Hitman: Blood Money (Xbox 360, 2006)

Agent 47: badass of all time. Hitman Bloodmoney: instant classic.

Everything you love about the HITMAN series is back--mouth-watering graphics and new weapons make this a game well worth playing. Cool new locations include Las Vegas, Paris, and more U.S. locations. New features include a new Notoriety system along with an entirely new, interactive story and scenarios.

Who doesn't love sneaking up on someone with a wire and dumping them in the nearest crate? This time around, 47 has the best weapons arsenal to fulfil all of his objectives. Superb storyline (a great surprise ending) and next-generation graphics makes this the best Hitman yet! Don't miss this game!

A HIT-- A+

-- A Review Written by GameGo, an eBay store --
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The Hitman series keeps on going and going. In this fourth installment you are back as Agent 47 to do what a hitman does. This would be a great game for downloadable content instead of making you buy a whole new game but at least it's not taking that much space on my hardrive. Some of the new missions are quite brilliant while others feel rehashed and people are way to paranoid as if everyone in the building knows a hitman is coming to kill somebody and you're the only bald guy to blame. Having a hideout is nice but kind of a waste of time, not as easy to navigate like "The Punisher". It is a lot easier to use your stealth weapons this time though but trying to capture people for disguises can sometimes prove difficult. Graphics are much better than the Xbox or PS2. If you just have to have this game this is the version to go with.
No online or downloadable content in a game that could be perfect for such a thing can easily be viewed as a waste. Imagine navigating a room full of people searching for other online agents who are trying to get to your target first without alerting you or the competition.
Rent before you buy. 3.5/5

First off let me tell you I'm no stranger to video games. That said I'm no stranger to Hitman games or sneaking games in general. This is just one example on how to make a classic better.
Not many games let you be a Contract Killer or Gun for hire. Lo interactive has crafted a game that is just that and so much more. If you played any sneaking game Metal Gear/ Splinter Cell then you partially know what to expect. The game owes more to an Manhunt than either of them. If you havent get ready for an eye opener.
You play as super killer in an Italian Suit,Agent 47. A cloned killing machine 47 is as deadly as a cobra bite only more fun to watch.
As with all of the hitman games 47 is able to killed or subdue an enemy and disguise himself in their clothing thus becoming a Insideman if you will. They are numerous ways to do so most of the time there are several different to perform a hit. Stabbing, strangling, shooting, sniping or you can make it look like an accident. If all that fails you can do it old school "run and gun" its not the most effective way but it is fun.
New to the game is notoriety. In most games you can sneak and kill, sneak and kill,over and over again with no one to hand the guards a picture and say: "Hey keep a look out for this guy!" In this game you get judged on how many killed,how many shots fired and how many accidents there were and so on. At the end of each level there is a newspaper detailing the exploits of each hit. The paper tells if there was an "accidental death" or not. It also chronicles the shots fired and if you were captured on film, your picture or an eyewitness discription. If that happens your next hit is that much harder with people aware of who you are and what you look like.
The downside is its slow paced,repetitious,has a frustrating save system and has graphical glitches here and there. The 360 version looks next generation with a big boost in graphics and detail. Peep his eyebrows and necktie. But overall worth your $60 bucks if you have the patience.

I give this game a 4.9 because although the game is awesome, and the graphics are amazing on the 360, it left me hanging. I hate cliff hangers. HOW DID THE WOMEN GET OUT?!?!?! SHE WAS RIGHT THERE!!!! Anyways... I also thought it could have used a few more levels. It took about a month of very mild game play to finish it, which is me playing around 2 levels a week. A hardcore gamer could have this done in a day or two in the rookie, or normal modes. The game play is smooth, and the combinations of how and when to get to your target seem endless. You can kill everyone, or sneak in and make it look like an accident. The graphics are amazing, it is the best looking game I have seen on the 360 so far. The levels are well thought out, complete with bathrooms, showers, kitchens...etc. Logical placement of these things make the environment seem believable. This also helps with your mission plan, you can hide in closets, or bathrooms awaiting a target. The levels are manageable in size, not to large or overwhelming. It is pretty hard to mistake your target, or where the game wants you to be at a given moment, although if you do decide not to follow the game play you wont fail your mission, or disrupt the final outcome. In fact, if you just go in and shoot up your targets without regard for witnesses, you can still exit and advance to the next level...if you don't get killed by the security first. BUY THE UPGRADES, follow the upgrade paths for the weapons and health options, it makes the more difficult levels easier to deal with. I found myself using the pistols a lot, and not even carrying weapons in a few levels. One more minor complaint is that some of the bystanders did stupid things after I had just shot up a room, like continuing what they were doing BEFORE I just killed everyone in plain site, with a loud riffle. A museum employee showing exhibits witnessed me shoot all his tourists, and a few seconds later continued on the exhibit with the single remaining survivor. Keep in mind, this was in normal mode, not expert. In expert the museum guy would have grabbed the nearest firearm and clipped me...but still, that would never happen.

Overall, FUN game. The story keeps your attention, and makes you want to complete the next mission to find out whats next. Some nights I had a hard time putting it down. I also tried to force different outcomes in the story, it is possible...but I wont ruin it for anyone. I ended up trying each extreme in the levels, killing everyone to killing just the targets. Some levels it is impossible to kill everyone, not enough ammo! You can just strangle them all at that point! The advanced AI (expert mode) is fun, but difficult. Killer graphics. Great game.

I've been a fan of the Hitman games since the 2nd in the series. I bought Blood Money for the computer and just decided to get it for my 360 as well. This probably already shows that it's a good game, however there are some bits to it that could have been changed.

This time, the game takes an easier approach and doesn't take as much logic and reasoning to figure out as the second one did. When playing on the easier difficulties all you really have to do it open your map and you can see exactly where to go and what to do. Of course there aren't a lot of ways to take out your targets, as I had hoped. Well, there are many ways, however there are really only maybe two or three realistic Silent Assassin ways to take them out.

Silent Assassin (SA) is the best game rating you can get in the game. After each mission you are rated on your performance, and if you screw up once you usually can't get the SA rating. This can be a bit frustrating on Professional difficulty (the toughest one) as there are no saves permitted in this mode and you usually just end up playing the same thing over and over again until you get it right. This leads to some very repetitive times and can get on your nerves.

The game did fix some things that were a bit strange in the 2nd Hitman game. The enemies don't constantly watch you any more and you don't have to be constantly walking around them. The older enemies I found were too suspicious of you and if you just looked at them wrong they would start shooting at you.

The great number of weapons and things are great, however the one main thing I don't understand in Blood Money is this; every level you net an amount of money depending on your performance. The only thing you can buy with this money is upgrades for your guns. And I don't mean just stealthy, helpful upgrades. You can upgrade your M4A1 to look like it was meant for a Marine. When you're carrying around a fully decked out Rifle, Hitman loses it's sneakiness that should always be there. You don't feel covert anymore, and you really only use the M4A1 when you want to rush into the level and kill everyone.

And the sad thing about doing this is it's possible. You can just run throughout the whole level killing everyone in sight with your upgraded shotgun. Also, the best upgrades come at the end of the game when you only have about 2 more missions left. A Hitman should be able to buy his upgrades any time he wants, especially one as renown at Agent 47.

So Blood Money will be great for you the first one or two times through, however they could have improved it much more. It didn't seem as polished as it could have been and some of the decisions the developers made are just boggling.

Don't let all this bad talk I'm giving it make you turn away from buying it. It's worth the buy in my opinion and will leave you wanting more.