Hitman: Blood Money [revisited]

[weemadando]

I've picked this up off Steam and have been replaying it.

I'd forgotten just how fun "A New Life" is as a sandbox mission. And for generating money to finish off my firearms collection (you can silent assassin it in under 5 minutes - easily).

Just replayed "A New Life" and went with the distraction/high violence technique.

Weapon - .45 w/silencer type 2, magnum ammo and laser sight.

I run straight over to the FBI surveillance van, pull out my silverballer, open the back door and put a single round into each agents head. I grab one of their suits, pull the surveillance tapes and run across the street. I plant a RU-AP mine in the caterer tray and break the utility box. I then walk in the front door and through to the living room. I then wait for Mr Sinistra to come in and complain about the TV not working. His close protection guard leaves to check the box. I garotte Sinistra, leaving him sitting in his chair. Just as the caterer carries the second box into the big atrium room with the stairway. I detonate it while still in the living room. It takes out the caterer and the wife. The FBI agents all come running - I walk up, check her body, grab the microfilm and walk straight out the front door.

Right then, the music cues to that classic Hitman riff, simply brilliant. I walk to the van, change back into my suit and walk away.

They call me "The Ghost". The newspaper reports that there was no clear MO - though two FBI agents were executed by shots to the head and only two rounds were fired from a silenced weapon. Clearly the FBI are damn confused as to what happened and in what order.

They've got two men dead from single shots to the head in a surveillance van (one stripped of his clothes). No tapes left in the van either. They have a federal witness who's been strangled. And a caterer and bikini clad wife who had a close encounter with an AP mine.

I thought that mission was particularly well done. Not as outrageous as my MP5K rampage in the Paris theatre which left no witnesses but 30+ dead security staff and NO civilian casualties (I don't know how that happened either) - but definitely more classy.

[Vympel]

I got Silent Assassin in every mission and still couldn't afford every gun upgrade.

[PeZook]

I got Silent Assassin in every mission and still couldn't afford every gun upgrade.

I just leave some of mu guns unupgraded and buy whatever I want before replaying a mission.

I recently went through the game again in order to complete it, but found that getting SA every time was too tedious and boring, so I decided to take the "Leon: The Proffesional" route. I just love how you set up the kill carefully just for this one moment when you swiftly pull out your silenced silverballer, put one shot into the target's head, holster the gun, turn around and walk away. Pure gold.
Oh, and no "shotgun out of a box of roses" moments in Blood Money. Bad

On the other hand, I had an awesome moment yesterday. In "Dance with the devil" I let Eve (the assassin chick that wants to take you out) lead me to her room (thinking she seduced, me, hah!). When I walked inside, the door locked itself (huh?) and she started doing sommersaults and whatnot all around the room, knife in hand.

I calmly waited untill she was finished and clocked her once in the head. Somebody should've told the bitch you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

[Vympel]

I just leave some of mu guns unupgraded and buy whatever I want before replaying a mission.

Yeah, I do that as well. My favorite weapon to upgrade and use are teh Silverballers. Just once silenced Silverballer with the relevant upgrades (no need for extended mags, for example) is a lot of fun.

I recently went through the game again in order to complete it, but found that getting SA every time was too tedious and boring

Strange- I found that of all the Hitman games (excluding the flawed first game, which didn't take ratings into account) it was easiest to get SA on H:BM.

[PeZook]

Strange- I found that of all the Hitman games (excluding the flawed first game, which didn't take ratings into account) it was easiest to get SA on H:BM.

Yeah, it's easy, I just found it tedious. You know, waiting around so that accidents would happen, or the guy you're trailing is in just the right position to drop a lighting fixture on him, or till the bodyguard leaves.

I prefer to shoot the bodyguard in the face, calmly walk into the target's quarters, clock him in the head, walk out, dust off my suit, walk out of the premises. It's just more satisfying for me

[Vympel]

True, but I leave the way I want to kill them until after I get SA for everything- that way I have maximum firepower choice.

[weemadando]

Silent Assassin ratings are easier, because there are multiple ways of getting SA now and you can have fun with the ridiculously elaborate options.

I've been trying to stockpile patience to play 25th Amendment for SA rating, but it just takes so damn long.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

In "A New Life", I find it highly satisfying to kill the FBI agents in the little van by shooting an MP5 at the door with wall-piercing rounds. You do it from a distance with the silencer and you down them before they get a chance to raise the alarm.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I've been trying to stockpile patience to play 25th Amendment for SA rating, but it just takes so damn long.

Huh. I've always found that one of the easier missions to get SA on.

In "A New Life", I find it highly satisfying to kill the FBI agents in the little van by shooting an MP5 at the door with wall-piercing rounds. You do it from a distance with the silencer and you down them before they get a chance to raise the alarm.

