Hitman: Blood Money

Hit-man: Contracts came in at the tail end of the standard definition era of video gaming. Two years later this, the 4th game in the popular series, came out - right at the infancy of HD gaming. It shows, but it's still a noticeable graphic improvement. For this entry IO Interactive have changed the controls and gameplay, which annoyed me at first, but you get used to it, even though they are still rather fiddly and you'll often select the wrong command by accident.

The story bounces around in time as Agent 47 travels to various locations around the world offing evil-doers. It ties into the story of Hit-man: Contracts rather tightly, which is not something I expected it to do. The killing and gameplay is still very similar and the game doesn't offer anything new in that regard. I think it is time that Hit-man starts introducing gorier deaths that obliterate victims or feature noticeable damage instead of the ragdoll effects after a sudden burst of red.

I liked this game, but for Agent 47's first jaunt into HD I would have preferred new methods of killing that would benefit from the better resolution. Maybe next time.

Graphics B- Sound B Gameplay B Lasting Appeal B+

A bit different from the rest of the games in the series. Some things might take some getting used to for some fan boys but in the long run they make the game more fun. The best game I've played sine MGS 3 Subsistance. Well worth the price tag. The way of killing your targets is more intense and thrilling. Although I haven't beaten it yet i have a feeling that when i do I will be replaying it many times. Fans of the old series and new players will find the game-play very immersing and at some points challenging. With there being about five ways to perfectly complete one level the player gets a sense of freedom and control of Agent 47. It is in your face and sadistic at points. Hope others agree with me.

I have to say that "Hitman" games (and I mean pretty much all of them) are great. The first one maybe a bit better in some ways than the second one, but that's irrelevant and everyone can decide by themselves.

Anyway, I think that "Hitman: Blood Money" is a nice upgrade to the series. It has pretty much everything good that there was before and some new things too. One of the newer things is killing the targets by making a fake accident. That's great, but basically it could make you feel a bit that "it's the only real" or "right way" to go with the mission. That might limit the freedom a little, but of course you can still kill your targets in the old fashioned way. That's still absolutely only your choice, and the accident is only one more way to eliminate your personal VIP.

One interesting thing is also the newspaper that appears to the screen right after the mission. Eventually your face can get to the front page if you're seen by too many people, or if you don't bribe anyone. The newspaper always talks about your last murder. That's one thing I noticed to be a bit annoying, since even if you don't kill anyone and make the murder look like an accident, they still magically know that it was a murder.

However, in the end, "Hitman: Blood Money" is a great game. The story might not be extremely interesting or unpredictable, but it's much more interesting to follow than nothing. And many of the missions are very great. You get a lot of money, but if you try to be as silent as possible, you don't have to use 'em that much. I'd recommend this to everyone who wants to be a virtual hit-man for a while, as well as to everyone who likes previous "Hitman" games.

I love this game so much and the music is amazing and the missions are so fun and you can do whatever you want.. but you have to complete the mission but other then that it's very fun

This game has got to be one of my favourite games. I've had it for years and usually play it on my laptop when I just want to relax.

CONTROLS 10/10 The controls in the game are very easy to understand and using them for me is not a problem. I am using the default controls(w,s,a,d), and they are fine. Controls are customisable.

FUN FACTOR 9/10 Most of the levels in this game have no time limit, and this means you can take your time to do what you need to do. The missions have a very good story line, and not once in the game do you feel like you are playing a slight repeat of a different mission. There are 13 missions and each one has a completely different environment. I have played every mission countless times and each time I will try something different each time.

GRAPHICS 7/10 This game was released in 2006. At the time, the graphics looked very detailed. Playing it now looks very different to my first opinion. The detail in the environments is extremely high and I will reward that 5/5. On the other hand, the people let me down. In other games, they would have random clothed people so you would not see the same people twice(most of the time,anyway), but in this game, the number of different NPCs is limited. Another thing that caught my attention was that nearly every man in the game looked extremely strong. Plus, all women except for supermodels are chubby.

RE-PLAYABILITY 9.5/10 All the missions are re-playable. In each mission, there is no direct way of completing. There are a a number of weapons and secrets scattered around the maps. Every time you re-play a mission, you are very likely to do something different.

SOUND 8/10 The game has an exclusive soundtrack by Geoff Zanelli. The music is orchestral and suits the game perfectly.Although, I have heard snippets of certain scores in Hit-man: Contracts. It was very brief, but shows that some of the scores were made before this game. The voice talent is, well, talented! The accents are very authentic and the acting is brilliant.

OVERALL 9/10 As I said before, this game is very fun and has logic and meaning behind it. I recommend this game to anyone who likes this sort of gameplay.