Hitman 2: Rating The New Features by: Tech21 | December 10, 2001 But in reality, saving the game in Hitman is for the most part useless. There are no "levels" to play through in Hitman. You aren't going anywhere in Hitman. There are no bad guys to battle your way past. There's no reason a player needs to save progress. The point of the game is to strategize through scouting, research, and trial-and-error the best way to complete the mission. Then start the mission and complete it. Once the easiest way to accomplish the goals has been discovered, the mission can be completed start-to-finish in a rather small amount of time (30 minutes at most for the largest areas). Then, now that the mission is unlocked, players are free to play through it whenever they wish, trying different tactics, or just having fun. What's got her spooked? In short, saves are going to make Hitman 2 a "progess" type game, a type of game Hitman is not. Furthermore, how fun would "Traditions of the Trade" be is you could jump the balcony, save it, strangle the bodyguard, save it, kill Fuchs, save it, get the bomb, save it, etc. For lack of better words: boring as hell. Of course, saves are optional, so those of us who wish to play Hitman 2 just like Hitman are free to do so. But the fact is, mid-mission saves simply aren't going to compliment the gameplay of Hitman 2. Non-Lethal Weapons Thanks to many requests from fans (including a few on the HitmanHQ messageboard), Hitman 2 will features various non-lethal methods of taking down opposition or in-the-way pedestrians. There's no word of a bare-hands knockout, although that would be very cool (hint, hint IOI), but The Hitman will be able to make use of chloroform, poison darts, and stun guns to cleanly eliminate any hindrance to his plans. Non-lethal takedowns will be a great addition to the game. A good hitman only kills his target or when absolutely necessary, and besides that, didn't you feel just the least bit guilty strangling the life out of that poor hotel guest who saw you waste Fritz Fuchs? Errrrrm... next topic. Ranking System As a way of rewarding stylish, clean killing methods, Hitman 2 will feature a new "ranking system" that will track such things as number of innocent kills, bullets fired, accuracy, alarms tripped, etc. A high-ranking hitman could land access to new weaponry or additional mission information. Since the monetary rewards system and equipment purchasing of the original won't be making a return in Hitman 2, killing innocents will no longer result in a pay deduction. Instead, a whole number of factors will determine your success status, and instead of losing out on money (which really was never a factor in the first place), players are instead rewarded for a clean hit. The ranking system is a great way to encourage stylish play, while still allowing for those who tackle matters with a bit more forcefully.

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