Hitman (franchise)
Hitman is a video game franchise available on PC as well as several video game consoles, including PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Xbox and GameCube. The games revolve around Agent 47 (usually simply referred to as "47" or "Mr. 47"), an assassin-for-hire, whose flawless record places him in high demand amongst the wealthy and elite. The game series is developed by the Danish company IO Interactive, now a division of Eidos Interactive. The games feature a mix of orchestral and electronica musical scores, composed by Jesper Kyd.
The games contain a considerable amount of violence and are rated Mature (17+) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. All four games are third-person shooters, although it is possible to switch back and forth between third-person and first-person perspective in all but the first title.
Four games have been released: Hitman: Codename 47 (2000), Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002), Hitman: Contracts (2004), and Hitman: Blood Money (2006).
Another installment in the Hitman series for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC has been announced by Eidos.[1]
On June 20, 2007, a Hitman compilation was released containing the last three games of the series Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money. Hitman: Codename 47 follows a significantly different game mechanic from its sequels, and is not included in the trilogy. The compilation is called Hitman Triple Pack in Europe and Hitman Trilogy in North America.[2]
A Hitman film adaptation was released on November 21, 2007, with Timothy Olyphant playing the role of Agent 47.
Basic gameplay
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.[3].
The core objective in each level is to kill an assigned target. In most cases, Hitman allows the player different options to accomplish this task. Players can perform precise assassinations or slaughter indiscriminately in order to achieve the mission goals; however, the games reward a subtle approach by awarding special weapons or cash bonuses if players earn a favourable rank (usually achievable by eliminating only the assigned target, and without raising the alarm doing so). 47 can also wear a variety of disguises (such as guards, police officers and waiters) to fool enemies and gain access to restricted areas. The focus of Hitman is not hiding in the shadows from the enemy, but rather blending in amongst them. It is up to the player to initiate the violence, since guards do not usually open fire unless provoked.
In every game, the player character, Agent 47, has limited maneuverability; he cannot jump, 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). 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.
47 is given the ability to hop over minor obstructions in Blood Money, and can also climb up certain edifices (such as fencing, vines, loose bricks, etc). There is also an option to open the hatches of elevators and climb onto the roof. This is useful if the player chooses to strangle the occupant of the elevator.
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.
Many targets in the Hitman games can be assassinated 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 other, more elaborate methods such as:
- Replacing a WW1 Replica Gun to be used in the opera Tosca with a real WW1 era pistol.
- Crushing a man's neck using weights during his morning workout.
- Rigging a grill to set a victim on fire.
The second game of the series, Silent Assassin, enforced the concept of kills without firing more than a single shot. As per the amount of gun shots fired and stealth used, ratings were given after every mission. The best of these was Silent Assassin indicating a single-gunshot kill and no alerts raised.
Weaponry
The standard weapons for 47 include:
- A non-metallic fiber garrote wire
- A pair of heavily-customized chrome AMT Hardballers, dubbed Silverballers.
- A Walther WA2000 sniper rifle
- A poison syringe
- A sedative syringe
- Undetectable RU-AP mines
- A customizable SMG (based on a HK MP5)
- A customizable SPAS-12 shotgun
- A customizable M4 assault rifle
Note: Customizable SMG, SPAS-12, and M4 are only available in Blood Money, with non-customizable versions available in previous titles.
Hitman insignia
47 has his own insignia, It is an adaptation of the lily flower, commonly used in funerals. The symbol appears in Hitman: Codename 47 on the gates of Ort-Meyer's asylum, and is formed by Ort-Meyer's blood when 47 kills him at the end of the game. It also appears in Hitman: Contracts on the floor of the cloning lab, this time as though it is the actual floor design, as well as on Ort-Meyer's belt buckle.
The symbol is engraved on the handles of his custom AMT Hardballer pistols. This symbol was used in Hitman 2 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; however, this is just an Easter Egg.
Methods of murder
The Hitman series permits the player to kill targets (or non-targets) in a variety of ways, using firearms, melee weapons, or even conventional objects that 47 picks up (such as shovels, pokers, pool cues, etc). In Contracts, melee weapons such as knives can be used to kill in more than one method, including forward stabs, horizontal throat slitting, frontal slashes, repeated stabs under the ribcage, or thrusting the blade into the carotid artery.
47's trademark weapon is the garrote wire, or fibre strangulation wire. Unlike conventional piano wire, the fibre wire is specially made for strangulation, with reinforced handles so 47 can use his maximum grip to choke and break the windpipe of his target. The fibre wire is carried with him on every mission, even those in which he is stripped of all other weaponry. It is also one of the few weapons (along with the poison syringe and plastic explosives) which can bypass metal detectors.
To achieve the ideal Silent Assassin rank, it is recommended that 47 only kill his assigned targets, and no one else. In some missions, if a murder can be made to look like accidental death (using the accident system first introduced in Blood Money), some kills will not be counted as hits, but as accidents. Any civilians or armed personnel who witness a kill (even from afar) will count as witnesses, and will harm the player's rank if they remain alive or alert nearby guards. 47 has the option of killing witnesses before they reach a guard, but the unnecessary murder will still count against his rank. Witnesses also include anybody who sees 47 changing disguises or holding a weapon.
