This is a great game, to say the least.
Shortly summarized, you play a cloned human working as a hit-man. "Blood money" is the latest part of the Hit-man series, taking place mostly in the US, with a few missions abroad.
The sneaking around part may be "easier" than, say Splinter Cell, but it offers a lot more in its own way. You don't work for any government, only yourself and your hit-man agency. Rivaling another agency, the Franchise, which you will be pitted against several times during the game.
The game can be played in either stealth or full assault mode. Each mission offers a lot of different ways to complete them, at 4 different difficulty levels, meaning that you don't get bored with this one after a few days. Always a lot of new things to discover.
A rival Hit-man bureau is trying to take agent 47 (you) down throughout the game, and you follow the storyline from their point of view as well as they sum up your recent hits, trying to catch and kill you.
BIG WARNING right here and a possible SPOILER ! When you get to the final mission, and are a little disappointed about the way it ends, check around the internet for the real ending. It doesn't end the way you think it does the first time you play through it; notice the mission "flatline", and you get the picture. If you don't get it, check out a walk-through on the internet, they're readily available.
The game: keeping a low profile, staying silent and unknown are the secrets to making the most money and having the most fun here. Your client won't be happy if you're supposed to take out a protected state witness, and you leave him AND 57 FBI agents in pools of blood. No Christmas bonus for you ! The key is to minimize fuzz and public attention.
You can kill your targets in a wide variety of ways, and the more it looks like an accident, the less witnesses, no evidence no nothing, the better your ranking, the better your pay. The optimal solution is to have your target(s) die in a freak accident, without any other kills. In this game you only whack bad guys as well. Drug dealers, mobsters, child molesters, drug runners, arms smugglers and so on.
The game features lots of different weapons; custom firearms that you own and can upgrade e.g. buy silencers and such for them, the weapons you can collect from dead/stunned/ sleeping hostiles, and melé weapons you pick up along the way. Having the ability to upgrade your weapons allows you to carry out missions quicker, cleaner and more effective.
This game got a rating of 18 years and above in Norway, something like and R in the US. Make no mistake, if you play it that way, this game can be extremely violent, very graphic, and definitely NOT intended for kids. No, 15 year old shouldn't play it in my opinion. If you shoot a target through the head with a 0.50 caliber gun, there will be spatter. And if you kill somebody with a hedge-cutter, kitchen knife, meat cleaver, screwdriver... the list goes on.... as I said, the game doesn't leave much to imagination.
After each hit, you can read the local paper to see what the police say about the hits, and you'll get a statistical wrap up to see how good you are.
The scenery, ambiance, music and locations are very neatly done. Lots of well created details, monologues, great choices of personnel by Eidos for the voice over.
So if you fantasize about being a hit-man, aren't bugged by blood and gore, and are above 18 years of age, I highly recommend it ! If you're looking for a Christmas/birthday gift for your 12 year old nephew, I don't recommend it; really most of the hits can be made truly gruesome if you want to. That being said, it's worth the money, and it'll keep you playing for hours.
Shortly summarized, you play a cloned human working as a hit-man. "Blood money" is the latest part of the Hit-man series, taking place mostly in the US, with a few missions abroad.
The sneaking around part may be "easier" than, say Splinter Cell, but it offers a lot more in its own way. You don't work for any government, only yourself and your hit-man agency. Rivaling another agency, the Franchise, which you will be pitted against several times during the game.
The game can be played in either stealth or full assault mode. Each mission offers a lot of different ways to complete them, at 4 different difficulty levels, meaning that you don't get bored with this one after a few days. Always a lot of new things to discover.
A rival Hit-man bureau is trying to take agent 47 (you) down throughout the game, and you follow the storyline from their point of view as well as they sum up your recent hits, trying to catch and kill you.
BIG WARNING right here and a possible SPOILER ! When you get to the final mission, and are a little disappointed about the way it ends, check around the internet for the real ending. It doesn't end the way you think it does the first time you play through it; notice the mission "flatline", and you get the picture. If you don't get it, check out a walk-through on the internet, they're readily available.
The game: keeping a low profile, staying silent and unknown are the secrets to making the most money and having the most fun here. Your client won't be happy if you're supposed to take out a protected state witness, and you leave him AND 57 FBI agents in pools of blood. No Christmas bonus for you ! The key is to minimize fuzz and public attention.
You can kill your targets in a wide variety of ways, and the more it looks like an accident, the less witnesses, no evidence no nothing, the better your ranking, the better your pay. The optimal solution is to have your target(s) die in a freak accident, without any other kills. In this game you only whack bad guys as well. Drug dealers, mobsters, child molesters, drug runners, arms smugglers and so on.
The game features lots of different weapons; custom firearms that you own and can upgrade e.g. buy silencers and such for them, the weapons you can collect from dead/stunned/ sleeping hostiles, and melé weapons you pick up along the way. Having the ability to upgrade your weapons allows you to carry out missions quicker, cleaner and more effective.
This game got a rating of 18 years and above in Norway, something like and R in the US. Make no mistake, if you play it that way, this game can be extremely violent, very graphic, and definitely NOT intended for kids. No, 15 year old shouldn't play it in my opinion. If you shoot a target through the head with a 0.50 caliber gun, there will be spatter. And if you kill somebody with a hedge-cutter, kitchen knife, meat cleaver, screwdriver... the list goes on.... as I said, the game doesn't leave much to imagination.
After each hit, you can read the local paper to see what the police say about the hits, and you'll get a statistical wrap up to see how good you are.
The scenery, ambiance, music and locations are very neatly done. Lots of well created details, monologues, great choices of personnel by Eidos for the voice over.
So if you fantasize about being a hit-man, aren't bugged by blood and gore, and are above 18 years of age, I highly recommend it ! If you're looking for a Christmas/birthday gift for your 12 year old nephew, I don't recommend it; really most of the hits can be made truly gruesome if you want to. That being said, it's worth the money, and it'll keep you playing for hours.