PC Games I am Playing Week: Hitman: Blood Money

Welcome back for Day 4 of PC Games I am Playing Week and thought we would go with something a bit darker than we have previously been.  Imagine a world where assassins are created to do the dirty deed with extreme prejudice, a world that molds and sculpts ordinary men and women into effective killing machines that know stealth, hand-to-hand, melee and firearms.   This bizarre FPS/action adventure by  IO Interactive and allows the game to go from first person view and third person, free range with tactics, weapons and funds used to complete a contract.  The man known only as 47 is been used as a fluid assassin through his handler Diana Burnwood but only after he broke out of an asylum.  Comforting he is not but he is your character for destruction.  This is Hitman: Blood Money.

Hmm, I have mixed feelings on the killing of a clown.

Alexander Leland Cayne: The name “Agent 47” is just a whisper on the lips of the dead… because if he comes calling for you…you will never even know…until it’s too late.  Then, like a spoiler, he’ll disappear.  A phantom. A legend. 

Released in November 19, 2000 the Hitman series began with explanation of a secret cloning experiment that created malicious and cold men and women as assassins with almost flawless records.  The project had ended thanks to the man known only as 47.   Today we talk about the fourth of the six part series known as Hitman: Blood Money (2006).

47 is been placed in high demand with his exceptional kill record that the morally corrupt elitists and those born in wealth find him to be a useful tool every time.  Now not unlike its predecessors the obstacles and boundaries of each mission stacks the deck against you and you have to think on your feet, pre-plan your escape routes and weapons needed for the gigs.  Rending non-combatants unconscious must be done from the shadows with all the surveillance cameras in high end areas.  Body disposal decisions must be made on the fly.  Can you drop it down a sewer grate or toss him in a dumpster?  The lower key you are, the greater rewards you get.   Also you will get deductions from the contract if you have made a spectacle of yourself.  Remember this is not Grand Theft Auto 9000 but an elegant and effective killer than does not want to draw attention to himself or his clients. 

Next contract.

Your environment has more improvised weapon availability such as NPC bullet shield.  That’s right you can use a defenseless person to soak up rounds coming out at you.   Kitchen knives were a touch I liked as he could use them as throwing weapons or a simple device to slit a throat.  Nail guns, screwdrivers even a sword cane.  Non-conventional weapons for a change.   My personal favorite was tampering with a cooking grill’s propane line.  Got a great vantage point to view the impending explosion and cackled.  Reintroduction to sedatives to know people out in close combat is difficult but not impossible.  A common claw hammer has two purposes, throwing weapon and melee weapon and the only throwing weapon you can retrieve.

With bribery, cunning on each kill, evading guards, cameras and security systems you cannot help but get a good feel how to handle the contracts that the experience will improve your lateral thinking.  

The violence level is probably not one for the kiddies and plus I do not want to give career options of this magnitude but most kids are starting to think for themselves.  I cannot imagine a video game will corrupt them to the level that most politicians claim but a bit of censorship may not be a bad idea.

Geez, no one has friended me on Facebook.