Io-Interactive developed a solid engine for the PlayStation 2 version of Hitman 2, finely optimised and able to render in real time luscious scenarios and great in-game cutscenes.
The environments in Hitman 2 look beautiful, richly detailed and realistic. The first mission takes place in Sicily, and the graphic engine manages to recreate the vivid colors of one of the most beautiful lands in the world. The green of the olive trees and poplars, the yellow sun burning fiercely, the flocks of birds flying in the sky, create an incredibly vivid scenario that will make you fall immediately in love with this game. The following levels will take you to many parts of the world, in different environmental and weather conditions, by day and night, and you will never have something to complain about the richness and the efficacy of the scenarios.
Character models are very detailed, built with a considerable number of polygons that make them believable and realistic. Animations are always very smooth, and an evident care was used to make clothes look and move as they should.
Despite its good qualities, Hitman 2's graphic engine isn't always perfect. Clipping issues are frequent, and when they occur they look very bad. While in many levels you will be unable to experience any issue at all, in others you might see your opponents jumping right through concrete walls and doors, their bodies fully disappearing into them. Finally, many polygonal models are not exactly convincing, and cars and vehicles in general look ugly, built with a bunch of polygons and entirely covered with low-quality textures.
Anyhow, Hitman 2 is a stylish game, and the quality of the work done by Io-Interactive's artists can make you forget the few problems in the graphics. Character design is excellent; Agent 47 is simply one of the most unconventional and elegant heroes ever to grace an action game, with shadows constantly at work on his face, changing his orbits and hollow cheeks into a sole abyss of coldness.
Hitman 2 features one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard in a videogame. The music was written by Jesper Kyd and performed by the Budapest Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir. Epic, cold, and full of humanity at the same time, Kyd's music concretely moulds the drama behind Agent 47 in the head of the player, with a classical main theme that will stay forever in your mind once you have started the game, and other secondary themes that constantly support the action without being intrusive.
Voice acting is great, as you would expect from Eidos, which surprised us many times with Shakespearean dramas like Soul Reaver 2 or Blood Omen 2. Travelling through the world, Agent 47 will meet people speaking languages like Russian and Italian. While I don't speak Russian, I can say that Italian-speaking actors were extremely convincing. And when Padre Vittorio speaks in English, you can actually hear his Italian accent.
Sound effects are good too. Your steps sound differently according to the surface you are walking on; pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles sound just great, and the rich environmental sounds are fundamental in creating the sensation of realism that Hitman 2 wants to convey.
Hitman 2 offers an uncommon replay value, thanks to the amazing open mission design and the excellent gameplay. There are 20 different missions, and completing all of them will take a long time. The levels are always huge, and the difficulty is definitely above the average. But what makes the difference here is the possibility to complete each mission in lots of completely different ways. You will never be suggested a path when you begin a new mission, there is no "best route" to follow. Just jump into the mission, use the map, and try to create your strategies. You can replay any mission you have successfully completed as many times as you want, so that you can get a better ranking and eventually reach the Silent Assassin title, thus unlocking weapons useful for your next missions. If you love stealth games, you will find yourself playing Hitman 2 for a long, long time.
