Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Evryware
Year: 1989
Platform: DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh
Score: 5
The Manhunter series is easily the most original idea that Sierra published. The first game, Manhunter: New York, is not nearly as good as the sequel. Unfortunately, you pretty much have to play it to understand anything that is going on in this game.
Aliens landed in 2002, setting up shop in New York (and then later, San Francisco). I’m not going to rehash the plot here, since I’ve already covered the setup in my review of New York. Suffice it to say that San Francisco picks up where the first game left off, with little effort to explain what’s happening to newcomers.
Thankfully, if you’ve played the former and liked it, you’ll be in for a treat here. The puzzles based on interpreting symbolism are longer, more difficult, and extremely satisfying to complete. Meanwhile, there are no stupid mazes. Arcade sequences are still present and a mixed bag, but did I mention there are no stupid mazes?
While the game is never scary, it runs consistently creepy thanks to ominous music and even more unsettling gory close-up shots. One of the game’s charms is that real locations in San Francisco are used, such as Alcatraz, the Transamerica Building, Coit Tower, and the Bank of Canton.
While I can’t really recommend this game today to anyone but the hardcore adventure gamer (or those who love gory games), it holds a special place in my memory. And frankly, so does this guy.
It most certainly had the creepy vibe, but I never had a clue what was going on due to not playing the first game.
If I recall, you and I played this game together as kids and were wholly confused. Years later, I bought the first game for like fifty cents at a thrift store. It’s pretty terrible (lots of mazes!), but oh man the second game is so much better once I had an idea of what was happening.
Sadly, I’ve only ever played New York. Maybe I should give San Fran a try.
Whatever you liked about New York, it’s better in San Fran. Not sure I’ve played it with DOSBox, though. I played it back in 2000 and I think at that time it still worked on Windows 98.