Hitman (franchise)

Hitman
Hitman
	File:Hitman2.jpg Hitman promotional art from Hitman: Blood Money
Developer(s)	IO Interactive
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Playstation 2 Xbox 360 Xbox Gamecube
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter/Stealth-based
Mode(s)	Single player

Hitman is a video game franchise available on PC and several video game consoles including Xbox 360, Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2. The games revolve around Agent 47 (usually simply referred to as "47" or "Mr.47"), an assassin-for-hire, whose deadly skills and subtle methods place him in high demand amongst wealthy and powerful individuals. These individuals usually require the abilities of a particularly elite and professional assassin, of which Agent 47 is considered the best of the best. The creators of Hitman were inspired by Luc Besson's assassin movies such as Nikita and The Professional, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and the popular action movies of the Hong Kong film industry.^[1].

The games contain a considerable amount of violence and are rated Mature (17+) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. All four games are primarily third-person shooters, although it is possible to switch back and forth seamlessly between third-person and first-person perspective in all but the first title.

The games were developed by Danish developer IO Interactive, now a division of Eidos Interactive. Four games have been released in the series: Hitman: Codename 47 (2000), Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002), Hitman: Contracts (2004), and Hitman: Blood Money (2006).

A Hitman film adaptation is set to be released in 2007. Timothy Olyphant will play the role of Agent 47.

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

Another installment in the Hitman franchise for the next generation systems (Xbox360 and PlayStation 3) has been announced by Eidos [1]

Basic gameplay

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 or cash bonuses 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 reckless bloodshed and the player is penalized with lower pay should innocent blood be spilt (Although "accidents" don't count).

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; however the order of missions is always completely linear in every game.

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, Hitman: Blood Money. 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 visible weapon instead of an appetizer tray will most likely result in an unwanted confrontation with the guards.

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. Accidents can be caused remotely with RU-AP mines acting on some (usually heavy and suspended) object, directly by pushing someone over a railing, and by many other methods.

Games

The Hitman series currently includes:

Title	Year	Released for
Hitman: Codename 47	2000	PC
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin	2002	PC, PS2, Xbox, GameCube
Hitman: Contracts	2004	PC, PS2, Xbox
Hitman: Blood Money	2006	PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360

International Contract Agency (ICA)

Template:Spoiler 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, a CIA agent, appears to have minimal ties to them, as a client or clients repeatedly request his rescue as part of their contracts.

Also at the end of Blood Money, Diana is talking on the phone to someone only referred as "your majesty". She appears to ask about 47.

Major or recurring characters

47: A genetically engineered assassin created from the recombinant DNA of five of the world's most dangerous criminals. 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 wears 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 stealth execution, 47 naturally gravitated toward murder-for-hire upon his release into the real world. Over time he became the most sought-after 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 he has been assigned to. Yet, 47 can also show great respect toward others, freeing a kidnapped prostitute in the original game, as well as taking pride in not creating any collateral damage during a hit. 47 even attempted to take care of a pet bird in Hitman: Blood Money before he was forced to kill it in order to hear the sounds of approaching danger. He has also demonstrated a degree of mercy toward 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, traveling to Sicily 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 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 was deluding himself by thinking he could find peace or be forgiven, so he returned to the life of an assassin. Sometime after coming out of retirement, 47 found himself the target of a conspiracy to kill him and harvest his DNA for cloning programs. This unwanted attention has forced him to be more aloof in his work.

Dr. Ort-Meyer'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 briefs 47 on his assignments, oversees his progress, and serves as his guide over the radio. For the vast majority of the series 47 never sees Diana, recognizing her only by voice. They do come face to face near the end of both Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Contracts. Diana has a posh British accent and a cordial, business-like demeanor. She is also very intelligent, making her a deserving ally for 47, although her face is never shown. She can be considered an unseen character.

While Diana usually handles 47's affairs from afar, she has been forced to get her hands dirty on occasion. Diana displayed considerable cunning in Hitman: Blood Money; faking 47's death, saving the Agency from liquidation, and dodging death herself several times. In the end, she emerged as the Agency's sole surviving employee (barring 47, who went underground at the game's end, and Agent Smith, who is not affiliated with the Agency directly).

