Hitman Blood Money

by Eidos

Product Features

• Agent 47 is heading to the US, making deadly stops in Las Vegas, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Mississippi
• Take on a rival agency of assassins competing to take out high-priced targets
• New moves like the ability to create accidents and to dispose of bodies
• Re-vamped NPC and AI system -- the world of being an assassin has never been more realistic
• Use your hard-earned Blood Money to customize and upgrade your weapons, or to bribe the press & keep your picture out of the morning paper

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009N1KD4
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: May 30, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,525 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Xbox

This product is available. A product description will be added shortly.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eidos finally gets it right, June 1, 2006

By 

David C. Anderson "fenrisbooks" (Baltimore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hitman Blood Money (Video Game)

First, I'm a fan of the Hitman series. I played the first game on my PC back in 1999 and then moved on to the console versions with Hitman 2 and beyond. Being such a fan, I'll admit to a bland dissatisfaction with the series, even as the games grew more complex and looked better and better with each sequel. To me, one of the biggest problems with the game has always been its inability to create a game world that wasn't cold and distancing. To me, the Hitman universe was about as real as the world of Half Life or Halo. In other words, Hitman always felt otherworldly and slightly unreal. Immersing myself in the Hitman series was almost always impossible, since there was never much of a coherent storyline to begin with (especially in the previous installment Hitman: Contracts, that had the gamer replaying some of the missions from the first game with an unabashedly tacked on "flashback" framing mechanism). Add to this the sometimes stupid, often amnesiatic AI, slightly counter-intuitive control scheme, and limited replayability (limited as far as there being only one or two ways to dispatch your victim in true Silent Assassin fashion) and you have a series that was disappointing in it's potential to be so much more.

But not anymore.

As a true fan, I am overjoyed to announce that Hitman: Blood Money finally - FINALLY - gets it right. This time, our steel-eyed, morally grey, Liddy-esque clone finally gets a game worth spilling some blood over. The best parts of the original games are still here, but things have changed. Really changed. For example:

*The weapons - More than he's ever had before, including multiple SMGs and assault rifles, a myriad of pistols, his signature Silver Ballers (with optional laser sight and scope - as you can use your ill-gotten gains to customize your weapons and purchase different types of ammo, such as bullets that can blast through doors), and anything else that you can pick up as you're wandering around the vast environments. Nail gun, anyone?

*The kills - While the Hitman games of the past have always rewarded you for stealth with that Silent Assassin rating, there was always a "right way" and a "wrong way" to complete a mission. The "right way" usually involved stealing a uniform, changing into another uniform, and then another uniform, until finally you were rewarded with a chance to remote detonate a bomb or snipe your target from a few hundred yards away. The "wrong way" meant going into an environment and killing everything in sight, horses included. The problem was, that there was never much in the way of benefits to playing either style. True, in Contracts you were rewarded with special weapons if you finished the game with a "Silent Assassin" rating, but there wasn't much else in the way of incentive. In Blood Money, the game designers want to remind you what the game is all about. If you enjoyed blasting your way through previous installments, good luck doing that here. For one, the AI works cooperatively and, while they will walk into your line of fire, they will work together with such force that you won't get far. Add to this the lack of the ubiquitous, video game "health pack", and you'll soon discover that stealth is key. This principle is further reinforced by a notoriety system that is determined by how stealthily you complete your missions. At the end of each level, a newspaper headline announces your success and failure. Complete your mission by making a hit look like an accident, and the headline will reflect as much. Get it done by killing everything in sight, leaving witnesses, and getting caught on camera and the front page will read something like "Psychopath kills 32 in bloody massacre" with your picture front and center. Further, the higher your notoriety the more likely you are to be recognized in later levels by the AI henchmen who still pick up the morning paper. Since you're going to find killing necessary, you'll need to dispose of bodies so that your company doesn't have to send in a cleaner. Manholes, dumpsters, freezers, and even the backs of garbage trucks make hiding bodies a snap. Unlike in previous games, when you drag a body to one of these locations you are prompted "Splinter Cell style" and are saved the trouble of having to drag a body over a manhole, hoping that gravity will take it down the hole. This will improve your chances of not being discovered, since the AI is tenacious and will do EVERYTHING to track you down. Leave a gun at the scene, and the AI will likely find it and the guards will become suspicious. Even passerby will report suspicious happenings (such as found weapons, lights turned off) to security forces - and that's just bad for business. So if you're unlucky enough to be spotted by a passerby while using your fiber wire on a guard, then you've got witness problems, which can either lead guards to your trail or, at the very least, give the police an eyewitness account with which they can produce an artist's sketch of 47. When that happens, trust me, it ain't pretty. Finally, the series gives you a reason to teach those nosey, "innocent" bystanders the meaning of the phrase "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

