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Hitman 2 Review - PS2

Psst... Ever wanted to be a hitman? Ever wonder what it would be like to kill people for a living? Sneak up on your unsuspecting target and put a knife in his back for a healthy sum? Er, maybe? Then your dark fantasies can be realised in Hitman2.

You play Agent 47, bio engineered to be the ultimate human, and at the same time the perfect killer. The storyline goes something like this: Agent 47 has gone into retirement (I mean being a Hitman can't be too easy on the nerves after all!). The kidnapping of your mentor and friend, Father Vittoria by a local mafia member has meant your peaceful existence has been rudely interrupted. Time to get angry, time to get back to business, and that business is killing. Ok, the storyline has been seen in 20 movies, but it never comes across as forced or too lame.

For those that are wondering, both the ps2 and PC versions play nearly identical and it is the same game - this is the Hitman2 as you've seen or heard about on PC, and has been ported nearly flawlessly to the ps2.

Gameplay

Hitman2 consists of 20 fairly long missions in which you have a number of different objectives to achieve, more often than not assassinating a key target. Because of the size of each level, the amount of time to complete each successfully can be up to an hour, or even longer depending upon which style you use to complete the mission.

Agent 47 has a large number of entertaining little toys to play with: a multitude of guns such as sniper rifle, AK47, lockpicks, fiber wire (to strangle), binoculars, aesthetic (to knock out rather than kill), even at one point a golf club (?). Each of these can be used to slightly different effect during the game, and each has their own advantages and disadvantages. Often one weapon can be used equally to achieve the goal, however has more chance of alerting the guards and lowering you overall ranking.

The game oozes violence from every angle. Bodies twitch, blood splatters, bullet holes damage the surroundings, and if it's living, you can kill it. Kill an unfortunate "peripheral" and you simply drag their limp body out the way so that another cannot discover the body and set off the alarm. Definitely not a game for the peaceful at heart. The game is about killing your target via any means possible and not getting caught and that is what it does very well. In a way I'm surprised the game hasn't actually received more attention for it's violent nature, and realism at that.

At the end of each mission you are given a ranking on your style based on stealthiness, aggression, and number of times you were noticed. Silent Assassin is the best rank of all, and means that you are not detected in your actions, ... (continued next page)