Hitman: Codename 47 Throwback Thursday Review

Hello and welcome all to a review of a game nearly two decades in the making and representing such a wide variety of game play and direction. I recently attended PAX West and the one game I got hands on time with was Hitman 2, the 2018 sequel to Hitman, which are ironically the 10th and 9th games in the series respectively. The first being an old game released back in 2000 that managed to capture my interest and held it since. Representing an open game where one could elect to be a mass murdering psychopath or a deliberate Silent Assassin, the game has played around with ratings and replayability aspects that offer plenty of ways to play and enjoy yourself.

The series follows the exploits of Agent 47, a cloned super human assassin in the employ of the ICA or International Contract Agency. He has been a fairly iconic individual who you would likely recognize between the bald head, tattoo barcode, red tie, and suit. This leads to another iconic aspect of the game series, which is the changing of disguises which magically hide his identity, because no one would think it suspicious that one of our guards in Hong Kong is now a tall, bald white dude. Through the use of “accidents” and his also iconic tools such as Silverballer .45 handguns, Walther WA2000 sniper rifle, and piano fiber wire, players roam through missions and attempt to end the life of their target, as well as obtain items or retrieve VIPs in certain circumstances.

Hitman: Codename 47 however is the start of our crazy adventure, with the player assuming control of 47 in a sanatorium as he escapes after killing some guards. You then proceed on through Hong Kong killing Triads, Columbia killing drug dealers, Austria to kill terrorists, and finally Amsterdam to kill extremists. At the end of these missions, 47 has ended the life of a specific individual whom you later find are the gene-sires of 47, having contributed to his creation while members of the French Foreign Legion stationed in Vietnam (because the game can’t be too believably or anything). This is discovered through letters and confirmed in the basement lab of the sanatorium from the beginning where Professor Ort-Meyer had created him. Upon entering the basement, we find that there are advanced clones called 48’s whom are sent to kill 47 and are subsequently dispatched. Finally Ort-Meyer is dispatched after failing to identify 47 and we end the game, the story to be continued in future iterations of the series.

My love of this series has waned and waxed with the years but for the most part I’ve enjoyed it, even cosplaying as 47 himself at one point. One interesting component of this game that was never really emulated the same was the currency system, where your scores enabled rewards to be paid out and allow players to enter missions by buying weapons, ammo, and equipment. Beyond that I’ve enjoyed that this game has been recreated a couple times, once as a remaster, and once as a remake.

Again, the series has its highs and lows and I’m glad to see that the latest games have been fantastic and stay true to the original while maintaining a great deal of replayability.  The game can be obtained on Steam for $7.99 or in a bundle and I recommend it should they go up on sale (usually down to like a dollar or two) as they represent a good bit of gaming history. Hitman: Codename 47 was one of those games that first explored cloth physics (that tie has always been amazing) as well as rag doll physics (dragging and piling bodies is also amazing). The series has since pioneered plenty of physics, mechanics, and AI aspects that later defined games as we know them, either for good or bad. I personally love the series but by all means let me know what you feel of the original or the series (and yes…fighting scantily clad nuns was stupid) and check out the rest of our BAYOG content!