Hitman 2

He’s 6 feet 5 inches tall, bald as Bruce Willis, and has an enormous barcode clearly visible on his Arnuld-size neck. He should blend right in, then…

The mission briefing sets it up nicely. Ventilate the general as he sits in his office. The general will be clearly visible in the room on the third floor. He will be alone. He will be dead when you paint the opposite wall an interesting new color known as “gray-matter.” Simple enough.

You get a note with directions to a locker in the subway. (Why is it always lockers?) Clank. It opens. and you grab your sniper rifle, head up the stairs. and into the snowy streets of Something-or-other-grad. Uh-oh. A checkpoint. You walk (running will look suspicious) down a side street. Here comes a guard. He says something in Russian. He wants your papers. You want his clothes. Pchshtttt! “Urghh . .. “ A single shot to his head takes care of it nicely. You saunter casually out of the alley, circumnavigating the checkpoint. Bleep. You consult your map. The building you need is to the north. Uh-oh, more soldiers. You flip to third-person mode; it allows for better field of view. The soldiers turn as you walk past. Can they tell you’re not Leonard? Does your ass look big in this? Best to keep walking. Bluff it out. No shots. A good sign. You reach the target building. The door is unlocked. You switch to first-person mode, just in case you run into anyone. Up the stairs. Looking for the right room to shoot from. Nope, not that one, it’s got boards over the windows. Time is running out. Gotta find the room. Ah, here it is. Nice view. You can see the target room in the opposite building. The clock is ticking. You look through the scope of the sniper rifle.

Something’s not right. There’s only supposed to be one fat old general in the room. There are three. Well, which one is the target?

Bleep. A female voice, husky and British, tells you to hold on. She’s checking for more details. Your finger is on the trigger. You’re panning back and forth across the room, zeroing in on each general in turn. Heh-heh. You hold their lives in your hands. Hand. Finger, sort of. Whatever.

Bleep. “Target is right-handed”

Okay. that rules out fatty number one by the door-he’s holding his drink with his left hand. But the other two are both right-handed. You need more info.

Bleep. “Target is known to have a drinking problem.”

You look again. They’re all drinking.

Bleep. “Target is a smoker.”

Got it. Fatty number three is the target. You line up the sight—it sways slightly from left to right. Fatty two keeps walking in front of your target. He stands there. You can’t get a clear shot. You wait. You wait some more. Come on, just move your arm…just a little…just enough for-got it! Bang! You put a bullet through his temple—the cigar drops to the floor. You briefly flirt with the idea of sniping the other two, just for kicks, but time is pressing. Mission accomplished. Only now the guards know you’re here…

If any of the above appeals, you might be interested to know that Hitman 2 will be released in September by Eidos Interactive, and a very welcome addition to the Xbox library it is too. The original game sold in huge quantities. thanks to a great concept and some clever level designs—but suffered from a number of gameplay and graphical hiccups that have thankfully, been targeted for termination in the sequel. Danish developer Io Software has listened, and listened well, to the criticisms; from the hour that Xbox Nation spent with the game, the results are impressive—the game mixes shooter action with Metal Gear-style strategic thinking and stealth over 16 missions, split between just about every country in the world.

One particular reason why the game is such a breath of fresh air is that the Xbox lineup has thus far been about as deep as a kiddy pool. There’s been an awful lot of combat games, driving titles, enough sports offerings to warrant a new (and no doubt extreme) channel on ESPN. and some mostly dreadful adventure games, but very few games that require much strategy (unless you call choosing which outfit to wear in Dead or Alive 3 strategy).

Hitman’s emphasis on brain (alongside brawn) makes for a seductive mix, and one which has slyly crept towards the top of our own most-wanted list.