Minor improvements like picture-in-picture alerts of important events and the ability to hide in foliage smooth out the gameplay, making it more enticing to dive back in. I’m still not compelled to replay levels for as long as the game wants me to, but I had significantly more fun returning to locations than I did in the last game. These moments, along with 47 giving the worst house tour ever while posing as a real-estate agent, kept me engaged and entertained during multiple playthroughs of each level, as did the wealth of challenges to pursue. The signature executions this time around are worth the extra effort they require, and range from coaxing a carnivorous hippo into eating his owner to helping an incompetent assassin perform your hits for you. Some locations, like the village, coca fields, and cartel mansion of Santa Fortuna, feel like three full-fledged levels fused together, offering a welcome change of scenery and scenarios as you scratch off the targets on your hit list. Though some problems come with Hitman 2’s levels being the biggest in the series, they are also among the most memorable, including an opulent billionaire’s high-tech headquarters and racetrack in Miami, and the sprawling slums of Mumbai. Thankfully, these scripted assassinations are far from the only way to dispatch your targets, and my options and enjoyment opened up once I pushed past the learning curve. Hitman’s signature assassinations have always been puzzles, and nowadays you can either have all the answers splayed out in front of you or blindly stumble through them via hours of frustrating trial-and-error. My one major criticism of Hitman 2 remains a holdover from the previous installment: Each map is now so massive that it demands a hefty time investment just to learn, and the organic discovery of a level’s set-piece executions has taken a backseat to in-game guides that hold your hand through each step in Agent 47’s elaborate schemes.
0 kommentar(er)
