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Hitman

Once in a while there is a game that you see one glimpse of, and you want it, you need it, because it is so damn cool. What type of game this is varies from person to person, one may see a beat-em up that grabs their interest, another person a driving game, and so on, but once in a blue moon a game that you have dreamed of comes into being. This is to say that a game you have thought would be so very good, but no-one has made. For me Hitman is a game that I have dreamed of, and boy, does it look good.

As the name suggests you play a hitman in the game, with your job being to kill people, for money, basically your an assassin. Kill only the person who you were paid to kill and you get lotsa money, however if you accidentally kill civilians then you need to pay for a clean up squad etc thus loosing some of your hard earned cash. With the money you earn you can buy better equipment, which, theoretically, should improve your results, although your accuracy and the itchiness of your trigger finger could have a lot to do with it. This is a great concept, and I'm sure that it could be expanded on in various ways with a decent plot, with double crosses and the like, and it seems like the plot could contain quite a few, but more about that later...

The concept is sound, very sound, but what about the implementation? Ambitious games are often let down by the technology. Hitman isn't.

One of the great things about Hitman is it's animation system which is revolutionary. It blends motion capture with inverse kimatics to produce characters that are superbly animated, but can react to their environment, and the animation is âintelligent'. This means that when a character is up close to a wall they won't just stop, and the animation for walking continues, they will, depending on the situation, either stop, or walk along the wall, but the animation will be adjusted. This means that the feet will move into a position where the length of the stride is changed, and so unlike GoldenEye you will not get the odd limbs though solid objects effect. This animation technique also allows for characters to react to bullets, explosions and other things that may cause them harm, with realism, and uniqueness. Depending on where they are shot, how they are, standing, where they are standing, whether they are moving the animation for the death or injury will be accurate. Seeing this animation system in action is amazing, and it is the first of its type, it's something that people have wanted to do for a long time because of the amount it adds to the realism of the game, and now Hitman has made this dream a reality.

Technology is nothing without out a good story and Hitman looks like it could have an interesting story, all we have at the moment is this little snippet from the press release:

At first the âHitman' thinks he is carrying out orders for his usual underground agency, but in fact he is being used to clean up the traces of a genetic scientist's revolutionary experiments of which the âHitman' himself was a prototype. As the game progresses, the player will start to piece his past together and realise that he is the next target.

This sounds like quite an interesting plot, and could lead to many a double cross, and they're always fun!

Hitman is a while off yet, so don't expect it till spring/summer next year, at the earliest, but at the moment Hitman has great potential. Stunning graphics, coupled with great A.I. and a plot full of confusion and double crossing. Fantastic.

We will be keeping very close tabs on Hitman, until it, heh, hits us. (Sorry crap joke/pun).

Mark Simons