This game has no business being as good as it is.

Being a DIK is weird because it walks this tightrope of tone and somehow manages to stay on said tightrope. It has enough sexytime for short term players, but enough character drama to serve as something you're excited to play with both hands. Story branching is wild and your decisions almost always have consequences in some way, shape or form.

I do wish so many of the female characters didn't have cartoonish bodily proportions, though.

Hitman: Blood Money is said to be one of the best games in the series and for some they consider it their personal favorite. With such high praise from the fanbase, I walked into this game with both hype and high expectations. Having finished the game myself, I'll admit that it is fun. What that being said though, the game is far from perfect.

I'm going to begin this review with the narrative of Blood Money and I'm going be completely honest, I didn't think it was particularly good. The plot reminded me of a schlocky spy-action movie that'd you find in a bargain bin somewhere. The constant talk of cloning and super soldier spies felt too silly for me to take seriously. I at least preferred this games tone to that of Contracts even despite the silliness. The story is much easier to follow than Contracts as well, but it does have some bad plot holes of its own. Having completed every game from the original to Blood Money in the past few days, the constant bouncing around of when each game is set in the timeline got grating. Actually, trying to care about the narrative in each entry got hard to do given the constant bouncing around in time. Bits and pieces of each game takes place before or after other bits and pieces from other games. The whole thing is like playing through a confused kaleidoscope of Assassinations.

A word of warning, if you didn't play the previous games expect some confusion because this game's story is written with the clear assumption that you've have played the entire series prior to Blood Money and the game doesn't offer any recaps to fill you in either.

Another one of the reasons why I didn't like this story was because I found that while playing this game there were a lot of times that I really didn't like 47 as a character. There were several times throughout the story where I felt that his demeanor and actions towards others were unnecessarily harsh like in the cut scene that takes place before the mission Till Death Do Us Part. I get that that 47 is supposed to be a hitman and, in that profession, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. However, with 47 constantly being a douche I honestly didn't care that people were out to kill him, or even if he lived at the end. It's been a while since I've played a main character in a video game that I disliked this much.

Now, if you're a person who really couldn't care less about the story and you're there more for the gameplay than there's good news because it's the gameplay that makes Blood Money shine. This game takes all the good ideas and gameplay mechanics from all the older games in the series and for the most part makes them better. Crouching has been hugely improved, so it doesn't feel like it takes forever to move when in stealth. Switching disguises feels a lot more fun in Blood Money than the previous games because your cover isn't blown if you stand too close to an enemy for too long. This also helps when you need to use your map due to the game not being paused while checking it. IOI also added a lot of different additions to the gameplay like using enemies as body shields, shoving enemies, or being able to push them over railings which adds a lot to the combat or stealth. They also added upgrades for weapons and health, as well as items which you can buy using the cash that you've earned from missions. How much cash you receive is dependent on how well you do in your missions. You can also buy intel on a mission if you're stuck and could use a hint.

The inventory runs exactly the same as in Contracts, but the saves are a tad different this time. In Blood Money you get unlimited saves in Rookie, 7 in Normal, 3 in Expert, and 0 in Professional, but there's only 3 save slots this time and if you turn off the game than the game erases them for some reason. I'm not sure why the developers chose to do this, and I find it be a poor gameplay design because people have lives and obligations, but most of the levels can be cleared in about 5 to 10 minutes if you know what you're doing.

The levels in this game are way more fun to explore because they are much larger than the earlier games and because of that offer even more variety in how you want to eliminate targets. Having played through Blood Money you can see where the foundation and concepts for the level designs in World of Assassination came from due to it playing very similar. The art style is a huge step in both design and tone from Contracts, and some of the level designs were really impressive like A Dance with the Devil which is really cool looking.

So obviously adding new solid gameplay mechanics, items, and upgrades in well-designed levels makes Hitman: Blood Money a great stealth game, right? Yes, when you're able to play stealth that is. However, there are times where this game forces you into scripted combat whether you like or not. Forcing the player into these sequences instead of letting the player choose how to approach an objective whether it's through stealth or direct combat dilutes a lot of what makes this game fun. The last mission of the game is the worst because of this! It throws you into a slow-motion action scene with two weapons that barely hold bullets so you're constantly reloading with a horribly slow reloading animation with eight enemies shooting you. Even in rookie mode you die incredibly quick, and it took me eight or so tries to even complete that mission. I needed to switch from controller to mouse and keyboard to have the pinpoint accuracy needed to make every bullet count to survive the encounter. It's like IOI wanted Blood Money to be both an action and stealth game, but it doesn't work. This sequence in particular highlighted how sometimes style was chosen over substance in development of Blood Money.

Overall:

After completing Blood Money, I find myself at a mixed verdict. There is a lot to love here, but just as much that will drive you crazy. It felt like a far cry from the masterpiece the fanbase had built it up to be. Even still, there is indeed a lot of fun to be had and it is worth playing in that regard.


Pros:
+ graphics that hold up well
+ good art style
+ fun levels that offer more ways to take down targets
+ improved crouching and stealth
+ upgrades for weapons, health, and other items

Cons:
-mediocre story
-the main character is unlikable
-the last mission is awful
-game does not keep saves when turned off