Who is the muffin man?
Some think that the composer did a good job, but I think the score could've been better. After playing Hitman for a while, the score can get jaded.
The graphics are very good (at least in third person). The worst was the original game, it was bland and generally didn't live up to the potential. Hitman 2 improved on that, but Contracts is by far the best, and I'm willing to say that the graphics found in this game rivals that found in Hitman: Blood Money. You can see reflections off of the water; I found this to be very aesthetic. And of course there are no loading times during play, and hopefully the loading plague will never touch the Hitman series.
Hitman: Contracts feels more like an expansion pack for the original Hitman game, because about half of the missions (at least it feels that way) are from the original. The good thing is that all those missions are rendered in better graphics this time. The length of this game feels short, there's about a dozen missions whereas in Hitman 2 there were much more. There is a training level that you can select for beginners, I thought this was a good idea for newcomers to learn about the game rather than giving them tips during the first actual mission (where mistakes can cost you).
In Contracts, as in Blood Money, running around and being around others is improved. For instance, in the original and second versions of the series, when you get near a guard, he can see through your disguise very quickly. If you run around, forget about it - they'll reach for their guns. Now this may seem appropriate, but think when you blow a car up (causing hysteria among bystanders and in turn them running around like headless chickens) the civilians are going crazy. So if you had a civilian outfit and act the part, you be spotted by the guards. This is just an example, but my point is in those games I didn't even bother with disguises as guards have the ability to see through it (which brings up the question, why have disguises to begin with if the game is like that?) very quickly.
When I played Hitman, I was always under the impression that to have a SA (Silent Assassin) rating, you can't save, not even once. However this is not the case in Contracts as I've found out after many frustrating restarts. I couldn't find any info on whether saving will affect your SA rating, not from the FAQs or from Gamespot's online guide...or perhaps I didn't look in the right places. Regardless, now you know, you can still save and get a SA.
In Hitman 2, getting a SA rating the first time will result in unlocking some sort of a new weapon (or add on). You don't get another until the fifth (?) SA rating. In all there are only 3 weapons rewarded to you if you pursue the SA path. In Contracts, you are rewarded with a new weapon for every time you finish a level with the SA rating - more incentive to do so. Unlike Blood Money, you can't customize your weapons with cash you earn (actually I think Blood Money is the only Hitman game to have this feature). Contracts offers a nice selection of weapons...who can forget the mini gun!
You can actually shoot through certain objects such as doors in this game, with the right weapon of course. You can't use the syringe on SWAT, probably because of the armor.
I wish that the targeting reticule was thinner, not a cross hair blot on your screen. This makes shooting enemies harder when you have a rifle, because let's say you want to get a head shot but the reticule is obscuring your vision. The sniper scopes in Contracts are also much more claustrophobic, in that your view is very narrow (compared to Hitman 2 for example). Some of the animations don't match. For instance, strangulations can occur in several animations, but there will be times when 47 is fiber wiring nothing but air while the victim dies in his seat. You'll have a better understanding when playing the game.
This game also has a lot of sexuality, a lot more than most games out there and the most in the Hitman series. This is absolutely fine with me and the models aren't bad at all.