Hitman: Codename 47

Over the years computer games have just kept getting better and better. In fact it is hard to call some of them "games" anymore. "Pong" and "Tetris" are games. You press buttons in a patterns and with each beep you watch your score go up. Sure it's fun and "Tetris" is a great classic, but all that seems to be gone now. Games have no score and many are ditching the "powerup picking up" gimmick. You pick up realistic looking guns, sneak around realistic looking locations, with increasingly realistic, but still fun consequences. These games are simply becoming bent on realism. Or at least a fun version of something that we call "game realism." As much as I played and enjoyed "Tetris" my pulse never quite raced as much as it did when I was infiltrating a powerful mob boss's headquarters, getting passed his body guards, and finally doing him in. "Doom" was somewhat like this and it is too a classic, but in retrospect, "Doom" is hardly real. It's a horror action game. "Hit-man: Codename 47" actually makes you feel that you are in Kowloon and tracking targets that are just as lethal as you.

In short, it's nothing short of thrilling. The selection of guns and equipment allows you many approaches to each mission. The John Woo/Chow Yun-Fat approach may be a good (and FUN!) idea, but so might be the sticking to the shadows and armed with a knife strategy. The beauty is that you decide. You get the report at the beginning of your assignment and you decide how to handle it. You might have strict guidelines so you might not be able to cause fireworks right away, but sometimes you can literally wage a one man Rambo style war on a camp of soldiers. Whatever you do, it's a blast.

However, there are some faults that need to be mentioned. First, you can't save mid-level. With some of these levels getting pretty big and teeming with bad-guys all packing lots of firepower could result one false move being your last. That adds to the tension, but also the frustration and could tends to encourage calmer approaches to game especially if it's your first time through. Also, the lack of info become increasingly frustrating. Some missions, especially towards the end are sure to give you some major surprises that you didn't see coming. Frustration will inevitably accompany these since there are hardly any clues to you figuring your situation out. But hey, I guess the life of a Hit-man ain't easy...

... and in the end this is a great game with an awesome premise. Both a smart game requiring strategy and calculation and a good action game with many possibilities for intense shootouts. --- 8/10

Rated MATURE for violence

If you are not familiar with the Hitman series and do not know which part to start with, then I ask you: DO NOT START WITH THIS ONE! This will make you lose the desire to play the next parts, without fully understanding what the charm of playing for Johnny Sins is, who is tired of the routine of the porn industry, and decided to switch to killing big shots in the criminal environment.

The truth is that the developers did not yet fully understand how exactly the game was supposed to come out. Counting on the fact that you will want to go through everything stealthily is impossible, and there are moments where the game begins to represent a banal third-person shooter, and an extremely inconvenient one at that. The methods for completing certain missions are also extremely inconsistent in their own way, where you are forced to go through the way the developer himself intended without having any hints.

I suffered a lot from this game, but in the end I completed it. To say that I am proud of this is to say nothing. This was my craziest playthrough, where in terms of hardcore even Max Payne is inferior to it.

Codename 47 was a technical marvel back in the day. A unique and mind-blowing take on the stealth genre, with ambitious ideas and even more impressive tech at the time. It's a game filled with a lot of promise. But that overwhelming untapped potential becomes a detriment to the game. As a result, the game hasn't aged all too well and revisiting it after later entries is no easy task.

Firstly, compared to later HITMAN entries, Codename 47 is more of a demo or first draft idea than it is a complete game. Many aspects of the game don't feel quite realized or even polished in most cases. It's a very skeletal game that - like mentioned beforehand - is filled with massive potential. But it is hindered by inconsistent presentation and questionable design choices. In other words, the game feels like it lacked the necessary playtesting. As a result, a lot of the game design doesn't work all too well, due to busted AI or odd level and mission design. But these complaints mostly arise if you try to play the game with the series' "Silent Assassin" philosophy that would be pushed in the subsequent games. You cannot play Codename 47 the same way you play its sequels without finding massive inconsistencies. While later games encouraged much more silent play, sometimes you have no choice but to go loud in Codename 47. And this might stem from what the game's original concept was - a third person shooter - before it went in a stealthier direction later on. Because of this, the game feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be in some areas. But if you look past the inconsistencies within gameplay and just go loud when stealth becomes an issue, Codename 47 still offers a mostly great time.

The game's art direction and visuals are also pretty good and subjectively still hold up. The semi-realistic aesthetic of the game results in a slightly cartoonish look with some more realistic aspects. Other than some dated and blurry textures, the environmental design is well done.

The story is not all that important to note, but it does act as a nice introduction to the world of HITMAN and the character of Agent 47. The plot is fairly straightforward and the worldbuilding is interesting. But don't expect a revolutionary story here. Besides, some of the writing and voice performances aren't anything to write home about. Nor is that the intention.

Other parts of the presentation, like the stellar soundtrack and the technical aspects of the game still hold up really well.

Other than the unpolished gameplay and the choppy presentation of certain ideas, HITMAN: Codename 47 is an innovative take on the stealth genre which would spawn an iconic and long running series that would only get better and better with time. It's still a fun time, but it is admittedly an extremely dated game if you've played later entries.

