Hitman 2: Rating The New Features by: Tech21 | December 10, 2001 When Eidos Interactive unveiled Hitman 2: Silent Assassin early this October, the press release was stacked with new game features and enhancements. IO Interactive has since then revealed a host of other gameplay additions, all the while promising to keep the feel of the sequel as close as possible to the original. With the new features, IOI hopes to expand on the possibilities a game like Hitman creates, while drawing in a more diverse crowd than the somewhat cult-status original was able to. New features = good features? The question for the Hitman community then, is whether these new features will actually enhance our enjoyment of the new game, or cripple it into a different game altogether. Will IOI's attempt to please a more widespread crowd take away from the completely unique gameplay we have come to love? Or will the new features indeed give us an even more enjoyable experience? It's hard to say right now. What we can do, however, is make some logical guesses as to which additions will compliment Hitman 2, and which should have been left out. And who knows, maybe IOI is right on target. Mid-Level Saves This is no doubt the most controversial topic surrounding Hitman. According to the press release, Hitman 2 will allow players to save anywhere in a mission, but only a limited number of times depending on the size/difficulty of the mission. This is obviously an attempt to quell the barrage of complaints received from fans and reviewers concerning the lack of saves in the original Hitman. But really, IOI has every reason to do so. After all, the company's primary goal is to turn the largest possible profit, and if that means pleasing the largest possible crowd and receiving the best possible reviews, then so be it. However, that's not really the issue here. The issue is whether mid-mission saves are really going to enhance the gamplay of Hitman 2. My answer? No. The problem with all those who put forth complaints concerning the lack a saves is that they really don't understand how the game is supposed to be played. They fail to see the beauty of the A game like no other... completely unique, never-before-seen game system that IOI created. They want to begin mission 1, play through it, begin mission 2, get a little ways through, get tired and save it, and come back and finish mission 2, etc. Hitman is not this type of game! Hitman is not a traditional action game. Hitman is not Deus Ex. Hitman is not Tomb Raider. Hitman is Hitman, and no other game even comes close in similarity. Sure, Hitman follows a somewhat loose linear storyline, but each mission in the game must be viewed as its own individual "package" if you will. This is why the game is so replayable. After completing one mission, it becomes "unlocked," so you can always go back and play it later. This isn't possible with other games. You can open up a saved game made at the beginning of the level in say, Thief, but you can't just select the mission you want to play and play it. Save games are going to be really difficult to implement into Hitman's system. Hopefully, with the addition of saves, IOI won't abandon its current mission selection screen for a more traditional load/save system.

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