Game Tester Openings (New)‎

Finally I’m ready to move on from Larry 2 to the 20th game on the list, Manhunter: New York. It’s yet another Sierra game that I’ve never played and one that has always intrigued me. In fact, a good friend of mine talked about how much he loved this game for years, encouraging me to play it. Unfortunately, that same friend recently cranked up DOSBox and played the game again, two decades after his original life-changing experience. He refuses to talk about it much, but it’s clear that his recent play through all but destroyed the wonderful memories he had from his childhood. In short…he wasn’t impressed. I however, have no Manhunter nostalgia to crush, so will go into this with fresh eyes and an open mind. Before I get underway, it’s worth looking at how the game came about and how it fits into the Sierra timeline.


Manhunter: New York was created by a company called Evryware, which was made up of what I assume is three siblings. Barry, Dave and Dee Dee Murry developed the game for Sierra On-Line back in 1988. Barry seems to have been the leader of the gang, being involved in the design, programming, graphics and music (Dave had a hand in the design and programming while Dee Dee assisted with graphics). This wasn’t the family’s first attempt at making a game however, as Barry and Dave had already had a fair amount of success with their The Ancient Art of War games, which were published by Brøderbund. In fact, it was the quality of those games that caused Sierra to get in touch with them to see whether they wanted to create a game for them using the AGI engine that the company had already built an empire with. Jumping at the opportunity, the Murry brothers were not satisfied with simply taking the technology and running with it. Instead, they decided to make something far removed from the standard Quest games Sierra were known for.


After many months of design, the Murry’s finally decided their game would have much more mature themes than the likes of King’s Quest and Space Quest. It would be set 16 years in the future (2004 to be precise) and would have dark and at times gory themes. It would use real life locations, and they even spent two days in New York photographing locations that would make an appearance in the game. They chose New York as the city because they felt it lent itself well to the gritty, bleak landscape they had in mind. The backstory goes that the Earth has been enslaved by aliens known as the Orbs (giant floating eyeballs). The Orbs have implanted tracking devices in all surviving humans to keep them under control and it’s a capital offence for any human to speak at any time. Certain humans are enlisted by The Orbs as “Manhunters”, with the role of tracking down fellow humans that make any attempt to form an underground resistance. The protagonist of the game is one such Manhunter!


It’s definitely worth noting that Manhunter uses Sierra’s AGI engine rather than the SCI engine that both King’s Quest IV and Leisure Suit Larry 2 utilised in the same year. I can’t find anything concrete, but I assume Manhunter was developed and released prior to those two games in 1988, making me wish I’d played them in that order. Still, this doesn’t look like a standard AGI game as the Murry’s totally messed with the system to make it do what they wanted. The end result is a game with no text parser whatsoever, making it the first Sierra published game to have a complete point and click interface. This path was chosen mostly due to the fact that no characters in the game were allowed to speak, so a substitute form of control was created. Manhunter: New York also includes a “first person perspective, bizarre camera angles, picture-in-a-picture, long pans, extreme close-ups, overhead shots and a faux 3-D sequence”, making it a truly unique game in the Sierra adventure canon to date.


The influence of Blade Runner on Manhunter: New York is obvious, but it’s interesting that the player is enlisted to track down humans rather than the “replicants” that Decker chases in that masterpiece. I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays out, but I have to admit that the screenshots do not look appealing from a visual point of view. I’ve downloaded a DOS version of the game and plan to run it in DOSBox and also got my hands on the manual and a map that came with the original packaging. The manual is called the Official Manhunter’s Field Guide (Planet Earth Edition) and it describes the alien invasion through journal entries written by the protagonist. It also has the notice that was sent to all those humans selected to be Manhunters, which describes the obligations of the chosen along with the devices that are used to fulfil them. It’s a nice touch and makes me eager to get going!


Example Bet:
Bet: V cerqvpg lbh jvyy trg fghpx va gur zhq. Zl vavgvnyf ner WJ naq V yvxr pbzvp obbxf. Jub nz V?

Game 30 on the playlist is the sequel to Manhunter: New York, a game I enjoyed quite a bit despite some technical flaws and illogical puzzle solutions. This time, as the title suggests, the game will be set in San Francisco, and it follows on directly from the events of the first game (which closed with the unnamed protagonist hopping into an alien craft and chasing the antagonist Phil Cook out of the city). The sequel was published in 1989 by Sierra On-Line, and was once again created by Evryware, a company owned and run by the Murry family (Barry, Dave and Dee Dee). The only non-Murry credit associated with the game is that of Barbara Ward, who apparently assisted with “additional story”, although I can’t see her name attached to any other games.


The Murry’s chose San Francisco because they wanted the game to be based somewhere on the west coast of America, and they felt the city had the most recognizable landmarks. As with New York, the family flew down to the locations that eventually ended up in the game, re-enacting the scenes they’d written and taking photographs to make sure the result was as accurate as possible. It’s immediately noticable when looking at screenshots that Manhunter 2 was built using the same engine as the first game, which is Sierra’s AGI engine. In fact, it was the last game ever produced using that engine, as Sierra had already released a stack of games that utilized their much improved SCI technology. Obviously I’ve played through all of those games in recent months, which will undoubtedly make Manhunter 2 struggle to impress technically, particularly on the graphics and sound fronts.


I’m not certain whether the Murry’s were forced to use AGI rather than SCI by Sierra (since they weren’t internal employees) or whether they chose to due to their previous experience with it and the modifications they’d already made while making the first game, but it can’t have helped the critical response and sales on release. I’ve only watched the introduction so far and I’m shocked at how bad the visuals and sound are, even though it has only been a year (one release year that is) since the last one. I’m also dubious as to whether the game is going to break any new ground in any other way. The story once again involves tracking down Phil Cook by investigating his murders, it utilises the same MAD tracking device to do so, and from what I understand, include numerous arcade mini-games just as the first one did. Despite all these reservations, I’ll be giving Manhunter 2 every opportunity to impress me, and I’m very keen to see whether I can get through it unassisted (Jarikith’s mocking laughter in a recent comment suggests I might be in for a rocky ride).

I can’t find the game available for sale anywhere, so I’ve downloaded a DOS version copy which I’ll be running through SCUMMVM. I’ve started using SCUMMVM over DOSBox recently because I can take screenshots really easily and in high resolution. That makes a lot of difference for me while I attempt to blog my way through. I’ve also found a quick reference card and a copy of the original manual, which once again is called a Manhunter’s Field Guide. It’s set out in the same way as the Field Guide that came with the first game, although it does contain a note written by the protagonist while pursuing Phil in the alien craft that helps set the scene. How he wrote a two page note while controlling the craft is anyone’s guess, but it helped remind me of some of the game mechanics. I’ll begin the game tomorrow and can’t help but wonder whether this will be the game that someone places an assistance bet on. Anyone dare challenge me?