An excellent FPS

Author's Rating:

Pros: Excellent soundtrack!, exciting gameplay, great storyline, interesting missions

Cons: AI is a little incompetent

The Bottom Line: 
Highest quality, most captivating FPS out there on the market.

Author's Review
The story begins in a Sicilian monastery. Agent 47, or "The Hitman" is the character you will be playing. As he attempts to further himself from his filthy past, a Russian crime lord induces the hitman to return to his line of work. Hitman is soon caught in a ring of deception and realizes that he is now a target himself.

The Hitman is a for-hire assassin who will be executing target criminals at the request of his employer. Agent 47 has plenty of fun and exciting weaponry including silenced sub-machine guns, knives, anesthetics, scoped sniper rifles, fiberwire, silenced pistols, and .50 caliber rifles. Throughout the game, you will pick up different weapons at drop-off points and be able to store them at your homestead upon completion of the mission.

Gameplay:

Hitman 2 has a very exciting storyline that easily attracts even the fussiest gamers (myself included). For the average gamer, the learning curve is a bit long. It will take awhile (2 missions usually) to get the gist of what is going on. From the start, the controls are intuitive and the menus are very user-friendly. The user may adjust the graphics options, sound options, and control options in-game and out. All-in-all a very nicely laid out interface.

Graphics:

For such a newly released game, the graphics are lacking a bit. The characters are almost perfect, but the scenery and some of the effects are very pixilated and rough. Overall I find the graphics to be pleasing though and decently balanced with my machine performance.

Sound:

Hitman 2 has an amazing soundtrack! Special thanks to the Budapest Symphony Orchestra for giving this game a very classy and realistic touch. The song "Sicily slow" is heard throughout the game, even in the begining menu, and is very dramatic. All of the songs in this game are very motivating and do a great job at setting the mood for the storyline.

Missions:

Hitman 2 has 21 different missions to complete. Throughout these missions, you will be traveling to St. Petersburg, Malasyia, Japan, Nuristan(?), and India. Each of the different missions are extremely fun and unpredictable, and take place in various weather conditions.

Artificial Intelligence:

Perhaps the only significant downside to Hitman 2 is the cheesy and sometimes buggy AI program. For most levels and situations, the AI is pretty decent as long as the player follows a strict time schedule and path. However, in several missions, the AI can be a bit lame. For instance, even if you holster all of your weapons, walk at a normal pace, and change into civilian attire, the bodyguards can still tell you out easily. If you are in a wide open area, such as St. Petersburg, there will be an alarm sent out and a whole swarm of guards will render you helpless.

Besides the AI being a bit oversensitive, it is also a bit stupid. You can shoot a loud sniper rifle 100 feet from a bodyguard, and noone will suspect a thing. On the other hand, you can shoot a silenced pistol on the other side of a wall, and every body guard in the area will hear it. Not all of the levels are this cockamamie with the AI, but some of the levels you must watch your moves carefully.

General Opinion:

This is an outstanding game, definitely my all time favorite! It is well scripted and put together, with one heck of an excellent soundtrack! The storyline is interesting and somewhat realistic, and the scene choreography is outstanding!

I would strongly urge all of you to purchase this game! It is an excellent choice for even the most stubborn computer gamers.

Visit the link below for a video clip of the game:

http://www.hitman2.com/content/downloads/Hitman2.mpg