Manhunt 2: Ban conceals a pile of pants?

With all of the shouting and baying over Manhunt 2 being effectively banned here in the UK (due to the BBFC refusing to award the horror game a rating), a question has been raised by some of the inquiring public.  Is there more going on than Rockstar want us to see?  Perhaps it's all a publicity stunt to cover up one, glaring admission - that the game is crap.

Pardon my bluntness, there.  But seriously, it's a strong argument.  After all, today 411Mania awarded Manhunt 2 a not-very-flattering 4 out of 10.  Having once worked on a title with the same sandbox, violent world approach to Manhunt 2, I can certainly say that great looking, gruesome screenshots and even an acceptable looking graphical user interface do not by any means show the game is any good.  The title I was working on was pants. Giant bloomers if ever I saw them!  But the screenshots, game concept and interface looked perfectly reasonable if you saw them in a games magazine.  Until you've played the actual game itself, there's no real way to tell if it's a stinker or not.  Perhaps Manhunt 2 has been hiding behind a wall of press coverage and dark, gruesome screenshots all this time - hiding a dark secret.

If you have a US Wii (or you're a US gamer), you'll make up your own mind.  For those of us who don't however, we can perhaps take some solace in the fact that if the guys over at 411 have any sort of gaming savvy (and we think they do), we're not missing a great gem of development.  It would seem that Manhunt 2 is more image than substance.