Just going to nerd out about Hitman 2.

Like the title of this blog says, I’m just going to nerd out over Hitman 2.

I seriously love the Hitman games.  I don’t normally like the “professional killer who only kills bad people” concept, but Agent 47 is my exception.  There’s just something about him and the atmosphere of the Hitman games that sets him apart, and Hitman 2 may be my favorite entry in the series.

I really like how the game eases you into every new level.  You’re given Mission Stories, which are optional, but if you follow them you’re given a little guide through the level.  How it’s laid out, how the targets behave, and gives you access to some creative kills and great dialogue… and by “great” I mean “feels like something out of an awesomely cheesy action movie.”  The Mission Stories don’t let you win the level, but they act like in-game walkthroughs if you choose to pay them (which I recommend you do).  But once you’ve completed them, the game gives you a list of challenges to complete, which give increasingly useful rewards, and no hints on how to complete them.  It’s like the game is saying, “We showed you how things work.  Now show us what you’re really made of.”  I love it.

My absolute favorite moment of this game, hands down, came from following a Mission Story where I got to assassinate a mobster while he was trying to pay an artist he hired “in exposure.”  The details of the kill are pretty clever, too, but I won’t spoil that if you haven’t played Hitman 2 yet.

And did I mention the Elusive Target feature?  Where they introduce a new target that is only available for a certain amount of days and you get one try to take them out?  And did you know that the first Elusive Target for Hitman 2 was a character voiced by and modeled after Sean Bean?  The target’s whole gimmick is that he keeps getting killed but somehow keeps coming back.  If that’s not the most clever “cameo” in recent video games I don’t know what is.

The only thing I don’t like about Hitman 2 is the storyboard-like cutscenes that move the story forward.  In the previous Hitman game they were gorgeously animated, so I don’t know why they chose to go with still pictures in Hitman 2.  Oh well.  If there’s one upside to this, it’s that I can hear everyone speaking more clearly now.  In the previous game, everyone seemed to be mumbling and I had to turn on subtitles to make sense of anything.

So yeah.  I love Hitman 2.  The Mission Stories make for great, movie-like assassinations on targets that have it coming.  The dialogue is like fine cheese.  It’s a puzzle game disguised as a stealth game.  If you haven’t played it, do yourself a favor and try it out.  I just spent an entire blog entry nerding out over this game.