HitMan: Blood Money

[Art Blade]

I was in the mood to play "HitMan(4): Blood Money" again. It's a game from 2006 and compared to today's game graphics not half bad... of course you shouldn't compare it with stars like FC2. Still, it has its own charm, and a very dark humor  ;D

The main story is: You're Agent 47, created for perfect assassinations. There are clone versions of yourself, but that is a background story not really important (you almost never see them, except in side episodes, in games pre-HM4).

You receive your missions from "the agency" and each mission has a scripted intro sequence with some story background. The missions take place in very different locations, for example on a Mississippi Steam Boat, a huge Hacienda, some posh uber-villa in the mountains (literally halfways "in" the mountains...), a wedding on a huge Farm, a lunatic asylum, a giant fancy dress party on two stores in a business building (one theme "heaven", one "hell") etc...

You start with a set of different weapons (silverballer pistol, MP-5, SP12 shotgun (resembles a SPAS), an assault rifle M4, and a sniper rifle "W2000" (and you can only carry 3, similar to FC2)

On progressing in the game, you unlock special parts and ammo for your weapons as well as better armour, lockpick tools etc. You earn money and bonus money for missions well done. With the money you purchase those weapon upgrades. Good thing, you can redo previous missions and then get the bonus if you failed to get it in the first place. And you can use the meanwhile modified weapons :)

I love the customisable weapons (there's a silenced MP-5 as in FC2, only I use armour-piercing bullets and expanded clips etc) and the ability to disguise oneself (kill or anaesthetise someone, and change clothes - you drop yours in form of a little white bag and leave your victim in his underwear).

You can do it silently or the brutal way. Top award is "Silent Assassin" (biggest prize money) down to terrorist/psychopath etc.

Some screenies for you :) BTW: you cast a shadow, see 2nd last pic, you see the head...

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[JRD]

Nice one Art.
I only played HitMan 1, long time ago, can't even remember when it was released  :P.
Nice story and good graphics back then. I like the drop your clothes thing and to hide bodies.
Too bad the streets were too deserted and scenario wasn't alive... think the new titles had lots of improvement  ;)

[Art Blade]

thanks JRD,

I recently bought 3 Hitman titles in a bundle, if I'm not mistaken, one title of the game series was only available for console. I played all three PC versions (again) and obviously Blood Money is the best both regarding gameplay and graphics. The other are only for sentiment :)

[retiredgord]

Art you bought back some good gaming memories with the Hitman games.  I finished Hitman Contracts about end of Jan. I started FC2 after so the game is still fresh in my mind.  I like being able to hide the bodies. The weapon choices are good also.
Glad to see you like them as well.

[Art Blade]

I might add, you can toggle 1st person and 3rd person view at any time :)

yeah... I loved those hitman games... contracts... hmmmm  :) :-X

Speaking of bringing back good memories... The three HM games bundle was a souvenir I bought during one of my last trips to Spain, and it is marvellous to hear the Spanish voices again now that I enjoy another playthrough after some months (Spanish voices are much more theatrical than in the German or English versions, this time "theatrical" being positive, funny)

The same group of devs made Kane&Lynch, by the way, game engine based on HM4:

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[Fiach]

I bought three of them in a bargain bin a couple of years back, H1, H2 and Contracts, I never got around to playing them, seemed like alot of effort and patience plus trial and error was needed, must have a look at them again, cheers :)

[Art Blade]

definitely worth it (although it will send you back to stoneage, graphics-wise  ;D meaning there is a clear development in each sequel, H4 the latest = almost cool compared with today's standards, regarding its age (2006)

I did enjoy my "bargain bin" very much :) And, no, not much to worry. Missions are given, you are free to accomplish "victory" any way you want

[PZ]

Excellent read - thanks for posting these mini reviews of sorts on other games.  As someone who doesn't have much experience with many titles, I appreciate the screen captures and descriptions of games that could potentially be winners in my library.  There are so many games available, it is difficult to choose.

[Art Blade]

glad you like it :)

Regarding OpenWorldGames: HM games are sort of open world. Basically you get a mission to kill one or more targets, then you select your loadout, then you start inside a specific level (each mission has its own map).

From there on you are free to roam the map, make your choices of how to sneak in or which way to do it, you can restrict yourself to only kill the target or go berserk and erase the entire populace. Like that, it is a free game, the only limit being the map itself.

[Art Blade]

One thing I want to show you is an "easter egg" in HM:BM because I can both tell you a little more about the game and show the dark humor involved :)

You can see Agent 47 disguised as a guy who cleans the pool. The woman you see is known for erm, her way of interpreting monogamy. She fancies the pool guy...

who has a shack in the garden with tools and a bottle of a flammable liquid (there's one more in the basement of the villa). First you show up as the pool guy, she seduces you and asks you to follow her to the bedroom (you don't see anything though). She then goes to sleep and you rob her collar with a mircofilm. So far, normal game. Now you go to the pool and splash both bottles into the grill... Next thing is she walks up, lights the grill and whoosh! (you can do that anyway with one bottle at any time) The easter egg is, having done it in the aforementioned order, you see the bodyguards line up, clap their hands, and do "la ola" (nor sure if you know that term, you see it during football games when fans get up and sit down and create a wave).

