Hitman: Contracts

The Hitman series is something of a surprising success. Sure, it's got stealth, violence, and clever design -- all things that make people sit up and take notice these days. What the series hasn't had is a truly winning personality. This is something the developers at Io Interactive are working on in the sequel, along with playability, polish, and variety. If Hitman: Contracts all comes together, it will easily outclass the series' previous entries.

In between Hitman 2 and Hitman: Contracts, Io Interactive created the acclaimed Freedom Fighters for EA. This game has helped to change the company's perspective, and has also given it time to improve the technology driving Contracts. Technology aside, the increased emphasis on story is one of the most striking things about the new game. As you begin, lead character (codenamed "47") is alone in a hotel room, losing blood and doped up on painkillers. His memories and hallucinations launch the levels you play, trying his conscience and your skill. But don't worry; an overarching story will tie together these missions, keeping Contracts from being merely a collection of Hitman vignettes with no purpose.

To emphasize the grittier feel of Contracts' story, Io has given the game a turn for the dingier, too. Gone will be the sunlit resort scenarios of Hitman 2; the world of Hitman: Contracts is dark and oppressive, with impressive rain, snow, and wind effects that help fully implement the inclement mood. To capture a more filmic, dreamlike state, the developers are also implementing soft-focus visual filters like those recently seen in Prince of Persia.

The flexibility of Contracts' engine allows for color and density of the effects to change on the fly, as you progress through different parts of the level. Since the PS2 has been the base for most of Io's games, they're tweaking how they use it instead of spending time trying to come up with entirely new ways to show graphics on the system. Estimates put the polygon count at approximately 50% increased over Hitman 2. While playing the game, one of the developers remarked that the game has a Twilight Zone feel -- it's reality, but not quite right. Graphical details like fully reflective puddles and mirrors add to the sense of realistic unreality.

Of course, atmosphere isn't everything. Marrying the increased emphasis on style is a similarly increased emphasis on gameplay. Hitman is a game of choices, and while these choices aren't truly free, they're various enough to present many ways to get through a level, in the order you choose. From the basic -- more weapons, more disguises, new close-quarters attack moves; to the profound -- a renewed commitment to game design, Hitman: Contracts is full of improvements.

Io walked through one of the levels to demonstrate just how this choice comes into effect. As the level began, 47 was hiding out on airplane headed to Siberia. Depending on how he gets off the jet, his options change -- the front and rear are pointed at different locations within the greater level. You have multiple objectives, and you can complete them one by one in the order you choice or meticulously plan and take care of most or all of them in one go.