Bah. Everyone and their guns. It's far cooler to give them poisoned donuts and let them do your work for you.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

I love doing the Amendment mission - take out the VP and Parchezzi with one AP mine when they have their window-palaver.

Also, playing A New Life rocks hard. Why? Kill everyone by knocking them out and drowning them in the in-door pool. 11 accidents with no witnesses, and SA. All right. Very tedious, but well worth it.

[CaptHawkeye]

I absolutely love House of Cards primarily because of the mission's sniper friendly enviornment. I just love going Lee Harvey Oswald on target's asses. The main aspect about the WA-2000 I apreciate is how easily hidden it can be. With the suitcase you can take it places no other gun can go.

I also want to mention Dance with the Devil. Not because it was subtle, the fact that the ICA was collapsing around me, not to mention the realization that the enemy had actualy deployed agents to hunt me created a strong feeling of desperation. I figured, "well, they probably expect me to be as stealthy and quiet as possible, since that's what I usually do... of course, they don't actually know me."

Agent 47: *Walks into lobby with 100 round drum M4 carbine.*

Gaurd: We're clos... *looks up* OH MY GO~

Yeah, I do that as well. My favorite weapon to upgrade and use are teh Silverballers. Just once silenced Silverballer with the relevant upgrades (no need for extended mags, for example) is a lot of fun.

I just split the money between upgrades which I felt I would actually use given the weapon. For instance, it's totally pointless to give the M4 a silencer, since the weapon doesn't really beget stealth or call for subtly. But you know that.

Personally, I spent most of money giving stealth only upgrades to the Silverballer, and WA-2000. While I turned the M4 into the ultimate organ evacuator. Personally, I found the WA-2000 to be my best friend during the game.

EDIT: You didn't think the extended mags were worth it? Funny, I figured it would be safe to have to have as much ammo as possible in the weapon at any given time. Even if it only takes one shot.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

Bah. Everyone and their guns. It's far cooler to give them poisoned donuts and let them do your work for you.

The poisoned donuts thing feels too contrived; it's as if FBI agents regularly accept food from conspicuously looking business men in a residential neighborhood. The silenced door-piercing shooting is so much cooler and believable.

I absolutely love House of Cards primarily because of the mission's sniper friendly enviornment. I just love going Lee Harvey Oswald on target's asses. The main aspect about the WA-2000 I apreciate is how easily hidden it can be. With the suitcase you can take it places no other gun can go.

I once tried sneaking in and planting a mine into the DNA briefcase so it would appear that the white supremacist double crossed the Sheik. I thought, wouldn't it be sweet for the Sheik and the white supremacist to kill each other once they thought they both got duped? Alas, to my dismay, after the bomb went off, the Sheik and the white supremacist just sat their staring at each other. It was then I figured out that the developers had not accounted for this deliciously devious situation.

Le sigh...

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

Also, the coolest way to beat A New Life (with SA, no less) is to snipe the guy in his chair from the garage across from him. Sure And Silent.

Also, I totally agree that House of Cards rocks, simply from the number of ways to complete the mission in a cool way. From the simple (elevator choke!) to the complex ( sniper shots across to the floor above, ballers in the bathroom, bomb in the briefcase). Also, all the ledge-walking and wall-climbing is fun.

[Big Orange]

I love Hitman: Blood Money - other "sand box" missions that I like is the drug lord's mansion compound built onto a cliff face and "Flatline" where you infiltrate a high-tech, heavily guarded rehab clinic. "A Murder of Crows" was a potentially good mission, but it was mostly ruined by the rather irrational AI of all the NPCs (cops shoot at you for wearing a business suit in a bar, bystanders flee in terror if you pick a lock or wander into a kitchen and nobody notices the "real" bad guys in bird costumes).

"You Better Watch Out" was a great Bond-themed setting and reminded me of the excellent "The Death of Herohito" stage from way back in Silent Assasin. I also quite liked the mission with the rednecks holding a wedding on a fortified island (but I loathed the hit on that paddle steamer). "House of Cards" was slightly patchy, although "Dance With the Devil" made up for it (it felt very CSI).

The "Amendment" stage felt a little odd though, I liked the features of the US Marine honour guardsman with their MI4 rifles and the setting of the White House itself was compentently realized, but something felt amiss and they should've put more features in - you can't disable the entire CCTV system of perhaps the most sensitive administration building in the world by yanking out a cassette, the layout of the West Wing felt completely off, there were no Secret Service security guards and there should've been a Secret Service SWAT team on stand by (there also could've been a big security lockdown, with blast doors falling down on the entry points and windows getting sealed off by steel shutters).

[loomer]

Another vote for a Dance with the Devil on professional. So many, many fun little ways to kill people... Shark tank, fireworks, swordcane, meat cleaver, rampage, stealth... Mmm. That and there's something innately satisfying about rampaging through the upstairs party with an M4.

