Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

"The only 3rd person shooter game where the main character is a hitman and a barbie"

Hitman 2 Silent Assasin is a that was never fully appreciated in my opinion. It has such diversity in its gameplay and some truly new and fantastic ideas. You play the part of the genectically engineered assasin agent 47. who has happy settled in the church of friendly priest Vittorio. After a couple of minutes 47 is already hanging up his apron, putting on his suit and grabbing a beautiful pair of weapons. From then on he has to complete around 20 missions for his old agency to repay back their ''help'' in finding his priest.

Storyline: 7
Nothing truly original,nothing perticually wrong, a couple of cool twists but nothing ground breaking. It every mission though there is a little drama so if you plan the levels enough you learn the funny things that some of the guards/civillians/wana be assasins do such as urinating in bushes, chatting with other guards, etc.

Graphics: 8
Very nice. Very few things wrong, bar every guard looking the same but that seems to be a growing pattern in 3rd person shooters. The exprerssion on the people is good and the blood is some of the best iv seen in a 3rd person. The enviroments are good due to the sheer variation, you go from freezing cold St Petersburg to boiling hot Iraq, from an Italian Villa to an old japanese castle filled with ninjas (dont worry that sounds cheesy but it will all make sense).

Sounds: 7
Nohting wrong with it, all the guns sound nice, and the fibre wiring is done scarily well. the language of the guards is slightly limited but authenic.

Gameplay: 10
Some of the best ever. This is NOT the sort of game you can just pick up and play. There are lots of guns, as in lots and lots (5 differnet sniper rifles for god's sake!). With a couple of tasty close combat weapons (yes close combat). The best thing about the guns is that you get them as you find them on levels either from the agency in the case of compulsory ones, on guards in the case of common ones and in special places in the case of powerful ones. There are only tow guns that cannot be got in this way which are unlocked if you play like a silent assasin. The best thing about the gameplay is the variation in the way you can do levels. For instance (this is hardly a spolier but just in case you really are some hardcore....thing POSSIBLE SPOLIER) on the first mission you are trying to get into the mafia boss's masioon and put a bullet (or well laced piece of wire) in him. You could kill the grocery boy and try to get in through the kitchens, wait for the grocery boy to go ni the first time and then plant your weapons in his supplies so he transport them into the middle of the enemy mansion, kill the postman take his flowers so you can get close to the boss, kill the guard taking a leak and nick his clothes and try to blend in, sneak into the bosses garage and steal his sniper rifle and put a bullet in his large belly while he's playing golf or you can just run in like a gun totting maniac and hope for the best! So thats 6 ways to do a level, the average game has 2 or at a strech three which it will brag bout!

Replay:9
The game has huge replay, the hardest difficulty actually really different to the other modes as well as unbelieveably harder. Also all the guns to collect will take along time, as will trying to get that perfect result at the end of a level.

Final: 9
Not a renty game really, much more of a gold en classic that you will have on your shelf and one rainy day think, ''wat the hell il try that mission i was always stuck on again'' and to your suprsie you'll be much better.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 05/19/03