Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Stealth, few genres so directly try to appeal to the fondest childhood memories, games and instincts. Hide and seek has always been one of the most popular children’s games. After all, what child hasn’t tried to hide from the driver until the last minute, so that at the most decisive moment he can make his move and make him look bad?. Therefore, stemming from these simple children’s entertainment and developing them in virtual space, such a genre of games as stealth was born. All these legendary series of games about the thief Garrett, intelligence agents Snake and Fisher were based on a process tied to hide and seek in shady corners and hidden passages.
However, one series made its bid to hide and seek in plain sight, so that you, without hiding, could, with your head held high, under someone else’s guise, penetrate into forbidden places and do your wet deeds. This game series Hitman. And if last time I reviewed the very first experience of the series, it was clumsy in places and did not understand its strengths and weaknesses. Now my attention fell on the game, which made 47 exactly the killer the players wanted him to be – a silent killer. And this is a game Hitman 2 Silent Assassin .
Between the first and second
If the first game was developed as a not so large and large-scale semi-experimental project. Then, by the time the sequel was being developed, the developers from the studio IO Interactive and publishers from Eidos Interactive understood perfectly well what kind of gold mine was in their hands. Therefore, much more effort and resources were thrown into the development of the sequel. In addition, the game had to visit not only the narrow limits of the PC, but also be released on the consoles that were current at that time PlayStation 2, Xbox and a little later GameCube.
And the bet paid off: the game, released in the fall of 2002, turned out to be a much more obvious success than the first part. Reviews from players and the press were much warmer, and in terms of sales, the game became the most successful in the series with almost five million copies, among the classic quadralogy for sure. And later HD re-releases as part of collections for PS3 And X-Box 360 added another four hundred thousand copies to the general collection.
Personally, however, I avoided this particular game in the series for quite a long time. In the end, it did not carry any special nostalgic value for me, and by the time I began to become more closely acquainted with the series, the more relevant novelty was Hitman Contracts . But still, a little later I made an attempt to get acquainted with the game, but then it seemed to me too harsh and punishing for every extra step and I’m not sure that I was even able to complete it then. Therefore, I approached this game with the clearest and most uncluttered eyes.
Plot tropes
The game returns to our bald clone killer, some time after the ending of the last game. The 47th, having understood all the circumstances of his origin, decided to give up his deadly craft and went to a small temple in Sicily, where he began to take care of the garden, atone for his sins and build friendship with the local pastor Father Vittorio.
True, the past does not let go of our anti-hero – the brother of one of his past paternal victims, Sergei Zavorotko, is on his trail. And so the mafia kidnaps the priest, and therefore 47 will have to take up his old craft again in an attempt to find and save his friend, while simultaneously fulfilling orders from the International Contract Agency. And under the leadership of his curator Diana, who has now found her voice, he will have to cross half the world, again killing a wide variety of people. Get involved in another cunning plan and break the web of intrigue with your silver-plated trunks.
Changes in sensations
Unlike the first game in the series, local missions turned out to be much more aimed at secret passage. Moreover, there is also a place for purely linear missions to pass from point A to point B, and for missions taking place at classified facilities without any civilians. But it is understood that all these tasks can be completed without raising unnecessary alarm and without firing left and right. The game decided to completely abandon the concept of aggressive stealth, which of course can be practiced, but it won’t be of much use.
The basis of the basics and the most common task will be tasks where you need to quietly penetrate into a protected place, if possible without killing anyone, which is facilitated by the ability that has appeared in the game to put the enemy to sleep with a bottle of chloroform. True, if found, a disabled enemy can be brought back to life, but his sleep in any case will not last forever. So, by knocking out a guard, you actually start the timer until the moment of a guaranteed alarm. But who will care about the complaints of the naked and funny if you have already completed the job.
In addition, the game itself began to encourage the practice of extremely quiet and unnoticeable passage with the help of the introduced rating system. From now on, as you complete the task, all your actions: killings, raising alarms, shots, putting to sleep are analyzed by the game itself. And upon completion of the mission you are given a rank depending on your passing style. And if some “professional” or “executioner” tickles your inner perfectionist, then it will be difficult to wash yourself away from the “maniac” or “mass killer”. But the main goal of the rating will be the title of “silent killer” of that same Silent Assassin, included in the subtitle. For completing your goals as accurately as possible, in addition to an honorary title, the game will give you a unique and powerful weapon for the first five missions completed with the highest rating.
