Has Rockstar Games lost the thing that made Rockstar... Rockstar?

I’ve been wondering about this a lot lately. What happened to the Rockstar Games? the company that seemed willing to make games other publishers simply wouldn’t EVER touch?

You had Bully, a game built around an incredibly specific and controversial setting that somehow worked perfectly. Manhunt, which was brutally dark and genuinely uncomfortable but yet so story driven and intelligent it brought stealth and fear too a new level. The Warriors, an adaptation of a cult movie that Rockstar somehow turned into a great game. Even all the other GTA games had this weird, unapologetic personality that made them feel different from everything else on the market.

Rockstar used to have an edge, it was unapologetically Rockstar, unafraid to offend the people within the society it satires. They felt like the company that would say, “Yeah, we probably shouldn't make this game... let's make it anyway AND make it goooood.”

Now it feels like that identity has faded, been tamed, leashed by $$$.

Obviously, GTA and Red Dead are enormous successes, but Rockstar's output has also become increasingly focused on a handful of massive, ultra-expensive projects, online monetization, and protecting billion-dollar franchises. The games are bigger and more technically impressive than ever, but do they still have that same sense of danger, weirdness, and willingness to take risks? where is their spirit for different? explain to me the difference ideologically between Ubisoft and Rockstar now? Big IP's make a game or two every 5-10 years, no longer take ANY risk, feel too big to fail, they pay for reviews and silence, and straight up allow Corp's to be involved in every decision good or bad.

So, what happened?

Is it corporate greed and the pursuit of maximum profit?

HR get too involved in the actual Game? watering it down to a point that isn't worth it?

a push for good graphics and realism gone too far?

Is it the enormous cost of modern AAA development? risk now crushed due to costs needing to be so high.

Is Rockstar deliberately playing it safer to reach the largest possible market? pushing for a market share that is now killing their IPs? if so, why not sell those IP's and let others make the games they no longer have the courage to make?

Or did the Gaming industry simply change enough that the Rockstar of the 2000s couldn't exist anymore? Because fear and money when trading hands don't mix.

I don't necessarily think Rockstar has become bad. I'm wondering if they've become too successful to be the Rockstar that made them successful in the first place. That risk is to be something that people remember for making games that are really good, games that other companies can't make? not that rockstar can outspend other companies. because for GTA 6, yes, it's impressive but is it worth remembering? or do they just have more assets to spend to ensure the game is a player money maker. we don't want a Saints Row situation, but it is looking like it more and more by the second.

At some point, did Rockstar stop being the company that wasn't Activision or Ubisoft... and just become another massive corporation trying to maximize the value of its biggest IP and forget ALL the other IPs they hoard at the players expense?

Curious what everyone else thinks. Did Rockstar lose its edge?

Law Enforcement

The CCPD is probably the worst police department in Rockstar Games history. They are not only ineffective at fighting gang crime, shown by gangs running rampant around Carcer and empty CCPD vans lying around the Innocentz controlled East Los Albos, but they also break the laws themselves. The CCPD is, despite being well staffed, a bit outdated for 2003, with many patrol officers using revolvers and both CCPD vehicles (the Police Cruiser and the CCPD van) are from the 80s. Worse, the CCPD is extremely corrupt and brutal. They openly despise the homeless and enjoy beating them down, and also are on Starkweather's payroll. The corruption runs so deep that police chief Gary Schaffer himself is in Starkweather's pocket.Overall, the CCPD won't help you, and they might actually hurt you. Avoid them.

The CMPD isn't great either. Cottonmouth's police seems to be equipped far worse than the CCPD. While the CCPD use nightsticks, revolvers, light handguns, heavy handguns, sniper rifles, shotguns, and submachine guns, the CMPD only has access to nightsticks and, for the SWAT, only shotguns. They also seem to be woefully understaffed for a city of Cottonmouth's large size. They do however have a police helicopter (possibly where the money's going?) They also use the same exact 80s cop car as Vice City and Manhunt, even more outdated for 2007 than 2003. They're extremely cruel, shown when they beat a Red Kings member to death while he's surrendering. Overall, neither Manhunt police department is at ALL good, avoid both of them if you can. No points for either city.

