Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

It has been quite awhile since Codename 47 has freed himself from his dirty, bloodstained life and has taken up living a peaceful life residing in a church in Italy. Trying his hardest to suppress the past, he is taken in by Father Vittorio, who lets the Hitman stay in a shed beside the church. Eventually, as the days pass on, 47 has difficulty forgetting his past, and wants to have a confession with Father Vittorio.

But as bad timing would have it, a car drives up to the church, and as Father Vittorio sees to the commotion, he is promptly and forcibly kidnapped, with nothing being left behind but a ransom note. Our friend, the Hitman, stumbles upon the note, and reads of Vittorio's kidnapping. At this point, 47 finds himself having no choice but to resort back to his old ways and methods of yesteryear, once again donning his slick black suit and red tie. Contacting the Agency, Codename 47 prepares himself to embark upon the dark world of death again, seeking out the whereabouts of his mentor Vittorio whilst accepting missions from his Agency contacts. A good game needs to have a good story, and this game plays on emotions, involves kidnapping and killing all rolled up into one big strategy game, where you always have to be one step ahead of your enemies if you want to stay alive.

 

Hitman 2 is where its gameplay separates it from most games, as it involves a strategic element pertaining to completing the missions assigned to you. For example, the very first level has you infiltrating the mansion of an Italian Don, leader of the mafia. You can't just stroll in, or else you'll find your body filled with lead. It seems these guys don't seem to like you. However, there are few different ways of getting inside the mansion grounds. For instance, you can kill the flower delivery boy and take his outfit, or you can pacify the mailman and take his outfit, giving you easy access past the front gate. But, its not enough just to kill them and take their clothes. You must also get rid of their body, in case a guard or passer-by sees them.

It doesn't just stop there, as even a disguise can't cover you one hundred percent. If you are disguised as a guard, it is better to walk around instead of running recklessly, or the guards will get suspicious of you and raise the alarm. Also, being in certain places where you shouldn't be while being disguised also plays an important role, so you should always scout for alternative routes to your destination or target's mark. There are usually several various ways to complete a mission. You can either do it the strategic way, or for the hardcore, go in guns blazing and hope you have enough ammo. Either way work, but being more strategic grants you a better ranking when you finish the level.

 

The Hitman is a trained killer, and can use pretty much any weapon. You can gather a massive collection of weapons to aid him on his missions, which are far too many to list! He can use Dual Silverballers, Deagles, Submachine guns, AK-47s, Sniper Rifles, a Crossbow, and many more handguns than you can handle. Also, some of the smaller weapons also include knives, axes, and 47's standard sneak weapon, the fiberwire, which he can use to strangle unsuspecting people when unarmed. If he keeps a new weapon at the end of a level, he gets to permanently keep that weapon in his tool shed. This game's subtitle is called Silent Assassin for a reason, of course. Most of the levels that the missions take place on contain a massive amount of heavily armed guards, so going toe-to-toe with them isn't such a great idea most of time unless you're really good at taking headshots at them, or extremely lucky. So instead of close encounters, you can sneak around and don a dead guard's disguise and weapon. But if you do that, you have to take precaution and hide the body. Because if you don't and leave it out in the open, other guards are bound to find it and get suspicious in no time, looking for you.

 

To get a better ranking which is based on your stealth and aggression with the enemy, instead of killing, you can instead pacify them by using anaesthetic bottles to knock them out. But they won't be knocked out very long, so if you're going to complete an objective, you'll have to do it quick. In some missions, the Agency supplies 47 with weapons and items vital to his objectives. For example, there is a level where you must eliminate two generals in a park meeting. You can choose to shoot them from a specified location with your sniper rifle, but you'll notice that there is also an optional, if not easier way to perform the hit. There are literally hundreds of different ways to complete each level. It's best to just keep your wits about you, and conserve that precious ammo.

The graphics in Hitman 2 are pretty sharp and solid. The environments that Mr. Killer travels to are pretty natural and nicely detailed according to their locations, such as Japan where you're placed into the mountains during a heavy snowstorm while sneaking into a hidden tunnel that leads to a massive stronghold castle. Another mission places you in an multiplex building where you're ordered to perform a hit on a hacker in the basement that deals in illegal software. There's another mission where you sneak your way into a party being held, and the people are all dressed formerly and walk around and converse with each other almost realistically. You could be running through a corridor, bullets zipping past your ears, and the game will always run smoothly.