Hitman Contracts

Hitman: Contracts is a stealth-based assassination game. Once again, Agent 47 must use a variety of weapons, disguises and tricks to eliminate his targets while exploring a larger, over-arcing plot.

The framing narrative of the game sees a badly wounded Agent 47 recalling past missions, including some missions from the first Hitman game; by playing through the missions in 47's memory, you will gradually learn the story of how he came to be lying bleeding in a Parisian hotel room. Once the flashback catches up with Agent 47, it's time for one last desperate mission to eliminate 47's antagonist and escape safely.

As in the previous Hitman titles, each level is essentially a stealth-based puzzle; evading or blending in with guards or other locals is vital. Your suspicion meter will tell you how close you are to raising the alarm, and your performance will be rated at the end based on how well you managed to avoid both suspicion and collateral damage.

Hitman: Contracts requires patience, observation and a certain creative attitude. To earn the coveted Silent Assassin rating, you'll have to eliminate your target without killing anyone else and arousing as little suspicion as possible. That means making use of stolen clothing and uniforms, imitating the behaviour of enemies and keeping a careful eye out for enemy lines of sight. Don't expect to successfully complete a mission on the first try -- you'll probably fail a few times. Just view these as an opportunity to collect data for your ultimately successful assassination attempt.

This installment in the Hitman series lacks some of the unified plotline that made Hitman: Silent Assassin popular. Instead, it was seen as a slight letdown after the second game, not necessarily because it had any serious flaws but because it had relatively few new features compared to Silent Assassin. Still, Contracts is a well-put-together Hitman game, and it's enjoyable to revisit some of the levels from Codename 47 with the third game's updated graphics and AI. As with any vintage game, Contracts doesn't look polished next to modern releases, but its intelligent level design and sleek design are still fun to look at.

Pros

• Remastered levels
• Solid installment in a proven series

Cons

• Dated graphics
• Low-stakes storyline