Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (Xbox)

What can make a game is atmosphere. It can have cool guns and suave moves but atmosphere is something that is under-appreciated. The Hitman games, especially Hitman 2, is drenched in atmosphere. It's settings wherein you play the levels are simply amazing.

Hitman 2 revolves around a clone who works in the profession of "cleaning" but, after the bloodbath of the original game, Hitman: Codename 47, our hero, 47, is now religious and lives alone in a church with a priest in Sicily. Wanting to lure him from his lair to show off his skills, a Russian crime lord hires a group of Sicilians to kidnap the priest. This takes you into the first level of the game, "Anathema", a powerful opening level as you stalk around the mansion of the Mafia boss and murder him. The priest already having been taken by Russians, 47 has to cut a deal with his old agency that if they give him information on the priest, he will continue to assassinate important people, including army officers, members of the Yakuza - just to whet your tastebuds. To do this, you'll need a great deal of cunning as you sneak through each level, disguising yourself as certain people to get closer to your target. The game will take you from St. Petersburg, murdering corrupt ex-KGB officers, to locations such as India, Malaysia and Japan.

Each mission is unique and the way you complete it is entirely your choice, whether you strive to get a high rating by being as stealthy as possible or whip out your dual baller pistols and blast away everyone in sight. Both ways are fun, though the former is more satisfying. The arsenal of weapons are superb, ranging from shotguns, silenced pistols, assault rifles and a fibre garrotte. They'll always be variation and the guns are impossible to get bored of. The levels have so much replay level as you can find different ways of completing them or playing them again to get a higher rating and unlock a reward. You'll be playing Hitman 2 for months.

Just as an example of how cool this game is, you should have an idea of what the levels are like. In St. Petersburg, there's one particular level on the Kirov islands where you have to place carbombs in the limos of a Mafia boss and an ex-KGB officer. It's simply beautiful to watch the plan fall together. Following this level, there's another in St. Petersburg at a party where you mix in with the guests and try to assassinate another ex-KGB officer and try to get to his briefcase before a Spetznaz agent does, which calls for a little trap. In another brilliant level, set in Malaysia, there's a different approach. You have to dress up as a pizza boy and go down to a basement to kill a fat computer guy. Then you'll find yourself killing his naked brother in a jacuzzi with some girls. There's an idea of how varied this game is.

The physics of the game are awfully satisfying. Shoot a guy and his blood will splash onto the wall and he will slump lifelessly with perfect ragdoll physics into a pool of expanding blood. This isn't a game to show your parents but all the same, it's damned good fun and you should feel a feeling of refreshment afterwards, seeing as you've used your brain to complete a mission - by the way, it's possible now to save in levels, unlike the first game.

Another great feature of Hitman 2 is the soundtrack, composed by Jasper Keyd. Some tracks are powerful, others are creepy. There's great music in this game.

The Hitman series are my favorite games for their sheer originality and awesome gameplay. Please - buy this.

Having recently bought an X-Box I was looking for games that challenged the mind as well as the fingers. Hitman 2 is just that. The graphics are very good and each mission does give you the atmosphere of the assassin, especially if you are found out! It's worth having the gamepad feedback on just for the effect of using the 'cheesewire' attack on your opponents. Planning is meticulous and there are several ways to complete missions which means you can use your 'blast at everything' tactic or the 'stealthy shadow' approach. The rating of your chracter suffers if you shoot everything on sight however.
A hugely enjoyable game, which draws you back to complete missions in different ways, just to see if you can!

After the great success of the original Hitman, I, among many, was waiting to see what marvels the sequel could produce. We have not been disappointed. Enemy AI has been completed re-vamped make the sadistic joy of killing your target in a cunningly stealthy way even more rewarding than before. The game’s design allows you to capitalize on their humanistic weaknesses just as if they are real people.
The lush visuals (which really shine on this Xbox version) make great use of the Xbox’s hardware capability and feature some dazzling lighting effects. Everyone’s favourite assassin (“47”) now has a vast array of weaponry ranging for surgical scalpels to hi-tec sniper scopes including a welcome selection of melee weapons and the classic fibre – wire. The start of the game gives a brief tutorial where you can get to grips with the game’s controls and mess about with some big guns – really useful if you are a new comer to the Hitman series (where have you been?!).
The in-game save option saves a lot of cursing at the screen when your character dies just seconds before you almost completed your elaborate operation to kill your target and allows you to be more experimental in what you do. The game is so dynamic and malleable it means that there are lots of ways to complete a mission: NEVER only one or two. This means that you can use your own style, although some styles can be more rewarding (points AND gameplay-wise) for example, avoiding the massacre of civilians and only killing your intended target.
The inclusion of a First-Person view also helps with aiming when you decide to go on a rampage and generally makes life easier .The jaw-dropping selection of locations (from Sicily to Russia) helps make sure you don’t suffer from déjà vu and keeps you interested. A symphony orchestra created the incredibly atmospheric soundtrack where brings the game alive and is well worth turning the volume on your TV up for.
And now for the few negative points. Some of the impatient among you may feel that waiting for a Security Guard to go to the toilet is a bit slow and tiresome. I personally feel that it adds to the realism and depth, but this game definitely requires patience. Also, the plot isn’t as engaging as the original Hitman which is a shame, but you probably won’t take much notice…
This game is a must – it provides a unique sense of achievement at the end of every stage and presents a great replayability value as you can try out different ways of completing the 20 missions. Anyone who thought the idea of Hitman was good, but were put off by its flaws should DEFINATELY consider buying this sequel.