I think this series was off to a reaaaaaally rough start, and Contracts is about where I'd say they finally got the concept down well enough. There's certainly still a lot of jank that holds back a lot of ideas but it's a relatively easy to run through game.

The only level in Contracts that I reaaaally don't like is honestly the very last level, which to avoid spoilers I won't be getting into. But it took me a lot of tries to finally get down.

Out of the series so far, Contracts feels the most fun to strategize with. Honestly can't wait to replay Blood Money now.

Almost forgot to bring up that Contracts has one of the best soundtracks I've heard in any game for a while. Jesper Kyd is among my favorite composers (alongside Eric Brosius and Akira Yamaoka) and this game solidified that opinion for me. The soundtrack backs this chilling and twisted, dirty and cold atmosphere the game overall has. It adds this weird layer of surrealism to the tone that is seen throughout the game through to the end.

Постигая игровую серию Hitman по хронологии выхода в свет, внезапно для себя Вы обнаружите, что Hitman: Contracts не отличается от своего предшественника, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, абсолютно ничем и совершенно никак, лишь предоставляя игроку блеклое подобие ранее пройденного сиквела, некое сюжетное дополнение, не предлагающее ничего доселе невиданного и связанное воедино даже не белыми, скорее бесцветными нитями, а то и вовсе втюхивающее ремейк первой половины печально известного дебютанта серии, Hitman: Codename 47, под жалким предлогом внезапно нахлынувших воспоминаний самого Агента 47. Тщетных попыток наладить разговор с игроком стало в разы меньше, видно таков поклон той самой Codename, от чего Ваш внутренний Джон Рэмбо, отрёкшийся от мнимой стелс системы, будет вырываться наружу с куда большей охотой, с радостью экономя Ваше драгоценное свободное время и обременённые тяжкой думой нервы.

There's something really sad about seeing 47 have his life flash before his eyes as he lays mortally wounded, alone in an unceremonious small apartment in France. Truly a horrifying fate and a devastating place to die. But what truly catches my eye is that instead of what you'd normally expect to see in 'near death vision' sequences, like fun family moments or your most cherished memories with loved ones... all 47 ever sees are... his past contracts. It really drives home how tragic 47's life actually is, when all it really ends up being is a series of cold-blooded missions where he takes the life of another. The subtle touch of every of these missions taking place in at night adds to that theme, showing that the light in 47's life is gradually fading out as he clings on to these flimsy memories, the only ones he really cherishes as he struggles to fight for survival. And the game's cutscenes do a stellar job portraying this hallucinogenic ride through 47's mind with great sensible transitions that keep the player second-guessing reality and memory.

Thematic genius aside, the game is great. General movement has been improved greatly, with the optimisations to run/sneak enabling not just easier kills/subduing, but also allowing players to quickly pull up the map on L1 (on a game where map observation is crucial, this is a GODSEND). Most of the levels, including the remastered ones, are all in my opinion much better than most of Silent Assassin's missions, with Beldingford Manor, The Meat King's Party and surprisingly Deadly Cargo (who would've thought) being obvious standouts with its atmosphere, tension and abundancy of methods in which you can beat these levels. Definitely more consistent, too, with each level requiring you to get a kill rather than having filler levels that demand you to simply get to the end of a level, thus removing potential deadweight that would've dragged the game down like Hidden Valley did in its predecessor.

My main issue with the game, however, comes in its pacing. The locations for 2/3rds of the game are varied enough, from a military base to a slaughterhouse to a grand hotel... and then you get 4 missions in Hong Kong. Back to back. This, alongside the main plot indicating that 47 is gradually returning to his senses, absolutely crushes the steady, tense pace of the overall experience that had been gradually built up from the opening cutscene. This is also worsened by the fact that there is no in-reality transitions between these Hong Kong levels to break them apart somehow, making these otherwise great levels a chore to beat.

But for what it is, Hitman 2.5 does its job and is IMO better than Silent Assassin.

This is my first Hitman game I beat so can't speak much on the story, I just thought it was cool how presentation in the cut scenes transition from your damaged body into the level context. It has that 2000s moodiness that keeps you coming back, 3rd level is a shit test tho fr. I liked how aggression & stealth are segregated meters so one isn't incentivized over the other in general, tho level design does that itself.
This is one of those weird remake/sequel titles so I guess if you've beaten the first one theres some new in here for you and If you've never touched the series this is a good starting point.