Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (PC) > Reviews > Trust me, I'm an assassin

Author's product rating:   

Playability & Enjoyment	A good game - playable and enjoyable
Graphics	Good
Sound	Not bad - needs improving
Difficulty & Complexity	A difficult game - needs a lot of patience

Advantages:	Satisfyingly tricky and good graphics
Disadvantages:	Easy to complete and some poor gunfire sound effects

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Murder is not a happy subject. If you asked the average person if murder was cool, you would expect the answer to be a definite “no”. And rightly so. There is nothing admirable, enjoyable or impressive about one human being causing the death of another. Everybody agrees on this point. There’s only one problem. We’re mesmerised by murder.

Because while we all shake our heads and feel anger and disgust when we hear about mass murderers and serial killers, we can’t help but be intrigued by them. The mindset of these people is fascinating to us, and we are interested to find out what goes on inside their heads. This is a level of the human fascination with murder that is understandable: simple curiosity.

But there is more to the human attraction to murder. In films such as Leon, where the main character is a killer who murders for money, we feel empathy, understanding and sorrow for this man who kills for a living. This feeling of understanding for such a man is hard to fathom. Some would say that the reason is that there is a killer inside all of us, and perhaps this is true, but it would appear that you never find out until you’ve gone too far.

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is a game about murder. In it, you play a retired contract killer who is forced to return to his old ways after his mentor, a catholic priest, is kidnapped. As the title states, this is a sequel, and anybody who played the original Hitman will notice and appreciate the changes in gameplay.

The concept of Hitman 2 is simple. In each mission the player is required to eliminate one or more human targets as well as complete various other tasks. The way each mission is completed is up to the player, with different methods requiring different levels of skill. For example, the first mission sees Mr 47 (the player character) embarking upon a mission the objectives of which are to eliminate a mafia boss inside his mansion, then take a key from his body to rescue the priest from the basement. To gain access to the mansion the player can either shoot their way in, or disguise themselves as a guard or a postman and walk calmly in through the front gate. Depending on how well you perform in each mission, a rating is given along with a bar indicator for both aggression and stealth. The ratings range from Mass Murderer (full aggression) to Silent Assassin (full stealth). For a silent assassin rating, the player must not alert any guards, harm anybody except the target(s), and they must use minimal force to achieve their objectives.

To make things easier, the player is provided with a map, on which is displayed allies, enemies and innocents as well as areas of interest and exit points.

One of the areas where Hitman 2 shines in comparison to the original Hitman is graphically. The graphics in Hitman 2 are superb with very convincing environments and weapons. The engine also deals effectively with outdoor environments as well as confined indoor levels, with weather represented well. The default view is third-person, but the game can be played in first-person if desired.

The sound is effective, with dramatic music and guards in other countries speaking in their native tongue. The gunfire does, however, sound somewhat generic, but the gameplay more than compensates for this.

Hitman 2 is a very enjoyable game to play. The missions are (mostly) complex and testing, and the range of weapons and methods of eliminating targets is wonderfully vast. However, some of the missions are less enjoyable than others, and can be quite frustrating. One thing that seems quite strange is the sheer amount of punishment Mr 47 can withstand before “giving up the ghost”. Guards can pour 20 or more shots into his torso before he drops, whereas one head shot is all it takes for Mr 47 to dispose of anyone in the game. Obviously, this has been put in place to make the game easier, but surely a more realistic system could have been implemented?

But none of these small matters really detract from the overall enjoyment of the game. The thing I find most frustrating about Hitman 2 is the half-hearted way it tries not to be too extreme. The producers have tried to make Mr 47 into a hero rather than an anti-hero, and the sheer thrill of carrying out a contract killing is lost when no contact exists. Hitman 2 is first and foremost a game about murder, and pretending to be something else detracts from the whole experience.

Overall, Hitman 2 is an excellent game. Subtle in places, violent in others, and sublimely enjoyable from start to finish.