Manhunter: New York

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Manhunter: New York

Developer(s)	Sierra Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Sierra Entertainment
Release date(s)	1988
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple II, Atari, Apple IIGS, TRS-80

Manhunter: New York is a post-apocalyptic adventure game designed by Barry Murry, Dave Murry and Dee Dee Murry of Evryware and published in 1988 by Sierra On-Line.

[edit] Scenario

It is set in the (then) futuristic year of 2004, when Earth has been enslaved by a race of aliens known as the Orbs. The Orbs, who look like giant floating eyeballs, have implanted all humans with tracking devices, forced them to wear nondescript robes and forbidden them from speaking. The protagonist has been assigned by the Orbs to track down fellow humans who are believed to be forming an underground resistance. Over the course of the game, the player discovers that the Orbs are not the benevolent rulers they claim to be; they are actually harvesting humans as a food source. The player then "switches sides" and works to overthrow the Orbs.

[edit] Gameplay

Manhunter: New York utilized Sierra's Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) development tool. It was very different from other AGI games in that it did not use a text parser, incorporated a first-person rather than third-person perspective, and featured a rudimentary point-and-click interface. In these ways, Manhunter foreshadowed later games like Myst. The gritty, sometimes gory visuals, unique interface, and use of real-life locations in New York City all helped set the game apart from Sierra's other titles, which were typically more family oriented.

One of the criticisms concerning the interface was that the cursor/pointer was not controlled by the mouse, but by the pointer. The mouse, if the player decided to use it, was only to point out where the cursor must go.

A follow-up game, Manhunter: San Francisco (1989), continued the story. By that time, Sierra had unveiled their more impressive Sierra's Creative Interpreter (SCI) development system, but Manhunter: SF used the older AGI and offered few innovations. The game sold poorly and the series was not continued.