Hitman: Contracts

"Another day, another death..."

This is the 3rd game in the original and competent Hitman series, but can it improve on it's predecessors? I suggest you refer to a guide of Hitman 2 for a general idea of what to expect from a Hitman game.

Graphics 7/10

All very well and good, but little improved over previous iterations. Textures are varied and look good, although it would have been nice to have the characters a little less jagged.

Sound 9/10

Sounds are functional, without any particular oddities. Everything sounds as it should, from the slam of a door to the sound of a crumpling body. The soundtrack is worth a particular note, as it varies nicely with your actions and surroundings, taking on a tense espionage feel when you're sneaking about, or rocking about when there's gunfire about. Would score a 10/10 if it wasn't for the music's habits of suddenly flaring up for little to no reason.

Gameplay 9/10

One of Hitman's strong points, in the way that it is incredibly open-ended in the way you can kill your target. You can go in with guns blazing, blasting your foes asunder with rather satisfying rag-doll physics, or you can sneak around, taking advantage of disguises and unique circumstances (like the opportunity to smother your target with a pillow, or poison his whiskey) to get the job done without the unpleasant sight of a hall full of corpses. AI is reasonably intelligent, although sometimes verging on the psychic. They will react appropriately to noises, suspicious happenings, and the frantic pleas of civilians who flee in terror at the sight of a muscle-bound lunatic brandishing a sawn-off shotgun. The amount of health you are given has been reduced from Hitman 2, making it more difficult to slaughter everyone.

Lifespan 7/10
Only 12 missions, but figuring out how to do them without raising an alarm and having to go through a horde of angry guards with a pair of uzis will take you a lot longer. Add even more to that if you attempt to see all the different methods of making the hit, as there are several for each and every mission. However, if you lack the patience to pain-stakingly examine and probe the situations, you'll either look at an FAQ, and miss the great feelings of accomplishment of actually doing it yourself, or worse, you'll just use brute force and find little more than an average point and click blaster which will last you a little over 4 hours, and you'll return it to the store the same day, wondering what all the fuss was about.
So if you play it properly, 40+ hours, but if you rush it, it'll last little over an afternoon.

Buy or Rent? - Buy
There's plenty of life in here for those who are willing to look for it, but you're better off not getting it, or renting it at most, if you are looking for a mindless shooter.

Overall - 8/10
A highly enjoyable sneak-fest, being unique in the fact that not everyone will blast you on sight *cough* MGS and Splinter Cell *cough*, and that it is so astonishingly open-ended. I'd recommend getting both this and Hitman 2 : Silent Assassin.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/05/04