Hitman - 47 visits Haven Island “The Resort” on September 24th

[Captain Syrup]

Imo Silent Assassin is the only Hitman game to really nail the finale.

Unusual for the series, Contracts ends in a normal hit—albeit a very hard one. But a hit nonetheless, with one target and a rating.

 

[Overcast]

Just finished playing through Blood Money for the umpteenth time. Requiem is still the worst finale to a videogame of all time. That level is absolute cancer and I will fight anyone on that point.

The one saving grace is that someone isolated this masterpiece from the first level:

Really? I personally really liked it. From a gameplay standpoint, it made good use of the "Get three headshots to live" mechanic and the objective is a great way to cap off the game seeing as how Blood Money introduced the noteriety mechanic. Plus, I like the irony in 47 having to kill a priest, seeing as how the entire point of the second game was he was trying to rescue one. It shows how far down 47 has went down the path he decided to take at the end of 2.

Speaking of,

Imo Silent Assassin is the only Hitman game to really nail the finale. Redemption at Gontranno is sick, you can do it stealthily and it still feels epic and climatic, you actually get a use for all the weapons you've collected throughout the game, and the score is great.

I also loved how that bit where 47 blasts Sergei and all you see is his face as he pulls the trigger. Such a cool scene.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Really? I personally really liked it. From a gameplay standpoint, it made good use of the "Get three headshots to live" mechanic and the objective is a great way to cap off the game seeing as how Blood Money introduced the noteriety mechanic. Plus, I like the irony in 47 having to kill a priest, seeing as how the entire point of the second game was he was trying to rescue one. It shows how far down 47 has went down the path he decided to take at the end of 2.

It kinda works thematically, but I find it a chore gameplay-wise. It's pretty obvious that the engine was designed around stealth attacks and the occasional shootout with one or two enemies at a time. The game forces you to use dual Silverballers which makes reloading take about fifteen minutes. 47 refuses to run while reloading, so if you run out while trying to scramble for cover at the very start you're pretty much screwed.

There is a reasonable argument to be made about "gitting gud," but to me that just highlights the jarring gameplay shift between preserving your disguise and taking calculated risks when killing to suddenly defending yourself in a shootout while massively outnumbered. YMMV, I guess, but I always hated it. The one highlight is watching Cayne get physicsed to death on the stairs.

On a somewhat related note, am I the only one who has trouble going balls-to-the-wall insane on levels in BM? When I was a kid playing Silent Assassin, I used to just kill everyone with no subtlety and I remember getting at least a fair way into the game. I was in for a hell of a shock in 2006 when I tried to play A Vintage Year in the same way and got destroyed.

 

[Overcast]

It kinda works thematically, but I find it a chore gameplay-wise. It's pretty obvious that the engine was designed around stealth attacks and the occasional shootout with one or two enemies at a time. The game forces you to use dual Silverballers which makes reloading take about fifteen minutes. 47 refuses to run while reloading, so if you run out while trying to scramble for cover at the very start you're pretty much screwed.

There is a reasonable argument to be made about "gitting gud," but to me that just highlights the jarring gameplay shift between preserving your disguise and taking calculated risks when killing to suddenly defending yourself in a shootout while massively outnumbered. YMMV, I guess, but I always hated it. The one highlight is watching Cayne get physicsed to death on the stairs.

On a somewhat related note, am I the only one who has trouble going balls-to-the-wall insane on levels in BM? When I was a kid playing Silent Assassin, I used to just kill everyone with no subtlety and I remember getting at least a fair way into the game. I was in for a hell of a shock in 2006 when I tried to play A Vintage Year in the same way and got destroyed.

The straight up gunplay was a bit better implemented in the older games, that's for sure. Blood Money was made in a different engine that was designed more so around tinkering around with your environment and laying out traps for your targets. And it is strange how slowly 47 reloads his ballers in comparison to previous games. Probably would have made things a lot less frustrating.

