Hitman: Blood Money is really a mixed bag. One one hand you have a very cool, non-linear steath game that if you have ever played any of the previous games, you will probably like. One the other hand, it's obvious Eidos and developer Io Interactive didn't take much time upgrading the visuals in any way for this 'next-gen' release. An to be honest, there isn't much new here that you haven't seen in the other games in the series. But at least it's better than Hitman: Contracts.
Gameplay: Like I said before, if you have played any of the Hitman games before, you won't find much new here. When you are playing a mission, everything is much like it was before. I still like how you can play that game in so many different ways. If you want to play with more stealth, the game encourages you to do so. But if you want to just play like a maniac, you have the ability to do that, as well.
The biggest improvement for me with this game over the previous Hitman: Conracts, is the storyline. 'Contracts' felt like a bunch of random missions tossed together, slapped on a disc, rushed to stores only to make money. 'Blood Money' takes care of that problem by ushering in a very intersting storyline that concludes with one of the coolest ways to end a videogame in recent memory.
Between missions is really the only place that the gameplay has changed much, but it's all for the better. I love the ability to spend your earnings on upgrading your weapons. Not only is it fun & useful, the achievements that go along with it are addicting. The notoriety aspect isn't as good, but it's still an interesting addition. Obviously if you just run around a map killing people and leaving witnesses, you will becomes very notorious. What this game does, is carry that over from mission to mission. It eventually gets to a point where you become so infamous that it's hard to do your normal missions without being recognized. Both of these additions and are welcomed, even if they could be fleshed out a little more.
Overall I think you will enjoy 'Blood Money' quite a bit if you are a fan of the Hitman series. It's definately better than 'Contracts' and is a fun game to play. I definately wouldn't call it a 'next-gen' experience by any means (more on that in a sec.), but it's a good game nonetheless.
Graphics: I don't know what happened here, but there are times when this game looks nice and there are times where this game looks terrible. For every moment I was impressed by the visuals, I had four or five moments where I thought this game would look crappy on a Playstation 2. Like I said in my opening, it's obvious this game wasn't designed for the Xbox 360 and the visuals are easily the worst part of this game.
Sound: I really like what music there is in this game. There isn't a lot, but what is here is really good. Like the music, there isn't a ton of voice acting, but all of the characters are all voiced pretty well. I have no complaints here at all.
Value: The game can be very long or very short depending on your playstyle. If you run through the game gunning everybody down, the game will go very quickly. If you play the game how the developers would like you to, you will get significantly more time with it. It's not a long game either way, but if you combine going for all of the addicting achievements this game could keep you busy for awhile. And there is a bit of replay value here since you can replay the missions in so many different ways.
Reviewer's Tilt: I really had a good time playing this game. I do think the series is a bit overdue for an overhaul and I really get sick of the trial-and-error gameplay sometimes. But there is something about this series that has always resonated with me. Hopefully the next game in the series will improve on the obviously sub-par visuals. If you liked the other Hitman games and you can get this game for the now lower price, I would definately pick this up.
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