The local map was also reworked, which in the first game, despite all its usefulness, was rather inconvenient to use. Now the map has not only become extremely simple and understandable even for the least skilled player. It also began to mark interesting places, targets, agency hiding places, and at lower difficulty levels, security guards with passers-by, and on the map you can easily find out the direction of view of all marked characters. The map turned out to be so convenient and useful that almost without changes it began to wander from part to part in this perfect form.
In addition, the system for saving progression during tasks has been redesigned. The system of checkpoints crossed with additional lives has gone into oblivion. From now on, during a mission you can save in any convenient or inconvenient place. The number of available saves depends only on the difficulty level. If at the easiest difficulty level you will be given seven free save slots, then on “professional” you can go through the entire mission at once, just like in the good old days of the first part. True, all the same, on particularly long missions, upon achieving certain goals you will be given an extra save cell. And if on easy difficulty such a reward turns out to be unnecessary for you, then on high difficulties you will pray for every extra save.
The artificial bobblehead that controls local guards and civilians has also undergone a major overhaul. Instead of binary values, a broader “scale of suspicion” was introduced, however, due to inexperience, the scale with the paranoia of enemies was raised to unprecedented heights. As a result, the NPCs began to get hysterical at any of your sneezes: the guards began to suspect you for running, for sneaking up, for being in the wrong places, for wiping near them. In general, it was better for you not to exist with them on the same map for their peace of mind. Because of this, the game at times became like a walking simulator. Moreover, sometimes the AI could completely get stuck, and a particularly zealous guard would literally start walking on your heels, and you just had to confuse him with particularly stubborn routes so that they would leave you behind. And although the game focused on quiet murders, there were also places in it for some of the most brutal missions in the series, from attempts to complete which you simply began to shake – yes, yes, I mean that very same couple of Japanese missions to penetrate the castle, coupled with an Afghan ambush on a convoy. Not only did these missions, in their concept, contradict the rest of the game, but they were also broken to death. Even the final tasks with action were perceived more as a tribute to tradition, but these tasks just go smoothly.
The economic system in the game was thrown to hell – it was already there without sewing a tail on the mare. And it looked more like some kind of ridiculous rudiment than really influenced the gameplay. Now you could collect in your hub – the Sicilian temple, all the weapons taken from the missions. And if for the first playthrough you went with a standard set of weapons and tools for a specific mission, then for a repeat playthrough you could already choose whatever the killer darling wanted. After all, who would refuse, after an incredibly stuffy and difficult task, to grab a machine gun and organize a total clearing of the map from annoying guards?.
Fine Control
Especially considering that the game now has the ability to switch from third to first person, which makes it somewhat easier to complete the game in a noisy scenario like an ordinary joker. Well, plus everything in the game, the control system was radically redesigned, moving away from the inhuman practices of the previous game in favor of a more standardized layout. At the same time, the control itself has become smoother and tactile. Sometimes it seems too smooth and leisurely. So, in trying to sneak somewhere, you can simply fall asleep – our killer sneaks so leisurely.
And in everything, 47 acts imposingly and slowly, like a well-fed cat, which is why sometimes you just want to spur him on. But the local security really doesn’t like running, as if their closest relative had a heart attack during a morning jog, and therefore the pace of the game will be as leisurely and drawn out as possible. If in the first game we rushed from corner to corner as if covered in scum, trying to solve the next killer puzzle as quickly as possible. Here we will slowly walk back and forth. Watch how the guards walk with your eyes and on the map. See what else interesting is happening around. Walk through marked points of interest and collect agency bookmarks with gadgets and weapons for each mission.
