Hitman 2 (Xbox, PC, PS2)
By Susie Vee

A few years ago, there was a clever but fatally flawed game called Hitman. It was about a bald genetically modified killer, and it was yet another entry in to the popular stealth/action genre.

Now, the sequel is here, and we’re pleased to say that this is the rare sequel that’s better than the original. Developer IO Interactive and publisher Eidos seem to have gone back to the drawing board and fixed virtually everything that was wrong with the first game.

Forget about the slightly weak plot. All you need to know is that for each mission, you need to infiltrate an area, and in most cases, kill a target and then get out alive. As you might have guessed, going in with guns blazing usually will get you killed outright, although Number 47 (that’s you) is a pretty tough cookie and can take more than a realistic number of bullets.

What we liked about the game was that each mission has several different ways to succeed, and even if you replay the game several times, you’re unlikely to find them all. In most cases, it’s entirely possible, but not easy, to pass every mission without alerting any guards or killing anyone other than your target.

You get all kinds of weapons with which to accomplish your dirty deeds, from silenced guns and poison to piano wire and sniper rifles.

Enemy AI is pretty good, and guards will stop and take notice if you look out of place, even if you’re wearing a disguise. Once their alerted, you can either shoot your way out or, more likely, just reload a saved game.

The graphics and controls are both great, and we liked the wide variety of levels. Sometimes the difficulty curve was a bit steep and finishing a mission was often a matter of trial and error (and constant reloading).

Number 47 is also fairly attractive for a bald guy, so we didn’t mind spending the game looking at the back of his head. There are plenty of female characters you run into, but being a hitman seems to still be a boy’s club kind of thing. At least 47’s unseen boos is a woman. Maybe we’ll get our chance to get our hands dirty with the next sequel.

SCORE: 9.5