25 Best Video Games Of The 2000s

17. Manhunt

Rockstar's status as the poster-boys for controversy came not only with GTA, but also with the gore-soaked Manhunt; a tabloid headline-starter that was so much more than just an attention-grabber under the hood. Playing as ex-Death Row inmate James Earl Cash, you were thrown into a real-world nightmare when the condition of your release was to partake in a live-action snuff film recording.

The voyeuristic Lionel Starkweather was the man behind the camera, as both you and the gang members lain out in front of you were forced to butcher each other. Naturally the media had a field day with it (even implicating the title in a murder at one point), but Manhunt is quite simply one of the finest tales ever told of a character turning the tables on their oppressors.

You start out scrabbling to survive the murky streets of Carcer City, stabbing and suffocating with shards of glass and plastic bags, but the point where you track down the house of Starkweather and get your hands on some firearms, there's a poignant shift in the 'hunted-becomes-the-hunter' dynamic, where suddenly you'll be baiting enemies into your own kill-boxes, delivering some swift and gory retribution to the man himself when the chance presents itself.