Hitman: Blood Money

[Screwtape]

the latest and greatest in the hitman series, coming (as of now) summer 2005. i cant get enough of this series.

http://www.eidosinteractive.com/gss/legacy/hitman_bm/index_us.html

[Mr. SlippyFist]

Yeah man, contracts was sweet, but they better put the freakin cheats back in this one. here (http://www.strategyinformer.com/shooters/screenshots/hitmanbloodmoney.shtml#latest) are some screens you may or may not have seen. They look pretty sweet.

[stealingsinatra]

Agent 47 back in action again. Very Nice!!!! Thanks for the info :action-sm

[Screwtape]

Weapons

Not so much weapons but just sniper rifles. There is a section titled 'Oswald was a fag' :D which says that you can take a basic sniper rifle and swap its trigger group from semi to fully automatic, change the scope's focal length or swap it for night vision, add a silencer and increase the size of the magazine. By modifying your weapons, you can alter their range, precision and a whole load of other aspects. There is a diagram of a W2000 sniper rifle with the following attachments around it -
Night vision scope (NVS 28 X 95)
Marksman Scope 2.5 / 10 X 56
Super Sniper Scope / SS 20 X 42
Carbon Fibre Barrel
Silencer Suppression - 2808
Silencer Suppression - 4508
Custom Bolt Action Maximum Accuracy
Semi Auto Trigger
Full Auto Trigger
and a 12 round double capacity clip
There are also cartoon representations of a magnum, a bayonette, and some really big gun that I don't recognize...and there is a shot of 47 holding something that looks like a bloody long knife, which he sticks in someone's throat sending blood srpaying everywhere!! Yes!!!!

Locations

There are shots of the Xmas party mission, new shots of the opera house mission and shots of a large bathroom with rows of lockers. There is also a large 3d map of the opera house mission - it looks big. (I don't think this is a 3D map you will be able to use in the game, just a opened up shot of the level) There is a shot of a restaurant, but I think it may be part of the Opera house mission. One shot of the opera house mission shows 47 up in the rafters of the roof about to tamper with a rope....
Rasmus Hoengaard is quoted as saying - "Blood Money's locations are the most famous and interesting locations we've had so far (in my opinion). Some are very public indeed and some are very isolated from the public also."

People

The article has a few shots of people we haven't seen before and some cartoon artwork, but most interesting is an advert on the back of the magazine with tons of cartoons of characters in the game. These people are -
1. A nasty looking clown making balloon animals
2. A cheesy guy with a ponytail in shades and a hawain shirt, holding something....possbily matches
3. A nasty looking mime woman in a top hat with a cane
4. A fat waitress blowing bubblegum
5. An arabian looking guy carrying a tray of drinks
6. Quite a young looking guy in a dressing gown with a gun stuffed down his boxers. He has 'KK' tattooed on his chest.
7. A guy dressed entirely in a red suit, with an upside down cross emblem on his clothes. His face is red and he has horns....
8. An old security guard with keys, and ID tag and a walkie talkie
9. A priest with a bible in one hand, swigging a bottle of whiskey with the other
10. A girl dressed in an angel suit similar to the one in the other aritcle
11. A short fat man playing a cheap piano. He has a briefcase next to him
12. A guy in a chicken suit with an AK! best disguise ever!! There is another cartoon of him in the article with his chicken head off, smoking.
13. A grocery delivery boy, similar to the one in Anathema but with an orange uniform. The crates he carries appear to have a japanese logo on the front
14. A really stupid looking mechanic
15. A really awful looking 47
16. A rich looking older guy with a small medallion, wearing an oriental style robe, although he looks american or english
17. A smoking guard in a uniform with an AK
18. A really fat weird looking naval officer (i think its naval) in the white uniform with cap
19. A really thick looking american
20. An insane bishop with his tounge poking out carrying some bloody massive gun on his shoulder
21. A World War 2 soldier in full uniform with gas mask and bayonette...?
22. A little black kid with thick glasses who has a thought bubble about chess. There is a cartoon in the article where he and 47 are playing chess on a plane. First appearance of a black person I can recall in the Hitman series!
23. A really fat black woman in a crap pink dress thumbing through lots of money (bribe?)
24. A slim woman jogging listening to what looks a lot like an iPod (custom soundtracks?)
25. An old woman who is carrying a camera, looks like a tourist
26. A fat guy in a hawain shirt, shorts and sandles (sunny level!!) sitting in a chair with a magnum. Looks like someone out of vice city, much like number 2
27. An old frail guy in a wheelchair! Please let us drive the wheelchair!!!
There are also screenshots of a man in the toilets wearing a white uniform, a trucker hat and gloves, and there is a shot where 47 is wearing a similar uniform and headphones. That probably means the bathroom is in the opera house mission. The article mentions there will be carpenters and tour operators (the opera house is being decorated whilst running tours)

