Ever since the first gruesome kill, the first gunfight, the first time you sneak past a group of guards wearing their uniform, you get hooked to this highly addictive, highly action packed suspense thriller.  Promising new weapons, AI, and ways to be stealthy, Hitman: Contracts delivers indefinitely.  From storyline, to weapon selection, there are hardly any reasons at all to not like this game.  

Playing as the elusive and shady Agent 47, you begin looking back at his mysterious past, learning a little bit more and more about his reputation as a lethal Hitman as the game progresses.  At first you must escape through the cloning labs where you were created.  Along the way you see other, failed attempts of cloning, which are all insane, or mentally retarded.  The scene is quite disturbing, yet strangely captivating, keeping you from putting the controller down.  Traversing the blood coated floors of the labs requires stealth and smarts as there are incoming SWAT teams sent to intercept you.  Or you could just pick up a couple of Silverballer handguns and start duking it out with the police.  Since the game features an open-ended style of play, there are various types of ways you can eliminate your targets.  From pure stealth, to guns a blazing, there is almost nothing you can’t accomplish.  

The graphics of this game defiantly surpass its older brother Hitman 2:  Silent Assassin.  It’s pure, crisp colors and tints add a feel of realism to the play, and when mixed with amazing particle effects, and blood the game just gets you going, and you can’t stop playing in this world of bleakness, corruption, and crime that must be squashed by your hands, or rifle, whichever you decide.  Another important feature is the ton of rag doll effects that were put into this game.  When you kill, if you hit the enemy hard enough, the body can go flying down the hallway, spilling blood and bodily fluids everywhere during its travel.  Another important feature is having the ability to collect the weapons you receive during the missions.  Once you have them all, it can be quite an impressive collection, and using them in past missions that you unlock, can be really fun.  Say you take a minigun back to the first level and slaughter everybody with firepower you were never suppose to have.  Well, at least I think it’s cool.  

Although fun to use and all, gunplay is not really my cup of tea.  So, for people like me, they have a wide array of melee weapons, including meat hooks, kitchen knives, and stun guns.  Using them for stealth takedowns are gruesome, reminding us the type of killing in Rockstar’s Manhunt, only less gory.  Killing your enemies doesn’t just stop at weapons, however.  In certain levels, you can dispose of your opponents with rat poison, or go straight for the cruel way, and drop a two ton car on a thug’s head while he’s underneath, checking it out.  There are almost endless ways you can lure you enemies into traps.  For example, two guards drool over the porno on T.V.  Cut the satellite off, and it lures the perverts outside.  That’s when you make your kill.  Another way for example is to pour laxative inside a target’s soup.  While he’s on the can, you can go inside the bathroom and finish him off, while he’s not being surrounded by guards.                       

The game is not without its problems however.  Although promising you diverse play, the levels are close to impossible to be completely stealthy.  For example, once, when I was trying to be stealthy and infiltrate the enemy while not being noticed, a message appeared stating my cover had been blown!  I couldn’t believe my eyes!  I had the guard’s uniform, their standard weaponry, I hid the body, and dropped all of the weapons a guard wouldn’t be caught dead with.  Why the guards would just start blowing me away was beyond me, so I killed them swiftly, and continued, pretending nothing had just happened.  My point is, is that even though the game revolves around being stealthy more then a mass murderer, it is extremely hard, and the repercussions of not being stealth aren’t harsh enough to enforce this type of play.  You could be stealthy or just end the mission going in guns a blazing killing everybody and be done in two minutes flat.  You also don’t need to worry about enemy bullets that much, since they don’t effect you as much as they should.                       

Hitman: Contracts overall, is a fun game that shouldn’t be overlooked.  Weather you’re a beginner or a diehard fan of Agent 47’s work, this game should definitely be on your hit list.  Ha ha!  Hitlist…..  Get it?  Well, regardless, this new installment of Hitman games is definitely worth the fifty, and even if you win or lose, its addictive game play has you coming back for more and more.