Diana is voiced by Vivienne McKee.

Dr. Otto Wolfgang Ort-Meyer: 47's creator and the ultimate villain of Hitman: Codename 47. A brilliant but dangerous individual. Ostracized by the scientific community for his radical theories on genetic manipulation, Ort-Meyer ran a sophisticated lab hidden beneath a Romanian sanitarium. There he labored on DNA splicing in an effort to create a flawless human being. He took a great part in raising and indoctrinating 47 at the asylum, where 47 was kept a prisoner until he matured. Ort-Meyer eventually engineered 47's "escape" from the asylum in order to test his performance in the real world.

The consummate megalomaniac, Ort-Meyer contracted with the Agency to have 47 kill the other 4 men behind the Hitman Project (47's "fathers"), so that Ort-Meyer could enjoy the fruits of his labor by himself. Ort-Meyer then attempted to lure 47 to his death, having perfected "Mr. 48", an improved, mindlessly loyal series of clones. Ort-Meyer underestimated how far 47 had advanced, and in the final showdown, 47 slaughtered the 48s and then Ort-Meyer himself.

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 puts a gun to Smith's head and appears ready to kill him, after Smith surprises 47 by appearing from the back seat in order to meet with 47 while he is driving.

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 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 seemed surprised by it, 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. It is notable, however, that in Konami's Metal Gear Solid, one of the protagonist's main contacts is named Mei Ling. She is voiced by Clea Stewart.

Hitman Contracts, which contains the remade level is seen through a series of flashbacks. It is possible that the original is the way it happened, than contracts is the way he "remembers it". Memory not always being accurate to facts.

Sergei Zavorotko: The central villain of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin. An influential Russian mafia boss and arms dealer specializing in the transport of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons (CBRN weapons). Sergei is the boss and older brother of Boris, one of 47's five "fathers", although he is more powerful than Boris was.

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. He is voiced Klaus Hjuler.

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: Codename 47. He first appears in Hitman 2: Silent Assassin as an advisor to Sergei, he is the one who brings 47 to the attention of Sergei. Ultimately, he convinces Sergei to put out a hit on 47, leading to 47 learning about and killing Sergei.

A couple of cutscenes towards the end of the game suggest he is really manipulating Sergei for a higher power. He may be related to the Franchise in Hitman: Blood Money or the CIA. He has not been seen since. He is also been given the nickname G-Man by some fans because of his similarity to the Half-Life character. He is voiced by Ethan Weisgard.

Leland Alexander: Leland "Jack" Alexander is the narrator of Hitman: Blood Money, and in the final mission is also revealed to be the game's main antagonist. A former director of the FBI, Alexander is paralyzed from the waist down and much of the skin on the right side of his face is missing. In his time as director of the FBI, Alexander became aware of the truth behind the Ort-Meyer Project and the existence of Agent 47. Over the years, Alexander devoted the FBI's resources towards hunting down and destroying 47. Ostensibly, his goal was to destroy 47's genetic material to prevent rogue states from acquiring the DNA and producing their own cloned supersoldiers. The events of Hitman: Blood Money are recounted as flashbacks to 47's career being told by Alexander to a reporter, due to Alexander's desire to expose 47's existence to the world in order to prevent the legalization of human cloning.

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.

Mark Parchezzi III: 47's nemesis in Hitman: Blood Money. Mark Parchezzi III aka "The Albino" is an expert assassin and a master of disguises. Possessing many of the same abilities as Agent 47, he is able to blend into the background like a chameleon to carry out subversive operations. With a white suit over a black shirt and tie, his color scheme is the exact opposite of 47's (although like 47, he is fond of disguises and thus is often seen in other clothes as well). He is first seen in a cutscene at the beginning of the game, reading about one of 47's contract killings in the newspaper. He is mentioned in newspaper reports and radio broadcasts throughout the game, and various newspaper clippings note that he tops the FBI's most wanted list.

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. A newspaper report at the end of the level states that Parchezzi is considered the assassin of the Vice President thus 47 is free from any blame.

