Each mission has several possible solutions. You can take the noisy straightforward route, blasting your way into a situation, but you risk overwhelming retribution, as this approach tends to alert all nearby guards and sets off alarms. The mission briefing also implied that a violent entry could scare away the target altogether, too. Your arsenal becomes a key part of your strategy. The Hitman's collection of pain givers is a gunrunner's catalog. From long-range sniper rifles to AK-47s and carbon-steel knives, each one is described in disaffected detail, recalling the coolest of the assassin film genre, Day of the Jackal or the Eiger Sanction. And finally, after all of these years of gruesome action simulations we get to play with that legendary piano wire, the classic stealth killer weapon. As you might guess, this is great for taking out guards without alerting others.

The mission I played was multi-faceted, with several targets to kill. An important part of executing the final task is having an exit strategy. In several instances, I assassinated a target well enough but got shot in the back on the way out of the hotel. You need to plot a safe way out of the level and beyond the hail of bullets that may be following you. Alternatively, you can use the high-powered sniper rifle for long-distance shoots.

Because movement and exploration are slower, more painstaking in stealth-oriented games like this one and Thief, you get a lot of satisfaction from their level of detail and interactivity. Being able to push obstacles, pick up random objects, throw light switches and such are important both to strategy and believability in these games. The Hitman designers look as if they are aiming towards that kind of detail. Hotel rooms each get their own number. Many objects can be moved and picked up even if you don't think you need them. Most characters will exchange some kind of nicety with you even if they aren't critical to the mission. In the early build we played, things still felt more wooden than we hope to see in the final game. The chef in the kitchen, for instance, just stands glued to the floorboards when you barge in to steal a knife. On the other hand, the hotel stream room is detailed enough to serve double duty, both as a sauna and a potential weapon.

While the mechanics aren't all in place yet, the basic mission structure and tone for the game seems well-conceived. Assignments pit you against mob bosses, drug lords, terrorists and the like (I presume you play a “good” assassin), so there should be a great variety of sets and character designs, if we're lucky. Effecting a cold militaristic tone, the mission briefings and weapons catalog have that Tom Clancy flavor, nerd bureaucracy laced with testosterone fantasies of efficient gunplay. And the promise of this game is that like the perennial Executioner series and other tales of righteous mercenaries that populate our adventure genres, Hitman will play directly into those dark male fantasies, the dream of being the cool assassin.

By Steve Smith
Contributing Editor