Banned in Britain

In the video game world (just like in films and TV), story lines offer heroes Six Justifications for Murder, so protagonists can kill people with moral rationalization. You see these killing excuses in "Manhunt 2," a game so gruesome Britain banned it.

Britain banned a fun game.

The plot is simple: You portray a bespectacled scientist named Danny who was institutionalized by a nefarious group conducting secret experiments. You escape by slaying people in dark alleys and grungy buildings.

The Six Justifications for Murder come in handy.

1. Self-defense: After hacking several villains with axes and shovels, the narrator says to you/Danny in a voice-over, "It was either them or you. Remember that!"

2. Vigilantism: After you stab a guy in the back of the head with a syringe, the narrator says, "You stopped him from harming others!"

3. Revenge: I don't want to give too much away on this plot point.

4. Obedience to authority: The insistent narrator urges at times, "Kill him!"

5. Collateral damage: If you desire, you can let certain people escape alive, but more likely you will kill them accidentally or on purpose, because they get in your way.

6. Body control: Someone uses drugs, the paranormal or mind control to cause you to kill.

For the entire nation of England to put the kibosh on "Manhunt 2" is, of course, an exercise in selective enforcement of anti-violence in art. "Manhunt 2" ranks about as violent as a collection of killing clips from "The Sopranos," which played on public TV in Britain.

"Manhunt 2" starts with Danny's sneaking behind an evil henchman and slipping a suffocating plastic bag over his head. Danny's vision blurs red.

"I killed him," Danny says. "I feel sick." Then he pukes.

From there on out, you creep behind bad guys, terminate them (sometimes by putting a gun in their mouths and pulling the trigger) and move on.

The ever-escalating panoply of weaponry at your fingertips begins with a syringe and the plastic bag, and advances to knives, meat hooks, baseball bats, crowbars, bricks, a pistol and a gun whose bullets set men on fire. Sometimes, you chop off heads with a fireman's axe, then carry the head around on your belt loop.

Yet for an adult hard-core gamer such as myself, "Manhunt 2" doesn't make me blink at its graphically interfaced "blood" and "guts." The only thing that surprised me was watching my pistol ammo blow red brains on a wall.

As in almost every violent game ever made, you are a good guy, or an antihero. Here, the killing can feel a bit like a one-trick pony: hide in a shadow, sneak, kill, repeat. But in Rockstar Games fashion, it's entertaining for those of us not offended by what others call crass.

What is crass? That's a subjective determination, you know. I didn't flinch at the possibly crass joke where, when you're offing a guy, he pleads, "Who'll feed my cats?" That just made logical sense, but I have cats.

("Manhunt 2" retails for $40 for Wii; $30 for PS 2, PSP -- Plays fun. Looks good. Moderately challenging. Rated "M" for blood, gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content, use of drugs. Three stars out of four.)