Hitman 2016 M & # 39; has learned a better way to play Hitman 2

Kotaku's game diaryDaily thoughts of a Kotaku staff member about a game we play.

Usually, when I play solo, I go from beginning to end. I play each new level after the last, until I stop playing or I reach the end. That's not how I played the excellent episode of 2016 Hitmanhowever, and this is not how I play his fantastic new sequel.

I played almost all the main lines Hitman since the release of the first game in 2000. With the exception of the superlative of 2006, The price of blood, that I replayed a little, I played Hitman games like linear action-adventure games. I was aware of the fact that you could replay levels to try to get higher scores or different results, but I had only played once at each level and advanced.

This has changed with 2016 Hitman, which was published episodically over the course of a year. Weeks, if not months, can pass between the publication of the main levels, with new outsourcing contracts, "challenge" missions and time-limited objectives at existing in the meantime. Thanks to this unusual publication structure, I have been encouraged and sometimes forced to replay each level. As I pointed out in my account of this game, this structure eventually taught me to play Hitman game of what I came to consider as the best, most rewarding way. "It would be possible to download the full game today and go through all the story missions in a matter of hours," I wrote at the time, "which would surely be an unsatisfactory to play. The joy of Hitman comes from repetition and mastery. "

Hitman 2, which was released Tuesday on consoles and PC, came out all at once. There will be a lot of downloadable content after the release, but the main storyline and main levels are all available now. It's like Netflix has acquired a TV show on the network during the off-season; what was once drip fed is now bingeable. As with the 2016 season ended Hitmanit would be possible to install Hitman 2 and blow through all the levels in a few hours. Fortunately, thanks to the many hours I spent repeating and mastering each level of his predecessors, I was trained to play it better.

I put half a dozen hours in Hitman 2, but have not yet passed the first major level. This level is located in and around a motor speedway in Miami. It is sprawling and fascinating even compared to the awesome level design bar established by the 2016 game. so many things, with a seemingly limitless number of ways for Agent 47 to extract its pair of targets. I finished the mission three times, but I only scored the elusive target of the "silent assassin" on my third attempt. Each time, I discovered new ways to complete the contract.

When I look at the Destinations tab of the game's main menu, I see that I could go to the next level, which is in Santa Fortuna, Colombia. In fact, I could play any other destination in any order – an interesting, though overwhelming, amount of options to give. Playing each mission in order would allow me to see the rest of the story, even if the story is so complicated and messy that I'm not sure it would make less sense to do so if I misinterpret it.

Until now, I am happy to have ignored all this and to focus on the fast track. When I discovered new options and strategies, the designers rewarded me with improved options for my next game. I've unlocked several new reserve points in Miami that I can use to hide additional hardware and weapons, as well as some new entry points to the level.

More importantly, playing multiple times on the same level, I unlocked …knowledge. I know where to find four different types of screwdrivers, any one being indispensable to sabotage several crucial pieces of equipment. I know how to easily bypass the security guard at the entrance of the expressway, which allows me to carry a weapon safely in the crowd. I know where to find a sack of sugar and where I can go surreptitiously pour it into the fuel tank of a certain race car.

Like everything Hitman On the levels, the speedway of Miami advances as an autonomous village. I begin to memorize the movements of the gears. I know where there is a security guard (and his rather useful security guard) who catches a zzz all alone in the garage. I know where a member of the crew is leaking. I know how to easily erase the images from the security camera for the show center. I know how to get quickly to the top floor of the center, through a window and on a podium overlooking the race track. J & # 39; I got really good to throw a fish on people.

Despite all the knowledge I've acquired, there are still so many things that I do not know yet. Whenever I play Miami, I learn something new. I discover new areas and possibilities to explore and form a mental map of the level more and more detailed. As IO begins to publish escalating subcontracts and, soon, the first elusive target of the sequel, the information I've gleaned so far will undoubtedly prove invaluable. So, Colombia can wait. I always have business in the 305.