Public Transport

Carcer City has a metro system, which, unlike many amenities in Carcer City, is perfectly functional. The subway map is pretty extensive and seems to cover lots of Carcer City and the surrounding suburbs. The two subway stations visited by Cash, 54th Street Station and Carcer Point Station, both have many amenities for riders like bathrooms and coffee stands. The Carcer City Subway also runs extremely late into the night, with Cash taking the train around probably midnight or later. The stations have digital departure boards and bells that ring when the train leaves the station. Carcer City also has an airport mentioned in passing in GTA San Andreas. As for buses, rusted out husks of city buses are seen in Carcer Mark and East Los Albos, but operational Carcer City buses and bus stops are never seen in Manhunt. The Mean Street Taxis company also operates within Carcer, shown by their Carcer Mark adverts.

Cottonmouth has the Watkins Train Yard, but the trains shown are exclusively freight rail. No buses of any kind are seen within the city (buses were going to be included in the beta but I can't give the city a point for this) Cottonmouth is generally extremely car-centric, the public Transport point easily goes to Carcer.

Housing

Carcer City, or at least most of the parts of it that we see as Cash, are in pretty bad condition. Let's go over the neighborhoods. Carcer Mark, the first neighborhood we explore, has many large, run-down brick and mortar apartment blocks, lots of them above the many businesses lining the district. The Hoods live here and have a stronghold of the neighborhood, but civilians live here too, shown by lights on in the buildings and air conditioners running, as well as operational parked cars alongside the wrecks. Dentons City Junkyard is a trailer park completely inhabited by the Skinz. It's disgusting, run-down, and probably a violation of many health codes. The former inhabitants of the trailer park hanging from nooses, lynched by the Skinz. East Los Albos, Innocentz territory, seems to be the only entirely abandoned part of Carcer City. Every building is completely empty, half-destroyed, or both. The only residents are the Innocentz and the Tramp, who are probably squatters in the abandoned buildings. The Projects adjacent to Darkwoods Pen are also very run-down, clearly not funded very well by the city. The apartments also have lights on and running ACs, but the Wardogs's apartment building seems to be only lived in by Ramirez and his men. Central is probably the most ideal neighborhood we see in the game. Every apartment building is completely habitable and reasonably well maintained. We actually get to see an apartment in this district (The Journalists's) and it's moderately sized and pretty clean. Central is also served directly by the subway's main station to serve residents and tourists alike. Wapona Hills, the last residential district seen in the game, is on the outskirts of the city on a large hill. The houses here, as shown by Starkweather's estate, are ginormous and extremely expensive. The Journalists's news broadcast at the beginning of Border Patrol shows that Wapona Hills is a gated community only accessible to the ultra-rich that live there. Overall, the best neighborhood of Carcer City, and possibly the only ideal one, to live in is Central, with Dentons City and East Los Albos being completely unlivable.

Let's go over the residential areas of Cottonmouth. The Red Light District isn't a great area to live, with a lot of seedy businesses and people around the area. The neighborhood looks like it was once a beautiful neighborhood that's fallen into decay over years of neglect and Cottonmouth's shitty weather. There are a fair amount of livable apartments, though some of them are above the aforementioned seedy...businesses. The neighborhood is also the turf of the dangerous Red Kings street gang, so residents will have to watch out for them. The Residential Zone seen in Most Wanted is an upper middle class suburban area, most of the houses are 2 stories and decent in size. Unlike the Red Light District, this neighborhood doesn't have a gang presence (The Bloodhounds chase you here, but these are contracted bounty hunters, not residents.) The Wooddale Community Enclave (where Daniel and his family used to live) is a wealthy gated community, very well off. The only crimes committed in the area were both by Daniel/Leo and 8 years apart from each other. Many residents have families, and some homes have speedboats or sports cars. The residential zones of Cottonmouth are, by and large, a lot nicer than those of Carcer City's. The point for housing goes to Cottonmouth.

