Manhunter: New York

The Good
Sierra was well known for creating top-notch adventure games such as King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry, but in the late Eighties, they wanted to take their next adventure at a different angle. They asked Evryware to develop the game, and the developer chose to create an arcade/adventure hybrid; and in my opinion, they did a great job. Having grown up to the likes of Blade Runner and Tex Murphy, I was glad that it was set in a post-apocalyptic world.

In the early 21st century, a evil race known as the Orb Alliance landed in New York City, and with their arrival came a new form of dictatorship. Speaking is forbidden, brown robes must be worn at all times, and human activity is monitored through the MAD (Manhunter Assignment Device). The Orbs select a small number to become “Manhunters”, humans given access to advanced technology and selected to be a combination of police officers and bounty hunters.

Manhunter: New York is quite an unusual adventure game. Unlike other Sierra games of its day, there are no commands you have to type in. Everything is done by moving your little orb around with the cursor keys, and the orb changes to something else if you can interact with it, similar to the way that King's Quest VII was made. This means that it is faster to get through the game's many locations.

Whereas locations of Sierra adventures usually take place in fictional cities, here they are based on their real-life, New York counterparts. This includes Bellevue Hospital, Empire State Building, and Coney Island. The game is split up into four days, and the beginning of each has you tracing a number of suspects with your MAD device. All of this takes place against a bird's-eye view of New York City, and even this is real. During each day, you investigate crime scenes that are often grittier in nature, but at the same time, provide some humor to them.

The game uses a distinct art style, and everything looks good regardless of the low resolution. The post-apocalyptic setting looks good, with buildings run down and apartments looking trashy. The quality of the graphics are right up there with Leisure Suit Larry and Police Quest. Although the sound is through the PC Speaker only, the sound effects are good and blend in with what you are doing. The game's theme song is rather catchy as well.

You can die in this game, and I like the way that when you do, you are taken back to the screen just moments before you made your fatal mistake, so you can correct yourself. One of the humorous deaths involve you using a computer to access security footage, and one piece of footage results in electrocution. These deaths are rather clever. It's as if Evryware knew that the player will die a lot in the game through simple detective work.

What I really enjoyed about this game is the little arcade sequences you must get through, and these range from getting through a maze to climbing a series of platforms wile avoiding fireballs. You can't die in these; you just go back to the beginning. Furthermore, you can save and load as many times as you like as you proceed through them. Some of the arcade sequences are difficult, so this probably is necessary.

The Bad
The engine used for Manhunter: New York is inferior compared to other games released at its time, including King's Quest IV and Police Quest II; and the game would look much better if it had a 320x200 resolution and better sound. I think the older engine is used because Evryware had a low budget at that time.

The Bottom Line
Manhunter: New York is a game that combines a mixture of adventure and arcade action, and the gritty visuals, unique point-and-click interface, and the real-life locations made the game stand out from other Sierra adventures that were family oriented. When Sierra introduced their new SCI engine to showcase their fourth King's Quest game, they still insisted on using their old AGI engine; and because of this, the game should have looked and sounded better. Personally, I think the game is as good as it can get, and it uses a distinct art style that I like. However, I like to see a remake of this game, whether it is fro Evryware themselves or somebody else, that enhances the game's mechanics while removing features that other players don't like.