As an Xbox Live membership holder, you will be privy to offers they put out each month. Offers such as a select choice of free games and deals on others. One game that caught my eye ended up being more of a demo rather than a free game but fun nonetheless. That game was Hitman. I remember loving Hitman: Codename 47 for the PC but not any other that came out after. Since it was free and I hadn’t played the game since Absolution, which I didn’t like, I figured I’d give it a try.
The game sets you up with the first two missions, which are initiation missions into the assassination program by ICA, where you will be able to take on contracts. The first is an introduction to the movement and cues that can be used to navigate the world. An instinct button for pointing out valuable items in the environment. One thing that I have always liked about this game was that it was one of the first to give you a good amount of freedom when it came to accomplishing your objective. You are given a set of parameters, like don’t alert guards or kill innocent bystanders and off you go. The second is based on a mission that the director, that is overseeing your initiation, completed himself.
My target in the first mission was hosting a party on his yacht and had private security to make sure it went off without a hitch. I was started near the entrance for guests. Upon approaching the entrance, the guards informed me that it was a private event and was for invited guests only. A small building to the side provided necessary entrance for maintenance workers. Being a master of disguise, I can subdue a worker and steal his uniform to gain entrance. Upon entrance, I can make my way inside and observe the guard’s patterns to decide best how to approach my target. Using my instinct ability to locate my target, guards, items of interest and those that can see through my costume, I find a person of the staff in the kitchen alone. After knocking him unconscious and hiding the body in a freezer, I obtain a new disguise. I look over and notice the option to poison the target with the soup the chef was preparing. Not having the ingredients, I decide for a more close and personal approach. It’s nice to know that’s an option.
I walk around the banister towards my target, I relieve a bartender for the guest in VIP to eavesdrop on the conversation that my target is having with one of the guests, to gain intel and wait for my opportunity to strike. They are talking business and make their way to his office for further discussions. I follow, allowing some distance to not arise suspicion. There is a couple of guards watching the door, so I will need to find another way in. Lucky for me there is a window that places me conveniently out of sight from my target and his guest. Now comes the decision to take them both out or kill the target without his guest even noticing while he is still in the room. If I kill him quietly he’ll be none the wiser. I choose the latter. With the job done and the only one that can see through it being dead I walk out through the front, like a boss. Mission successful.
The Second mission is a little bit trickier. My target is a master chess player and found out to be a covert Soviet spy by the name Jasper Knight. This mission has more guards and less margin for error. My kind of odds. Starting off much in the same way, I must infiltrate the base to locate my target and eliminate him. Eavesdropping on conversations can not only be used to gain intel but unlock opportunities to dispatch your target, these can be tracked in your notebook.
A neat added feature worth mentioning in this mission is the ability to toss coins to draw the attention of guards to isolate them. A handy option when you need to gain a disguise.
The opportunity that was revealed in this mission is that I don’t have to kill Knight outright. I can rig the ejector seat for the jet that he will be using to make his getaway and he can do the job for me. First, I need the disguise of a mechanic and a wrench so I can sabotage the equipment. With that done all is left is to go and talk to the target and lead him to the jet as part of the safety protocol of showing him where to locate the ejector seat lever. With him blasting off all that is left to do is leave the site and exfiltrate.
I feel that they should have included, at least, one mission in the field but playing through the two training missions was enough the get the gist of what the game offers. Multiple ways of completing your mission, different weapons to do so and many obstacles to make things interesting. One thing they did add was the ability to do the missions they gave you with different targets and specific conditions to make thing more difficult. The options of completing you mission and game mechanics did bring back memories of playing through Codename 47 on PC so many years ago. A game I will most likely pick up once the excitement of the games set to release this holiday season, that I am already committed to, dies down. I am also curious as to how they play the story of Agent 47 and his past since it has that Bourne Identity feel to it.
Question Time
If you bought the game, what are your impressions?
Did you play the first Hitman?
What did you like most about the game?
Should they have included more?
whotiewho, out!