*The Locales - Gone are the sanitized, eerily bland and forgetable locations of the past games (remember military prison? How about drug dealer's mansion? No? What about um. . .I'm thinking). Blood Money takes place (mostly) in the good old US of A and sees Agent 47 slinking about beautifully designed levels in places such as an abandoned Amusement Park, an Opera, an Insane Asylum (okay, they did an insane asylum before, but the only way out of this one is if you're dead), a Las Vegas casino, the suburbs, a pre-Katrina Mardi Gras in New Orleans, a Riverboat on the Mississippi, a hillbilly wedding in the Bayou, and even The White House. Still think that you can shoot your way through the game? Try it on the White House level and you'll quickly discover why they're called the Secret Service.

*The Story - While nothing special, it does provide greater insight to the cipherous past of Agent 47. Told through a framing device involving a reporter getting "the story of a lifetime", the tale weaves back from present day to 2004, as Agent 47 completes his jobs for "Agency" while simultaneously being hunted by those who believe it's time for him to retire. So, while completing his missions, 47 ends up running afoul of other hitmen - sharp-aiming, hard-working folk out to collect the price on his head or, at the very least, make his job more difficult by taking down targets 47's hired to protect. It makes for some interesting, quirky, and even surreal moments (have you ever wanted a game in which you stalked a love-triangle of hitmen dressed like man-sized, black crows? If yes, then your game has arrived).

Also new to the game is an online ranking system through Xbox live, the ability to play the game in a FPS mode (but why would you?), and new disguises (nothing says fun like strangling a mobster while dressed as a party clown), and the myriad ways in which you can dispose of your victims - no longer restricted to your choice of weapon. Additionally, the game no longer pauses and jumps to parallel cut scenes. Rather, when an important event is taking place, the screen splits into frames, a la Brian DePalma films or "24", allowing you to continue playing while the parallel event unfolds. In fact, everything about this game is so close to perfect, that it pretty much trumps everything that the "Top of the Class" sneaker "Splinter Cell" has done - without simply aping SC's moves.

This game is a must, it looks beautiful, plays incredibly well, has enormous replay value, and a story worthy of a great series. If anything, this game is set to solidify the Hitman series as a contender in the next-gen future.

Now all Eidos needs is to figure out a way to make the series playable on Xbox live - a difficult task to be sure. However, seeing what they've done with this outing, it's hardly out of reach.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you wanted to like the earlier ones, you'll really like this one, June 20, 2006

By 

Mark H (The District) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hitman Blood Money (Video Game)

The big review down there is already really good, but I just wanted to reiterate. If you played the first few games and you really wanted to like them but got frustrated enough not to really get into them, you'll really like Blood Money. There are lots of new ways to off your marks, and the guards/police no longer overreact as much as they used to. (In Silent Assassin, guards would just start shooting at you for no reason.)

The "money" in this game is a little silly, I ended up not spending most of mine. There's only 4 weapons you can really spend it on, and theres no need to upgrade the SMGs when your silverballers are maxed out, and there's no point in spending money on the shotgun period because its not a concealable weapon. I kinda wish the missions would make better use of the weapons. I ended up using the silverballers or nothing on every mission (most missions you get searched for weapons, so bringing guns with you is a waste.) Having said that, the upgrades to the ballers are nice, including a scope and full-auto.

Still, I played this game for a few weeks before beating it and I will definitely go back and replay the levels where I didn't get silent assassin. Lots of fun, good replay value. PARENTS, DON'T BUY THIS FOR YOUR YOUNG KIDS. It's a very gruesome game. I equate it to watching silence of the lambs or something like that. Fun for adults, but don't warp your kids with it.

5.0 out of 5 stars amazingly awesome game!!!, January 13, 2009

By 

Jonathan T. Hester - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hitman Blood Money (Video Game)

this is an awesome game. it is much more complicated and real than the first two. i do have to warn that this game is extremely violent. even more than the first two. you can walk around christmas parties dressed as a guest or you can walk around and execute sexy women while they are down on their knees begging you not to shoot them. the graphics are sick. honestly, this is the only reason that i still have my old xbox still.

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