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The Plot: "Hitman: Contracts" doesn't present players with anything revolutionary and it does have a few faults, but the game does a lot of things quite well. The game brings back popular bald hitman Agent 47, and the missions are a series of flashbacks to earlier missions. My first impression of the game is how remarkably moody the levels are. The asylum level of the first game is filled with troubled people walking around the grounds - once the player makes their way up to the main compound, they'll also have to contend with SWAT team members who are trying to push their way into the building. Lights can be shot out, cabinets and side rooms sometimes hide clues and items and there's more than one way to approach the situation. Agent 47 can also take the clothes from any of the downed characters, but it's only a matter of time before other characters will become suspicious. The great thing about "Hitman 2" is that, while some levels require stealth, most levels can be completed either sneakily or by brute force. On one try, the asylum level took what seemed to be a year, while another time, I zipped right out. Sometimes, the Agent must go through security, which requires players to dump their guns before approaching the checkpoint. Once players start moving up to the higher levels of difficulty, however, stealth and strategy are a must, as the enemys 47 faces become far more aggressive and accurate. The missions are spread out across the world and vary greatly, from the Asylum mission that opens the game to interrupting an arms deal in the brtual cold to a mission in Rotterdam to a creepy party in a meat factory. Enemy AI is generally good, although I found the tendency of the enemy packs to travel together in clumps to be rather questionable. They also try to rush you instead of working with stealth or some sort of percieved strategy. Still, there's often enough of them in number where A: firefights are tense and B: they can overpower you if you don't keep your wits about you. There are a few issues here: there were times when I'd eliminated all of the henchmen in a level, leaving me with the ability to go about the rest of the goals with no major worries. I'd have liked some reinforcements to charge the building in these cases. I also found it a bit odd that most of the major targets in the game still stay put after chaos ensues instead of running. I also didn't particularly need the occasional messages about downed guards or other people that have been found elsewhere in the location, alerting others to my presence. Agent 47 has a series of tools at his disposal, ranging from machine guns to pistols to fiber wire to pool cues and more. There's nothing particularly new here, but what it does, it does quite well - the tension is elevated by the score, the level design is excellent and there's fine replay value. Rating: 8.4/10 The DVD Graphics: "Hitman: Contracts" offers very enjoyable graphics throughout, although there are a few rough edges that could have been fixed up a tad. The running animation seems a little off, including the sort of "slide" halt. The lighting is excellent, adding to the mood and immersion in the game. Character models are good, if not remarkable (the enemies mostly look similar), while every level has a lot of detail - rarely did I see a place that looked unreasonably sparse. Rating: 8.5/10 Sound: "Hitman: Contracts" does have an excellent score going for it, which elevates the suspense and tension in the majority of the scenes. Sound effects and dialogue are also well-recorded. However, I was a little disappointed to find that the game really doesn't use 5.1 audio very much at all - with all of the battles throughout, there should have been more distinct use of the surrounds. Rating: 8.2/10 Rating Issues: "Hitman: Contracts" is rated "M" (Mature) for strong, graphic violence. Final Thoughts: "Hitman: Contracts" doesn't do anything groundbreaking, but the game's level design is excellent and the game provides a good deal of suspense and replay value. Recommended. |