Good afternoon 47 – Diana Burnwood

Hitman 2 is the latest addition in the series from IO interactive and is a sequel to Hitman (2016). It follows the events of Hitman where Agent 47 is on the hunt for the Shadow Client, along with Diana Burnwood, his Handler who provides him with targets and information.

THE GOOD

Key points that I noticed right from the start.

The level of detail inside each mission, from the NPC’s to the actual map itself. The creative ways in which you can assassinate each target inside the missions. How the game feels, the controls are so easy to get back into.

Although they ripped the training mission right out of Hitman (2016) it was nice to familiarise myself with Agent 47 and his murderous ways.

As soon as the game starts you are given a brief catch up of the events of Hitman (2016). After that you emerge on a lonely beach with nothing but your trusty ICA19, fiber wire and 3 coins. The level of detail even going into the mission is incredible, from the crashing waves along the beach to the long grass whistling in the wind. Your first move is to search the house for a lead on the Shadow Client before assassinating Alma Reynard.

For me personally the Miami mission was the most fun, just the sheer excitement of using a sniper rifle to assassinate someone from a race car travelling at high speed. If you can imagine a way to kill someone, chances are the team at IO interactive has thought of it. From serving yummy poisoned muffins to feeding 3 targets to a hungry, hungry hippo. IO interactive have really outdone themselves.

As I mentioned before the controls are so easy to pick back up and what really helps this is after you complete the first mission, the game suggests you jump into the training missions before you continue with Hitman 2. Even though the training mission is ripped from Hitman (2016) which to me seems lazy, it still feels refreshed and looks just as good as the rest of Hitman 2. The whole of Hitman is included, with a full set of achievements/trophies to collect. Which is handy for boosting the gamerscore for all the achievement hunters out there (me included).

THE BAD

Key points I noticed from playing through the game.

The npc’s blend too much into the mini map.

The frame rate and lag that occurs.

Yes it’s a small thing to criticise but the fact that the npc’s blend into the mini map is slightly disappointing. It’s not every npc but the ones who aren’t fooled by the outfits you can wear inside the missions.

Showing in this photo is two npc’s walking in front of me, the grey one shows up fine on the mini map. But the white dot is someone who isn’t fooled by my outfit and it’s kinda difficult to avoid them, specially if you are doing a silent assassin run.

The frame rate issue however is another story, I ran into a situation where the only way out was guns blazing. I killed 20 guards and the frames dropped completely, the only way I could resolve the frames was to hide for 10 minutes while other guards came and cleared the bodies. Granted I could of reloaded my save and done things differently but, considering the challenges inside Hitman 2 this shouldn’t be a problem. One challenge to call out is inside the mission the ark society named “all the King’s men”. Where you need to kill all the elite guards while disguised as a knight. During this challenge my frame rate dropped completely, to the point where I couldn’t move freely through the map.

One thing I would say is that this game is very much a grinding game, to unlock new equipment, starting locations and pickup points inside the levels. However for me personally because I was enjoying the game to much to notice and was working towards the achievements, this wasn’t an issue for me.

THE ASSASSIN

From the breathtaking graphics to slapping some poor defenceless person into the ocean with a fish, Hitman 2 is truly a masterpiece on the current gen. If you’ve been a fan of the series for a long time or a newcomer to the world of Hitman I strongly suggest picking this title up. I personally wasn’t always keen on the older Hitman games, but have since fell back in love with Agent 47 and his deadly ways of dispatching his targets.

I give Hitman 2 – 8.5/10.