Two years has gone by since the last Hitman. And we certainly can say IO Interactive made good use of that time.
And of course also in Hitman: Blood Money for the Xbox 360. You're again representing the person who fills the shoes of mister 47. I don't think I need to explain more about this fellow. Let's say that nothing changed thus far. He's still a money-hungry, cold-blooded killer. But let's get on with the game itself. First of all you'll get this great sort of 'tutorial-mission', where you can easily get used to many of the things you'll be doing in the game. Which makes the game pretty easy to pick up for somebody who didn't played it yet.
After that mission the story starts of and you'll be getting your assignments after which you can prepare yourself to go to 'battle'. Things such as choosing your weapons, viewing the briefing and intel and last but certainly not least: updating from your weapons. This last feature is new for the Hitman series and really is a perfect addition to the game. It's pretty detailed and true to reality. So in all these different and very diverse levels. You'll be doing your missions on a dozen ways that are possible in the game. From brutal 'head-bashing' with a hammer to 'just' witnessing an accident happen. Which 'accidentally' involves your target. Uhum....sure... ;) But no doubt the freedom delivers a really good experience. Also the AI is a strong point in the game. This has a good setup and increases nicely with higher difficulties. Certainly at the highest difficulty you can't fool around anymore and playtime is surely over.
So the 'free-roam-killing' and AI on its own are strong enough points to make the game play really good.
The story does nothing more but make that 'good', even better. It's a really catchy story and intrigues you till the end. Even people who haven't played Hitman before will enjoy the story no doubt. But more I don't want to let go, only to make sure I won't spoil no 'appetite for the game'.
Though there are some things that do surprise me. Which are mainly the graphics. For some reason I don't get the idea that the game contains the full fledged 'next-gen' graphics would expect with an Xbox 360. You surely could have fooled me with saying it's a normal Xbox game. But don't get me wrong here. I won't say that the graphics are bad or anything. It's just that 'square trees' and fast repetitive patterns aren't really things I would expect from a 'next-gen' game.
What does bring me back to that point are the achievements of course. What would a 360-game be without the achievements? Indeed, a game without achievements... Anyway, the gamerscore to gain in this game isn't all too easy. You'll have to play trough the game a few times if you want to get them all. But they are true to the setup of the game and fun the get.
All by all I think the game is certainly worth to get. While waiting for the next nice game that’s coming out on the 360. A gift and rental are no doubt also good choices with this game. Even if it misses online functions, it’s still well worth to play and play over again. So make sure you at least tried the demo, if you got an Xbox 360 that is.