matthos's Full Review: Hitman 2: Silent Assassin for Xbox
...stealthy that is!
I had been patiently waiting for Hitman 2: Silent Assassin for months. When I first saw the PC ads, I was hooked. Not often do things this anticipated live up to expectations. Hitman 2 did just that.
I loaded the game and became 47, retired assassin, living the monastic life when an act of treason forces me back into action. Total immersion!
The first thing that impressed me were the graphics. They are not only visually stunning but the textures, lighting, and movement all rock. The environments are very interactive which only adds to the feeling or being 47.
You start in the monastery, living the quiet life, until your friend, the padre, is kidnapped. This makes you question your retirement (a reoccurring theme throughout the game). Before heading out on your first mission, you then get the chance to re-acquaint yourself with the weapons of your trade including using fire wire on a scarecrow conveniently working in the garden. It doesn't take long to get used to the controls, although using the fire wire on real, moving targets is tricky at first. After bringing back your muscle memory for killing, you get instructions on your first mission via your laptop computer.
The missions take place in various locations around the globe including: Russia, Japan, Italy, Malaysia, Nuritstan, and India. Each location is beautifully rendered. I especially liked the snow and pagodas of Japan.
The coolest part of the game is that you have many options for completing each mission. You can either go in, guns blazing, or sneak around using chloroform to incapacitate your victims, steal their clothes, and drag their bodies into a dark corner. At the end of each mission, the computer rates you from mass murderer to silent assassin. Getting the silent assassin designation unlocks special weapons. In the beginning, I attempted missions using stealth until my cover was blown, then simply started blasting. Halfway through, I finally succeeded in gaining the silent assassin rating. After that, I was hooked on stealth.
The weapons are varied and realistic. After each mission your arsenal grows. By the end, you have quite an arsenal. This was great but I found a few weapons that worked for me and pretty much stuck with them. Only for the last mission did I really go crazy.
The music and sound was not excellent but definitely above average. I liked the main theme which was always stuck in my head after I powered down my Xbox.
Another thing I really liked about the game was its international feel. I believe most of the developers were from Scandinavia and this definitely came across to me as the story unfolded.
Some small suggestions for improvement are:
- Make it easier to climb
- Add a jump command
- Allow 47 to be more lethal with his hands
I had a great time playing this game. Sometimes the graphic violence actually got to me but I think it did make the experience more realistic. I will even play it again to try and get the silent assassin rating all the way through.
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