Hitman: Contracts

"Come for the noir stylings, stay for the open ended gameplay"

Hitman: Contracts continues the life of Agent 47, and while it turns out to be a good game, it's all in a mixed bag.

Story:
There is a story? Yes! There is! Do you learn anything about what was going on? No! You kill a bunch (actually quite a lot) of people and you move on! To what? To something big! To something really big! Perhaps revealed in part 4.

Graphics:
The graphic effects of Hitman are quite astounding. Everything from the rain and especially the snow billowing through the wind look especially good. Character models are detailed and varied, and the environments provide a distinct variety to themselves.

My only problem here is that when you kill someone with a melee weapon, say a knife, it just doesn't look very interesting.

Sound and Music:
The sound effects are all top notch, whether it be the bang of a gun or the sound of wind howling past. The sound effects do a tremendous job to give you a good immersive feel into the game.

Music is used sparingly throughout the game, and does well to fit the scene, providing well done ambient music by jesper kyd.

Controls:
The game controls very well, its format rather easy to get used to. The buttons are mapped out in typical fashion of any first or third person shooter on the ps2. There really isn't anything very complicated going on, controls wise.

Gameplay:
This is undoubtedly the reason to play this game. This game is very open ended. Stealth aficionados are truly recommended to give this game a try, but that doesn't mean that action gamers should stray away as well. There are generally two paths you can go through each level.

First, there is the action path. Kill them all! Spare no man on your quest to fulfill your mission! There is absolutely nothing simpler than this. You can, if you wish, view it all in black and white. There is no certain person you should not have killed (exception on one mission, with one man), so there isn't many mistakes you can make by running and gunning. Later on, when snipers are afoot, this tactic is not the most advisable.

Then there is the stealth path. While I am sure killing everybody would be easier, killing with stealth using the setups the game provides to you is much more rewarding, and cooler.

Hitman: Contracts turned out to be a very enjoyable game, although I'm sure it could have been much more.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/04