There are few gaming franchises that consistently improve with every outing. The Hitman series belongs to this very small and exclusive club. Since its first outing in 2000 with Hitman: Codename 47, the Hitman series has continuously found innovative ways of enthralling a growing number of new fans while keeping its existing fan base mesmerised. Over the past 18 years the stealth video game series developed by the Danish company IO Interactive has become an institution easily on par with GTA, Call of Duty and Fifa. And with the unveiling of Hitman 2 it looks like the series will continue going from strength to strength. Following hard on the heels of the highly acclaimed 2016 reboot of Hitman, Hitman 2 continues the storyline of its predecessor while introducing tons of new gadgets and options.
This time round Agent 47 and his handler Diana Burnwood (voiced by the dynamic duo David Bateson and Jane Perry) are working for a shadowy employer called Providence which, to our surprise, is not an insurance or pension company. Providence has Agent 47 and Diana globetrotting around the world eliminating targets working for a rival organisation known only as ‘shadow client.’ Along the way, you’ll uncover more about Agent 47’s mysterious past and a host of new gadgets that most respectable assassins would, well, kill for.
It’s fair to say that Hitman 2 is an evolution rather than a revolution from previous games. The in game mechanics are more or less identical but with a host of improvements and fine-tuning that make hunting down and taking out targets so much more fun.
In this outing, Agent 47 can now blend in with crowds which makes eavesdropping on a mark much easier. And when tracking a target who is surrounded by body guards being able to blend in with groups of NPC’s is a god-send.
Security cameras also play a more important role in the game. If they spot you, they’ll record your presence and alert nearby guards who will hunt you down and take you out. It is for this reason that many of the games have deleting all recordings as part of their objectives.
Hitman 2 also includes a very handy picture in picture notification system that will alert you when important things happen. If you’re sloppy and leave a body lying around, the picture in picture will pop up if the body is identified. This will (usually) give you enough time to hide before the guards come crashing in. The picture in picture facility also works well with video cameras as you can now see a grid of their line of vision. Excellent.
Graphically Hitman 2 is a gorgeous game. Every location simply oozes with the attention to detail that only triple A titles can offer. The crowd scenes are beyond anything we’ve experienced with the Splinter Cell or GTA series and character models are unique and engaging. While playing through the game we often found ourselves wondering around just to take a look at the environment. Hitman 2 really is that good looking.
Hitman 2 also offers a couple of new modes that will keep you glued to your console. These include a Sniper Assassin challenge and Ghost Mode. In Sniper Assassin, Agent 47 begins the mission perched on a high location and has to take out targets using a very powerful sniper rifle. You can also play this in co-op mode with a friend.
Our favourite mode – outside the campaign challenge – has to be Ghost Mode. Here you compete against another player to take out 5 targets in the quickest time. Each kill has to be unspotted and the bodies can’t be found. If you opponent beats you to a mark, you have 20 seconds to take out yours before they disappear and you have to relocate them. We comfortably predict that this is the mode that will have everyone playing until Hitman 3 is unveiled.
However, despite all of these innovations, the real selling point of Hitman 2 has to be the almost limitless ways you can take a target out and the infinite replayability of each mission. With so many ways of illuminating a mark, Hitman encourages you to revisit a challenge and try something new time and time again.
If we had any grips at all with game it has to be with the odd decision to use still images instead of CGI to tell the in-game story between challenges. An odd call that we found oddly inconsistent with the top drawer production values of the game. However this is a minor niggle and one that will do little to detract from what is a gripping, immersive and hugely entertaining adventure. We’ve only stopped playing long enough to write this review. Job done. See you in the world of Hitman 2.
9 out of 10
