I just beat the game right now. It has great graphics and runs well on a X1900 GT with 16xAF High Quality and 4xAA Adaptive Quality. Although they do have some stupid things like post filtering effects. Y'all know I don't like depth of field. Other than that one, they also have this.. I guess it's sort of like a color correction post filter. Only that the filter changes depending on the environment and it can be distracting. Say you're inside a room and you climb out the window, the colors seem to change completely. They don't even fade in - it's like a switch. Another issue with the graphics is self shadowing. I guess that's a technique that noone can get right (Tomb Raider as an ex.).
The controls seem clumbsy in this version. The last Hitman I've played was part 2: Silent Assassin. The way I remember it was that you would press the action button and then be able to select a bunch of actions. In Blood Money, you have 3 action buttons: space, e, g. G is to throw things away, Space is to pick things up, and E is to interact with the environment. It all seemed confusing to me while I played and still wasn't completely used to it by the end of the game. Idk, maybe it's just me. The game doesn't specifically tell you what the buttons are used for, so that might have been the cause of my confusion. I just remember them being easier on Hitman 2. You can also climb things by just pressing the forward button while facing the obstacle. Sometimes this can get annoying because you might end up pressing a button that can have you climbing back to the origin.
As far as gameplay goes, nothing seems to have changed since Hitman 2. You do the exact same thing. The AI might have gotten a bit better, but it's still kinda stupid. You could stand around in the bosses face doing nothing and he has no reaction to this. He should have something. I just think that they could've programmed a lot more NPC responses that would make the game more difficult and more fun. They try to make it more difficult by limiting the amount of saves you can do per mission, but I never bumped the limit on normal, which is 7 saves. It doesn't make it difficult. Any in-level saves that you create are deleted when you exit the game, probably to make it harder, but it just ends up becoming annoying and a waste of time.
Some levels don't seem to be too interesting, and most aren't too difficult. You have the map to help you and this new feature called "split-screen" that shows you when enemies do important things. The hard part is just getting the ball to start rolling. While I struggled a bit in the beginning of each level, as time went by, it became more apparent what I had to do and executing it was only a matter of patience. Patience just isn't one of my virtues with this game. Mostly it's just trial and error, where the error could have been some stupid mistake. Most levels are very short and aren't in depth. Mostly, the objectives you get at the beginning are not changed. I spent most of the time in the level figuring out what to do; then came the trial an error of getting a decent rating, trying to be as stealthy as possible. When I finally do the mission enough times, I'll be able to do it once near perfect.
It doesn't seem like you get anything for being stealthy, so there isn't too much motivation. The game, instead of focusing on stealth, also allows you to go in with machine guns and tear the roof off the mission. I can see that it allows flexability on how to play, but then where is the reward for playing the game like it should be played, stealthy. 47's character is, afterall, a stealthy hitman.
The story in this game isn't presented in a good way. It starts out with 47 dead and his killer ready to spill the beans to a reporter and rake in the glory. To convince the reporter, the killer tells him, on the way to 47's funeral, about Hitman's previous jobs following up to his death. Because each job is isolated, it isn't part of the story. The jobs are just jobs, like the hits in grand theft auto. Each one has no relation to each other. The jobs feel less exciting because of this and the limited objectives. So the story actually happens in the background, void of depth.
[VERDICT]
I'd say it's a OK game. People who are fans of the series might like it as long as they know that it's mostly the same material with some nice eye candy. There are a few nice levels and 1 or 2 sexy ones as well, but this game doesn't have enough depth for a hit. The ending was cool though.
The controls seem clumbsy in this version. The last Hitman I've played was part 2: Silent Assassin. The way I remember it was that you would press the action button and then be able to select a bunch of actions. In Blood Money, you have 3 action buttons: space, e, g. G is to throw things away, Space is to pick things up, and E is to interact with the environment. It all seemed confusing to me while I played and still wasn't completely used to it by the end of the game. Idk, maybe it's just me. The game doesn't specifically tell you what the buttons are used for, so that might have been the cause of my confusion. I just remember them being easier on Hitman 2. You can also climb things by just pressing the forward button while facing the obstacle. Sometimes this can get annoying because you might end up pressing a button that can have you climbing back to the origin.
As far as gameplay goes, nothing seems to have changed since Hitman 2. You do the exact same thing. The AI might have gotten a bit better, but it's still kinda stupid. You could stand around in the bosses face doing nothing and he has no reaction to this. He should have something. I just think that they could've programmed a lot more NPC responses that would make the game more difficult and more fun. They try to make it more difficult by limiting the amount of saves you can do per mission, but I never bumped the limit on normal, which is 7 saves. It doesn't make it difficult. Any in-level saves that you create are deleted when you exit the game, probably to make it harder, but it just ends up becoming annoying and a waste of time.
Some levels don't seem to be too interesting, and most aren't too difficult. You have the map to help you and this new feature called "split-screen" that shows you when enemies do important things. The hard part is just getting the ball to start rolling. While I struggled a bit in the beginning of each level, as time went by, it became more apparent what I had to do and executing it was only a matter of patience. Patience just isn't one of my virtues with this game. Mostly it's just trial and error, where the error could have been some stupid mistake. Most levels are very short and aren't in depth. Mostly, the objectives you get at the beginning are not changed. I spent most of the time in the level figuring out what to do; then came the trial an error of getting a decent rating, trying to be as stealthy as possible. When I finally do the mission enough times, I'll be able to do it once near perfect.
It doesn't seem like you get anything for being stealthy, so there isn't too much motivation. The game, instead of focusing on stealth, also allows you to go in with machine guns and tear the roof off the mission. I can see that it allows flexability on how to play, but then where is the reward for playing the game like it should be played, stealthy. 47's character is, afterall, a stealthy hitman.
The story in this game isn't presented in a good way. It starts out with 47 dead and his killer ready to spill the beans to a reporter and rake in the glory. To convince the reporter, the killer tells him, on the way to 47's funeral, about Hitman's previous jobs following up to his death. Because each job is isolated, it isn't part of the story. The jobs are just jobs, like the hits in grand theft auto. Each one has no relation to each other. The jobs feel less exciting because of this and the limited objectives. So the story actually happens in the background, void of depth.
[VERDICT]
I'd say it's a OK game. People who are fans of the series might like it as long as they know that it's mostly the same material with some nice eye candy. There are a few nice levels and 1 or 2 sexy ones as well, but this game doesn't have enough depth for a hit. The ending was cool though.
