Video Games : Hitman: Blood Money

Rating: - Refreshing!
I've spent many years looking for a game like this and I've finally found it! One that doesn't involving going to distant, imaginary places killing make-believe aliens or going into the jungles frenetically shooting at random soldiers. There are plenty of games like those, but not many like this.

Finally a game that puts you in a more familiar setting where you could act out your wildest fantasies! You could be in a someone's mansion in the middle of a party, in a quiet suburban neighborhood with residents doing their usual activities or on a crowded downtown street filled with revelers. While your objectives are usually to assassinate just one or two people, practically anyone is fair game. From innocent lobby clerks to friendly out-of-town tourists, no one is off limits, which adds to the realism of this game.

Hitman allows you to accomplish your goals in different ways. You can achieve them neatly and discreetly without creating a lot of collateral damage or you can reach them in a heavy-handed manner and leave behind a bloody trail of your mess. You can win either way, the choice is yours. Of course, the more collateral damage you leave behind, the more attention you attract and the more difficult it becomes.

This game is just pure fun. It's like a cross between the old Castle Wolfenstein games (the 2-D version, not the 3-D FPS version) for the Apple and the Sensory Overload FPS game for the Mac. The graphics are great but probably not the best. But the gameplay and realistic characters more than make up this minor weakness.

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Rating: - Hit man - the game
I haven't had a lot of oportunity to play the game as yet, although the few times I have played it has been enjoyable and interesting.

It could use a simpler control interface, although thats just me being picky. Overall an interesting and entertaining game.

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Rating: - Great Game!
Excellent game-play and single player campaign. A few nice surprises along with all the features of previous Hitman games make for a very enjoyable and fun experience. Highly recommended!

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Rating: - Great continuation of hitman series
Hitman 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. When Contracts was released, I was left confused and disappointed by a game that felt overly dark and pretentious. With a bad taste in my mouth, I was hoping Blood Money would not follow in Contracts' footsteps.

Fortunately, it did not. Blood Money offers a wide variety of environments and settings that give the player vast freedom to explore. The scenarios are complex and multidimensional requiring the player to study and analyze a number of factors before deciding on a strategy. Much like the its predecessors, Blood Money is not a game for the impatient. It requires much experimentation and creativity through perseverance, bur the end results are very satisfying.

What I enjoy most about the Hitman series is the character of 47. Silent Assassin did the best job of depicting him as a complex human being, simultaneously cold-hearted and compassionate. Blood Money doesn't do much to build upon 47's character, but does offer other thematic and plot devices which draw the player into the game. Without spoiling it, the game is riveting and has a great ending (if you see it).

Tech specs:
AMD X2 4000+ @ 2.71ghz
2 x Nvidia 7900gt SLI
Played at 1680x1050, all setting maxed - absolutely no hitches, ran perfectly.

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Rating: - What a Blast!
Agent 47 comes to life on your PC. For those of you that play Hitman: Blood Money on your Xbox 360 and were hesitating to get it for your pc, don't. The PC version has better graphics, of course it has one flaw, you have to use the keyboard and mouse to play the game, not an Xbox 360 Controller. If you get the pc game, get the latest patch, to prevent from crashes. And when you play this game, it does help to have the strategy guide when you play, or else you can make a fatal mistake in the game. This game has 13 missions, and mission one is a training level, to get you used to the keyboard and mouse controls that you will be using in the game's progression.

As you go from mission to mission, they will get harder. That is why you need the strategy guide to reference, so you don't get agent 47 killed during a critial mission. You can only save a game while you are playing it, which I think is bad. If you quit the game, you start from the beginning of the mission you were on, no save games to load. But as I said, if you played this game on the Xbox 360, you are used to this feature. All, in all. This is a great game to play if you are into FPS games (for the newbie First Person Shooter). No multiplayer features on this game for the pc or the Xbox 360, sorry. And you must have at least a Pentium 4 processor or better, and I find that at least 2 GB of computer RAM, plus a very good video card (Like the 200 dollar or higher Nvidia PCI-Express or ATI PCI-Express video card. And for the higher powered video cards, you need a more powerful power supply for your pc) will help make the game play smoothly on your pc.