And so slowly circle around the map until you get an understanding of your personal route, time and place to strike. So that then, just as slowly, you can fulfill your plan. After the last game, this one manages to give such a slightly relaxed feeling, despite all the paranoia of the guards and the confusion of the map. Where in the last game you were nervous and swearing in the next crooked place, here you are calmly and relaxed swearing in the next no less crooked place. But still, once again you catch the right pace and rhythm, and then you simply complete the task without much anxiety or worry. Without this frenzied jitters and nerves of the first game. It’s not surprising that, along with replaying many missions for the sake of the coveted “silent killer” rating, the game took me almost 17 hours.
Audiovisual changes
Graphically the game has been upgraded – https://casino-hopa.co.uk my respects, to a very sickly level by those standards. It’s as if the authors managed to unleash the full potential of their engine Glacier. Models began to look much more like normal people. The interiors have moved away from the dirty gray-brown tones and acquired true multicolor. After the last game, you just want to close your eyes from all the variety of colors and bright shades that the game began to give. In addition, there are flowing fabrics and quite highly detailed textures in places. And the play with light and shadow, coupled with the overall increased level of production, began to create such a cinematic atmosphere. It’s just nice to look at, especially after the first game.
Jesper Kyd again turned out to be on top in the second game we are already greeted by the most real orchestral accompaniment with a choir – the most pathetic and chilling. Working together with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the composer managed to create a number of darkly pathetic and pompous melodies that seem to reflect how legendary a person 47 already is in his world. All the pathos and solemn intensity turn out to be not just for the sake of nothing, but only emphasize the upcoming triumph and triumph of the bald clone himself. Although it’s a pity, of course, that unlike the last game we didn’t get a single awesome track that would be fun to dance to and walk around the city streets.
Based on the results
In the end, we can say that the success of this game did not arise out of nowhere. The authors understood exactly what they did best in the first part and what the players liked most. By focusing precisely on quiet murders and passing as unnoticed as possible, the game managed to find its own face, and the main character his own character, a taciturn, reserved, careful professional. And even though in the course of using this formula the authors were unable to avoid a number of mistakes and outright stupidity, the general direction given to the series did not change until the attempt to rethink the undertaken Hitman Absolution .
At the same time, the game gives quite a lot of freedom so that a player who does not suffer from excessive perfectionism can play and complete the game as he wants. Although the rating system encourages a certain style of play, it does not prevent any kind of experimentation. And even though the game may sometimes seem overly tough and punishing, but at least when you begin to understand the local pace of the game and get into it, the process of passing even begins to bring joy. Perhaps the game does not carry any nostalgic flair for me, but I played through it not without pleasure.
P. S.: And again I played the game with localization from New disk. Just like last time, it turned out to be such a neat localization, pretty much tidying up the game and removing the same hefty portion of pure Russian swearing from the same Sergei. But at the same time, the voices of 47 and Diana were chosen just right.
A few notes and personal impressions after completing each mission.
Act 1 Sicily
Task 1 is also educational. Although this is far from the first game in the series, for a huge audience of consoles it became an introduction to the 47th, and for PC players there were enough changes between the games to quickly lead us along the roads of knowledge of controls. But it’s funny that in general the entire tutorial section can be skipped even faster than in the last game. Although it was interesting to explore the local church and be amazed by the beauty of the updated engine.
Task 2 is also mafia. It’s quite strange that the game greets us not with some small maps with simple tasks, but with a rather confusing mission to penetrate the guarded mansion of Don Cosa Nostra. Let the game immediately throw up a couple of interesting ways to penetrate, but the overall complexity and the unfriendliness of the local AI towards the player immediately pushes the complexity curve up at a rather sharp angle. To be honest, it feels like I was given a mission from somewhere in the middle of the game. Yes, here you can try a huge arsenal of mechanics and approaches, but this is more needed for the demo version, and not the first task in the game. But it immediately becomes clear to you what kind of game it will be.
Act 2 St. Petersburg
Task 3 is also sniper. In fact, we have before us an almost free remake of the first Hong Kong mission from the previous game. We take out a sniper rifle, sneak to the point and take out the target with one well-aimed shot. The truth here will be much more interesting, trying to get to the point without raising the alarm. But here you have at your disposal an extensive sewer system, scattered uniforms, and even a truck that brings you to the right place. Much simpler than the previous mission and more interesting than the sniper mission from the previous game.
