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Hitman (computer game series)

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Hitman promotional art from '
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Hitman promotional art from

Hitman is a video game franchise available on most modern formats. It revolves around a man known as Agent 47 (usually simply referred to as 47), an assassin for hire, whose skills place him in high demand for jobs. The games contain a considerable amount of violence and are rated Mature (17+) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. 

The games were developed by Danish developer IO Interactive, now a division of Eidos Interactive. Four games have been released in the series: ' (2000), ' (2002), ' (2004), and ' (2006). 


A film, starring Vin Diesel as the lead character, is set to release in 2007. See Hitman (2007 film) for more details.


The games have been noted for their impressive musical scores by Jesper Kyd.





Contents





Basic gameplay




47 disguised as a Russian soldier in the "Tubeway Torpedo" mission of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.

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47 disguised as a Russian soldier in the "Tubeway Torpedo" mission of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.






All games of the Hitman series present players with choices in carrying out the game's missions. Players can perform precise assassinations or be incredibly brutal in their own approach to achieving mission goals; however, the game rewards the more subtle approach by giving special weapon rewards when players achieve the Silent Assassin rank (usually achievable by eliminating only the mission's target, and without raising the alarm doing so). The Hitman games, although brutally violent at times, discourage bloodshed and the player is penalized with lower pay should innocent blood be spilt.


Level and mission design is generally non-linear, in that missions have an exploration element to them and generally do not proceed along a single fixed path.


The gameplay revolves heavily around disguises, which the player uses to fool enemies and gain access to restricted areas. The focus of the Hitman series is not hiding in the shadows from the enemy, but rather blending in amongst them (although sneaking behind guards and avoiding patrols becomes more prevalent in the gameplay of later games). 


The player's character, Agent 47, is not particularly maneuverable; he cannot jump at all, let alone scale walls or mantle up ledges (there are a couple of pre-scripted places where he can jump from one balcony to another, but these are rare); however more maneuverability is available in the latest game in the series, . This generally limits the player to a single plane of movement, although he is often presented the opportunity to move to higher or lower areas through the use of ladders, stairs, elevators, or hills.


A major feature in the game is the "alert" meter, detailing how much attention the player is receiving from the public or guards and is dependent on many things. For example, walking around in a guard's uniform with the correct corresponding gun won't gather much notice, whereas running around in a waiter's uniform in a restricted area while carrying a giant rifle instead of an appetizer tray will generally result in a massive firefight. 





In terms of action, the Hitman series runs a middle ground between shooters and stealth games. Unlike most stealth game protagonists, 47 can survive considerable damage before dying.  There is no "weapons free" prompt required, as in Splinter Cell. Combined with the game's impressive arsenal, this allows for some high-action firefights. At the same time, players were originally unable to heal 47's health in the middle of a level, which tends to encourage the player to avoid as much damage as possible. This is especially important in later levels, where enemies begin carrying high-powered weapons such as shotguns or sniper rifles that can kill 47 in one or two hits. Hitman: Blood Money was the first game in the series to allow players to purchase health-boosting items such as adrenaline and painkillers.


Many levels in the Hitman games can be completed without firing a single shot; this style of gameplay became more prevalent in Blood Money, where the focus was to make 47's hits look like accidents.



Games


The Hitman series currently includes:




Title
Year
Released for


  
 2000 
 PC


  
 2002 
 PC, PS2, Xbox, GameCube


  
 2004 
 PC, PS2, Xbox


  
 2006 
 PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360




International Contract Agency (ICA)


[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The pivotal agency that employs Diana and 47. The ICA supplies the services of expert freelance assassins to all kinds of people including some very high profile and powerful clients. Little else is actually known about it, although Agent Smith has ties to the CIA and he works for them.


The agency logo has a pyramid with the following motto: "MERCES LETIFER". Merces can be translated as hire, pay, wages, fee or salary. Letifer can be translated as death-bringing or deadly. The motto essentially means Deadly Hire or Deadly Trade.



Major or recurring characters



 47
 A genetically engineered assassin created from the recombinant DNA of five of the world's most dangerous criminal masterminds. His name comes from the last two digits of a bar code on the back of his head – 640509-040147. He is a tall, blue-eyed, bald, no-nonsense individual, who prefers to wear well-tailored Italian suits; Engineered from conception to be a ruthless killing machine, 47's strength, speed, and stamina are significantly above the human norm, and he possesses a single-minded, cunning intellect.




Raised in the sterile environment of the laboratory and trained in the fine arts of infiltration and execution, 47 naturally wanted to be a hitman upon his release into the real world. He eventually became the top assassin in the International Contract Agency. Yet, in spite of his creator's best efforts, 47 still possesses fierce individuality and the beginnings of a conscience.




