It is true that those who have any vague interest in video-games know that each game falls into a genre much like films, book and music. These loosely are: Shooter, Strategy, Sport and Simulation, however these can be broken down several times to define the game in more detail, is it a third person shooter or a first person shooter, for example.
When defining Hitman: Blood Money one would assume it falls into the genre of Shooter, however I beg to differ, despite the game featuring a variety of weaponry ranging from pistol to sniper rifle the actual execution of the game play leans closer toward the simulation genre.
Such a bogus statement will obviously need a lot of explanation, so here goes... Firstly, the main aim of a shooter, as the name suggests, is to shoot everyone. This game can be completed with very little shots being fired and moreover having minimum casualties is greatly encouraged.
Secondly, a simulation game aids to recreate a real life experience that very few people can attain, flight simulator being a prime example. Despite it being a shady profession, Hitmen do exist, it is this fact coupled with the way that the game mixes logic with stealth that makes the player feel like a Hitman and not just a nobody with a gun. This is also why games like Half Life are not considered simulation games, because it?s an impossible situation with a player that could be anybody, being Gordon Freeman feels exactly like being Master Chief.
People these days consider the genre ?Stealth? to be a fitting category for games that require you to be underhand and sneaky, and as such many people regard Hitman as being a stealth game. My disagreements don?t hold out here on the simple grounds that Hitman can also be completed without a single element of sneaking or disguise. In the real world you get both hitmen that run in and shoot their target and run out and you also get hitmen that poison the targets drink and are miles away before the target actually snuffs it. Therefore the game Hitman gives the player simulation experience which includes elements of other genres.
You can tell already by the complexity of this review, having four paragraphs just to explain the genre, that the game is quite complex as well. This to some degree is not true; the game is as complex as you make it... The game features eleven levels, each a hit on one or more people. Before each level you choose which weapons you wish to take in. There are five standard guns which can be upgraded from finances earned from carrying out each hit: a pistol known as the silver baller, a trademark of the series, a SPAS automatic shotgun, a M4 machinegun, a sub-machinegun and a sniper rifle, which comes concealed in a brief case for ease of transport. As well as these five guns you will be allowed to take any other guns found in levels which you have left the level carrying, however, unlike the last few games there is nothing exotic worth taking just for the comedy value, neither is there anything powerful enough to want to take, considering the five standard guns can be upgraded so much so that they can hold their own in a shootout, if ever one does occur... Back to the point at hand, it is your choice what to take in to the level, if you wish you can take in the SPAS and plough through anyone that gets in your way up to the target as if it was Christmas, or if you are particularly skilled player you can take no weapons in and try and figure out each levels puzzle.
This brings me to the next highlight of the game: the puzzle elements... Each hit can be killed with things already in the level; in fact they can be killed in multiple ways using things in the level. This is what makes the game so appealing, there are multiple ways of doing every level, such play value cannot be found easily in single player games and adds to this game?s unique charm. In one of the levels, for example, you are confronted with the objective of killing a man who is in a rehab for alcoholics. Following him unearths his secret stash of booze and above said drink is a chandelier. So, the target can be killed by breaking the chandelier from the floor above as he takes a swig... or you could poison the drink when he?s not around and let him die at his own pace. Furthermore you could use any weapon you have with you to take him out as well.
Each level is also really interactive, once you?ve killed a guard you can take his clothes to gain access to new areas without being shot at and you can drag his body and effectively hide it. Also you can hide in wardrobes, climb up drain pipes, look through keyholes, climb through windows and more.
At the end of each level you are rated by the amount of noise you made and the amount of stealth you used, this gives you a verbal description of your execution style, ranging from Mass Murderer to Silent Assassin. It is this that denotes how much money you receive. In addition the game will tell you how many shots, headshot, enemy kills, innocent kills, witnesses and more you got throughout the level. If that?s not enough you are then presented with a newspaper front page that shows you kill being reported by a journalist, depending on what you did depends on what the article says, also the newspaper has other articles that give hints as to the levels to come.