Task 4 is a bomb. And again the game invites you to play a free adaptation of the mission about mining cars from the previous part. Of course, you can turn the mission into a sniper mission, but why, if with a bomb: go in, go out, five minutes of work and no dust.
Task 5 is also a tunnel task. For me, this mission, along with the next one, became a favorite of the St. Petersburg act of the game. Even though it is extremely linear, with only a couple of possible forks, it is designed very well and, at least for the first time, it is very interesting to go through it. The only problem may arise with killing a video surveillance server, because it is not obvious where to shoot, but the mission rating directly depends on the number of shots fired. Well, the target can be killed either pathetically or funny. Oh yes, our old friend Agent Smith from the Central Intelligence Agency in the stars and stripes was captured again, from which we rescue him.
Task 6 is also an embassy task. This mission can simply be called a benchmark for the very concept of Hitman. A large embassy where the party is taking place, several different routes of entry and possible guises. Inside, just have fun to your taste. Atmospheric, interesting event scripts, many options for solving problems – a very cool and interesting mission. If the previous task demonstrated a cool linear progression, then this gives a cool killer sandbox.
Act 3 Japan
Task 7 is also poisonous. One of the shortest missions I’ve seen in this part of Hitman. Of course, we’ll have to tinker a bit to find the ideal route, but after a couple of attempts the mission cracks like a nut, and the puffer fish along with the tracking beacon end up in our victim’s stomach.
Task 8 is also reassuring. This is something on the level of the Colombian jungle from the first game, and even more broken and buggy than the Colombian exercises of the 47th. Not only are they firing at you, whether on the surface or in underground tunnels, but also camouflage turns out to be almost useless. The ninja guards, as soon as they see our clone, run up close to him and instantly recognize the impostor. Patrol routes can easily break down when intersecting with driving trucks. But a truck can easily hit a guard, after which an alarm will be raised at the level and patrols will be stepped up. And this is not counting the fact that the entire map is simply huge and even without enemies it will take 5-7 minutes to cross it. Just a whole lot of completely useless and infuriating walking. With all these circumstances, this task goes to the treasury of the game’s most hilarious moments. And if this were the end of the penetration of the elusive yakuza boss.
Task 9 is also infuriating. Well, this task, being a continuation of the previous mission, is slightly more adequate. At least, it becomes clearer which routes can be taken to avoid crossings with curious enemies. Well, when it comes to the gate itself, everything seems to become a little more interesting. But all the other shortcomings of the last mission are still with us, starting from hyper-paranoid ninjas and ending with misunderstandings with scripts. Ahh yes, between missions we lose our disguise, but why? Questions, questions, and we’ll wait for answers?
Task 10 is great. This is the type of missions for which we play Hitman. A huge guarded citadel with a target at the very top of the tower. Several interesting features. Security is suspicious, but not to the point of outrage. There’s even a side goal here besides eliminating Hayamoto. Throughout the entire mission, I kept having flashbacks of the murder of Lee Hong. Here you can even once again meet a familiar prostitute from a Hong Kong brothel – the lady clearly strives for more, but can still help us. Even the fact that he was bald again between missions and lost his disguise somewhere makes the beginning of the mission much more interesting, and not like last time. But in general, there are two relatively safe ways to eliminate a criminal leader, but one requires very precise execution, and the second is a rat approach – whichever is closer to you is your business.
Act 4 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
Task 11 is also a fire task. By tradition, the next act begins with a simple mission, which, nevertheless, can be solved in several ways, although one path is directly hinted at by the game. Quite funny is the “minefield” of chips and candy wrappers near the victim. It’s a pity that at the end you have to complete the mission purely on the ball: you run out of the room into the elevator right in front of the guards – whether they have time to suspect it or not, it’s already a random job.
Task 12 aka sneaking. Here the whole essence of the mission at first seems extremely simple, but when you get confused with the rating it immediately becomes more complicated. Probably the first mission in the game where you just had to maneuver between guards literally on their heels. But having achieved your goals, only an even more confusing session of sneaking along the roof between two enemies awaits you. In short, it turned out to be some kind of Sam Fisher instead of 47 this time. And why did our agent get rid of his disguise again between missions??
