Agent 47 is back and he's taking the wardrobes of who ever gets in his way.
User Rating: 8.5 | Hitman: Contracts PS2
Not only is Agent 47 returning from the second game but he is also returning from the first game... well this is kinda the first game actually, or mostly at least, but don't take that as a bad thing. The graphics in this game have been improved a small amount from the second one and alot since the first one, the game engine looks more cleaner and realistic overall. Most people never played the first game since it's only on pc and it didn't sell all that well and there are some problems with the weapons scheme and other minor things, it was also IO Interactive's first game so it was their best efforts probably and a starting point. Hitman is a normal type of person, for instance, if he is holding a two handed assault rifle he can't use any other guns and if he pulls out a hand gun he will holster the assault gun and ect. But don't let him fool you, he is a master assassin and owns a one of a kind overcoat. After unlocking all the weapons he can fit over 22 sets of pistols, 2 sawn-off shotguns, 2 uzis and if on a certain map he can even pop a severed arm in there that he needs as evidence later, ALL while maintaining that fit trim look, I don't know how he does it, he is a true professional. And of course he is still a neat freak and folds his clothes up real nice when he changes. The levels/hits are intelligently made and thought out and if you want to get a "Silent Assassin" rating you need to be very sneaky and smart and will also get to experience the game in a whole new way, and as a reward you unlock a weapon to add to your collection/gallery for every map you get the Silent Assassin rating. The maps have alot of variety to them to keep things interesting and adds alot of replay value. Hitman has recieved a few minor upgrades or enhancements, some minor ones being less clutter on screen the health and detection bars are smaller and at the bottom of the screen now and the ammo wich is little icons of the bullets that would go about 3/4 the way across the screen is much smaller now and also at the bottom. Other ones being instead of just selecting the text onscreen of the weapon you want there is now a 3D ring of all the weapons you have in the menu and you can see what it looks like when you choose it, it is reminisent of the one you would see in Tomb Raider. Also the map screen is now very handily placed as L1 on the controller wich gives you much faster needed/wanted access to it than the select button used to. It takes the place of the sneak buttton in wich case the croutch button takes over for sneaking now. There are a few other enhancements you will notice too, one of the bigger ones being a place to have your unlocked weapons and still be able to go back to missions you have already completed. It is called training mode, it has 3 walls worth of weapons to add to it and has 3 training courses to mess around with. So why is this so cool? Well because it was pretty much a disapointment to me when I found out in part 2 that I unlocked all those weapons in his cool ass shed only to be able to use them on the last stage and no longer be able to go back to previous completed missions and use said weapons or just even play a map without using a cheat code. I was completely shocked that the game did that and was so unforgiving about making it all the way to the final map all of a sudden, no such problem for the first 18 maps of the game and then it just stabs you in the back for no reason, even more insulting on that last stage you can go and stand right next to the notebook computer that you have always used to go to diff maps only you can't operate it, it just lays on the table and for whatever reason that I have never figured out it won't let you use it. I didn't think it was very cool and it took away the replay value totally and to do that in a game where there is multiple ways to complete each mission makes no sence to me. But anyway, that is part 2 and apparently they have caught on and fixed that. The weapon physics are updated and done better, the muzzle flashes have some kind of special effect added to them and look alot cooler and the weapon sounds sound great. However the game doesn't have much of a soundtrack to it, the music is scripted to fade in at certain moments in the stages when you're doing something right or sneaky but it's the same familiar notes you'll hear thoughout the whole game and not real tracks like in part 2. This game is kinda hard to score for me because it for one is mostly maps from the first game and I've never played the first game so it's a new game to me and I can't really consider it a rehash. But what I can say is that I am a fan of IO Interactive and I know that their texture, lighting, level design and the team as a whole is a good game company and I think the Hitman games can be good fun and I think the "Glacier" engine that they call it is great. I like the look and feel of their games so I will have to recommend this game to fans of the stealth genre so they can trade in their mullets for a shaved head once in a while.
