Hitman 2 E3 Preview
Hitman 2 is hard for me to gauge for a couple of reasons. First, I haven’t played one of these games in quite some time. Second, my experience with the demo was heavily guided in nature. I likely betrayed my almost total lack of skills when the attendant asked how familiar I was with the franchise. In spite of all this, I was really impressed with what I saw at E3. I beat a man unconscious with a fish. There’s something inherently satisfying about this that I can’t easily put into words. The scaly act of violence walked a weird line between goofy and sinister.
There were two options available for eliminating my target. I chose the simpler path of death by remote explosive. I say simple, even though there were a long series of steps that needed to be completed in the right order for this to go as planned. I don’t know if this is a new mechanic or what, but I really appreciate having to avoid people who could easily see through my ruse. There were something like four different disguises I had to acquire, people to poison, supplies to intercept and security teams to avoid. One feature I haven’t seen before in many (any?) games were the bathroom mirrors. It seems like a simple thing, but people can actually catch your reflection in the mirror and will react accordingly. Thankfully I was able to pull off all my non-lethal takedowns without being caught by this new mechanic.
At the end of the demo there was a sort of sizzle reel detailing all the ways this assassination could have been completed. Without getting an exact list, it seemed like this woman could have died in maybe six different ways, one of which involved a mascot costume. Which, honestly, should be a requirement for any sandbox-type game. I’m curious to see what kind of creative murders you’ll be able to pull off once this game is released. The banners around E3 showed Agent 47 with some truly unconventional weapons. As fun as it was dishing out concussions with a fish, I need to know if there’s going to be any scenes where you brandish a muffin with malicious intent. If you’re even a casual fan of the franchise, you’re going to want to keep Hitman 2 on your short list. The franchise tradition of murderous creativity looks to be alive and well.