Task 13 is also predatory. This task turned out to be quite interesting, although unevenly implemented from a technical point of view, despite the rather small scale of the map. Here you have a careful selection of timing to get into the control room, and attempts to knock out the secretary when she opens the safe so as not to waste extra seconds, and hiding in the darkness from the vigilant guards, who at one moment can be blind as moles, and at another moment see you as if it were clear day. If it were not for the technical problems with the implementation of the task, killing the playboy hacker would have become one of my favorites in the game.
Act 5 Afghanistan
Task 14 is also a market task. This mission turns out to be much easier than it looks at first glance. The authors simply placed two very convenient loopholes to eliminate targets. Yes, and they threw in a few more tools, but who needs them if the task is so simple?.
Task 15 is also a convoy task. And here we are again faced with a pretty broken mission. Not only is simply going to a point where you can take down a target in an armored limousine with a huge rifle also a ridiculous task. Also, after a successful shot, leaving the map is quite a difficult task, especially if you intend to take your boomstick with you to replenish your collection.
Task 16 aka cave. This mission can also be quite frustrating if you don’t lick the map to find the perfect route. Of course, the most ambush occurs when attempting to retreat, because here you just want to pick up a machine gun and organize a total cleansing of the dushman’s holes. But if you don’t resort to noisy methods, then clearing the landing site can become even more of a quest.
Act 6 India
Task 17 is also a shop task. And again, during the mission, we have to help the hapless Agent Smith – he is in the series that will be the local princess Peach? But seriously speaking, the task is potentially quite interesting and difficult, but in fact completing it will not take any significant effort and time. Although, of course, a local random person can throw a goat’s face at you, but this can only be found out through replays. Well, for once, the equipment from the agency in the form of a shotgun is completely useless, unless you intend to cause a fierce massacre among Indian shops and shopping arcades.
Task 18, also known as candy and bouquet. But this task requires a clearly measured eye and an internal sense of time in order to at least penetrate the local sanatorium without unnecessary violence. But in the future everything will go a little easier, the main thing is to enclose the victim’s body using the correct routes, but after the introductory steps, calibrated in seconds, this will not be at all difficult.
Task 19 is also surgical. And again, we have a rather lengthy and multi-stage task, which again will require at the beginning an accurate eye and the right hand, and then banal caution, accuracy in your steps, and a certain amount of invention, but after the Japanese castle, this is already a common thing. The main thing is not to catch a stray bullet from your brother who suddenly showed up in the end. But of course, figuring out how to kill the main sectarian right on the operating table without attracting undue attention is a task just for our bald.
Act 7 Final St. Petersburg – Sicily
Task 20 is also a dummy task. The mission at first gives the impression that it will be a banal repetition of the same first sniper mission in St. Petersburg. And that we are again in the city on the Neva, even on the same map. We are again given an SVD and asked to hit a target in the same building and from the same point as last time. This time there aren’t even any patrolling soldiers, which makes it radically easier to get to the sniper’s nest. But instead of a target, we literally have a cardboard figure, the cartridges issued by the agency are blank, and in the building itself with a “target” our unfinished brother-clone with a sniper has settled down, and he clearly has the most military cartridges. Therefore, we will have to try by hook or by crook to overcome an unexpected relative, and then hide from the map, which will simply be filled with hordes of guards who know you right by sight. In short, the mission is clearly not for average minds and requires more ingenuity and the ability to improvise than an eye or a sense of timing.
Task 21 is also church. Well, what would a Hitman finale be without a purely action-packed mission?. We return once again to the Sicilian church, which served as our hub for so long. Of course, you can try to cover up the first enemies and sneak into your barn for an arsenal of bagpipes, because with just one noose at the start you won’t be able to fight much. But it would be much smarter to run into the barn, even as a carcass or a stuffed animal on a ball, grab the first trunk you come across and shoot everyone who comes running to you for a rendezvous with the bald man. After that, simply sequentially clear the church and, using Father Vittorio’s tips, figure out the location of Seryozha Zavorotko and finally bring down the boss of this rocking chair. Wow, how long is this game compared to the first one?.