[Big Orange]

"Dance With the Devil" was a well thought out and put together enviroment with decent attention to detail with the way the targets could move aroun - I liked the bit where you rig that woman's platform and she gets immolated, then dunks herself in the giant aquarium, then gets eaten by shark.

I'm looking forward to Kain & Lynch though (but it looks much more run and gun, directly taking on hordes of guards, police and SWAT).

[Vendetta]

Kane & Lynch does look interesting, especially for co-op play, where you might have different objectives (or awareness of the objectives) depending on which character you are.

[Big Orange]

Kane & Lynch does look a tad repetitive though and the scenery for several missions look too similar (ie high tech skyscrapers but in different cities). I also heard they've adapted Freedom Fighter's simple but reliable squad system for K&L as well.

[SylasGaunt]

The poisoned donuts thing feels too contrived; it's as if FBI agents regularly accept food from conspicuously looking business men in a residential neighborhood. The silenced door-piercing shooting is so much cooler and believable.

Indeed them accepting food for conspiculously dressed business men does seem odd.. that's why I let the caterer drop them off.

[chitoryu12]

I'm getting H:BM off of Gamefly soon. Unfortunately, it's set for the Xbox 360, which went kablooey two weeks ago.

[chitoryu12]

Sorry for possible minor necro, though I think it's all right.

I just got it for the PS2 off of Gamefly and took it for a spin. Definately the best in the series. I like how in the theater you can take the place of the actor using the real pistol and shoot him down. I also like that they fixed the first-person view. I have a feeling that for the previous games they just stuck a camera on your head. All of the guns felt loose and tiny. The M195 looked the size of an M4, which was the size of a submachine gun. And the pistols looked like 47 could crush them with his hand. I like the "normal" first-person view in here.

Unfortunately, I have too much of an affinity for the silenced Ballers. Never did like sneaking up on them and jabbing them in the neck or strangling them compared to splattering their brains on the walls.

One feature I find relieving is the use of "normal" atmospheres. In the old games, you were rarely, if ever, around civilians. Silent Assassin was really guilty of this crime. If you weren't in a Russian or terrorist base, there were either no civilians or you would get shot just for existing. Which brings up how much I love the less sensitive awareness bar.

I hear that on higher difficulty levels they can spot bloodstains and bullet holes? Is this true?

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Even better than replacing the actor is sneaking into his dressing room and replacing his prop gun with the real one, so he unwittingly blows the mark away and you're not even in the same room so no one could possibly suspect you.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I hear that on higher difficulty levels they can spot bloodstains and bullet holes? Is this true?

Not to my knowledge. I played through on Professional awhile back and brutally murdered that counter-assassin on that Colorado mansion level, just barely hiding the body in time as some guards came running. There was blood splattered everywhere, bulletholes, and shell casings and the guards just shrugged and went back to their business.

[chitoryu12]

I hear that on higher difficulty levels they can spot bloodstains and bullet holes? Is this true?

Not to my knowledge. I played through on Professional awhile back and brutally murdered that counter-assassin on that Colorado mansion level, just barely hiding the body in time as some guards came running. There was blood splattered everywhere, bulletholes, and shell casings and the guards just shrugged and went back to their business.

They must have only payed $2.95 for the security services.

[Ford Prefect]

Not to my knowledge. I played through on Professional awhile back and brutally murdered that counter-assassin on that Colorado mansion level, just barely hiding the body in time as some guards came running. There was blood splattered everywhere, bulletholes, and shell casings and the guards just shrugged and went back to their business.

Comparitively, I've experienced a couple of workers noticing the blood on my hammer (from a botched disarm attempt) and freaking out.

So yeah, I also have Blood Money, and am currently up to ...Till Death Do Us Part. I enjoyed playing Silent Assassin, but this is eally the first time that I've been able to play Hitman as it should be played. Sneaking around and pulling seriously slick killings. So far, the only weapon that I've taken into missions is the Silverballer, kitted out for precision stealth - excepting A Murder of Crows when I took my tactical SMG (also kitted out to be quiet).

It's really a lot of fun; capping the Don in the back of the head while he's practicing his music then calmly walking out of the building; effortlessly faking my way through a secured rehab facility. It was also rather satisfying dropping that asshole Bingham seventy feet down onto solid rock ... pity about those girls though. I've really enjoyed all the hits so far, though I tend to be fairly brute force when it comes down to it: during the Opera House hit for example, I simple got out onto the back of the stage and shot the tenor in the back of th head. Then when the ambassador came down to cry about it, I shot him in the back of the head too. I would like to try planting the C96 in a place where the actor can get it, then I'd like to drop the chandelier on the ambassador's head, or something like that.