An earlier version, Mark Purayah II, or 'Mark II' was hired to assassinate the state secretary at Mardi Gras, along with other Franchise assassins. He bears the same resemblance to Mark III.

Themes and Motifs

Symbolism of the color white

Template:Spoiler

Each of the Hitman games has made use of the color white in some symbolic form. Up until Hitman: Contracts, 47's death was portrayed by him falling backwards in pain on a white background and bleeding heavily. Every game in the series demonstrated significant plot points with the color white; with the first three games with a white background, with the final game the white church in which 47 was dressed in white. Fans are uncertain as to the exact significance of this color; a walkthrough of the penultimate mission in Hitman 2: Silent Assassin where this color appeared as "a vision of heaven, and proof of betrayal", indirectly implying an omnipresent hope for 47's Catholic redemption. However, this opinion is let down by the simple fact that a large portion of the mandatory violence in the series has occurred in churches; in Hitman: Blood Money, 47 went so far as to murder an innocent priest. Others interpret the whiteness as a symbol for 47's isolation from the world, and solely occasional lapses into emotion when he is generally so completely detached. The argument for his isolation is strengthened by the fact that whenever another character has joined 47 in the whiteness for significant plot points they have been killed by him; Dr. Ort-Meyer, Sergei Zavorotko and No. 17 were all killed by 47 in white backgrounds. In the white church 47 killed everyone attending the funeral (with the exception of Diana; dressed in black with her hair dyed black where previously in Hitman: Contracts it was white). Also, in the case of Dr. Ort-Meyer and Sergei Zavarotko, it was not logic, practicality or monetary reward which motivated the violence; both were killed for very personal reasons.

Whatever else, it is certain that on some level the whiteness is metaphorical. This can be confirmed by the pivotal moment in 47's psychological growth, when he completed his Oedipal hit list by killing Dr. Ort-Meyer. In Hitman: Codename 47, 47 kills all of the No. 48's and then enters into a small antechamber into a laboratory which is a similar colour to the rest of the underground facility. Dr. Ort-Meyer approaches him in this antechamber; however, as soon 47 shoots him the antechamber disappears to be replaced with the white background in which 47 snaps Dr. Ort-Meyer's neck. When the events following Ort-Meyer's death are returned to in Hitman: Contracts, an opening cutscene shows 47 killing a No. 48 in an ordinary-looking room before entering into the white area in which he kills Dr. Ort-Meyer. Once this cutscene is finished 47 must leave this white room; attempting to return to it shows that the door in which 47 enters is mysteriously locked. In Hitman: Blood Money, in a brief flashback narrated by Alexander Leland Cayne (i.e. not directly following 47's perspective), this medical facility is shown as it truly is, with the room in which 47 kills Dr. Ort-Meyer appearing more or less the same as the antechamber from Hitman: Codename 47.

Logo/Insignia

File:Hit Logo bloodmoney.jpg

47 has his own personal symbol, that resembles a modified fleur-de-lys, which he adopted from the Ort-Meyer asylum where he was "born". The fleur-de-lys was the symbol used to represent The Foreign Legion’s Special Projects department, set up during the 1950’s to perform highly sensitive, top secret work. The symbol has been said to be a stylized "M" and "L", which stands for Merces Letifer or "Death as Business" the motto of the Agency he employs, or to be a stylized "H", which stands for "Hitman" (both being incongruent with the game's story seeing as nor the Agency nor the term "Hitman" were connected to Ort-Meyer before 47 adopted the insignia from his "father"). One of the projects involved experimental research into the replacement of damaged organs, skin and muscle tissue. The project focused on ways of replacing injured soldiers’ lost or damaged body parts, using POWs, the indigenous population and the legionnaires’ fallen comrades as donors. It was the work of this department that ultimately led to the creation of Agent 47 and hence it is from this that Hitman’s symbol stems. The fleur-de-lys, or lily, is also a flower commonly associated with death, this is not the reason that it has been adopted as a symbol, but it does make it even more appropriate. This symbol is engraved on the handles of his trademark Silverballer pistols. The Agency uses this symbol to mark weapon pick-up points on 47's satellite feed maps. It is also found on 47's equipment (such as his laptop, briefcase and cell phone). It can even be found in the Gontranno church on the windows. Prior to the death of Dr. Ort-Meyer, 47's laptop and briefcases were plain black; the first appearance of the logo on any of Hitman's equipment is near the beginning of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, where he opens a briefcase marked with this logo and removes two custom AMT Hardballers, known throughout this and the following games as Silverballers (see below).

