Clean, smooth texture work laces environments with a polished sheen that most titles can't match. Remote real-world locales yield their colorfully painted secrets in mysterious, compelling fashions in due turn. Excellent character animations move with blissful perfection over the 3D-rendered backgrounds, as foes dodge, fire, and run like hell in a realistic manner when the hit man runs rampant. Although the voice work is unremarkable, you'll also be extremely pleased with the detailed sound effects and moody music, which amplify the decor. Overall, Hitman is a very mixed bag.
Good ideas clash with rigid mission architecture and fruity design work.
This is the same game in which you can authentically throttle a foe to death, but half a dozen body shots won't ice an opponent. And heaven only knows how Eidos can excuse the Frankensteinish flop of a protagonist. Impatience will get you killed. To fully understand a level, you'll have to play it many times, observing the manner in which characters interact with their surroundings. No one ever said wholesale slaughter would be easy.