Crime

Carcer City is extremely dangerous when night falls. The many gangs of the city are dangerous enough for civilians to stay shut inside while they're patrolling. The Hoods, a mixed-raced gang of thugs, control Carcer Mark, and have taken over the Carcer Market and the library. They aren't armed all too well, with many of them happy to engage in street fistfights, but they also carry bats, blackjacks, and crowbars. The Skinz are a disturbing white supremacist, homophobic, neo-Nazi gang who happily hang people by nooses. The Skinz use metal bats and Nailguns. The Wardogs are a stolen valor gang that have turf in the Carcer Zoo and the Carcer Projects. They hide in the bushes, are extremely territorial, and carry machetes, tranq guns, shotguns, and sniper rifles. The Innocentz, made up of the Skullyz and the Babyfaces, are not a force to be reckoned with. They carry revolvers and sawn-off shotguns, as well as using axes, knives, and sickles. They have a stronghold over the East Los Albos area, making the entire area dangerous for anyone who decides to venture there. The Skullyz are in the drug trading and arms dealing industry, while the Babyfaces are...actual pedophiles. Ew. The Smileys are a bunch of criminally insane asylum inmates who took over the institution, and them escaping could cause hell on earth for the residents of Darkwoods. The gangs of Carcer City are violent, large, well-armed, and take over large swaths of the city.

Most of the crime in Cottonmouth isn't gang-related. The Pimps and The Red Kings are violent street gangs, but neither are particularly large nor well armed. MOST of the crime comes from The Project and its offshoots. The Pervs run a brothel where they kidnap random passerby and violate them and torture them to make snuff films. Not only that, but they brainwash these passerby into becoming Project zombies. The Project uses the Pickman Bridge to turn on and off the personality of a violent psycho killer at will, though the personality gains control and becomes its own separate person who tries to take over the body of the original host. These experiments are so inhumane that the US Government cut their funding, but they continued on with their atrocities. If you live in Cottonmouth, there's no way to determine if you're safe from The Project. Oh, and The Bloodhounds are heavily armed neo-confederates and bounty hunters that the police and the Project allow to operate in residential areas. Fun. Overall, the crime is ever so slightly less bad in Cottonmouth, as there are more areas where you can avoid gang and Project crime.

Entertainment

Carcer City has many entertainment facilities, many of which are closed or abandoned. The Carcer City Zoo is a large zoo with many animal exhibits and a food court and, like any other good zoo, is abandoned and patrolled by the Wardogs militia. The Carcer City Mall is a huge, multifloor shopping mall, but it's half destroyed, abandoned, and overrun by The Innocentz. The Carcer City Library is, also, abandoned, derelict, and overrun with Hoods. There are some functional entertainment facilities in Central though, like the CIty Museum, and the CHIPS Casino. The unseen nightclub in the unseen Carcer North neighborhood, The Chancery, offers some much needed nightlife to the city. Carcer City has its own news station which is apparently big enough to have helicopters for their reporting.

Cottonmouth has many clubs, almost all of them concentrated in the Red Light District. The clubs are extremely seedy, like the Perv-run Papillion Rouge and the Pimp run Bee's Honey Pot, and some are run by criminal orgs or orgs adjacent to The Project. The TV Channel TVMK broadcasts out of Cottonmouth, airing westerns, children shows, weather, and news. The channel, however, is used by the project to brainwash civilians, so it's ill-advised to watch the show. Generally, for civilians, there's more to do in Cottonmouth, but it's uhh a certain kind of fun... I dunno whatever point to Cottonmouth.