Bribing

It's true, you can do it! Apparently money can be used to cover your tracks by buying people's silence (aswell as obviously spending it on weapons)

Other Features

Your performance in one mission will define how the next attempt on someone's life goes. The more you create bloodbaths the more of a reputation you will get, meaning less pay and harder levels.

Glacier 2 Engine - first IO game to use it, making lots of new things possible....

'ambient behaviour' - artificial intelligence has been totally built from scratch, and now guards have believeable movement patterns and investigations. They will react to more things aswell. Hoengaard refers to this as ambient behaviour.

hiding in a dumpster - the artwork shows 47 climbing into a dumpster and being pushed along by an unsuspecting worker (i think this was shown in the german article) theatre is also similar artwork of 47 intimidating people with a shotgun, in one case getting the guy to surrender, in the other making him kneel down and then blowing his brains out.

Training Modes - This time training modes are available to teach new players how to make the perfect kill.

More info before missions - apparently we are now given a lot more opportunity to plan before beggining a mission.

Better Graphics - Rasmus Hoengaard states that the quality of the screenshots that have been released (including the ones in the magazine) don't actually represent what the game currently looks like. He also says "You will see better water, static soft shadows and more realsitic reflections." I actually noticed in one of the bathroom shots you can see 47's legs reflected perfectly in a pool of water! finally!

Rigid dynamics - (rigid body physics Kent!!!) the game uses 'rigid dynamics' and they have improved the ragdoll system. They have also intrduced new gameplay features to take advantage of the system.

Other possibilites - One piece of 3d artwork shows 47 hiding behind a pillar with light shining through bullet holes in the wall behind him...bullet holes? Shooting through walls? Also the cover shot if of 47 holding a toaster about to drop it into a bath...oh please :D The gasmask guard suggests gas grenades and possibly a level in a....WW2 museum!?!? I dunno! And I think there seems to be a nasty religion theme, what with all the evil angels and corrupt priests and men with horns.

[Screwtape]

http://www.hitmanforum.com/article.php?subaction=showfull&id=1111779597&archive=&start_from=&ucat=13&show=hitman4dossier
..the article



..and some screens
http://www.hitmanforum.com/special.php?show=gallery&album=Blood_Money%2Fmagazine_scans%2FPLAY-March&sortby=name&order=asc

[Mindriot]

Sweet. The Hitman series is one of the greats.

[JohnFromPhilly]

Hitman is always a great game when it's released, just cant stand how this game is under the radar of gamers. Online Multiplayer would be nice for this game.

Punching Out.

[mascan42]

I loved the first two, didn't care much for Contracts, though . . . maybe because my video card wasn't up to the task at the time. I loved the Godfather and Scarface references in the first game.

[Screwtape]

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/629/629624/hitman-blood-money-20050628014709763.jpg

[Neo_Is_God]

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/629/629624/hitman-blood-money-20050628014709763.jpg

that is sooo fucking sick.i love it

[Screwtape]

official site is looking sweet (http://www.eidosinteractive.com/gss/legacy/hitman_bm/main.html)

[mascan42]

Anthony brought this up this week when Timothy Olyphant was in (he's playing 47 in the movie version). I was playing this again, and I noticed something that I missed before.

In the Murder of Crows mission, two of the rival assassins are named Mason and Kulisky. For anyone who doesn't remember, they were the awful morning team at WNEW back when the station first turned to the talk format. Nobody listened, and they only lasted 6 months. The only time they were ever mentioned was when O&A were talking about how bad the show was. I wonder if we've got an O&A fan at IO?