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A few years ago there was this little game called Hitman, from Eidos Interactive.
Not many people bought it, critics bashed and consumers ignored it. The people who did buy it noticed that behind the clunky control system, there was a decent game waiting to be found. The level designs were exquisite pieces of virtual architecture and you were forced to think just as a hired hitman would. Running though the level at and shooting everything that moves wouldn't cut it, and somehow it made you come back for more. As a fan of the original Hitman, I was very pleased when Eidos announced the sequel and my jaw dropped further when it was announced that Hitman 2 would also appear on next-generation consoles.
The overall game play didn't change much from the prequel. You start a mission, you're given your target, a briefing and occasionally some tips. The tips may reveal where there are some hidden weapons, ideal for this mission. The game is very open ended, you aren't strictly forced to follow a specific mode for each mission. As long as you don't kill innocent bystanders and concentrate on your target and his 'friends', you'll do fine. Sneak in, kill someone, hide, works nicely but if you can go in 'guns-blazing.' If you find a nice area you can just take them out with your sniper rifle.
The game starts off with Agent 47 working in a church, since he had given up his previous 'profession'. A few people remember him and his previous work and decide they want to use him for their needs. The church's priest is kidnapped, and Hitman decides he needs to go get him. He goes back to his old place and finds his old trade tools. When you get inside the shed you’ll see spots for the various weapons you can find in this game. You come here before the start of each mission to decide your inventory out of your available items. You'll be amazed at the amount of weapons included here. Pistols, suppressed pistols, rifles, shotguns, sub-machine guns round of the firepower, but you can also find old-fashioned weaponry, like a sword or a golf club. The more weapons you find, the larger your initial inventory for each mission.
You can play Hitman 2 in either third person perspective or first person perspective. You change between with a single click on the right control stick. As in most shooters, the left control stick controls movement and the right control stick lets you look around. Shooting, running, reloading and sneaking are handled by the shoulder buttons, and the main (face) buttons handle weapon selection and item use. Everything is rather natural and easy to use, as easy as it can be on the PS2 controller. You'll be fine for the vast majority of the game, and only find occasional mishaps when you are in close combat.
The game doesn't strain your eyes, everything looks awesome but there isn't really anything to say, "Wow, this is the first time I see this." The lighting effects are great and add to the feel of the game. The level's architecture and... The levels themselves are all very nicely designed and all quite details. The frame-rate keeps pace during the whole game; it doesn't drop enough to crack the smooth game play. The developers even left the dead bodies stay in their place for the mission.
The music complements the visuals pretty well. The sound effects do, at the very least, a respectable job at representing the game. You'll know how much of a racket you're making at all times. The weapons all have distinct sound effects and sound great. The background music is composed of classical music. The music is performed by an orchestra and fits the game very well. You'll enjoy it more often than not.
The game features twenty missions for you to use your wits (or firepower) in. You can finish of mission in 15 minutes... After you had some failed attempts. If you don't feel like replaying the same mission, you'll need to go through it carefully, making the mission a decent thirty minutes a piece. Expect to replay a few though, regardless of how careful you think you are. The game should last you a decent twenty hours to complete. You'll want to try your best and do everything properly in each mission to earn a good rating at the end, even earn the prestigious 'Silent Assassin' rating. The game lets you replay any completed missions and you'll actually want to do it. There are multiple ways to go through each mission and plenty of secrets to discover. In order to complete your arsenal collection, you'll have to replay some missions. Getting the 'Silent Assassin' rating is worthwhile as you are often rewarded with special weapons. If you dislike challenges you can place the game on the easiest difficulty setting and give yourself plenty of saves. With that you can blast through each level, with a repertoire of shooting and running... but you wouldn't want to cheat yourself out, would you?
The biggest gripe people will have is that the game has a steep beginning difficulty curve. You can't go through the whole game as a no-thought-involved shooter nor can you go through the game as a sneaky agent, you'll need to learn then master both. If you decide which attempt to use before you do it, you'll rarely have troubles though. Although, changing your clothes to blend in with your enemy gives you an edge don't expect it to make the game too easy. If they can get a close up look at you, or you do odd things, they'll suspect. There are a lot of nice touches in the game, and it’s clear that IO thought about what they wanted to do. Everyone won't like this though; it just doesn't have that mass appeal to it. It's strides in front of the original, though. You should try this and see what you want, Hitman 2 is (almost) a thinking-man's (who happens to like shooting games) dream. Here's hope to Hitman 3. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 24, 2002
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