What strings all these levels together is a fairly decent story... if you can follow it. The game follows the story of a wheelchair bound FBI agent who is recounting a story he believes to be the scoop of the centaury to a journalist. His story follows attempts to capture of the clone assassin Agent 47, each attempt is a level you play. These levels begin before the events of Hitman: Contracts and one of the levels is the first half of the mission 47 messes up in Hitman: Contracts, which to this point has not been seen. But it is not very clear that that is what it is. After a few levels the game begins to cover new ground and bases all the mission from then onwards in various parts of America, including Las Vegas, a suburbia and the White House to name but a few. This is a game with a rough and poorly presented story, even the true ending is concealed for the most pathetic of reasons and can be easily attained. However the story is good if you do a bit of background research and can be enjoyed more if you have played the others in the series.
Compared to the last game: Hitman: Contracts, Blood Money has shown serious signs of improvement. This can of course been seen visually, the Xbox 360 and PC versions both are smooth and the lights reflect off surfaces as they would in real life. However it is true that there are very few character models, this is very evident especially when you encounter two of the same person in the same corridor. Even when going to a different level it seems to be just the same handful of people in different costumes. This comes across as nothing short of lazy.
As well as visuals the AI of the characters has also been vastly improved, they see more reason than the characters in previous games; you are not shot on sight for running for a start. However their reactions do seem a little extreme. In the last level especially, if you walk through a metal detector with your guns still about your person you are shot on sight. However, if you put your guns in the old ladies bag so she trips the alarms instead she is carted off to a separate room and questioned... that?s democracy for you.
The last negative aspect of the game is that to achieve a silent assassin rating to begin with may be a bit like banging your head against a wall. You get a certain way to solving the mission and then your cover is blown, so you restart, get a little further, restart etc etc. Then once the silent assassin method has been figured out, it can be applied to all difficulty levels with the same effect meaning that if you can do silent assassin on easy, you can do it on expert.
Overall this game is a different and incredibly satisfying experience that allows you a lot of freedom and has a lot of replay value and defiantly the best of the series so far, which is an uncommon thing in a running series of games. All the improvements made to the game have been good ones and I personally eagerly await the next game in the series.
BUY IT
When defining Hitman: Blood Money one would assume it falls into the genre of Shooter, however I beg to differ, despite the game featuring a variety of weaponry ranging from pistol to sniper rifle the actual execution of the game play leans closer toward the simulation genre.
Such a bogus statement will obviously need a lot of explanation, so here goes... Firstly, the main aim of a shooter, as the name suggests, is to shoot everyone. This game can be completed with very little shots being fired and moreover having minimum casualties is greatly encouraged.
Secondly, a simulation game aids to recreate a real life experience that very few people can attain, flight simulator being a prime example. Despite it being a shady profession, Hitmen do exist, it is this fact coupled with the way that the game mixes logic with stealth that makes the player feel like a Hitman and not just a nobody with a gun. This is also why games like Half Life are not considered simulation games, because it?s an impossible situation with a player that could be anybody, being Gordon Freeman feels exactly like being Master Chief.
People these days consider the genre ?Stealth? to be a fitting category for games that require you to be underhand and sneaky, and as such many people regard Hitman as being a stealth game. My disagreements don?t hold out here on the simple grounds that Hitman can also be completed without a single element of sneaking or disguise. In the real world you get both hitmen that run in and shoot their target and run out and you also get hitmen that poison the targets drink and are miles away before the target actually snuffs it. Therefore the game Hitman gives the player simulation experience which includes elements of other genres.
You can tell already by the complexity of this review, having four paragraphs just to explain the genre, that the game is quite complex as well. This to some degree is not true; the game is as complex as you make it... The game features eleven levels, each a hit on one or more people. Before each level you choose which weapons you wish to take in. There are five standard guns which can be upgraded from finances earned from carrying out each hit: a pistol known as the silver baller, a trademark of the series, a SPAS automatic shotgun, a M4 machinegun, a sub-machinegun and a sniper rifle, which comes concealed in a brief case for ease of transport. As well as these five guns you will be allowed to take any other guns found in levels which you have left the level carrying, however, unlike the last few games there is nothing exotic worth taking just for the comedy value, neither is there anything powerful enough to want to take, considering the five standard guns can be upgraded so much so that they can hold their own in a shootout, if ever one does occur... Back to the point at hand, it is your choice what to take in to the level, if you wish you can take in the SPAS and plough through anyone that gets in your way up to the target as if it was Christmas, or if you are particularly skilled player you can take no weapons in and try and figure out each levels puzzle.