In the games prior to Blood Money, the only consequence of having witnesses to a crime is that they will seek out police/guards and trigger an alert.
There are mission-specific options for killing a target in certain levels. Notable examples include locking a target in a sauna to stimulate a heart condition and cause cardiac arrest, poisoning a target's meal, disguising 47 as a doctor and sabotaging a surgical operation, and replacing a prop Mauser C96 handgun with a real one at an opera rehearsal, causing an actor to unwittingly kill the target, and causing stage pyrotechnics to explode and set the target on fire.
Games
The Hitman series currently includes:
| Title | Year | Released for |
|---|---|---|
| Hitman: Codename 47 | 2000 | Windows |
| Hitman 2: Silent Assassin | 2002 | Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube |
| Hitman: Contracts | 2004 | Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Mac OS X |
| Hitman: Blood Money | 2006 | Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 |
A fifth installment of the Hitman series has been announced by Eidos.[4]
Hitman Triple Pack
Template:Infobox VG Hidden Hitman Triple Pack (also known as Hitman Trilogy in North America) is a compilation for PC and PlayStation 2 containing the three latest games of the series. It was released for the North American market on June 20, 2007 and for the European market on June 22, 2007.[2][5]
- Included games are
Note that Hitman: Codename 47, the first game of the series, has been omitted most likely due to the fact that it was only released for PC, as the trilogy pack was released for the XBox and PlayStation 2 consoles as well. Also, it was not critically well received due to its relative insignificance to the series' plot in comparison to the rest of the series, which, accordingly, was ranked more favorably.
The purpose for this new release of the three latest Hitman-games is to introduce new players to the series as well as giving old players one Hitman-package. The compilation also includes a Kane & Lynch: Dead Men bonus disc with some special features.[6]
International Contract Agency (ICA)
The International Contract Agency (aka "The Agency") is Agent 47's employer. The Agency's slogan is Merces Letifer (Latin for "Lethal Trade"). It is a worldwide, well-funded clandestine organization, with underlying connections to the foreign legion, providing assassination and mercenary services; Credited assassinations have taken place in the Americas, the Pacific Rim, and Eurasia. The Agency enjoys the cooperation of affiliates such as the FBI, CIA, MI5, and even elements within the U.N. Although politically neutral and ethically amoral, the Agency avoids accepting hits with enemies of its allies in government bureaus.
The Agency uses "controllers" like Diana Burnwood as go-betweens with its agents. They provide freelance operatives like 47 with electronic correspondence and mission briefings. Contractors also sell intelligence briefings on the subjects of missions to their agents for the fee of USD 1,500 per file.
The logo is reminiscent of a logo used by the British Security Service, MI5, before 1955.
In Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, his registration number in the Agency is BRO3886.
In the Hitman film, the Agency is known as the Organization. Like the Agency, the Organization benefits from ties to various government agencies, is neutral in global affairs and morality, and performs missions all over the world. Unlike the game wherein the hitmen are all clones[citation needed], the Organization instead recruits orphans and trains them from an early age.
Major or recurring characters
- Agent 47
- A genetically-engineered assassin created from the recombinant DNA of five of the world's most dangerous criminals. The fact that the DNA came from multiple ethnicities allows 47 to blend in to a certain degree in most places in the world, or at least not look immediately suspicious and out-of-place. His name comes from the last two digits of a bar code on the back of his head – 640509-040147, and also represent the number of chromosomes he has in his DNA. He is a tall, bald, blue-eyed, no-nonsense individual and usually wears a suit with black leather gloves and a red tie. Engineered from conception to be the perfect killer, 47's strength, speed, and intellect are above the human norm.
- Dr. Ort-Meyer's Journal on 47 can be read here.
- 47 is voiced by David Bateson. In the movie adaptation, he is portrayed by Timothy Olyphant.
- 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 at the conclusion of Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Contracts. Diana has a posh English accent and a business-like demeanor.
- Although Diana usually handles 47's affairs from afar, she turns out to be a major character in Hitman: Blood Money; serving as a double agent, faking 47's death, saving the Agency from liquidation, and dodging death herself a few times.[7]In the end, her efforts pay off when the Agency is brought back online, although it is left unmentioned if Diana has been promoted to a higher position.[8]
- Diana is voiced by Vivienne McKee.
In the Hitman film, Diana's only form of contact with 47 is through a synthesized voice via laptop. However, she does directly call 47 by phone in order to warn him that the Organization has targeted him.
- Agent Smith
- A fairly inept American CIA agent with ties to the Agency. He has a tendency to be captured and tortured by the people he has been 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.
- 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. 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 threatens to kill him.
Smith's appearance changes somewhat in Hitman: Blood Money, having lost most of his hair through long term alcoholism and depression.
