Released late last year for PS2, Xbox and PC, the sequel to Hitman: Codename 47 was successful enough for a third installment to be confirmed by Eidos for a scheduled Spring 2004 release with a $43 million dollar budget soon after it hit store shelves. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is a third person stealth-em-up that tries a number of things to differentiate itself from the ever-increasing crowd of Splinter Cell wannabes and Solid Snake rip offs. On the whole, they are very successful, with the good far outweighing the few flaws. With a Gamecube version on the way and the Xbox, PC and PS2 versions probably starting to hit bargain bins in game stores everywhere, it's time to revisit one of the most stylish games of the 2002 holiday season.

The basic premise of the game is explained in the title: You are a Hitman. A Silent Assassin. The ultra cool Agent 47 is your character, a suit-wearing baldy with a taste for gardening. The story starts with your character living near a church, having given up his old habits (most of which included murder in some way), trying to live a good life without sin. Unfortunately, 47 doesn't get a break because some Mafia thugs have kidnapped his friend, the Priest. The only way to free him is by hooking up with the Agency, who exchanges information about the Priest to 47 for his services for some unknown clients.

The thing that sets Hitman 2 apart from most stealth based games is that it is very non-linear. You have a set amount of objectives, and you can do any number of things to complete them. For example, to kill a Mafia Don in one level, you could either snipe him off from afar, sneak up undetected to his mansion and go all the way up to choke him from behind with fiber wire, chloroform a postman delivering flowers and sneak in that way, kill a delivery boy and go in through the kitchen, or go in gun's blazing. The best way is obviously to kill nobody but the target, and not to be detected. Skillful players will be rewarded with bonus weapons for achieving top ranks in each level.

Now, although there is nothing more satisfying than pulling off a successful hit, this doesn't mean the game is perfect. Far from it. I'll get the flaws over and done with now so I can keep on gushing about the good stuff. The biggest problem is actually a series of levels further into the game. In no way do they make you feel like a Hitman. I won't spoil it, but it practically forces you to kill a lot of guards, or you can try your luck at beating it undetected... and I do mean luck. The second problem is some inconsistencies with guard AI. You can disguise yourself in the game, and sometimes it should be perfect, yet guards see you immediately, and others you are wearing a maskless uniform in a Japanese base... yet you are not noticed (sorry, but the tall white bald man is quite different from a Japanese bodyguard). The last problem is combat, which, although fun, has some issues when you get into the thick of things. Aiming and reloading can be a pain, but overall you don't really get into firefights in this game, so it's not a huge problem.

One last thing on gameplay: If you like run and gun action games, don't buy Hitman 2. You can do that on some levels, but others require careful planning and waiting. It's all very tense, but unless you have patience it can be boring. You have been warned.

The graphics in the game are quite nice on Xbox. I have seen the PS2 version running, and although that version is a tiny bit worse, the differences are negligible. The characters are all nicely drawn without being so detailed as to affect frame rate. The environments are also very nice, not being overly detailed, but having a nice draw distance as well. Overall you will walk away thinking it's a nice looking game... just no Doom 3. The shadows are functional, but Splinter Cell has spoiled us all in this regard, and they just don't compare.

By far the coolest thing graphically is the impressive use of 'Rag doll' physics in the enemies. This means when you kill someone, they don't die in a scripted death sequence (think Goldeneye 007), but they fall down with force comparable to the gun you fired, and arms/legs fall into place wherever they land, sometimes rolling around a lot (Think Unreal Tournament 2003). A seemingly simple thing to add in, 'Rag Doll' physics go a long way to ramp up the "cool" factor of the game. Firing a shotgun into a guard that sends him flying over the edge of a banister is very satisfying.

Hitman 2 has a powerful soundtrack of wonderfully orchestrated music. It sets the scene well, and doesn't intrude too much. Overall, very nice. Gunshots and sound effects are also very good, but I think now videogame designers really have no excuse not to have them sounding good now. An impressive feature sound wise is all of the foreign language characters speak in that language, which is great, considering this game takes you to Italy, Russia, Japan, and beyond.

Hitman 2 should be pretty cheap soon, but it is worth every penny of its $50 price tag, there is almost no excuse to not pick this up unless you dislike slower paced games. It is very repayable, having levels that have you striving for better scores, and it has plenty of levels in the first place. Can't wait for Hitman 3!