Hitman 2 (27/60$)
This is what regression looks like
The Hitman franchise has some of the best gameplay of any stealth game, and Hitman 2 follows that trend. My only issue with this game is that I wanted more. Which is an unfortunately large issue with this game. The Hitman franchise received a reboot with Hitman 2’s predecessor. The developer, IO Interactive, Hitman rebooted the series by offering the players the option to buy episodes of the story. Each of these episodes cost around 10$ and gives the player one map to learn the ins and outs of. Hitman 2 broke this release format and was 60$ at lunch for 8 levels. The goal in each map is to assassinate a target, and the levels are always incredibly detailed interactive jumbles of small stories and plot lines. It is an achievement to include so much content in one map. It is impossible to see it all in one playthrough. The game is built around this idea. The player must choose to follow the roundabout path in order to get the full experience out of this series. You have to want to explore. Most games, the main content is king, in Hitman 2, the world round the player tells the most gripping stories, and the overall plot is actually pretty shitty.
At first I found the missions in Hitman 2 to be a little boring. I would watch the targets programmed behavior, and then knock out their guards slowly before killing them. I did not bother with the side quests because they seemed inefficient. One mission I decided to be inefficient and kill everyone on the map, except for the targets. The game opened up to me and I began to have so much fun hiding bodies, throwing screwdrivers and strangling people with piano wire. This was because Hitman 2 is a game that only shines when you decide to roll play along with the game. The player needs to have an interest in following the different story lines across the map, and stick to using them to kill the targets. When you follow these stories you will instantly feel the time and care that the developers put into these worlds. Every room, every person, and every item is placed purposefully. The result is a map that has a direct cause and effect to the players actions. In my playthroughs this led to a rube goldberg chain reactions that varied according to which path through the level I chose. It truly is unlike any game out there, and I really think people should play this game to see how a developer can pull off a fun, challenging, and intuitive stealth game.
That being said there are only 8 chapters to play through the game. After completing a hit, the game will prompt the player to “replan” their assassination using the newly earned set pieces unlocked by completing a certain kind of play through. They typically offer three different methods of replaning, but there are often more stories to uncover than listed in the menus. The problem is, some of the side stories fall flat on the writing and the execution. It almost feels too scripted, and is jarring to see in such a reactive world. I think these are good ideas, but it would be better to include more of them with more interesting characters. There are a lot of options already, and a lot of them are fun, but it does not offer enough content to keep a player coming back to those same 8 levels, unless they are into speedruns.
IO interactive tries to fill this content gap with online updates such as designated targets that are added into the pre existing levels. These targets are often fun cameos from other games or even real life movie stars. But they can only be killed once, so this extra content dries up quickly, and does not boost Hitman’s replayability. As far as stealth games go, Hitman 2 is in a league shared only by Metal Gear Solid series. Yet, it is an awful investment if you get bored playing the same mission multiple times (27/60$).
