Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

With "Hitman: Contracts" soon to be released, I decided to go back and replay this title to refresh my skills and walked away fairly satisfied with the gameplay and graphics. The thing "Hitman" does so well is make you feel like the ultimate badass contract killer. Yet, it's not the kind of game that you should go in with guns blazing (although you can do that), but with strategic planning and a quiet, slow pace.

It seems strange then, that so many noisy firearms are up for grabs, only in the final level are you encouraged to blow away bad guys "Max Payne"-style. Yet, by then, the thoughtless shootout is welcomed, since throughout the entire game you have to mix brainpower with firepower.

That, in itself, is not for everyone, but it's the goal of the game. Besides, walking into a highly inhabited area, killing the "mark" and then strolling away as if nothing ever happened is much more satisfying then just to kill everything in sight. It makes you feel much more "professional", after all you are playing the role of a hitman.

The game, however, does have some flaws that keep it from being great, something I'm hoping "Contracts" will improve on. For instance, you can't tell how much noise you are making as you quietly approach your adversaries, they just all of a sudden get the drop on you. Another one being the way the anesthetic works. It takes far too long to dispense, making you a vulnearable target. The victim also does eventually wake up from it, even a full dose, making it pretty useless. I hope "Contracts" lets you use a tranquilzer gun.

The A.I. is a little too unforgiving, making this unplayable for more casual gamers. One last thing, the nightvision goggles seriously impairs your vision by making you see through a "cone". "Splinter Cell" did this much cooler and easier, given it was essential to that game. Well, there you have it, my review of the game. It is very good, but takes patience, lots of it, to fully grasp the game and appreciate its pleasures. *** 1/2 stars out of 4.

If only there were more missions... This game was so great. The grafics are top notch and the guns are pretty darn realistic. Each level has so much detail and there are a billion different ways to complete each level. This game really shows you the life of a hitman. The quick thinking, stealth, smarts, the gun skills, and the take out missions. Unlike many games, the AI is very intelligant even on the easy level setting (I play on professional, and wow, it's difficult). Also, this game is pretty creepy mostly due to the music. Like the last level when I first played this game the music made my palms sweaty and my heart was pounding out of my chest. Anyway, if your up for a challenge play this game NOW. More need to play this AMAZING game.

This game has seriously deprived me of much needed sleep this past week since playing it for the first time.

What can I say? There's so much depth and different variables in each mission alone, there are more than enough missions to satisfy the most hungry tactical-shooter fan.

When you've successfully completed a mission for the first time, you'll want to go back and try different methods, approaches to get a higher score (=more stealth and less violence), the ultimate score being that of Silent Assassin where basically nobody sees you and you only kill your designated target with one bullet or stab (or strangle).

Another old game that I've been a fan of is Ghost Recon, a tactical shooter with many simulation elements. The thing is, to survive in "Hitman 2" you can use the approach of methodically killing every baddie in sight. This can also be fun to relieve stress and frustration of repeatedly failing a mission.

For a 2002 game, the graphics are still beautiful and a pleasure to behold, in combination with the excellent atmospheric music (with strong Star Wars influences in some places) these elements make a fantastic game for the lovers of tactical shooters.

Regular FPS 'run and gun' players steer well away. This game needs brains and not just in the blown-out variant.

10 out of 10 with a subtraction of 1 for stupid ethnic stereotyping in *some* missions. So in all 9 out of 10 but still I can't stop playing it!

With "Hitman: Contracts" soon to be released, I decided to go back and replay this title to refresh my skills and walked away fairly satisfied with the gameplay and graphics. The thing "Hitman" does so well is make you feel like the ultimate badass contract killer. Yet, it's not the kind of game that you should go in with guns blazing (although you can do that), but with strategic planning and a quiet, slow pace.

It seems strange then, that so many noisy firearms are up for grabs, only in the final level are you encouraged to blow away bad guys "Max Payne"-style. Yet, by then, the thoughtless shootout is welcomed, since throughout the entire game you have to mix brainpower with firepower.

That, in itself, is not for everyone, but it's the goal of the game. Besides, walking into a highly inhabited area, killing the "mark" and then strolling away as if nothing ever happened is much more satisfying then just to kill everything in sight. It makes you feel much more "professional", after all you are playing the role of a hitman.

The game, however, does have some flaws that keep it from being great, something I'm hoping "Contracts" will improve on. For instance, you can't tell how much noise you are making as you quietly approach your adversaries, they just all of a suddent get the drop on you. Another one being the way the anesthetic works. It takes far too long to dispense, making you a vulnearable target. The victim also does eventually wake up from it, even a full dose, making it pretty useless. I hope "Contracts" lets you use a tranquilzer gun.

The A.I. is a little too unforgiving, making this unplayable for more casual gamers. One last thing, the nightvision goggles seriously impairs your vision by making you see through a "cone". "Splinter Cell" did this much cooler and easier, given it was essential to that game. Well, there you have it, my review of the game. It is very good, but takes patience, lots of it, to fully grasp the game and appreciate its pleasures. *** 1/2 stars out of 4.

Everything we wanted in the first part of the series was pumped into this part, where the name speaks for itself. In this game you can really be a silent killer, and it is from this part that we can officially consider the birth of the great series of games. Here you literally feel like a killer who needs to calculate his every step, and competently approach the matter, planning all possible ways to eliminate the target. Not to say that in terms of gameplay, much has changed, and the plot itself is only demonstrated at the beginning and at the very end, but I repeat, this game is truly unique in its genre of stealth action, conveying in the right key the entire deep essence of Hitman.