Hitman

[TheMarvell]

so, who here has played the Hitman games?

Yesterday I started my first one: Hitman 2 Silent Assassin (I got this for 5 dollars and Contracts for 10, both brand new). And right now my immediate impression is that the game is ridiculously hard due to incredibly sloppy design and control. It has great presentation, but good lord is it frustrating, and this is coming from someone who thoroughly enjoyed plenty of other high profile stealth games like Metal Gear Solid and Syphon Filter.

I'm only on mission 3, but my god, I didn't expect it to take 2 hours to do one seemingly simple mission. Ok, on the first mission, you can kill a delivery man, take his clothes and sneak in to kill a mafia boss. Oh, but you can't run for some reason (guards know you're a threat if you run apparently) and if you let a guard get too close you're screwed too. I couldn't believe it. I tried almost everything to sneak into this mansion and kill the boss but no matter what somebody just started shooting me...alerting EVERYONE, and leaving one bloody mess behind. I finished the first mission killing literally everybody in the game. On the current mission I just did, I have to kill two leaders. I managed to place a car bomb on one, and snipe the other. Oh but once I sniped I alerted once again everyone on the map who immediately knew where i was, even though I was high up in a building, forcing me to gun down dozens of guards in a row. The sneaking aspect in this game appears to be a joke. I try crouching in "sneak mode" as the game calls it, but I crawl slower than a baby. HOW am I supposed to kill a guy with chicken wire if I can't sneak up on him fast enough? I try walking, and each step I take he turns around curious. What the **** am I doing wrong here people?

Is this how all the games are? Hitman 2 has the highest ranking of the franchise, yet I can't believe how frustrating it is. Seriously, what the hell? Am I doing something wrong? Do I truly just suck this badly? Or is the game a pile of crap? Please enlighten me if there's any Hitman fans here... :banghead:

[zuludelta]

The Hitman games are okay. The thing is, you really have to take your time and check out your environments to figure out the best way to finish a mission. Think of it as one big puzzle. If you're not a fan of sneaking around and pattern recognition, these games might not be as enjoyable for you. I liked the first game but grew pretty tired of the game mechanic by the time the sequel rolled around.

[TheMarvell]

The Hitman games are okay. The thing is, you really have to take your time and check out your environments to figure out the best way to finish a mission. Think of it as one big puzzle. If you're not a fan of sneaking around and pattern recognition, these games might not be as enjoyable for you. I liked the first game but grew pretty tired of the game mechanic by the time the sequel rolled around.

I'd enjoy it more if the sneaking aspect was actually doable. Let me give you an example of what I tried to do. In the last mission I did, I had to kill two generals meeting eachother in a town square. So I tried sneaking up on one of the guards to take him out and steal his clothes. First I used my silenced pistol. I was in the clear to kill him and everything, yet somehow the general was alerted and ran away. Mission Failed. Ok, so I guess no matter what gun I use, silenced or not, it would alert somebody. Ok. Next I tried to use the chicken wire to strangle him. I hit the crouch button to sneak up on him. Problem is, the guy walks faster than I can sneak. Sneaking is painfully and unrealistically slow. By the time I get even close to him he's already turned around. Mission Failed again. So next I tried not killing any of the guards at all. I got farther this time by going into the sewers and placing a car bomb underneath one of the generals leaders limos. But the others car wasn't placed conveniently above a man hole. I look on the map and there are "places of interest" marked, including the other mans car, and two sniping points. There is a guard patrolling the building I can snipe through. So instead I find an innocent civilian walking around. He starts to run away from me but I catch him with the chicken wire, take his clothes and try to get close to the guard. Problem is I can't. Sneaking is impossible due to how slow it is. Walking up to him is difficult because with each step he hears me and turns around curious. By using trial and error about 20 times I finally manage to take him out by luck (getting in close and running to him in hopes I can strangle him before he shoots me). So I manage to get inside the building and snipe the other leader. Only it alerted every single guard on the map and every single one of them knew where I was at. So I gun them all down and finish the level with a Mass Murderer ranking. Out of curiosity I reload and try something else. I try to place a car bomb on the other car. I manage to do this, but again this alerts everyone on the map. I escape in the sewer, since for some reason guards can't climb down. However, the car bomb goes off and I die.

