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January 17, 2006 | 12:59 AM PST
by: John Thomas Perkowski
The world�s best dressed Hitman is coming back for a kill�
Hitman: Contracts was considered by some to be a failure. While it tried to give a little more depth to the enigmatic 47, it retread some things Hitman did before (albeit in a much more cinematic and complex way) and added nothing to him as a character. It was just the same as part one and two. Sure getting a Silent Assassin rating is cool, but Hitman always seemed to have holes in his design. Why couldn�t he punch anyone? Or take anyone hostage? The game descended into a boring �find what they hid in this level to get the job done.� Now 47 returns in an all-new adventure which marks a few changes in his concept as well as his first trip to the United States.
This time around, Hitman�s fellow agents are being taken out by a rival agency. In order to avoid unnecessary attention, Hitman travels to the US and takes jobs there. His attempts fail however, as a skilled assassin named �The Albino� begins tracking him down. This constant sense of real danger adds some nice tension to the game beyond Hitman�s usual spook meter. But the changes don�t end there.
47 has picked up a series of new tricks to help himself out during a mission. He can put his head to use by head butting a nearby enemy, or push them over balconies and cliffs if they are too close to them. Enemy got a weapon trained on you? Hitman has learned how to do a disarm move that slips it out of their grasp and into his own. Most importantly, Hitman can now take enemies hostage and use them as a body shield, for all those times when you just want to blow everyone away. Tired of trying to draw and fire your weapon all at once? Well, 47 has learned the value of subtly during his time away, and will safely tuck the weapon behind his back as he approaches his target. This will let you have a weapon in hand for the climactic shot or just in case things go sour. But the best new ability in the Hitman game is his ability to stuff enemies in boxes or crates so they can�t be discovered. You see, while it was always possible to drag an enemy over to a sewer and drop him in, now he will actually pick up the body and toss them in dumpsters, barrels and other convenient storage containers so no one knows what happened until it was all over.
Anonymity is 47�s best new tool, however. See, if you just shoot your mark in the head, as classic hitmen do, it�s going to be reported in the local newspapers. When you�re over six feet, have absolutely no hair, and a bar code etched into the back of your head, going unnoticed is a high priority. However, if you stage it like an accident, you not only get more cash, but your identity is protected. For example, when your mark is taking a nice scenic view of the city on his penthouse balcony, you just creep up, give him a solid shove, and skitter away. The next day, the newspapers will report his tragic suicide while you cash in your paycheck.
Hitman expresses his feelings about tonight's opera performance.
Cash has gained a lot of importance in Blood Money. Let's say you are a bit sloppy and leave some witnesses behind. Leave a fresh infusion of cash into that witness� hands, and Hitman will get off scott free. Need intelligence? You can purchase it pre-mission to help find special items or get hints which lead you to the next stage of the mission. By far the most important use of money, however, is Weapon Modification. You see, while Hitman has access to many different weapons, he can also spend cash to modify them beyond their stock appearance. He can add silencers, scopes, and make them impervious to metal detectors. At last you can slip that AK-47 into the hotel without being noticed, while giving it a silencer and a scope. This makes getting the best scores (and therefore the best paycheck) an all-important goal.
Hitman�s trip takes him to some nice locals in the US, and the new Glacier engine makes those trips worthwhile. Make a killing at a ski lodge in Colorado, during the Christmas party for a local porno king. Swing south to the desert palaces of Las Vegas, to cure a foreign oil baron of his disease called life. No trip in the US would be complete unless you decided visit Bayou territory and killed a local sheriff. But by far the most interesting though is a trip through American suburbia, where 47 must crash a party for kids in order to get to his target.
A photo of the reason 47 got fired from his OTHER job.
Only time will tell if this new Hitman game will improve on its predecessors, so stay tuned to Xbox Advanced for all the latest updates. We will have more on the game when it releases this spring.
Hitman: Contracts was considered by some to be a failure. While it tried to give a little more depth to the enigmatic 47, it retread some things Hitman did before (albeit in a much more cinematic and complex way) and added nothing to him as a character. It was just the same as part one and two. Sure getting a Silent Assassin rating is cool, but Hitman always seemed to have holes in his design. Why couldn�t he punch anyone? Or take anyone hostage? The game descended into a boring �find what they hid in this level to get the job done.� Now 47 returns in an all-new adventure which marks a few changes in his concept as well as his first trip to the United States.
This time around, Hitman�s fellow agents are being taken out by a rival agency. In order to avoid unnecessary attention, Hitman travels to the US and takes jobs there. His attempts fail however, as a skilled assassin named �The Albino� begins tracking him down. This constant sense of real danger adds some nice tension to the game beyond Hitman�s usual spook meter. But the changes don�t end there.
47 has picked up a series of new tricks to help himself out during a mission. He can put his head to use by head butting a nearby enemy, or push them over balconies and cliffs if they are too close to them. Enemy got a weapon trained on you? Hitman has learned how to do a disarm move that slips it out of their grasp and into his own. Most importantly, Hitman can now take enemies hostage and use them as a body shield, for all those times when you just want to blow everyone away. Tired of trying to draw and fire your weapon all at once? Well, 47 has learned the value of subtly during his time away, and will safely tuck the weapon behind his back as he approaches his target. This will let you have a weapon in hand for the climactic shot or just in case things go sour. But the best new ability in the Hitman game is his ability to stuff enemies in boxes or crates so they can�t be discovered. You see, while it was always possible to drag an enemy over to a sewer and drop him in, now he will actually pick up the body and toss them in dumpsters, barrels and other convenient storage containers so no one knows what happened until it was all over.
Anonymity is 47�s best new tool, however. See, if you just shoot your mark in the head, as classic hitmen do, it�s going to be reported in the local newspapers. When you�re over six feet, have absolutely no hair, and a bar code etched into the back of your head, going unnoticed is a high priority. However, if you stage it like an accident, you not only get more cash, but your identity is protected. For example, when your mark is taking a nice scenic view of the city on his penthouse balcony, you just creep up, give him a solid shove, and skitter away. The next day, the newspapers will report his tragic suicide while you cash in your paycheck.
Cash has gained a lot of importance in Blood Money. Let's say you are a bit sloppy and leave some witnesses behind. Leave a fresh infusion of cash into that witness� hands, and Hitman will get off scott free. Need intelligence? You can purchase it pre-mission to help find special items or get hints which lead you to the next stage of the mission. By far the most important use of money, however, is Weapon Modification. You see, while Hitman has access to many different weapons, he can also spend cash to modify them beyond their stock appearance. He can add silencers, scopes, and make them impervious to metal detectors. At last you can slip that AK-47 into the hotel without being noticed, while giving it a silencer and a scope. This makes getting the best scores (and therefore the best paycheck) an all-important goal.
Hitman�s trip takes him to some nice locals in the US, and the new Glacier engine makes those trips worthwhile. Make a killing at a ski lodge in Colorado, during the Christmas party for a local porno king. Swing south to the desert palaces of Las Vegas, to cure a foreign oil baron of his disease called life. No trip in the US would be complete unless you decided visit Bayou territory and killed a local sheriff. But by far the most interesting though is a trip through American suburbia, where 47 must crash a party for kids in order to get to his target.
Only time will tell if this new Hitman game will improve on its predecessors, so stay tuned to Xbox Advanced for all the latest updates. We will have more on the game when it releases this spring.
November 20, 2009