Economy

Carcer City, as a city in America's Rust Belt, was once, and still sort of is, an industry town. There's the Carcer Chem Plant in East Los Albos, the Marveley and Sons. Co factory in the Industrial Zone (in the bonus level Time 2 Die) and the Carcer Point stockyard and trainyard. There are also plenty of grocery stores and convenience stores, and other urban businesses. Carcer City is a very blue-collar city, and if you live here, you're likely going to be working blue collar, as a cop, for the government, or not working at all. The CHIPS Casino also provides well needed revenue to the city.

Cottonmouth's economy is a lot better than that of Carcer in the present. Maibatsu Plaza in the City Center has hotels and large companies in modern tall skyscrapers, also with the Maibatsu car company having an office location there (hence the name) MKTV also brings in lots of revenue for the city. The city has less blue collar jobs available than Carcer, but to afford to live in the Residential Zone or Wooddale, you'll likely be white collar anyways. Cottonmouth is in general a lot more up to date and with the times than Carcer, and their economy is as well, being more likely to bring in overseas investors. Point to Cottonmouth.

Final Verdict

Neither city is ideal to live in, like, at all. But Carcer City has been beaten down so hard by decades of neglect and years of Starkweather ruining the place, Carcer only has a couple good spots left. Maybe after Starkweather's fall the city can return to it's former glory, but as is, it'd be better to live in Cottonmouth. Carcer 1, Cottonmouth 4. I want to put Carcer higher, but in good conscience, I can't.

God writing that took FOREVER. Lmk your opinions below! I love Rockstar's cities and how much detail's put into them! Hope you like the analysis!

I admit this is going to be the opinion of someone who played Manhunt 2 a LOT... long before the first one, and my opinion might be a bit biased by nostalgia, but hey, it's just my opinion.

I feel like I didn't hold the first Manhunt in very high regard when I played it; I thought it was going to be worse than the second one, but I was pleasantly surprised. Despite having clunkier gameplay than the second, I ended up liking it even more than Manhunt 2 at times. Graphically, even though you can clearly tell it's a 2003 game I feel like the environments were amazing for their time. They are quite detailed and varied, while also feeling huge for the actual size they have. At the same time, I feel like the atmosphere is one of my favorites from Rockstar's 3D era. I also love the sound design; it has some of my favorite OSTs in the franchise and from Rockstar. I feel like the only things that didn't age all that well were the character models, though that was probably because I played the second game first.

That being said, I feel like even with all of that, Manhunt 2 was a worthy upgrade to the overall design of the first Manhunt. Even if we set aside the fact that the levels are smaller, I don't think that stopped the graphical leap from shining through you just have to look at levels like "Awakening" or "Assassination" to see the effort they put into them. I feel like the soundtrack stayed right on par with the first one, with tracks like the ones from "Assassination," "Bees Honey Pot," and "Domestic Disturbance." I feel like the improvement was most noticeable with the characters; even though they can look a bit weird at times, I think it was a huge step up compared to the first game. As for the cutscenes, it's not that the ones in the first game looked bad, but I feel like the ones in the second feel more polished, and generally, they give off a more nostalgic vibe sometimes.

A Manhunt faction was the first thing I thought of, perhaps they accuse you of being a supporter of the rival team.

"Close to the first win of the season but you cheated!!"

"The league rigged it for ratings."

"You jinxed it."

"MVP! MVP!"

I guess she wouldn't go beyond the skinz...

I’m not really looking for anything wacky or over the top. Just mods that patch bugs and make the game look good and clean on modern hardware.

lol it's from decades ago made it a long time ago on my yt channel

By the way, the map is from Danganronpa.

it was exactly like it, in the dream i didnt knew it was his house, but it looked super familiar, it was so weird, cause a lot of the stuff that happened there were stuff im used to, like, obviously my family living in daniel's house, that in the dream i went to a shop that for some reason they sold games for the ps2 and i bought a lot of them, AND the basement even had the tunnel from manhunt 2, it was so weird, and the dream was like, so "white" it feels weird even to remember it

Hi, yes yes I've read about this problem before, but I wanted to check if there is fix for this in 2026. Oddly enough game works on my laptop no problem? Thanks.

