Unlike the newer stealth games spiced with fantasy and cool weaponry as in Assassins Creed and Dishonored, Hitman a.k.a Agent 47, was the pure assassin story. The recent Square Enix sale on Steam sold the initial four Hitman games at `212. Codename 47 (2000) was the very first of the four games.
Enter subject, 47, the result of successful genetic experimentations. His very first action on waking up is clothing in his distinctive suit; he will soon learn to cloak himself to appear as a friend to the enemies. Codename 47 sets an elaborate combat training module, which is a very inventive start — we literally begin from scratch. He has no set mental characteristics or assumptions. What we know is what he knows. Both us, and him are forced to do exactly what we are told to, no questions asked (no answers required). The resultant connection established between the player and the character we wield, really changes the way we perceive the story. From a societal point of view, he is a horrid, heartless assassin. But we force ourselves to look at him as an individual subject amazed by his skill and efficiency.
He soon learns to escape the asylum from where he was created. The assortment of guns introduces us to the silenced Micro Uzis (held in both hands), a scaled down version of the submachine gun – preferred by most players after they lay down the guise of stealth and go full attack. Though the game is ancient, it gives a lot of importance to the environment. Maps and storylines are very detailed, and set paced in time. If 47 is to assassinate the heads of a certain Triad, there are multiple ways for him to do so. On missing the first attempt marker, he will have to pursue another line of attack. Most of the missions have 3 distinct ways of discreet assassination – Hitman could disguise as the waiter who poisons the enemy’s soup, detonates his bedroom, or positions himself in a quiet room for the silent sniping attack. Most parts of the stealth mode call for discarding of weapons, and sometimes — leaving us with a mere cardboard stick and fibre wire. His plain face, devoid of expressions makes him the perfect anti-hero, appearing pure human except for the bar code at the back of his head.
(The writer is an economics graduate who spends her leisure time preparing for the zombie apocalypse)