While certainly a breakthrough in their own right, for bringing another dimension into the world of VGs, for some years after FPS's came to, not very much was done with it. Touch-ups. Change of setting. Overall, it stayed the same, in particular once the climbing/jumping was settled. Then 3rd person view was introduced. And then this. From the get-go, you can tell that this is different. Stealth, which thus far had mostly been a possibility in certain titles, now became an integral part. Not only is shooting everything in sight not encouraged, it's just about invariably punished. This took a realistic and stylistic approach that I've not seen in any release predating it. I do not know why this seems so widely disregarded. What there isn't in this that's in the later in the series usually exists here at least as an idea, and this oozes the awesomeness and need of planning(yes, the later ones got bigger than this, but that would not have happened without a start-off point) that the franchise is so loved for. This begins with a concise and marvelous training portion, which can be returned to at any time, and that ranks rather far up on the list of the best introductions to a game, both as an opening and as a course in the basics. The camera in this is cool(and affords reasonable control to the player), throughout the entirety of this, with the known over-the-shoulders angle being the main one, outside of the atmospheric, well-done cut-scenes(some animated, most are well-scripted, in-engine ones) and an alternative to it, that I consider an experiment that perhaps didn't work out as hoped(mind you, you're never forced to use it). There are arguably a handful of unlikely things in this, but they're easy to ignore. The cinematic feel of this is omnipresent. The controls are simple whilst allowing plenty of freedom(and for my money, this has bar none the greatest, as far as quality goes, action interface and weapon choosing setup of the bunch). This is more limited in the amount of approaches that can be taken to the tasks than its sequels. The missions are diverse, interesting and well-done, and no two are completely alike. They're well-crafted with gorgeous visuals, as well. The locations that they take place at span the globe. You'll get to eliminate targets in a variety of ways, covering the full range of the professional killer's preferred choices. The guns are excellent, well-selected(there aren't many, if really any, neither as far as kinds nor as specific picks, that leave anything to be desired) and lots of fun to fire. Included are side-arms, assault rifles, snipers, SMGs, to name a couple. The depiction of them is fairly credible, as well, with ROF, recoil and aim vs where the bullets actually wind up. You also cannot carry all that you might want to, nor conceal(!) all. You can, however, wield two pistols at the same time, and they don't even have to be the same type. Yes, that does in fact mean that you can have a Desert Eagle in each hand, a Beretta, a Hardballer, or any mix of those. Granted, it can be slightly glitchy, but it's so darn fulfilling to do, and it does work. The bugs are few in number, and even less in the scale of their impairment. The difficulty is relatively high, for all of the three levels. This doesn't let you get away with mowing down everything in your path, and it is the last of the Hit-man efforts to enforce that, at the time of me writing this, out of four. The length depends on how skillful one is. It can be as little as five hours or so. That is when you know what to do, and nothing slowing you down apart from failed attempts. The save system... is that every completion is stored, and nothing else. Between starting and finishing the separate hits, you're on your own. Well, almost. There is an admittedly awkward "resurrection" feature for several of them. The audio(and music!) is top-notch, everything sounds the way it ought to. The voice acting is a mixed bag, and a lot of it ranges between passable and "not quite". Bateson, however... why was this man not cast in the film? He brings the lead to life impeccably well. The writing can be clever, and the overarching plot is well-thought out and unfolds well. It, and the tone of this, is dark before it is funny. You do need to pay attention, and piece together what happened, but it does all come together and make sense. And if you intend to figure out what goes on in the others, as well, you might as well get used to it... it sure is not going to get less complicated, and if you only count this, there shouldn't be numerous theories that contradict each other. ... but I digress. The graphics are near-perfect, with well-designed characters all-round. This contains a rendering method that can handle vast, full areas that are revealed as you come closer to the unseen. It is utterly devoid of lag, and it is well-achieved. The game-play is entertaining, for those who like the concept and genre, and challenging, for all, if the good people at IO Interactive did their job right. I'd say so, definite confirm, in a heartbeat. Before you remove the person you've been paid to, you have to scope out the surroundings, pick what you'll use to instill the untimely demise, the exact time and place. There is a bit of sexual material in this, but little of it is gratuitous. It's about the only stuff to avoid or take note of in this as far as such goes, provided the violence, which is by no means gruesome or brutal(in spite of the plentiful death found in this), doesn't bother you... there's no language that I can think of. I recommend this to any individual whom all this appeals to. 8/10

Here we have a perfect example of a good game that, with a few minor adjustments, could have been so much better. It's one of those games that feels like it should have been great, but when you've finished with it, you've still got that annoying feeling that something's missing.

I don't mean to say that HITMAN isn't any good, because it is. Once you get into it, it's a really engaging experience, darkly atmospheric and full of style. As the nameless contract killer you play, your missions are interesting and varied, and although you'll have to accomplish all goals to get through the game, the way you execute them (no pun intended of course) is usually up to you. Stealth is key, and one of the coolest features in HITMAN is the ability to don the clothes of anyone you kill, allowing you the fun experience of using disguises to get closer to your targets.

Despite being quite an interesting and unique experience, HITMAN is not without its flaws. By far the most annoying is the fact that you can't save your game. Ever. The only time your progress is saved is when you finish a level successfully, which means that if you make even one mistake at the very end of a mission, well, it's all the way back to the beginning with you. Programmers, are you listening? This is not okay. It leads to a lot of resentment and frustration, especially if you're having trouble getting used to HITMAN's awkward and complicated interface. The game tries to make up for it with an odd system of reincarnation, but even that's not very helpful, and only seems out place. The point is, you're going to need a lot of patience to enjoy this game. And you probably shouldn't keep your computer anywhere near the window.

HITMAN's plot is sketchy at best, and comes dangerously close to the whole cliched mad-scientist thing near the end, but does manage to save itself and stay interesting. The writing is quite clever at times, the music is well done, and even the voice acting isn't *too* bad. As for graphics, they're about on par with the standards at the time it was released, and although they're technically nothing special, the game's programmers did a great job turning them into some genuinely beautiful environments, such as jungles and ornate hotels. In fact, when HITMAN makes use of those massive maps and gorgeous surroundings, that's when it's at its best.

My advice? Give it a chance -- but play the sequel first. HITMAN 2: SILENT ASSASSIN has all the style of the original and almost none of the problems, and playing it first will make its predecessor a lot easier to deal with.