Publisher: Eidos
Ages: seven and up.
Parental
Advisory:
Dark, disturbing theme
and lots of graphic violence
It's a cold, cruel, criminal profession and Eidos' Hitman 2: Silent Assassin graphically brings the despicable world of the professional assassin to brutal life. This compelling action adventure game offers an incredible experience that is clearly not for youngsters. And many adults will find the content stomach-churning as well.
Hitman 2 is a third-person shooter that lets gamers play the life of a killer for hire who hunts and stalks human prey. The title is intelligent and tense, as well as action-packed, and gives players different ways to accomplish objectives in its 20 missions.
The game tells the story of a retired hitman who, through situations beyond his control, reluctantly resumes his old profession. With this basic plot, the game carts players to such exotic locales as Russia, Japan, Malaysia, and India. And as you would expect, the game provides a variety of weapons that include shotguns, pistols, machine guns, and more, and the main character can kill by strangulation and other means.
Players have the option of kicking down doors and going in with guns blazing, or using stealth to perform a clean hit that only takes out the target and doesn't even require the use of a gun. In the game, the main character can readily change clothes and disguise himself to sneak into places. Should he be discovered, however, the game sounds the alarm and sends guards in from all directions. The hitman also drags corpses to hide them, a grim task.
The controls are intuitive and easy to learn and resemble those of almost any first-person shooter. The game also offers submenus to perform such tasks as peeping through keyholes, picking locks, and more.
The graphics are detailed and the audio, in particular the music, is excellent. Overall, however, the action and imagery may be all too realistic. The game graphically depicts murders, spattered blood, corpses, bullet holes in walls, and more. In the end, Hitman 2 is an incredible game, but it's for mature audiences only.
7/23/03 www.daytrum.com Editorial Staff