Always fun to disguise, and to find out what you can do to achive your goals, so many funny ways :)

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At the end of each mission, I like that a lot, you get to read today's newspaper (which one depends on where the crime scene was) and the stats are worked into the article. You can read how many shots you fired, which was your favourite weapon, if there were witnesses, casualties... fun fun fun :)

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[retiredgord]

Looks good..I'm gonna keep my eyes open for it.

[Fiach]

erm.... its actually called a Mexican Wave ...... invented by an irishman no doubt :)

[JRD]

erm.... its actually called a Mexican Wave ...... invented by an irishman no doubt :)

... first seen on the football (soccer) world cup of 1986, in Mexico  ;)

Back on topic... it looks like a great game graphics seems good too... will keep my eyes open for this one too, thanks for the tip  :-X

[Art Blade]

Just one more thing, regarding customisable weapons: ALL of your 5 customised weapons can use a silencer! And you can change your weapon modifications at any time, change them, change parts, only has to be done before a mission.

[mmosu]

I personally celebrate the entire Hitman catalog.  I was in love as soon as I played Hitman 2 way back on the PS2.  The story and the darkness of the central character drew me in, and the fact that the possibilities were only limited by my own creativity kept me coming back.  Blood Money probably is the best game of the series but Contracts was my favorite overall due to the creative way in which the story was presented.  The opening movie has 47 stumbling through the door of a nasty hotel room.  He is gut-shot and bleeding badly, and eventually collapses on the bathroom floor.  Once there he begins slipping in and out of consciousness and having flashbacks of his greatest murders.  You actually play through the flashbacks as they occur, very creative presentation!

[Art Blade]

absolultely right, I started with contracts (HM3) because HM2 was never released on PC, and I sort of missed there was a HM1. When I bought the box of three HM in spain, it contained all PC versions, HM1, -3 and -4. One was funny because of the graphics compared to now, but that story was cool too. Well, played contracts again and again thought wow, how cool is that game storywise and how it's being told, those flashbacks you mentioned. Without having played Contracts in the first place, I'd probably never had a look at BloodMoney. However, even today BloodMoney looks nice, and the character control is much better than in any of the previous games. And man... still has this fun and thrill factor  :)

[mmosu]

When I first started playing it was fun to just go megaton and leave no witnesses, but after awhile when you start to actually use your head the game really opens up.  Your first "Silent Assassin" rating is always something special, to take someone out in a room full of witnesses (with decent AI considering how long ago some of these games were made) without anyone knowing you did it is a tall order!

[Art Blade]

indeed, the AI is awesome on higher difficulty levels. Even on easy it can mean escaping the scene by the skin of one's teeth ;) And the biggest achievement is indeed to finish every mission at least once "silent assassin"  :)

[Art Blade]

in case someone reads this topic without knowing of JRD's topic (he bought the game  :-X ) I just quote myself (sorry) so you get one more description for HMBM in the proper topic.

hehe :)

HMBM usually gives you one or more targets per mission. That's it :) Meaning, it is totally up to you how you solve your problem... kill everyone, a few, or just the target(s)... The "rating" of your mission accomplished depends on how noisy and bloodthirsty you were. If no one noticed you and only the target bites the dust, you will be rewarded "silent assassin". The more ruckus you produce, the worse the rating will be, like psychopath, terrorist, professional etc. On higher difficulty levels, you will be remembered in the next mission - ie if you lost it in the previous mission, psychopath behaviour, if there were witnesses and/or surveillance video tapes, you will be in the newspapers with a more or less accurate description and identikit/photofit picture... the recognition value will then cause you to be spotted quickly in your next mission. If you have enough money, you an bribe people to "forget" what they saw, erasing your mistakes from previous missions. Or just replay the last mission trying to finish cleaner :) It is great fun and I have replayed the game countless times. Each and every mission can be solved in various ways, using guns, explosives, poison, kitchen knives, a piano cord... be "creative" :)

Oh, once you got a better weapon and once you upgraded that, you can go back to previous missions with your new toys, trying to get a better rating (and earn bonus money if you didn't finish "silent assassin" previously)

[PZ]

I have not found the Hitman series anywhere so i checked out Amazon and found it - there is actually a trio of hitman titles that sell in a package for $14.99 - great bargain.

[Art Blade]

I probably got the same trio in spain :) great price indeed. If I were you, I would only install HMBM, the other games are WAY outdated and the handling is not exactly good... whereas HMBM is great :)

[retiredgord]

I gotta thank you Art and others for reminding me of HMBM. I'm gonna look for it to play as I did the Contracts a little while ago and had forgotten how much fun and variety is in the game.  I just was a MASS MURDERER quite a few times. I guess I didn't want to leave witnesses.  hehe.

[Art Blade]

hehe, I played every level countless times in a way the game described me as psychopath, terrorist and whatnot, I killed everything that moved :) But after a while, when you know the missions, the real kick is to achive the title Silent Assassin :)

[PZ]

I probably got the same trio in spain :) great price indeed. If I were you, I would only install HMBM, the other games are WAY outdated and the handling is not exactly good... whereas HMBM is great :)

That's good to know because HMBM by itself is less than $10

[Art Blade]

only get that. The other games are only worth it if you are sentimental. I used to have one of the two other HM, so it was for sentimental reasons, and I never knew the oldest one, so that was out of loyality and curiosity. Plus, they were in Spanish, wich was a nice change and a bonus for me.

By the way, your rating depends on violence, too. Too much violence, or unnecessary violence, has a negative effect on your rating.