Although he's usually cold and to the point in his dealings with others, 47 can at times be quite introspective, especially when he's contemplating his own existence. He has no qualms and will kill anyone for money; corrupt crime lords, unfortunate opera singers, and even the Vice President of the United States. He shows no mercy whatsoever towards said targets, and in desperate situations is even willing to kill innocents to ensure his own survival. Yet, 47 can also be almost kind at times, freeing a kidnapped prostitute in the original game, as well as taking pride in not creating any collateral damage during a hit. He has also demonstrated a degree of mercy towards those people not on his kill list (for example, in Hitman: Contracts, 47 knocks out a butcher with the blunt end of a meat hook, rather than cutting out his throat with the sharp tip).




After killing his creator, 47 disappeared, travelling to Italy where he became a gardener at a monastery, seeking guidance from the priest there to help him come to terms with his existence and his crimes. 47 only resurfaced after the priest is kidnapped by the Russian Mob, an event which was masterminded by the mob for the express purpose of luring 47 back into a life of crime so that they could purchase his services. After killing over a dozen more people, including the mob boss who orchestrated 47's coming out of retirement, 47 realized that he had gone too far to ever achieve forgiveness or peace and returned to the life of an assassin; he now lives in a dank, undisclosed location, apparently a basement of some sort, which serves as a strange contrast to his taste in expensive clothes and his six-figure paychecks.




Dr. Ortmeier's Journal on 47:  http://www.hitman2.com/content/history.htm




47 is voiced by David Bateson.




 Diana Burnwood
 47's controller at the Agency. Diana gives 47 his assignments, briefs him on his missions, and occasionally serves as his guide over the radio. For the vast majority of the series 47 never sees Diana, recognising her only by voice. However they come face to face near the end of Hitman




 Dr. Ort-Meyer
 47's creator and the ultimate villain of Hitman




 Agent Smith
 A fairly inept American secret agent with ties to the CIA and the Agency. He has an unfortunate tendency to be captured and tortured by the very people he's assigned to spy on. As a result, the Agency has sent 47 to rescue him on a number of occasions. His torture experiences have caused him to take up drinking on the job, making him even more ineffective. Smith is about as close to a comic relief character as the Hitman series has.




Like 47, Agent Smith dons a variety of disguises, but most often he's seen beaten and stripped down to his American Flag boxer shorts. He seems to regard 47 as a friend, no doubt because 47 has rescued him so many times. Of course, the feeling is not mutual. 47 initially treats his relationship with Agent Smith as detached and professional, but as he is forced to rescue Smith again and again he increasingly sees Smith as an ineffective hindrance. In Hitman: Blood Money, 47 even puts a gun to Smith's head and appears ready to kill him, after Smith surprises 47 by hitching a ride in his car.




Despite his incompetence and his association with the shadowy Agency, Agent Smith seems to have some strong degree of patriotism. Even after the Agency is all but destroyed, Smith uses his own money to hire 47 to foil the Franchise's attempt to assassinate the President of the United States.




Smith's appearance changes somewhat in Hitman: Blood Money, so that his hairstyle and facial features now greatly resembles that of Agent Smith from the Matrix Trilogy.




 Mei-Ling
 A young woman from the Chinese mainland, abducted and recruited into the brothel of Hong Kong crimelord Lee Hong. 47 rescues her in exchange for information about her employer in preparation for assassinating him. After escaping from Lee Hong, Mei-Ling somehow ends up hooking up with Hayamoto, yet another Asian crime lord, and 47 ends up rescuing her again (much to his consternation). 




Mei-Ling is apparently the only woman 47 has ever kissed. 47 did not seem to enjoy the experience much, since he was conditioned to be as asexual as possible. His reaction is different in the original game and the remake. In the original Hitman, 47 reacts with significant revulsion. In the remake Hitman: Contracts, his reaction is one of detached bemusement. She was known as Lei Ling in the original Hitman: Codename 47. The reason for the later change remains unclear.




 Sergei Zavorotko
 The central villain of Hitman 2




Sergei brought 47 out of retirement by arranging for the kidnapping of 47's friend Father Vittorio, then anonymously arranged through the Agency for 47 to perform a series of hits on his business partners. The hits were merely a diversion, however, and in reality Sergei was using 47 to assemble the parts of a Nuclear Missile System capable of penetrating the American Missile Shield, a system Sergei planned to sell to a wealthy Sikh doomsday cult for a considerable sum of money. However, the nukes were intercepted by the UN, and Sergei attempted to cover up his involvement in the scheme by having 47 assassinated. 47 escaped the assassination attempt, however, and killed Sergei and his bodyguards in a bloody shootout at Gontranno Sanctuary.




Like 47, Sergei has incredible strength and durability, capable of smashing through wooden walls and surviving a few dozen bullets to the chest. He's no superhuman, though, and dies after a single headshot or 3–4 shotgun blasts. He's very temperamental and often peppers his speech with Russian profanities. He also always carries around a large SPAS-12 shotgun.