I just don't understand why everything I try ends up failing. If this is a sneaking game, why then can't I actually sneak up on people without them being suspicious? The crouch button is virtually worthless. Taking a guards clothes is only worthwhile if you're far enough away from any guard that passes by you. And why on earth does running signify you're a threat and/or not an actual guard? ("Omg, THAT GUARD IS RUNNING! It could be to the bathroom or for another reason I'm not aware of, but KILL HIM ANYWAYS!") How is that in the least bit realistic?

I've played plenty of stealth games in the past. I don't mind studying guard patterns and being able to sneak around. But it seems to me that this games sneaking aspect is horribly flawed and with a name like "Hitman" it really shouldn't be. I feel like maybe I'm just doing something wrong, like I just don't get how the game is supposed to be played. But after 3 missions each resulting in the same kind of trial and error technique, I'm inclined to believe I'm correct. It sucks because I'd really like to enjoy these games. The music and presentation are wonderful. But there's something wrong if a game based on sneaking around is actually easier and less frustrating if you just run and gun.

Does Contracts and Blood Money get any better? I've heard that, at least in Blood Money, you can run around in stolen guard clothes and not get shot at.

[zuludelta]

Can't really say if the series gets significantly better... I grew bored with it but my former roommate became a bigger fan of the sequels than the original. If you're having a tough time with the game, try GameFAQs, they're pretty good at providing gameplay tips and hints.

[GogglesPizanno]

I'm a fan of the games, but have to agree that they are ridiculously hard sometimes and a bit flawed in the AI dept. The key I found was a lot of patience, and waiting. It really is more like a board game in terms of mental approach as opposed to a shooter. Part of the fun for me was going around a level trying to figure out all the different ways to accomplish a mission (Though I did have my fair share of "Oh Crap, kill everyone" moments). But its fun to sometimes go back and try and redo a level you passed using different methods. There are still levels that I shot my way through that I have yet to be able to do stealthy.

The first game (Codename 47) had some interesting setups, but it suffered from not being able to save in-game, so if you screwed up, you had to redo it all. That all but killed the game for me.

They fixed it in the second one (Silent Assassin), and I found it to be lots of fun. This is the one that I think was the most balanced and fun of the bunch. The sneaking issue didn't bother me so much. I just learned how to move around in a sort avoidance pattern. Though i will agree that the AI for enemies gives them some enhanced clairvoyant powers.

The third one (Contracts) had less of a plot tying things together, and was a series of individual missions. Many of them were redone versions of missions from the first game only using the new engine and save game feature. You could argue it was basically to Hitman what FFvTR was to FF. Smaller with some game enhancements, but really more of an upgrade. But if you liked the second one, this one is more of the same.

The last one (Blood Money) I found to be much bigger in its execution and as a result often times a lot harder, not in actual playability, but because it became much harder to keep track of all the individual locations in play (Though there are some cool new locations). It also added a system where you make money that can be used to buy weapons and upgrades. The sneaking I believe is better in this one as the suspicion of guards is ratcheted down a bit (at least as far as I can tell). I'm still only halfway through this one.

[thalaw2]

I've played Contracts and Blood Money and found both of them to be enjoyable.  In both games I set the level to hard.  Like ZD said, it's a puzzle.  It has many different solutions for putting the pieces together and that's what I enjoyed most.  You can be a silent assassin or you can blood thirsty killer. 

I think you will enjoy contracts and bloodmoney more.  In those games the engine and AI work better. 

EDIT:  My favorite contracts mission is where you have to kill the Chinese mob boss (I think that's what he is) and take out his fat bodyguard. 

In Blood Money I loved the heaven and hell mission.