Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

October 21, 2002

Platform: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: Eidos
Reviewed by: Rock_On

Gameplay: [6] Graphics: [7] Audio: [6] Replay: [3] Overall: [7.1]

Long before the controversy over Grand Theft Auto III when it hit US shores last year, was a computer game that caused so much controversial subjects between angry parents, and that game was called Hitman. The game included a hard-criminal Hitman, where you assassinated different people, along with guards, civilians, or any other kind of murders you’d like to commit. From the success of Hitman, comes Hitman 2: Silent Assassin for the PS2, X-Box, and of course the PC.

Plot/Story:
The game starts out with Agent 47, a bald-headed tall and colorless man who looks like he’s just seen a ghost as white as he is. He’s been trying to start his life over for awhile now, but now the church Priest where 47 lives has been knocked out and kidnapped, so Agent 47, after being considered dead for a long time, returns to his old criminal ways to find the priests captures. But could there be more to the story...

Gameplay:
Hitman 2 is a very wide-open game that throws a whole bunch of stuff at your face at once, giving you the chance to decide what you’re going to do. First of all, the keyword of “Silent Assassin” is the silent part, which is what the game is suppose to be about. In order to be sneaky, you won’t be able to go out guns-a-blazing, and instead of using a really loud gun, try a knife, silenced weapon, or even fiber ware, which you use to strangle someone if you can sneak up behind them. However, if you’re spotted once, or a dead guard is discovered by somebody, then your stealthiness is basically broadcasted all over, so now guards will try to kill you.

You’ll go through 21 missions with different goals for each, however the one common objective among all of them is killing one, two, or even three people. The missions range from the warmness of a mansion, to the coldness of St. Petersburg. Before each mission, you’ll be debriefed on what the mission is going to involve, and what your primary target/s are. You’ll also be able to choose which weapons you want to bring along with you. Speaking of weapons, there are a multitude of useable weapons in Hitman 2, ranging from a variety of hand guns to assault rifles, and even a golf club that you can use to whack someone over the head with. Whenever you finish a mission, whatever new weapon that you’ve got in your inventory after beating the mission will become a permanent weapon in your weapons inventory, and you’ll be able to choose them to use in the rest of the missions, although some missions will have you using a certain weapon such as a sniper rifle to pick off a general in a meeting and “hits” like that.

One missions may include some of the easiest tasks and may only take you up to 5 or 10 minutes to complete, while some have you going a little more deep which would then cause you to take nearly 15-20 minutes in order to finish. You know how I said the game was very open-ended when it came to gameplay? Well I wasn’t kidding, because even if you have finished all your objectives (except for the one to escape of course), you’ll still have to go and FIND your way out of the mission to end it. Some levels may have two or three, while others will probably just have one, and a couple of ways you can escape in some levels includes stealing a car from a garage, and driving a boat. Of course, if you don’t want to go out in style (ala James Bond), then you can just “walk out” if there is more than one exit, all though there are some missions that have only one way to exit, and that maybe be in a flashy way (you know, stealing a car, speeding in a boat, catchin’ a train). In some missions you’ll have all day to complete it and wander around, and in others you’ll be on a tight schedule where you need to be in a certain place at a certain time, or else you’ll fail the mission. Failing a mission can be easy as shooting the wrong person, or the more obvious reason, getting killed. Your Health is in the upper-left corner, and surprisingly it takes awhile to dwindle down, however when you’re being surrounded by a ton of guards, that health will dwindle down very quickly, so be sure and watch out for it. To prevent that, don’t stand still and move as you gun everyone down.

Now I come to the control, which if it hadn’t been so enigmatic, then the game would have probably been a lot more enjoyable by some. So first of all, the game’s default camera setting is in a third-person view where you see your whole character, but you still use the first-person shooter controls to move around. If you don’t like the third-person look, then by clicking in the right analog stick, the view will change to a first-person mode, where you see your gun and 47’s arms hanging out in front of you. If it weren’t for a certain control issue, I would have primarily stayed in and played with the first-person view, however to make it difficult (damn you Eidos), in order to run, you have to hold down the L-2 button. Doing this while in third-person mode isn’t incredibly a big deal, and all though you may not think it, but having to hold the L-2 button while running in first-person can be an anathema, especially when it seems like you have to have an extra hand in order to play the game.