This brings me to the next highlight of the game: the puzzle elements... Each hit can be killed with things already in the level; in fact they can be killed in multiple ways using things in the level. This is what makes the game so appealing, there are multiple ways of doing every level, such play value cannot be found easily in single player games and adds to this game?s unique charm. In one of the levels, for example, you are confronted with the objective of killing a man who is in a rehab for alcoholics. Following him unearths his secret stash of booze and above said drink is a chandelier. So, the target can be killed by breaking the chandelier from the floor above as he takes a swig... or you could poison the drink when he?s not around and let him die at his own pace. Furthermore you could use any weapon you have with you to take him out as well.
Each level is also really interactive, once you?ve killed a guard you can take his clothes to gain access to new areas without being shot at and you can drag his body and effectively hide it. Also you can hide in wardrobes, climb up drain pipes, look through keyholes, climb through windows and more.
At the end of each level you are rated by the amount of noise you made and the amount of stealth you used, this gives you a verbal description of your execution style, ranging from Mass Murderer to Silent Assassin. It is this that denotes how much money you receive. In addition the game will tell you how many shots, headshot, enemy kills, innocent kills, witnesses and more you got throughout the level. If that?s not enough you are then presented with a newspaper front page that shows you kill being reported by a journalist, depending on what you did depends on what the article says, also the newspaper has other articles that give hints as to the levels to come.
What strings all these levels together is a fairly decent story... if you can follow it. The game follows the story of a wheelchair bound FBI agent who is recounting a story he believes to be the scoop of the centaury to a journalist. His story follows attempts to capture of the clone assassin Agent 47, each attempt is a level you play. These levels begin before the events of Hitman: Contracts and one of the levels is the first half of the mission 47 messes up in Hitman: Contracts, which to this point has not been seen. But it is not very clear that that is what it is. After a few levels the game begins to cover new ground and bases all the mission from then onwards in various parts of America, including Las Vegas, a suburbia and the White House to name but a few. This is a game with a rough and poorly presented story, even the true ending is concealed for the most pathetic of reasons and can be easily attained. However the story is good if you do a bit of background research and can be enjoyed more if you have played the others in the series.
Compared to the last game: Hitman: Contracts, Blood Money has shown serious signs of improvement. This can of course been seen visually, the Xbox 360 and PC versions both are smooth and the lights reflect off surfaces as they would in real life. However it is true that there are very few character models, this is very evident especially when you encounter two of the same person in the same corridor. Even when going to a different level it seems to be just the same handful of people in different costumes. This comes across as nothing short of lazy.
As well as visuals the AI of the characters has also been vastly improved, they see more reason than the characters in previous games; you are not shot on sight for running for a start. However their reactions do seem a little extreme. In the last level especially, if you walk through a metal detector with your guns still about your person you are shot on sight. However, if you put your guns in the old ladies bag so she trips the alarms instead she is carted off to a separate room and questioned... that?s democracy for you.
The last negative aspect of the game is that to achieve a silent assassin rating to begin with may be a bit like banging your head against a wall. You get a certain way to solving the mission and then your cover is blown, so you restart, get a little further, restart etc etc. Then once the silent assassin method has been figured out, it can be applied to all difficulty levels with the same effect meaning that if you can do silent assassin on easy, you can do it on expert.
Overall this game is a different and incredibly satisfying experience that allows you a lot of freedom and has a lot of replay value and defiantly the best of the series so far, which is an uncommon thing in a running series of games. All the improvements made to the game have been good ones and I personally eagerly await the next game in the series.
BUY IT
never got the hang on how to evade the cameras. Seems impossible to me and there aren't any place to nick the tapes from either