On the subject, I've always disliked how Hunter and Hunted at the end of Contracts was implemented. The first bit where you escape the hotel with the GIGN team hunting you was cool. But then you get down on the streets, and in order to complete the mission in a "stealthy" way, you have to knock out a fireman and steal his outfit and then get behind the detective and strangle him. Both of these guys are standing still in view of a bunch of civilians standing behind barricades and they just watch you do both of these things without reacting at all.

That sort of thing flies completely in the face of the entire fucking point of the entire series and really soured my opinion on Contracts as a whole. I don't know how any of that flew by the dev team even with the tight deadline and working conditions they had to deal with.

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]

On a somewhat related note, am I the only one who has trouble going balls-to-the-wall insane on levels in BM?

I believe this was intentional, because people complained about how jank the stealth was in Hitman 2 and Contracts (although, IMO, Contracts wasn't bad at all once you got a feel for it)

Blood Money focused way more on the stealth and I think tried to make going balls to the wall much more difficult to try and force you down that route.

Which still makes the final mission baffling.

 

[Captain Syrup]

Both of these guys are standing still in view of a bunch of civilians standing behind barricades and they just watch you do both of these things without reacting at all.

They react to your presence, and can be killed, but they cannot notify the police.

So it goes. The enemies in these games aren't known for their smarts.

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

Exploiting the NPCs in Hitman was fun, especially when you hide in an awkward spot to get them to feedback loop.

 

[Blue Screen of Death]

I've recently been playing through Blood Money again and forgot how much I enjoyed this game the first time I played through it.
I'm not really well acquainted with this series though, I've played BM, Absolution, and HITMAN (2016)

I know Absolution isn't exactly the same type of game, but I enjoyed the fuck out of BM and 2016. Are the older titles worth playing?

 

[Friendly Primarina]

I've recently been playing through Blood Money again and forgot how much I enjoyed this game the first time I played through it.
I'm not really well acquainted with this series though, I've played BM, Absolution, and HITMAN (2016)

I know Absolution isn't exactly the same type of game, but I enjoyed the fuck out of BM and 2016. Are the older titles worth playing?

I haven't played SA in close to 20 years but going off videos I've seen: If you go into it expecting Blood Money-level disguises you're going to be disappointed. Stealth just doesn't work, and if it does, only at a distance. Also, there are more timed missions. Remember how in BM once Schmutz and that sheikh guy had their meeting, that was it? There are a bunch of missions like that in SA.

I really need to play it again, though. I've been meaning to for ages.

 

[Blue Screen of Death]

I haven't played SA in close to 20 years but going off videos I've seen: If you go into it expecting Blood Money-level disguises you're going to be disappointed. Stealth just doesn't work, and if it does, only at a distance. Also, there are more timed missions. Remember how in BM once Schmutz and that sheikh guy had their meeting, that was it? There are a bunch of missions like that in SA.

I really need to play it again, though. I've been meaning to for ages.

I like the aspect of the games of trying to be in the right place at the right time like that, but the lack of proper stealth in SA might be a deal breaker. I got into the series initially because of the stealth side of things.

What about Contracts?

 

[Friendly Primarina]

I like the aspect of the games of trying to be in the right place at the right time like that, but the lack of proper stealth in SA might be a deal breaker. I got into the series initially because of the stealth side of things.

What about Contracts?

Actually I just saw this video:

About 6 minutes in 47 walks right by some guards in disguise, so I guess I could just never get it to work when I was 12. Maybe it's just more twitchy?

I never played Contracts, sorry.

 

[Blue Screen of Death]

Actually I just saw this video:

About 6 minutes in 47 walks right by some guards in disguise, so I guess I could just never get it to work when I was 12. Maybe it's just more twitchy?

I never played Contracts, sorry.

I'll just have to give all the games a try then, good thing the Steam winter sale is going on.
I appreciate the info!

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]

Stealth is possible in Hitman 2, but works way differently from the rest of the series. It has been probably 15 years since I last played it, but the way I remember it is that disguises only disguise you at a distance, if they get close they notice your face and your cover is blown. This leads to linear levels where you will literally have to duck in to alcoves/rooms in hallways to get around patrolling guards not seeing you.