In the Hitman film, Smith is instead portrayed as a very competent and dutiful CIA agent. In return for assassinating a high priority CIA target, Smith helps 47 elude arrest by Interpol.
- 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.[9] After escaping from Lee Hong, Mei-Ling is later revealed to be prostituting herself to Hayamoto, another Asian crime lord. 47 ends up rescuing her again (much to his consternation).[10]
- Mei-Ling is apparently the first woman who has ever kissed 47; his reaction is different in the original game from 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.
- 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 asylum. 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.[7] Ort-Meyer underestimated how far 47 had advanced, and in the final showdown, 47 slaughtered the 48s and then killed Ort-Meyer himself by snapping his neck.
- 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", effectively making him 47's 'uncle'.
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 by having 47 assassinated, hiring a "lesser clone" of Ort-Meyer's named Mr. 17 to finish the job. A cutscene suggests that his mysterious adviser was the one who tipped off the UN about the nukes. 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 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: 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 cutscene towards the end of the game suggest he is really manipulating Sergei for a higher power. It also suggests that he was the one who tipped off the UN about Sergei stealing nuclear warheads. He may be related to the CIA.
- Alexander Leland Cayne
Alexander Leland "Jack" Cayne is the narrator of Hitman: Blood Money, and in the final mission is revealed to be the game's main antagonist. A former director of the FBI, The official website of Hitman: Blood Money says that Alexander was severely injured in a work accident and as a result is paralyzed from the waist down and much of the skin on the right side of his face is missing. [1] In his time as FBI Director, Alexander became aware of 47's activities, as well as the truth behind the Ort-Meyer Project. Together with a "friend" in the Central Intelligence Agency, Alexander devoted the energies of both the FBI and the CIA toward 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 by Alexander to a reporter.
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. His public opposition to the legalization of human cloning has nothing to do with moral objection to cloning, but rather to ensure that the Franchise has a monopoly on the technology. His interview with the reporter is crafted to manipulate public opinion on the issue.
During the early stages of the game, the American Vice President is killed in a supposed 'car accident'. His position is filled by Daniel Morris, a corrupt Alpha Zerox loyalist. At the end of the game, Alexander hires Mark Parchezzi III to assassinate the President of the United States, so that Morris, under the influence of Alpha Zerox, may rise to power, and ban human cloning.
At the conclusion of the game, Diana appears to betray Agent 47, injecting poison into him and delivering his corpse to Alexander, who puts off doing away with 47 until he can give the reporter an eyewitness account of the assassin himself. With the reporter present, Alexander arranges for a speedy funeral and cremation for 47 at a private chapel. It is all a set-up, however, as the poison is nothing more than "fake-death" serum, which Diana removes by giving 47 a "kiss of life" during his funeral (administering an antidote to restart his heart). 47 revives and in a bloody massacre, slays everyone attending the funeral including all of the Franchise agents, the priest, the reporter and Leland, securing his identity from the public.
- 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. Like 47, he is fond of disguises. 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. During the mission "Flatline", the guards at the rehab facility mention a weird albino "Doctor" meeting with a patient (likely Agent Smith). A nurse also mentions that a "creepy" doctor had just left a while ago.
It is eventually revealed that Mark's 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. Ultimately, the Albino is revealed to be in the employ of the Franchise, the rival 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. An erroneous newspaper report at the end of the level claims that Parchezzi was shot to death by White House security after assassinating the Vice President, thus freeing 47 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.
External links
- Official Hitman: Codename 47 website
- Official Hitman 2: Silent Assassin website
- Official Hitman: Contracts website
- Official Hitman: Blood Money website
- The Hitman series at MobyGames
- Hitman the movie website
References
- ^ "Just Cause sequel confirmed". computerandvideogames.com. 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2007-06-23.
- ^ a b "Hitman Trilogy". Eidos Interactive. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ PC Guru's interview (2004.05.)
- ^ "News: Just Cause sequel confirmed". ComputerAndVideoGames.com. 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- ^ "Hitman Triple Pack Now Available". GamersHell.com. 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
- ^ "Eidos Unveils Hitman Triple Threat". IGN Entertainment. 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2007-06-22.
- ^ Diana: You and I are all that's left of the Agency 47, and I doubt I'll last much longer. Eidos Interactive Hitman: Blood Money (US) 2006-5-26
- ^ Diana: Yes, your Majesty, almost all of our resources are online again. Hitman: Blood Money (US) 2006-5-26
- ^ Mei Ling: You foreigner. Then you understand. Listen, you have to help me, please. They kidnapped me and then they brought me here... [...] First you have to get me out of here and then the combination is yours. Eidos Interactive Hitman Contracts 4-20-2004 (US)
- ^ 47: Sill living a lousy life I see. I save you from Lee Hong and his Triad outfit in Hong Kong, and first thing after that mess, you're in it with another hotshot crimelord! Mei Ling: Well, I don't mind. The hours are short and the pay is good. But he is just an old rich bastard and I am bored now. Eidos Interactive Hitman 2: Silent Assassin 10-1-2002 (US)