Graphics:
I don’t have a computer strong enough to play any of the recent computer games, so if you’re looking for a comparison between the PC and PS2, this is the wrong place. Instead, my impressions even with the PS2’s graphic capabilities weren’t really good, because the game is full of rugged edges, and looks more like a later release for the original Playstation than a release on the PS2 now. Character models weren’t really smooth, and when they ran/walked it looked like they were robots, not bending the knees and lifting one foot high into the air before stepping down. The different locations that you’ll travel to actually look really nice, and the transition between some can be almost un-noticed, while other transitions from level to level will be quite evident with snow in one and the sun shining and bright green grass glistening in the sun in another mission.

Some of the locations that your missions take place in range in different sizes from moderately small, to so big that you have a hard time knowing where you’re going. The problem with the open-ended gameplay is that if you’re in a location that is pretty big, then there could be something happening on the other side of the level that you’re SUPPOSE to be at, but you’re somewhere else because you had no clue where you were suppose to go exactly. There is a map, but the interface isn’t very clean and the colors don’t quite “clash” in a good way, so it’s hard to make out where to go.

The real graphical thing about Hitman 2 is all the bloodshed, and un-realistic physics. First the blood, which Hitman 2 is filled with from the first mission to the last. But c’mon, what kind of game would be about a Hitman, and it DIDN’T have blood, so the amount of gore in this game is actually pretty cool. Only thing is, no matter what weapon you’re using, the bullets like go through the people and splatter blood all over the wall. Now I could understand blood splattering everywhere when you’re using a shotgun, but a small little silenced pistol? More blood splatters all over walls from one pistol SD shot than a shot from a sniper rifle causes, something’s kind of weird there. As for the physics, they can be pretty un-realistic, as I don’t think you could shoot somebody with a pistol and send them flying back 50 or 60 feet like a rag doll, however most of the game is realistic, and there has even been controversy over Hitman 2 being the reason for the recent sniper shootings in MD.

Sound:
Most of the game is SUPPOSE to rely on stealth, and so since stealth means “silent”, then there usually is no need for a lot of sound effects. But, there are a lot of sound effects, including the different weapons and their individual and unique noises they let off. One thing that bugged me really bad, is that the silenced handgun you use, doesn’t sound silenced AT ALL, and really serves no purpose except for the added SD onto the handgun name. Through out the game, the only real sound effects that are going to take place are going to be the weapons, however depending on which location you’re at, the sound your feet make as you walk will vary among locations. Such as in St. Petersburg, where this is a lot of snow on the ground, so you’ll hear 47’s feet crunch the snow as he walks. This sounds cool at first, and then gets annoying, cause it’s hard to sneak up on enemy’s without them hearing you, so the art of surprise is over. Also the voice acting isn’t as bad as in most games, but it sounds kind of like they’ve been compressed, so sometimes you can’t hear anything over the background music, which really annoys me sometimes.

Rock’s Thoughts:
All though it wasn’t horrible, it also wasn’t the best and it had many faults, the controls especially. The concept as playing as a hitman and having so many possibilities to complete a mission was a good one, and it is fun...one time through though. The game is fun the first time through, all though damn frustrating at times, it’s still fun, however once you’ve finished that last mission, there’s not much else to do, except going back through the levels with weapons that you couldn’t use in them because you didn’t get that weapon until a later mission. For those who like little extras, there are three movies of a few of Eidos’s games, including a movie of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Time Splitters 2, and Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness.

Plea	Game	Strategy Guide
If you plan on buying the game, and feel that we helped you make a decision, why not support netjak at the same time and pick this up online? (did that sound too whiney?)	HITMAN 2: SILENT ASSSASSIN	HITMAN 2 EXCLUSIVE STRATEGY GUIDE