If you’re old enough to remember gaming before the implementation of the achievement or trophy systems, you probably recall implementing your own set of requirements to “finish” once the story mode rolled its credits. Maybe you had to collect each and every single collectible in a game, or you would speed run a notoriously long game. For me, completing stealth games in every way you can think of was the top of my list – killing each and every NPC on the map? Check. What about killing no one unless necessary? Yup. The possibilities could go on and on and applied to any game. Despite there being some heavy weights on the list such as Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid, few games scratched this unique itch like Hitman and its follow ups. Offering a true sense of freedom, often in sandbox style worlds long before they were given a name, they’ve consistently had stellar ideas that sounded amazing on paper, and often fell just short of excellence in execution, until the critically and commercially successful 2016 soft reboot of the series. Is Hitman 2 the perfect kill shot or does it miss the mark entirely, hitting the target’s parakeet in error?

The narrative follows the events of the last entry; despite IO Interactive trying their best to offer a compelling story, it falls completely flat this time around. This is in part due to the delivery, which looks more akin to storyboards with the occasional visual effect opposed to the well rendered videos bookending the missions from the previous outing, but is also the result of trying to shoehorn a ridiculous number of twists and turns between a total of six missions. Since you can import purchased content from the first game, the botched presentation stands out even more, as those cut scenes carry over in their original method of presentation, making the new content even more underwhelming from a story standpoint. The story has never really been Agent 47’s specialty, due to the majority of the interconnected levels sharing little in terms of narrative and often being rushed to a proper conclusion around the final set pieces. What the series does excel at is making small, bite sized stores you find within the game world, often leading to multiple routes that reward those who take their time, carefully planning their assassination.

The freedom the game gives you is simply astounding and only gets better as you progress. Each level has multiple challenges (some areas have more than 100), optional stories that unlock alternate assassination methods, and pick-ups that allow you to dispatch of NPCs in brutal or downright hilarious ways, resulting in each playthrough being completely different. Each level as well as Agent 47 has an XP progression system. As new levels are reached, new weapons, tools, and support options open up, allowing you to revisit levels starting from a completely different area (often disguised), hiding items within the world for you to pick up as needed, or simply adding an additional layer of challenge. When you add in the three difficulty options, ranging from Casual (easy, no cameras, unlimited saves) to Master (a single save per attempt, cameras in place, more guards), the game offers a pretty ridiculous amount of replay value in the story mode.

Making its way back for a third appearance is the Contracts mode, allowing you to create or download your own contracts within the game’s world. This mode hasn’t changed much, with the single exception being that owners of the 2016 version of the game can upload levels created using the previous entry’s levels. This is slightly problematic for multiple reasons at this time, as the filters are littered with contracts created using maps and characters that are too easy for the sake of an easy achievement, and veterans of the series will likely be bored here. Regardless, the game offers so much content within a package that huge sandbox games rarely achieve.

For the first time in the series’ history, Hitman 2 offers a few multiplayer modes – Sniper Assassination, which is an arcade style sniper’s only mini game tasking you with making your own version of The Red Wedding, alone or with a friend; as well as the brand spanking new Ghost Mode (which as of this writing is only in Beta phase), pitting you against another player to eliminate targets competing for a high score. While I have read rumors about portals opening within the game allowing you to actually attack the other player, most of my opponents have either been disconnected, left, or died prior to this event happening within my game sessions. While I didn’t see much of a difference in the core gameplay, the option is there for those who need to scratch the competitive itch beyond the leader boards.

The greatest challenge the game offers is the Elusive Targets, which are timed events that offer unique rewards for managing to take out timed, extremely difficult targets, with one huge change – you only get one attempt, no saves. These will require the player to carefully plan their attack and know the level like the back of their hand. While I wasn’t successful in completing one of these challenges during the 2016 run, I was successful in taking down Sean Bean’s The Undying within a ridiculously low four minutes. I’m not sure if this was dumbed down due to the fact that Sean Bean always dies, and the developer didn’t want to let the world down, or if my tactics were a bit cheesy (I threw an explosive rubber duck at his face, walked away towards the exit, and pulled the trigger), but it felt all too easy in a game world that normally only rewards hard work.

The AI feels like a huge improvement, not just on the most recent release, but for the series as a whole. Gone are the days that each and every enemy would see through your disguise, allowing you to freely explore the game world, only evading specific high level NPCs that would react in a similar way in real life. There are still moments in which the AI falters, such as a target or guard leaving their normal routine or scripted elements failing or disappearing with no reason being provided, but if you take advantage of the save system this shouldn’t cause too much frustration. There is an auto save system in place, but it has a habit of not saving nearly as often as it should, or will do so in the midst of a firefight. As someone who likes to see the world burn now and again, I am already in the mindset of saving before I do something stupid, but there has been a few times I forgot, leaving me with no option but to retread tons of ground to get back to where I had just been, prior to shooting a non-target because I thought their hat was stupid or they happened to look like my ex-girlfriend.

In most games, the environments you visit are just backdrops that set the stage, but in Hitman they have always felt like a character, usually more so than any of the characters found within. While none of the six locations in the current package are downright bad, few of them stand out such as Blood Money‘s Playboy style penthouse or Absolution‘s shooting range. The single exception is the race track mid indie car showdown; the rest all feel like locations 47 has visited in the past. Taking into account that we’ve seen the suburban landscape on multiple occasions in the past, this almost feels like a “Best Of” compilation, but in a situation where the developers asked the wrong focus group comprised of grandmothers and school teachers.

Outside of a few visual glitches, the game looks and runs as it should, but rarely feels like a current gen game, let alone a full-fledged game. You can see a noticeable improvement in textures, water effects, and lighting, but overall it looks almost exactly like Absolution did on the Xbox 360. NPC character models are repeated all too frequently, many of which walk and run like they have a stick shoved up their back door. The facial animations are hit or miss, showing some characters with realistic hair and facial features while others look like they’ve already been beaten with a blunt object prior to 47 getting his gloved hands on them. With only six new locations and a few new modes, this release feels more in line with a season pass DLC than a straight up sequel.

While it doesn’t breathe new life into the series, Hitman 2 succeeds in offering a true sense of accomplishment (or failure) when a carefully planned execution goes your way that few other games reach at their pinnacle. If you’re a fan of 47’s adventures, you know what you’re getting into, and will find this to be more than worth your money. On the flip side, new players will be able to jump right in and see the best of what the Hitman series has had to offer.

9 out of 10

Pros

• Tons of Content
• Success is Rewarding
• Highly Immersive

Cons

• Some AI Bugs
• Looks Slightly Dated
• The Story Presentation Between Games is Jarring

Hitman 2 was developed by IO Interactive and published by IO Interactive in association with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is currently available on PC, PS4, and X1 for $59.99. The game was not provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of Hitman 2, check out the publisher’s official site.

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.