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"The master of death is knocking at your door..."

Back in 2000, Eidos had released a game on PC called Hitman: Codename 47, where you played the role of an assassin that carried out various missions. Now a year and half later, Eidos has released the long awaited sequel on multiple platforms, including the Xbox, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.

Story: It has been quite awhile since Codename 47 has freed himself from his dirty, bloodstained life and has taken up living a peaceful life residing in a church in Italy. Trying his hardest to suppress the past, he is taken in by Father Vittorio, who lets 47 stay in shed beside the church. Eventually, as the days pass on, 47 has difficulty forgetting his past, and wants to have a confession with Father Vittorio.

But as bad timing would have it, a car drives up to the church, and as Father Vittorio sees to the commotion, he is promptly and forcibly kidnapped, with nothing being left behind but a ransom note. 47, who stumbles upon the note, reads of Vittorio's kidnapping. At this point, 47 finds himself having no choice but to resort back to his old ways and methods of yesteryear, once again donning his slick black suit and red tie. Contacting the Agency, Codename 47 prepares himself to embark upon the dark world of death again, seeking out the whereabouts of his mentor Vittorio whilst accepting missions from his Agency contacts.

Gameplay - Hitman 2 is where is gameplay separates it from most games, as it involves a strategic element pertaining to completing the missions assigned to you. Take for example, the very first level has you infiltrating the mansion of an Italian Don, leader of the mafia. You can't just stroll in, or else you're dead. Instead, you can opt to take a few options of getting inside the mansion grounds. For instance, you can kill the flower delivery boy and take his outfit, or you can pacify the mailman and take his outfit, giving you easy access past the front gate.

It just doesn't stop there, as even a disguise can't cover you one hundred percent. If you are disguised as a guard, it is better to walk around instead of running recklessly, or the guards will get suspicious of you. Also, being in certain places where you shouldn't be while being disguised also plays an important role, so you should always scout for alternative routes to your destination or target's mark. There are usually some various ways to complete a mission. You can either do it the strategic way, or for the hardcore, go in guns blazing. Either way works well, but being more strategic grants you a better ranking when you finish the level.

47 can also gather a massive collection of weapons to aid him on his missions, which are far too many to list! 47 can use Dual Silverballers, Deagles, Submachine guns, AK-47s, Sniper Rifles, a Crossbow, and many more handguns than you can handle. Also, some of the smaller weapons also include knives, axes, and 47's standard sneak weapon, the fiberwire, which he can use to strangle unsuspecting people when unarmed. If he keeps a new weapon at the end of a level, he gets to permanently keep that weapon in his tool shed.

This game's subtitle is called Silent Assassin for a reason, of course. Most of the levels that the missions take place on contain a massive amount of heavily armed guards, so going toe-to-toe with them isn't such a great idea most of time unless you're really good at taking headshots at them. So instead of close encounters, you can sneak around and don a dead guard's disguise and weapon. But if you do that, you have to take precaution and hide the body. Because if you don't and leave it out in the open, other guards are bound to find it and get suspicious in no time, looking for you.

To get a better ranking which is based on your stealth and aggression with the enemy, instead of killing, you can instead pacify them by using anaesthetic bottles to knock them out. But they won't be knocked out very long, so if you're going to complete an objective, you'll have to do it quick. In some missions, the Agency supplies 47 with weapons and items vital to his objectives. For example, in there is a level where you must eliminate two generals in a park meeting. You can choose to shoot them from a specified location with your sniper rifle, but you'll notice that is also an optional, if not easier way to perform the hit.

Graphics - The graphics in Hitman 2 are pretty sharp and solid. The environments that 47 travels to is pretty natural and nicely detailed according to their locations, such as Japan where you're placed into the mountains during a heavy snowstorm while sneaking into a hidden tunnel that leads to a massive stronghold castle. Another mission places you in an multiplex building where you're ordered to perform a hit on a hacker in the basement that deals in illegal software. There's another mission where you sneak your way into a party being held, and the people are all dressed formerly and walk around and converse with each other almost realistically.

Control - The controls are quick and responsive, and not clunky, fortunately for this game. You can do various actions, such as sneaking up on guards in order to strangle them with your fiberwire or shoot them. You can also choose from a 1st or 3rd person view. There are a huge amount of guns available in the game, but for some of the bigger guns such as the shotgun or submachine gun, you're only limited to carry one, while you can carry several of the smaller guns. You can holster your weapon at any time to avoid suspicion in public areas where innocents may be walking by. You can also drop guns and items whenever you like, or perform specific actions. The controls are pretty good and are usually never a problem.

Sound - The sound in this game is absolutely amazing, as it contains a orchestral like score that fits the dark mood of Hitman 2 perfectly. The speech and voice acting done by 47 and various other characters that you meet throughout the game is done well, from the Italians, Russians, and the Japanese, all speaking their native languages.

Replay Value - The replay value in Hitman 2 is high, and some of the missions are so fun that you'll want to go back and replay them again, and also to improve your assassin ranking. Not to mention there's always discovering the different ways to complete a mission. The only downside to this, is that usually when you play most the missions the first time, there is lots of trial and error involved. You may find yourself playing some of the missions over and over again while trying to figure out the key methods of completing them, since the game doesn't usually give you a clue with what to do with some vital items you may discover. Also, some gamers may not be patient with the strategic thinking and the A.I. patterns of the enemy, so they may be tempted to just barge blowing every one in sight away. The latter takes away the experience of perform a proper hit, though.

To rent or to buy? Well, Hitman 2 is one of the first games to hit the Xbox and other platforms that requires quick thinking and patience to carry out and complete your missions presented to you. If you like fast paced action/shooter games, then this might be considered a rental for you. The gaming experience can really give you the feeling that you are Codename 47, careful to watch your enemy target's every move and to counter them with stealth and easy disposal. If the idea and concept of this game excites you, then this is worth a definite purchase. It can be a little time consuming, but all in the end Hitman 2: Silent Assassin definitely warrants decent replay value and a great gaming presentation.


Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/05/02, Updated 11/05/02