodhounds, and the Project Militia.
• Two yellow Cartel Cruisers were going to appear during Domestic Disturbance, as seen in the leaked 0.01 version of the game. In the final game, both were replaced by minivans that share similar body structures with Blistas.

General

• In Grand Theft Auto 2, the first chapter of the game features a gang known as the "Loonies", who are described as former psychiatric patients and share other similar traits to The Smileys gang from Manhunt. Their signature gang vehicle, the Dementia, features a design reminiscent to the masks of the aforementioned Smileys.
  • In Manhunt, the Smileys are referred to as "Loonies" by Starkweather, during the scene 'Mouth of Madness' (albeit this is a derogatory term commonly used by those mocking the mentally ill and not necessarily a direct allusion to GTA 2).
  • Grand Theft Auto 2 and Manhunt were in concurrent development however, circa 1998, and the early concept art for Manhunt bears resemblance to the quasi-cyberpunk dystopian design of GTA 2's, implying that both the Smileys and Loonies stem from the same creative origin point.
• Many models for objects enhancing the scenery that 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 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Manzone poster using GTA San Andreas NPC models.

Grand Theft Auto Online "Please Stop Me" Mask.

Toni Cipriani's 'Overalls' outfit.

Carcer City Unicorns jersey in Grand Theft Auto IV multiplayer.

The Loonie 'Dementia' gang car.

External Links

• Official Manhunt website.
• Manhunt Wiki.
• Dixmor Hospital

References