It can be done. I got Silent Assassin on all of the levels without cheating. The worst are the Japan levels because there are huge open areas and snipers who can see you at distance. You'll definitely need a guide for those as there are basically set paths you need to take among trees to not be spotted, or just level skip code if you get really frustrated. Unless you really *really* want to Silent Assassin everything though, it's best to just run and gun when you have to. I don't think I'd ever do it again and wouldn't have even attempted Silent Assassining it if I didn't play it before Blood Money.

Contracts is similar but far more forgiving. IIRC, as long as you don't bump into people they don't see through your disguise. Contracts is actually my favorite Hitman and it's basically a retelling of Hitman 1. It has so much style and atmosphere.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Just a minor thing, but I found this video of Kulinsky and Mason actually pulling off their hit:

Significant for me personally because in all these years I've never seen this happen. Even when I ignored red bird guy and went straight for the crows, I still had plenty of time. I've no idea how long it takes them to get to this point.

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]

Just a minor thing, but I found this video of Kulinsky and Mason actually pulling off their hit:

Significant for me personally because in all these years I've never seen this happen. Even when I ignored red bird guy and went straight for the crows, I still had plenty of time. I've no idea how long it takes them to get to this point.

Huh, I swore I'd literally did nothing trying to get them to do something and they never did years and years ago...

This is really cool to see!

 

[Friendly Primarina]

I just fired up BM to see how long it took them to do something. From the moment the PiPcam show the delivery boy making the drop to Kulinsky shooting him took ~12 minutes. If you include the (random) time the delivery boy takes to get to Puriyah's office, you probably have at least a quarter of an hour before they shoot him.

Another fun quirk of this mission is that while Mason will see through your disguise if you dress as Kulinsky (obviously) Puriyah will not. I guess he doesn't recognize his own associates/employees

Spoiler: Cool story bro moment that happened to me just now

Just for shits and giggles I loaded up A Vintage Year with the Desert Eagle to see if I could cap both targets without being caught. I did my usual strategy of syringe guard by west perimeter > drainpipe > syringe and dispose of sleeping VIP guard. At this point instead of killing Delgado quietly I shot him right in the head with the DE and hid in a side room for a few minutes.

After the heat died down I stood by the door to that little room where Delgado Jr. snorts a line. When the pink-shirted one came in, I domed him and ran like hell. Changed back into my suit and ran straight to the seaplane.

I awaiting my rank fully expecting to find noise at max and violence at min only to find...

Silent Assassin.

Despite using a loud weapon and allowing both bodies to be found, the game still thought I was worthy of the best rank in the game. Blood Money is one of my favorite games but sometimes I feel like I don't understand it at all.

Edit: Plus it was on normal, so it wasn't some weird quirk of Rookie difficulty

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]

Jeeze, this really reminds me just how young I must have been tinkering with Blood Money if I went sub 15 minutes thinking I was waiting "forever" for them to kill the guy.

Unless it's just different on the 360 version or something. That's the one I played the most.

 

[Mr. 0]

Jeeze, this really reminds me just how young I must have been tinkering with Blood Money if I went sub 15 minutes thinking I was waiting "forever" for them to kill the guy.

Unless it's just different on the 360 version or something. That's the one I played the most.

Did you ever kill Mark Purayah II or intercept the diamonds before doing anything else? The hit only gets carried out after he gets paid, otherwise the Crows just screw around forever.

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]

Did you ever kill Mark Purayah II or intercept the diamonds before doing anything else? The hit only gets carried out after he gets paid, otherwise the Crows just screw around forever.

I swear I literally just sat around near the start and waited to see if something happened. It was so long ago I could be misremembering though.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

"Yame! Yame!" Holy fuck these developers did not care.

I had planned to actually play Hitman 2 and give an opinion in case the guy who was asking about the earlier games was still interest. But I've hit a brick wall with the Japan missions. I could wrestle with the shitty design and lack of playtesting but I have a policy of not putting more effort into playing a game than the devs put into making it.

It's a shame, too, because I really enjoyed the St. Petersburg missions. If the game had kept that level of quality and atmosphere all the way through I would absolutely have been prepared to give a recommendation.