Manhunt (video Game) - Synopsis

Synopsis

The game's story follows a supposedly executed death row inmate who is forced to kill for the camera by former Vinewood film producer, now underground snuff director, Lionel Starkweather (voiced by Brian Cox).

Set in dilapidated Carcer City, the story opens with a news anchor reporting on convict James Earl Cash, a death row prisoner recently executed by lethal injection. Instead Cash wakes to a voice coming from an earpiece, revealing his lethal injection was only a sedative. The voice, who refers to himself as the Director, promises Cash his freedom, but only if Cash follows his instructions: namely slaughtering his way through streets populated by a street gang calling themselves "The Hoods", all being filmed using CCTV. Despite the Director's promise of freedom, Cash is beaten and thrown into the back of a van by a group of mercenaries known as The Cerberus.

Taken to various locations across the city, Cash is forced to survive various other gangs. First he is pitted against a gang of white supremacists and Neo-Nazis known as "The Skinz" in a scrap yard. After that, he is put up against a gang of mercenaries, known as the Wardogs, in an abandoned zoo. Here Cash has to save kidnapped members of his own family. Following the zoo Cash has to fight a gang of Latino Satanic Occultists and overweight doll mask-wearing pedophiles called "The Innocentz" in a shopping center where he finds out that all of his family members have been killed. After watching his family's death in a snuff film, Cash vows revenge against the Director. With one final face-off against the Innocentz in a factory, Cash then faces a gang of schizophrenics and sociopaths, known as the "Smileys", who have taken over an insane asylum. Here, Cash survives the ending to his own snuff film, planned for him by the Director. Consequently, the remaining Wardogs are hired to kill Cash.

The journalist from the beginning of the game suddenly arrives in her car and rescues Cash. She explains that the Director is Starkweather, and she needs to retrieve evidence from her apartment before they can leave the city. Meanwhile, Starkweather orders the chief of the Carcer City Police Department, Gary Schaffer, to bring both Cash and the journalist to him. Protecting her from the police, Cash manages to take the journalist safely to her apartment, and from there goes on to deal with Starkweather personally. Evading SWAT teams, Cash leaves the reporter and makes his way through a train yard, only to be cornered by the police, who are about to arrest him when the Starkweather's men kill them and recapture Cash. At Starkweather's mansion, Cash is prepared to be killed. However, Piggsy - a mentally retarded, chainsaw-wielding psychopath, who wears a pig's head as a mask and is normally kept chained up in Starkweather's attic - breaks free. This allows Cash to work his way through the garden and mansion, killing Starkweather's men along the way. Cash finally reaches the upper levels of the mansion, where he and Piggsy stalk one another. Cash triumphs after luring Piggsy onto a grate that collapses under his weight. After hacking his way through the last of his bodyguards, Cash finally confronts Starkweather and disembowels and decapitates him with the chainsaw. The media arrives at the mansion, the journalist exposing Starkweather's snuff ring and police complicity. Cash is nowhere to be found.