HITMAN: CODENAME 47

Reviewed By: Robert Smith
VOLUNTEER GUEST REVIEWER

GAME TECH INFO

Computer Platform: PC
Produced by: IO Interactive
Price Range: $31-40
Learning curve time: A few days
Age level: Mature Teen to Adult
ESRB Rating: Mature
Patches / Upgrades: Patch 1

Genre: 3D Shooter
Christian Rating: 2 of 5
   (offensive)
Gameplay: 5 of 5
   (excellent)
Violence: 1 of 5
   (extreme)
Adult Content: 2 of 5
   (heavy)

A publicist for this game could say “Always the silent killer, Hitman will always get his man.” But in reality murder for money isn't a moral act. Having more mob violence than a month spent with Al Capone, it is in the same genre as the movies The Professional and Ronin. However it is an enjoyable game once you get past the violence. And the graphics, sounds, physics and artificial intelligence are excellent.

Screenshot from 'Hitman Codename 47' In this game you play the role of Tobias Rieper a bald, genetically engineered killing machine with 47 chromosomes, and a barcode on the back of his head. This game is played in a third person view with the players' view above the back of Hitman’s head. The first training level comprises the player learning how to use the assorted gruesome weapons and an escape from a mental hospital, with the aid of a mysterious benefactor. Then the player must perform various “hits” around the world for an agency known as 'MERCES LETIFER.'

Screenshot from 'Hitman Codename 47' Typically the missions are very tough and will take several attempts because there are no save games. Also, the initial information about the target is minimal so the player must investigate the level first. The player must observe every step, and action because this game is primarily about making a plan to kill people, and acting the plan out. A typical mission would have the player cleverly murder a lone person, sneak in, and accomplish the main goal which would be killing an underworld creature such as a drug load or a crime boss.

The violence is extreme for this game, and not in a “Quake” or “Unreal” fashion where the player kills mindlessly. This game glorifiers 'the kill.' In one scenario the player waits until a limousine driver is urinating in a storm drain to strangle him with a piano wire, drag his body to a secluded spot, and take his clothes--all to plant a bomb, further murdering more people. If you kill the driver too soon, his friends will draw their weapons and fire upon the player. If you don't hide the body, a passerby will see it and alert his friends. And even the display of weapons causes the characters in the game to alert authorities or for enemies to attack at you. This forces the player to limit how many people he kills.

The game has other immoral and non-Christian aspects. There is a strong sexual theme. In one of the missions the character must lure a person guarding a car by hiring an exotic dancer. In another you must hire a hooker to accomplish the goals (though nothing sexually explicit occurs). The game has other unsettling aspects as well, such as the mission where you must feed a dead person to a jaguar. And in the last mission you learn that you are the first in an army of genetically engineered hitman clones, which naturally you must kill. To sum it up, "Hitman: Codename 47" is a pretty gruesome game.

Year of Release—2000

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this Christian Spotlight review are those of the reviewer (both ratings and recommendations), and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Films for Christ or the Christian Answers Network.