What can I say? Been a fan of the Hit-man games since Codename 47. The greatest aspect of this series is that it requires more thinking than FPS shooters, but doesn't bog the player down with non-sensical rules of engagement like the Splinter Cell series. Additionally, there are a multitude of ways to complete each mission, which unfortunately itself may be problem which I'll mention more later on in detail.
Well, first of, Contracts starts of confusingly with the end of the first game after Mr. 47 has broken Dr. Ortomeyer's neck. After evading/slaughtering the SWAT teams storming the sanitarium, we next find Mr. 47 stumbling in a room, bleeding. And before you know it, you are of on the second mission, a rather disturbing one at that, replete with S&M leather freaks in a slaughterhouse club run by a horribly obese, bedridden man whose disturbed brother has tortured and killed a young girl while listening to oldies on vinyl records. The missions from here on are all generally dark, always taking place at night and on more than one occasion in stormy weather.
Some people have complained about the disjointed missions which seems to lack cohesion and relation. But therein lies the beauty of Contracts. In between each mission as we see more glimpses of the wounded 47, it becomes apparent that he's recalling past missions in his mind and it is from his point of view that we are playing the missions. Some of the missions are remakes from the first game while a select number are original in Contracts. Some aspects of the remade missions are different and may require a different solution than what was used in the first game, that's if you've played Codename 47.
Which brings me to the next aspect which I mentioned earlier, the multiple methods of getting the job done. Unlike Splinter Cell's generally one track solutions, you have the freedom to do what so ever in the game to get the job done. If all-out assault is your cake then so be it, you just won't be able to achieve Silent Assassin ranking to unlock other weapons in the game.(which itself might be pointless due to the lack of an equip option prior to missions) Then again the game was made to beaten while achieving Silent Assassin ranking in all missions. Unfortunately, some solutions are not obvious without a bit of trial and error as well as curious exploration. For example in the mission, "Meat King's Party", the obvious solution was to gain entry to the target's room disguised as either a guard, waiter or chef. However later with a bit of exploration, I discovered an open roof window above the target's room, from which I could also have easily used a silenced weapon to shoot from.
It's also worth mentioning that obvious solutions that work on Normal difficulty, might not work on Expert and Professional. As an example, donning a SWAT officer's outfit in the "Asylum Aftermath" mission worked on normal difficulty setting but when I attempted to use this same method on Professional, the enemy easily saw through the disguise. Ultimately, it would take dedicated fans to beat the game on higher settings. So if you blasted through the game on normal and thought nothing much of the game then I suggest you do so again on the higher settings.
In the graphics department, the game has seen some major overhauling with the addition of reflective surfaces and lighting effects which only help to accentuate the dark nature of the missions.
Well, first of, Contracts starts of confusingly with the end of the first game after Mr. 47 has broken Dr. Ortomeyer's neck. After evading/slaughtering the SWAT teams storming the sanitarium, we next find Mr. 47 stumbling in a room, bleeding. And before you know it, you are of on the second mission, a rather disturbing one at that, replete with S&M leather freaks in a slaughterhouse club run by a horribly obese, bedridden man whose disturbed brother has tortured and killed a young girl while listening to oldies on vinyl records. The missions from here on are all generally dark, always taking place at night and on more than one occasion in stormy weather.
Some people have complained about the disjointed missions which seems to lack cohesion and relation. But therein lies the beauty of Contracts. In between each mission as we see more glimpses of the wounded 47, it becomes apparent that he's recalling past missions in his mind and it is from his point of view that we are playing the missions. Some of the missions are remakes from the first game while a select number are original in Contracts. Some aspects of the remade missions are different and may require a different solution than what was used in the first game, that's if you've played Codename 47.
Which brings me to the next aspect which I mentioned earlier, the multiple methods of getting the job done. Unlike Splinter Cell's generally one track solutions, you have the freedom to do what so ever in the game to get the job done. If all-out assault is your cake then so be it, you just won't be able to achieve Silent Assassin ranking to unlock other weapons in the game.(which itself might be pointless due to the lack of an equip option prior to missions) Then again the game was made to beaten while achieving Silent Assassin ranking in all missions. Unfortunately, some solutions are not obvious without a bit of trial and error as well as curious exploration. For example in the mission, "Meat King's Party", the obvious solution was to gain entry to the target's room disguised as either a guard, waiter or chef. However later with a bit of exploration, I discovered an open roof window above the target's room, from which I could also have easily used a silenced weapon to shoot from.
It's also worth mentioning that obvious solutions that work on Normal difficulty, might not work on Expert and Professional. As an example, donning a SWAT officer's outfit in the "Asylum Aftermath" mission worked on normal difficulty setting but when I attempted to use this same method on Professional, the enemy easily saw through the disguise. Ultimately, it would take dedicated fans to beat the game on higher settings. So if you blasted through the game on normal and thought nothing much of the game then I suggest you do so again on the higher settings.
In the graphics department, the game has seen some major overhauling with the addition of reflective surfaces and lighting effects which only help to accentuate the dark nature of the missions.