Morality

The overriding theme of the Hitman series is moral growth. The first installment, modeled as a stylish international thriller, made little demonstration of how 47 grew as an individual besides the aforementioned presentation of the missions as largely unrelated before becoming an Oedipal quest for revenge; that, and the unstated but obvious fact that 47 was invariably hired to kill dangerous criminals and terrorists rather than innocents. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin had a greater role in showing 47's growth in this fashion, combining his desire for vengeance with one for justice, as in his search for the parish priest who had taken him in like a son, with an overriding goal of preventing a nuclear weapons system of falling into the hands of terrorists. The game in the series which best demonstrates 47's curious worldview is the third in the series, Hitman: Contracts. While much was made of Hitman: Contracts's dark tones of violence and sexuality, some have interpreted it as a sort of moral journey for 47. Some (if not all) of the missions have a sort of moral lesson to all of them; for example, the aforementioned private detective is a target in Rendezvous In Rotterdam; and the game does not shy away from again discussing the meaning behind 47 killing his creators, something which must be a pivotal series of events in his psyche - four of his five "fathers" are again targets in the game. It is never made explicitly clear how 47 reliving these events, some of which are undeniably disturbing, has affected him but presumably they left him rather shaken. One could even go so far as to suggest that the reason for the new "Accident" system in Hitman: Blood Money is part of 47's deliberate effort to distance himself from his work as much as possible.

Methods of murder

The Hitman series permits the player to kill targets (or non-targets) in a variety of silent, innovative or even sadistic ways. In Contracts, mêlée 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. He is also skilled in strangulation, throat-slitting, smothering, poisoning, and the use of improvising deadly weapons. 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 as a garrote to strangle him or her. The system for getting a "Silent Assassin" rating in Contracts is generally more forgiving by allowing you to shoot 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 suffocating the mark with a pillow. 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 finale of the movie Léon, in which the title character (a contract killer) uses similar methods in a similar scenario.

The method of execution will affect the notoriety of the player in Hitman: Blood Money. Whereas if the character goes on a rampage, but still leaves witnesses, he will be recognised in later missions. If the character performs his hits silently, he will have a low notoriety. In some missions, if all the hits can be made to look like accidents (using the new accident system introduced in Blood Money), some hits will not be counted as hits, but as accidents. While he is more than capable of using brute force to mow down a couple dozen armed men, 47 is also an extremely creative individual, capable of devising cunning and stealthy ways of eliminating his targets without creating a commotion. Notable creative hits include locking a target in a sauna to stimulate a heart condition and cause cardiac arrest, disguising himself as a chef and poisoning a target's meal by improperly preparing his fugu sushi, disguising himself as a doctor and sabotaging a surgical operation on a target, and replacing a prop Mauser C96 handgun with a real one during a break in an opera rehearsal, causing an actor to unknowingly kill the target.

Weaponry

The standard weapons for 47 include a non-metallic fibre wire with which to garrote, a pair of AMT Hardballers and on occasion a custom Walther WA2000 sniper rifle. In addition to these weapons, 47 can also take many weapons from guards, police, targets or caches across the series. Also, in Hitman Codename 47, it was possible to wield two pistols without using any kind of glitch. 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 two bullets (In the Graveyard Shift level you have to shoot a bullet into a window to break it and get to the Jacuzzi Job mission. Another bullet is needed in the Motorcade Interception level, there is a glitch though, which lets the player kill the the target using a melee weapon, but it is quite difficult to accomplish. Although in the Kirov Park Meeting level you can use the car bombs instead of the sniper rifle, for better statistics you can cut the throaths of both targets by one slash in the very moment when they hug in the park.). 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 (on the lower difficulty settings, it is possible to complete the game without guns).

^ PC Guru's interview (2004.05.)

[1] PC Guru's interview (2004.05.)

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