Agent 47 is back, and better than ever!
Again you play as Agent 47, a shadowy, cloned master killer working for an agency that doles out assassination contracts, and the game's narrative has each mission actually being a story told by an embittered FBI man hoping to put an end to cloning. This time 47 also discovers there's a rival group that wants the agency dead and buried, and as the game goes on he finds out that he's rapidly becoming the only one left. Locales are varied and interesting, from the raucous atmosphere of a Mardi Gras parade or Christmas party, to more sedate (but equally dangerous) locations like a typical suburban house or rehabilitation clinic. As always, money is awarded not just for completing missions, but with bonuses based on how surrepticiously you completed them. The money can then be spent on money and equipment upgrades. Eventually 47 will come face-to-face with one of his new rivals and need to fight not just for his mission, but his very survival.
As always, the sheer number of options for both infiltrating locations, and then eliminating your targets, has been a major plus, and this go-around seems to have more of both. The fun comes in the testing of what works, what works best, and what doesn't work at all. Using a disguise; sneaking weapons inside; creating a diversion; finding a less obvious route inside--there's usually 3 or 4 ways to get to where you need to go. The killing offers just as many options. Strangulation, gunshot, poison are all among the possibilities. A new option, accidents, adds to the fun as 47 can make his hits look like suicides or unfortunate luck, leaving no one to suspect something's amiss even if the body is found. The addition of a mission at a suburban house is ingenious, allowing you to live out the fantasy we've all had at one time or another of killing a bothersome neighbor. The clever newspaper at missions' ends both details your actions, and throws in some funny easter eggs for those who choose to scan the rest of the paper.
The new notoriety attribute, which can make it tougher to complete further missions if you draw too much attention to yourself in the current mission, while intriguing in theory, is sadly a non-issue in practice. Even barely competent play keeps it very low, and you earn so much money that lowering it through bribes is more than affordable. Another negative is the huge drain the game puts on your memory card, taking up 2200kb (over ΒΌ the standard card's space). As is usually the case in games like this, occasionally the enemy AI has its trouble deciding what to do, or goes through that 'if you're really close to them, they don't notice you' quirk.
Everything you need to do is easily accomplished with the controls, and the upper-left display of what the 4 standard buttons will accomplish is a great help. The graphics are nicer than the series has ever had, though close-up detail of faces could be better. There will also be the time or two that you'll see the elbow of someone you stashed in a bathroom poking out the wall and into a hallway. The sound is a bit closer to perfect, and from the muffled 'pfft' of a silenced pistol, to the cacaphony of a casino gaming floor, all sounds pretty much like it should. While the game is strictly a one-person affair, there is some replay value, as levels can be replayed once completed to gain a better rating, or for the more sadistic, to try to kill everyone in sight. In the end, this game's biggest draw is that it offers options for people who like either run-n-gun games, and those who like patience and problem-solving, and that makes it a good add to anybody's collection.