Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Rocks"

Agent 47's career in games did what many others did the opposite: it improved with its age. The first Hitman was a fair game, with bad controls and annoyingly frustrating gameplay. Hitman 2, released sometime after the first one, fixed a whole bunch of problems and brought new elements to the table, making it a great game for any system.

Now, sometime later, the bald assassin is back. After saving Vittorio and leaving Italy for good at the end of the last game, 47 is playing hits for hire. As he gets injured in a mission and collapses in his hideout, he begins to dream (or dread) about his past assignments, some of them rehashes and different perspectives of some of the missions from the first game. This makes for a very interesting experience, since the game now has the improvements and seeing them in familiar environments that made you annoyed at the first game. Scenarios like Kowloon and the insane asylum from Hitman are some of the levels you'll be revisiting, with different objectives and situations. For instance, in the asylum, you'll need to escape the place after the onslaught you had at Hitman's last level.

The game looks somewhat better than the previous game. Now 47 looks more human and a little older, and he has more personality. The rag-doll effect is back and is as evil as ever. The game is scored once again by Jasper Kidd, so expect to be amazed by some tracks played in the background.

Control-wise, veterans of the previous game will need a while to get used to some of the changes, such as the run toggle that is now on all of the time and the fact that you'll need to hold the button to walk. Other than those, it's the same.

As far as weapons go, this game has it all, from conventional rifles to inventive weapons from crazed minds, like scalpels, axes and even pillows, for silent kills. The difficulty of the game is what makes it so fun. You'll be rewarded for playing it silent and you will be very satisfied to finish this with only the hit kills to account for. This game makes you want to continue playing after you finished it. I can't say it's the best in the series, since the second game improved the series so much and this one plays it safe with the formula...

Let Blood Money come ! ! !