There is great satisfaction in coming across a sniper rifle and landing a sequence of headshots from a window above a crowd, particularly given how you can steady your aim by gently squeezing the trigger before fully depressing it and firing your shot. Of course, the distinctive-looking 47 wouldn't pass as a scientist in his smoothly pressed suit, so you should probably look the part by punching out a researcher, donning his clothes, and throwing him in a closet.ДЄnd so you move through each environment, poking around to see what tools the level might offer for the quietest kill-or the most dramatic, or even the sloppiest. You come across gasoline canisters (shoot them for a nice big boom), proximity mines (place them just right and your target explodes into bits while you watch from the sidelines), microscopes (hide in plain sight by pretending you're a scientist), and so forth. The game renders huge crowds like this with nary a hitch.ДЄll sorts of objects are scattered around for you to use, beyond distraction items like bricks and screwdrivers. Usually, that means dragging the corpse to a bin or wardrobe and dumping it inside. As in most stealth games, you want to remove any bodies you leave behind, lest your victim's cronies come sniffing around (and they most definitely will). The most satisfying and challenging method is to sneak about, crouching behind cover to avoid being spotted, choking enemies from behind with your garrote, or diverting their attention by throwing a brick or some other object. You enter a level with an objective-generally, to off a mission-critical hooligan-and you can accomplish it in any number of ways. This sequel embraces the mechanics of previous Hitman games in the ways that matter most. Other events and characterizations are more successful, often because they're steeped in dark humor-such as a hysterically memorable moment involving you, a food delivery man, and an elevator. In such cases, you get the sense that the game is trying too hard to be edgy. Elsewhere, you encounter a team of assassins called The Saints: women dressed as sexy nuns for no obvious reason other than, well, that's just what they do. The crudeness can become overbearing one target's dying observations are so crass that it's hard to imagine that even the most dirty-minded players would snicker at them. Every rank word that oozes out of this snake charmer's mouth is pure poison, though the human stains that assist him strive to outdo his obnoxiousness at every turn. The primary villain is a snarling crime lord with a big cowboy hat and a down-home drawl named Blake Dexter.

Her last wish as you watch her perish by your own hand: that you protect a girl named Victoria and, in turn, be branded as a traitor. You may even find 47's initial actions hard to witness: his first contract is to assassinate his former handler at The Agency, Diana Burnwood, who has apparently gone rogue.

The best missions immerse you in Hitman: Absolution's twisted look at Americana and are teeming with contemptible characters drawn from the bottom of the cultural barrel. More intriguingly, it fills its world with such disgusting wastes of space that you're happy to lodge bullets in their heads. Now Playing: Hitman: Absolution - Video Review By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's

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