Hitman: Blood Money

"Mr. Clean kills bad germs!"

Hitman: Blood Money is the forth game in the series by Io Interactive. It features an even greater level of interaction than its predecessors while building on the things that made the game series popular. It has a host of new features such as grabbing a human shield, notoriety rating, and accidents. I have never played the first Hitman game but I have played and beaten every one released on a game console. In my own opinion if you have to play any Hitman game then this be it. It is slightly better than the second game, and leagues ahead of the third game. On a side note if you are not aware of the series I would advise you not to buy this for your children. It's possible to beat missions without firing a single bullet. But Hitman can be played guns blazing also, leaving Agent 47 going psycho in the hood. Definitely not a game for people who are against innocent killing, but then again why would you be reading this anyway.

Story:8/10 Blood Money features a similar story to the previous game Contracts. In Contracts Agent 47 spends most of the story bleeding to death. Well in Blood Money Agent 47 spends most time at a funeral. The game starts out with a reporter getting a special interview with the CIA director. He reveals to the reporter that they have finally taken care of Agent 47. From there the game is played by flashbacks of what the CIA Director says lead up to his capture. Although not to the most original Hitman story, I will say it has some surprising events. The story is better than Hitman: Contracts, but the story is not why you will like this game.

Gameplay:9/10 Greatness! I wish Hitman 2 had some of the features this game has. One of the newest and most interesting features is the ability to upgrade your gadgets and guns. Using money you acquire from hits you can purchase better equipment such as extra ammo, scopes, armor, pain pills, and various gun parts. Many of these thinks help make the game easier which is a good thing for some since I know that there are some people that just aren't good at these types of games. Being good at Hitman: Blood Money requires learning the levels and how the A.I reacts to behavior. Once you do that you can easily blast through the game on professional but for new players there's a rookie setting which gives you stronger health and the ability to see everyones position on the radar. Another cool but not really useful feature is notoriety. Basically how professional you complete a level depends on how much notoriety you receive. At the end of a level you will be shown a newspaper headline display how well you did during the mission. If you have a high notoriety then it will show that police are likely aware that the crime was committed by the legendary Agent 47. Not that cool but a nice add on anyway.

Blood Money includes several new ways to kill and probably the most interesting of the bunch is accidents. Accidents require you doing something to the environment to cause fatal harm to a target. Interesting things you can do is replace a prop gun with a real gun during a live opera rehearsal, dropping chandlers on people, and sabotaging various cooking stoves and barbecue grills. This makes it possible to beat missions without firing a single bullet. Also there are plenty of food and drink items in the game for you to poison and sedate with your hypodermic needle. New moves such as human shield also build your defensive actions if a hit hits the fan, get it? Another interesting new moves is the ability to punch people out and disarm them if they have a gun. Very helpful indeed.

The controls work fantastic whether you want to play it first person or third person. Although I must advise on harder difficulties playing in first person makes it harder to notice people outside of your vision who could possibly shoot at you. The controls remain similar to the last game and are simple to get the hang of after a mission or so. On thing I dislike is some weird character animations when you try to interact with them and the fact the physics engine needs to be updated. The only other gripe I got is I wish there was a cover system, maybe for the next game?

The A.I in this game is alright for as many single character as there are running around. Most Non playable characters have scripted paths and behave in this manor until threatened by the player. Enemies work intelligently and on higher difficulties will gun you down pretty fast if you take them head on. The biggest problem with the A.I is once you realize the routes of the people missions tend to be a little too easy. Also I feel enemies are too forgiving for your suspicious behavior. I can be spinning around a guy right in front of him or running like a mad man and they're fine with it.

Graphics: 9/10 I really must admit, it's the beautiful environments that will have you keep coming back for more. This Hitman game contains the most interesting and varied levels yet and I can't find any particular one that I don't find fun to play. Such highlights of Agent 47's tour include a rehab clinic, Marti Gra, and the good old suburbs.

I use to have this game for the regular xbox and I can tell you there is a noticeable difference in graphics quality. First off Agent 47 looks even better and boasts a higher number of polygons. Lighting and draw distance are also significantly improved also. The sad thing is non playable characters still look bland and too alike. It sort of stinks when you realized you've been killing the same exact looking police officer the whole game. But for the amount of characters that can be on screen at once and the sheer quality of the environments it is a pretty forgiven flaw.

Sound: 9/10 The theme song when you start up the game at the title screen is the most noteworthy piece in the whole game. Other than that for music, there is some good up tempo music for when enemies are shooting at you and some nice club music. The one problem that I have for the music that on some levels sometimes it will skip. I had noticed this prior on the original xbox so it must happen in all versions.

Characters have interesting speech and many of them have unique things they say to Agent 47 within the level. One guy at a wedding said "Hey buddy, you know this is a wedding and not a funeral right? Stuff like this really add to Agent 47's presence in the environment. Guns sound great in this game and sound different depending on what ammo you are using and whether you have a silencer or not.

Play Time/Replayablity: 8/10 The game is a bit longer than the last game and will take you a good 30-45 minutes a level if you try to do it professionally. All the levels are fun to replay and some levels literally have endless possibilities to approach them. An even better plus for 360 owners is achievements. This game takes awhile to get them all since you have to play each difficulty individually to get them all but it's a good way to try different ways to beat the level.

Final Recommendation: Buy. This is a no brainer for a Hitman fan like me but even casual gamers will enjoy it if you're into violent games that are high quality. Also it is one of the only kind of open ended mission games for the 360, if not ever made, and features some of the best levels ever.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/07

Game Release: Hitman: Blood Money (US, 05/30/06)