This is the third Hitman game and the one most people tend to forget. I can't blame them. This game is known as the "grimdark" Hitman. It's really dark like, wow. It makes Silent Hill look like Kirby Super Star. Ok I exaggerate.
If you were expecting a spirited romp in exotic locales like in SA then you're in for a surprise. There's none of that fun crap here. Shit gets serious. Even the orchestral bombast of SA is replaced by dark electronica with sinister ambiance. The atmospheres are dark too with weird green lightsources and candlelight-like effects against dark foggy levels. It's raining on every level. Yup, no single ray of sunshine in this game.
The story goes like this. 47 is in Paris doing a job killing some shmuck when he gets ambushed by the police. Worse is that the police seem to know who he really is, an international assassin. Even worse than that is 47 gets shot in the gut and is slowly bleeding out in a dim hotel room. The missions are actually flashbacks playing in 47's head in between moments of consciousness so yeah, you're basically going inside the mind of a killer.
This game is dark. It's really dark. For example, there's this mission where you must assassinate some guy called "The Meat King" and his lawyer, who is no doubt evil just for being one. You must also rescue a young woman believed to have been abducted and is being held in the Meat King's place. Get this, you have to infiltrate the Meat King's party dressed as a butcher. Why? Because the party is being held in a slaughterhouse. Oh and it's an S&M party. You have to look for the Meat King while wading through the dance floor full of people in tight black leather grinding and fornicating against the blood splattered walls amidst the decaying carcasses of cows and horses strewn about. The air is freezing and thick with opium smoke. Yes, they're doing all sorts of drugs. The Meat King himself is a grotesque, morbidly obese glutton who fancies eating whole chickens for breakfast. Oh, and guess what? The young lady is dead and her mutilated corpse is hanging upside down from a meathook being violated by the Meat Kings brother. You end up having to take her severed arm as death proof. THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST MISSION.
Thought I was kidding? It gets worse from here. I won't elaborate but there's a mission where you see an actual ghost. The other missions are "retellings" of the missions of Codename 47 or so I've heard.
The gameplay in Contracts is a vast improvement. 47 moves better. Command keys better respond to context sensitive situation but you can still hold it to see other options. AI hasn't changed sadly and is still stupid in combat. The best thing in contracts is there a situation specific commands where if the situation is just right, 47 can do something special. For example, if the target steps into a sauna, 47 can execute a command near the valve and crank up the heat to kill the sucker. The target in that sauna mission had a heart problem so giving him a nice old-fashioned heatstroke was pretty cool. There are other examples.
While Contracts isn't the best Hitman game or has the best soundtrack, it is the most interesting for me. 47 really is one sick, disturbed individual but still badass nonetheless. In the climax of the game, 47 gets patched up thanks to Diana sending over a doctor from the Agency. 47 has barely enough time to recover when he hears the police storm the building. 47 manages to get out unseen anyway (It's possible to do in game) and to add insult to injury, he fucking kills the police inspector in charge of the whole thing while he's in the middle of the street without anyone noticing. (It's also possible!) Nobody messes with the bald killer clone.
Hitman: Blood Money next time...
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