Hitman: Codename 47 Preview

Danger lurks behind every corner, if you're a hired assassin. The police and concerned citizens, crime organizations, everybody will want to get rid of you. The reaction of NPCs will vary depending on the identity of the "mark" that got bumped off. It can happen that a "family" hires another killer to chase the Hitman through several missions as a vendetta for the death of their Don. NPCs act independent in regard to Hitman's actions, so their AI is not limited to simple counter-acting to the player. There are 80 original characters in the game. This provides a great number of possibilities, considering that each of them has a specific AI routine. The NPCs will have to be balanced to perfection, since the game has dynamic scenarios, and the characters play such an important role - the plot development will depend on the NPCs reaction to the player. The NPC's will communicate among them and try to organize defenses or assaults. They "see" one another, and act in respective manner, so that the Hitman could, for example, set a spark between two rivaling gangs and diminish the number of opponents between him and the designated target.

Similar to Thief, each hit is preceded by careful sneaking, or stalking your opponent. The best thing is to kill as quietly as possible, because each alarm can lead to a shoot out with a bunch of goons. The shoot outs can be problematic, since the game uses a realistic system, like the one in Delta Force, where a bullet center mass means death. That is why the player will have to plan carefully each mission and the ways to dispose of his adversaries (and their bodies). The weapons will vary from piano wires to assault rifles, and a whole lot in between. This "in between" includes various knives (for throwing and cutting throats ...Ugh, close combat...), sniper rifles, even poison, and equipment such as body armor and traps. (Whoa, this is bound to get Liebermann all excited! -Ed.) All these interesting toys will help Hitman survive another day, and live to receive another assignment form his employers.

Hitman: Code 47 will use a whole new in-house designed engine by IO Interactive, called Glacier. The robust 3D code should bring to life all the tantalizing (and much expected) novelties like: advanced dynamics, geometry deformations, cluster collision, and a totally smooth interaction with the in-game objects. Some old effects are featured as well, like clothes or hair deformation (well, not on our hero...). Instead of controlling character geometry, the engine will control their wire frame, or the skeleton, while the 3D textures will be up to 1MB in size. I can report with great pleasure that the engine supports special effects such as exit wounds, reflection off the shells as they fly out of the weapon, or shells lying around characters' feet. The expected maximum resolution is 1024x768 in 32-bit color. Of course, EAX, MSDS 3D and A3D sound effects are supported to help the player immerse in the game.

The ingenious story of heart stopping action and brand new engine is a very good promise. Idea that the world of contract hits rewards a quick intellect more than a quick trigger finger is to be praised, since makes action games be ever more RPG bent, just like Deus Ex ...