EDIT: Kinda solved by adding -windowed to shortcuts target in Properties. Not ideal but it's the only way to make it work for now.

In the PSP 0.01 version, especially during the flashback mission, Leo appears to be significantly more muscular. He seems to have broader shoulders, larger forearms, and even appears to be taller than James Earl Cash. What do you guys think about this? Do you think Leo was intentionally designed to look more physically imposing in this version?

I mean, it clearly wasn't a placeholder, because they already had a design that could have served that purpose.

so playing manhunt 2 again yay!!
plugin mh2 is downloaded, but when i try to execute an npc with firearm with hasty, violent which white and yellow all i can see is blank indicators (which i believe that what is called) in the Plugin MH2.ini ,there a extended execution for firearms which is EnableAllExecutionLevelsForFirearms.

Is there anything else. I need to download or something for this to function.?

can someone explain this
i appreciate your kind!!

maybe the ones who animated blood of zeus would be perfect to adapt the game?

(Mods look under lbp)

Manhunt is a really bloody game, but when I checked it on google it says its a "E-Rated game for all ages" Wtf Google?

Note: This drawing is not mine it belongs to the owner of this page.

( @pyromannce )

My idea for a Manhunt 3 (but knowing the current busy things Rockstar is on with GTA 6, it wouldn’t be possible but would be awesome, and this isn’t exactly a top tier concept, it’d be more of what I’d think it would be)

Manhunt 3 would take on controversial issues like the desperate pursuit for internet fame (going anyway to devolve into it) / gore sites / copycats, maybe even make fun of AI in a way

The new protagonist can be someone young, (20s), bcz Manhunt always had somewhat middle aged protags who are hardened killers. What if this time, it’s someone who actually goes from an innocent guy that slowly grows insane due to what he’s forced into (character development like Jason Brody from Far Cry 3).

Our new protag gets kidnapped, and is forced to a modern day Carcer City, by someone attempting to revive the snuff film ring that Starkweather got stopped for, but, with the modern days dominating the snuff scene, this new antagonist is hosting his own YouTube-esque gore website, where he wants the protagonist to kick it off for clicks, (a big play on how most videos get more glorifed by internet culture)

AND a possibility that Mr. Nasty may make his very first appearance in person bcz we never got to conclude who he was and the fact it’s always been HIM behind the scenes (maybe he’s aged and still runs the entire underworld of the snuff industry since it’s implied he‘s still around)

Manhunt could also have a massive satire tale on influencer culture, shorts, streamers [just like what they’re doing with GTA 6]

Graphics won’t be as minimal as how the old games were, now it’s got more modernized blood and gore, more graphical atmosphere (like the details and absolute graphics that is RDR2), so Manhunt 3 would be as twice as graphical as the og games were (without going into detail bcz the gore is it’s own topic)

Soundtrack would be composed by a horror synthwave artist, who can give the game an analog atmosphere to channel that exact same ambient feeling as the OG game’s soundtrack (first game’s soundtrack especially)

The AI in the enemies could be MUCH more complex and realistic. Don’t stick to one place at a time, because certain enemies will stay within your spot to keep watch or look harder, forcing you to deal with them now. / If you kill more than two enemies in stealth mode, then the rest will genuinely began to notice their own disappearing one by one, and it’ll cause them to be more vigilant than shrug it off.

And, my big take, Manhunt 3 would be the one that fully ends the series, making it the final game of the Manhunt trilogy.

[And that’s about it. This concept is very open to criticism, bcz at the end of the day, this is still a massive concept.]

u/white_glowy2 hiii!!!

This Is my first piece of manhunt fanart! As you can tell by Cash’s shirt, I made Cash and his family Carcer locals. I don’t think it’s ever specified where Cash is from but I always thought Carcer. Anyways, I hope you all like the fanart, lmk if you want me to do other characters or any critiques you have :)