Hitman: Codename 47 Reviews

Don't get me wrong, I'm a patient gamer, I have played the old games (except for the first one) as a kid when they came out (forgot most about them due to old age and passing years though), recently I decided to buy every single Hitman game on steam so I could do a full recap and eventually finally start World of Assassination, but holy fuck, this game is just pure agony. The entire design philosophy is built on dying and then re-spawning again with more knowledge, much like dark souls...except, this is no dark souls, this is just a poorly designed American-action-movie-inspired shit game. Like i seriously wish it was about the controls or the graphics, but no, it's just inherently bad. You are honestly better off just reading the plot on the Wiki page for more context and then just skip ahead and play the second game right away.

Honestly, this is awful. Even accounting for the fact that it's a 2000 release, which doesn't really mean much as lots of peoples' favorite games are just that old. Nevertheless, here are the reasons in no particular order: Controls. Default control map is done by someone who has never played an RPG by the looks or it. Granted that todays conventions may have been not present back then but what this game comes out with is best described as a PC-specific attempt at gesture navigation. Mission setup. Having familiarised ourselves with controls and definitively decided that they are indeed awful, can't be changed and will do for now, we start a mission. Any mission. We immediately fail it because reasons (like say... trying to get over the fence or looking for sane vantage point). We restart it and find out that checkpoints are either nonexistent or useless since game/NPC state is not what it should have been. Also missions, including and especially starting two, might require precise action timing. Add to this a tendency of the game to explain barely half of the controls, none of the map markers and having awful charater mobility. Graphics. I don't particularly care if they are blurry, have about as much draw distance as one would have in a dense fog (that is not much if you've been in a fog like that) or otherwise look "outdated". As long as they look good enough for the time, it's mostly playable. What I do care about is how it scales to various screen sizes and resolutions (accounting for release year) and this one does so in most uniquely strange fashion. Mission/Inventory/action UI elements stick to screen corners and are tiny with pixelated text, central menu (briefing/settings) takes up an area roughly that of a postcard at highest possible resolution. Used screen space is also forced to 4:3 or 3:4 (take your pick) and is absolutely out of sync with menus. In other words... yeah... not for modern systems. What did it for me though was a combination of these things, especially checkpoints and buggy item interactions. Don't want to replay the same mission again, again and again because some piece of code derped out and went on vacation. Take for nostalgia or whatever but as far as RPG/FPS go, I'm ranking this below Just Cause 1 which is an achievement on its own.

You will constantly lose a lot of progress to janky, effectively random interactions. The difficulty and brutality of this game is not consistent and you need a little imagination to complete it without a guide. Right now, I don't want anyone to go through what I went through with this game, but maybe I'll think differently about it after playing the rest of the series. Right now I can say it's all style, no substance. You will want to give this game more respect than it deserves and power through the confusion and frustration instead of consulting a strategy guide and blitzing through. In my case I think that was a mistake.

The very first Hitman game, released back in 2000, is a somewhat of a janky experience. Graphics are obviously outdated, so do not expect a visual masterpiece. Codename 47 is rather different from other Hitman games. Other games reward you for being a silent assassin, a precise and calculated killer, leaving no trace of your presence. Here, you will more often than not cause collateral damage, detonating explosives and killing lots of people before reaching your target. But still, there are several missions where you can catch a glimpse of the future development of Hitman franchise. This game is worth playing, just for those few missions that paved the way for the franchise. Janky visuals can be a turn off for some people. Hitman identity is not yet fully formed. But it's a fun nostalgia trip. I recommend it to all the fans of the franchise, as well as to all who are nostalgic for games from the early 00's.

If there was a neutral rating, it would fit this game, in my opinion. I can only recommend this game if you are a hardcore fan of the Hitman series or want to explore old games for nostalgia, because you will lose your mind trying to figure out how to complete these missions. The hardcore damage and level design would be okay if there were a quicksave option

This is a legendary stealth action game that every diehard fan of the genre should play. The score by Jesper Kyd as always lends itself to an exotic and otherworldly ambiance, the solutions to levels feel satisfying to pull off, the levels are memorable, and it lets you take a loadout to fit your style. The jungle stages while having great music didn't seem as well thought-out as the rest, so my final rating is 9/10.

This game hasn't really aged well and it's really challenging and hard to play without having the save game feature it's really a pain in the ass but it's the debut of the awesome franchise and it's nice and cool. :P

Terrible control but also very fun at times Overall I'd say I still enjoy this game way more than Hitman 2 Silent Assassin

no saves, hardly any checkpoints, when there are they start with enemies alerted. pure hardcore hitman stuff with bugs and glitches, oh the nostalgia

It's actually pretty good for how old it is. The controls are definitely geriatric but once you get used to it you'll have fun. Nice to finally be able to play the first game at least for me.