 Mystery Man
 A mysterious man in a black suit. Little is known about his past other than the fact that he himself claims to have seen 47 while in Rotterdam, presumably during Hitman




 Jack Alexander
 Jack Alexander is the narrator of Hitman




As the game progresses and Alexander recounts his story, it becomes increasingly clear that he is an unreliable narrator, as the details he recites differ somewhat from what actually happens in 47's missions. At first it is unclear if he is lying or merely misinformed, but ultimately he is revealed to be the real leader of the Franchise, the arch-enemy of the Agency. His true intentions are to acquire 47's DNA to help the Franchise's own human cloning program, and his attempts to prevent the legalization of human cloning have nothing to do with moral objection to cloning, but rather are designed to ensure that the Franchise's cloning program has no rivals. In fact, he even sends his own clone assassin, Franchise director Mark Parchezzi III, to assassinate the President of the United States so that the Vice President, under the influence of Alpha Zerox, will rise to power, and ban human cloning.




At the very end of the game, Diana appears to betray Agent 47, injecting poison into him and delivering his corpse to Alexander, who gleefully arranges for a cremation and funeral for 47 at his private chapel. It was all a set-up, however, the poison turning out to be a "fake-death" serum, and during the funeral Diana gives 47 a "kiss of life" while administering an antidote to restart his heart. 47 revives and slays the attending priest as well as Alexander's bodyguards. Pursuing Alexander outside the chapel, 47 engages in a gunbattle with him and ultimately slays Alexander and the helpless reporter, thus preserving the secret of his existence.




 The Albino
 47's nemesis in Hitman




It is eventually revealed that his real name is simply "Mark III", and like 47 he is a genetically engineered clone, the strongest in a series of clones separate from 47's genetic line (A lesser clone in the line, Mark II, is seen earlier in the game as the leader of the assassin group "the Crows"). Ultimately, the Albino is revealed to be in the employ of the Franchise, the arch-enemy of the Agency, as well as having been hired to assassinate the President of the United States by the Vice President. Near the end of the game, Agent 47 foils the assassination and kills Mark III in a climactic shootout on the roof of the White House.




Methods of execution

The Hitman series permits the player to kill targets (or non-targets) in a variety of silent, innovative or even sadistic ways. In Contracts, melée weapons such as knives can be used to kill in several different ways including forward stabs, horizontal throat slitting, frontal slashes, repeated stabs under the ribcage or a thrust to the side of the head. Along the course of some missions, 47 can also run a sword (or a pool cue) through the back of an unsuspecting person, tear through the back of skulls with a meathook, as well as electrocute, drown, boil, strangle, axe, bomb, suffocate, poison, crush or stab some of his adversaries. Wounded people can be quickly prevented from drawing attention to themselves by being beaten to death with pool cues or the butt of a gun.


To achieve the coveted silent assassin rank, 47 must often sneak behind the mark and use his fiber wire to strangle a (usually male) mark. The system for getting a "Silent Assassin" rating in Contracts is generally more forgiving if shooting your target, provided it is done with one unheard bullet. A number of other targets require poison in milk, whiskey, soup, or tea. One hit can be accomplished by shooting the mark through a pillow or suffocating him. Another can be done by throwing a gas can down a chimney or stabbing him with a fire poker while his hopelessly inebriated friend sits close by. The silent assassin approach to the Lee Hong hit culminates in removing Hong's food taster, either through poison (causing an alert) or laxative (temporarily causing him to leave). In the first game, and again in a remake in the third game, a player can even kill a mark, who's having problems with his heart, by increasing the steam pressure in a sauna.


Contracts' arguably most elaborate hit involves disguising 47 as a SWAT team member, and then participating in a raid. It has been speculated that this mission was inspired by the finalé of the movie Léon, in which the title character (a contract killer) uses similar methods in a similar scenario.



Spoilers end here.


The standard weapons for 47 include a piano wire with which to garrote, a pair of Arcadia Hardballers and on occasion a sniper rifle. In addition to these weapons, 47 can also take many weapons from guards, police, targets or cachés across the series. However, since Hitman 2 introduced the Silent Assassin rating system, the use of traditional projectile weaponry has been discouraged. In Hitman 2, excepting the final mission, the game can be completed using only one bullet. Hitman: Contracts can be completed using no bullets whatsoever. Hitman: Blood Money forces the use of bullets in more than one mission, although up-until the last mission it is possible to abstain from using them. However, the series still contains a large variety of guns and melée weapons, often appearing under different names, including:



Sniping Weapons



Handguns





Shotguns



Machine pistols and Submachine guns



Military Rifles



Heavy Weapons



Melée Weapons



Explosives


Notes: (1) indicates that this weapon can feature a suppressor, (2) indicates that it is possible to wield two of these weapons at the same time, (3) indicates that it is possible to wield dual suppressed versions of these weapons.



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