Hitman: Hitting Men

Incidentally, the patch notes page has a pretty amazing header image.

Did these games always have a sense of humour about themselves? I remember trying one (Blood Money?) and thinking it was quite dry.

I never played any of the others much, but these two have had a great, dark sense of humor.

Missing out on all the Hitman fun because I'm with family all Christmas. I'll be back to blundering my way around in the new year.

Snap. Away until the 27th, then seeing the kids. Games will have to wait.

Had an auto-save from pre-Barbershop, so I'm running through the customers now. They leave a LOT of coins; I didn't notice that before.

Mastery 20 get!

Now onward, to exotic…
checks map
…Vermont.

I’m at mastery 18, one more run will get me over the line - Mumbai has definitely been the quickest map for me for that, there’s so much stuff to do there. Murder fun will have to wait for a day or two now though, I’ve got to use my skill with sharp implements to assemble Christmas presents tonight instead.

Getting annoyed with Paris. Haven't been able to get Novikov to do anything I need him to for SASO. Dalia is easy, but Viktor? Total prick.

He's a pain, but there are a few ways to do it.

Spoiler - click to showEasiest way, I think, is if you stand out of sight just outside the back door of the palace; you can shoot the chandelier pulley across the room while Victor's under it for an accident kill. His bodyguard stands far enough away that he won't be hit.

Just dropped Dalia on him in the end. Feel like I can do more of the Mission Stories and bits now that I've ticked of SASO.

I tend to do the Mission Stories before even attempting Silent Assassin, let alone Suit Only, just to identify as many opportunities as possible before giving it a go. I've been moving on after getting Mastery 20. I've still only SASO'd Miami and the Final Test… though I reckon I can probably do Mumbai.

I've hit mastery 20 in Paris but there's still some stuff I want to try. Might be worth continuing on and getting some more gear unlocked first, though - being able to start a level with emetic poison would be good.

Coming back somewhere, fully geared out with poison and explosives, is great.

Also, I took a briefcase with me to Whittleton Creek last run, and it turns out you can choose an item to bring in it, which I didn't realise. So you can start (in places where the outfit allows) with a sniper rifle, which makes Sniper Assassin runs a mite quicker.

Mastery 20 on Bangkok, at last, meaning I have the best pistol in the game back - the Krugermeier 2-2. Also got SASO and Sniper Assassin on the way, so one step closer to the all-black suit.

I really want the season 1 Elusive Target suits back, though, just so I can use the Marrakesh suit everywhere again.

you can start (in places where the outfit allows) with a sniper rifle

I think my next major objective is to unlock a silenced rifle, the Sieger 300 Ghost, which apparently involves an Escalation Contact in Marrakesh. Which will be fun, I'm sure.

It's only 3 levels, and I had fun with it. It's not that difficult, either.

I did it for the rifle, too, because it was faster than the mastery on Hokkaido.

How on earth do you move the cement pipe in the construction yard in Mumbai? I assume you can control the crane from somewhere but can’t find anything at all.

Cement pipe? Don't know that one, sorry, I haven't been chasing everything.

I've just started Sapienza. Completed it once, after a dreadful couple of attempts. Think I can get the virus and Caruso without a disguise easily enough, but getting to De Santis is another thing entirely.

She can actually be remarkably straightforward, depending on what order you tackle the objectives, but she's usually pretty tough to get on her own.

Sapienza SASO done.

Spoiler - click to showTook out the cameras first, then used the scientist from the church's card and dongle to get in and kill the virus; lured De Santis down by waking up and then stashing the PI, took out one of her bodyguards on the walk so I could approach unnoticed, shot her in the head and dumped the body in the sea; used the observatory to get Caruso, after knocking out his guards and stuffing them in a nearby crate. Escape by speedboat.

How'd you get
Spoiler - click to showthe PI? I can hardly ever seem to get him isolated enough to grab.

Spoiler - click to showFollow him when you wake him up, he passes through a little tunnel; you can choke him out right next to a dumpster.

Yeah, every time I do that, someone bumbles in on me.

Vermont seems remarkably low-key after Mumbai.

It really does. I think there's more going on than it first seems, though, but having to get the clues can be a bit of a pain (though there are way more than 3, so at least there are multiple locations involved, unlike, say, the virus in Sapienza).

Just noticed, there are only 15 levels of Mastery for Whittleton Creek.

Marrakesh is going to take me a while. I feel like I clocked Sapienza pretty quickly, after spending what felt like forever getting my confidence together on Paris, but this is definitely going to be a slow burn. I think I'm starting to see the edges of an SASO approach, though.

Whittleton Creek might only have 15 mastery levels but the challenges seem to give less XP so it’s lasting me easily as long as any other level.

I wonder if there were last-minute cuts made to this level leading to this slightly odd situation? There are a number of unused, inaccessible locations on the map too.

Really? Where? Fairly sure I've been everywhere that shows up on the map…

I think the lower mastery is just down to it being a smaller, less busy location; you can't have a starting point or smuggling location in every house. They might also end up being relevant to an elusive target or an escalation at some point.

Well, I was thinking mostly of the row of locked, inaccessible houses along the north side of the map but there are also a couple of areas like the murder basement and the tunnel that feel very detailed in their design for areas that have no story relevance at all. Like you say, maybe they're planning elusive targets or even bonus missions for this map, there's still a lot of Hitman 2 to come.

Just finished Colorado, (clown)-suit only, only killed targets, took out security cameras, killed all four targets in accidents, but apparently someone found a body. Ugh. I've no idea where, in the two days' worth of save games, the offending corpse got spotted, though I'm sure I never got notified.

So annoyed.

Attempt #2 (as Santa 47), I did notice a "body found" pop-up after poisoning Graves, but still got SASO.

Just Colorado Sniper Assassin left for the black suit, but the guards are fucking psychic or something; the instant I snipe anyone, I'm immediately in a gunfight, even from behind cover halfway across the map.

Oh, and there's this:

https://twitter.com/Ninchilla/status/1080954000567095296?s=19

Sniping has apparently been borked since the first patch, with psychic guards able to pinpoint your exact position from anywhere on the map. There’s no way that IOI are unaware of this given the howls of outrage on the official forum, so I’d expect this to be fixed fairly soon.

Oh; I'm not ever on the official forums.

I managed to do sniper assassin on Whittleton Creek, though…

Warner Bros. just confirmed that the Hitman HD Collection is arriving next week - it's basically HD'd versions of Blood Money and Absolution. They're much more enclosed than Hitman/Hitman 2 in terms of design and levels, so that might be a turn-off for some. Blood Money is great, Absolution… well, I haven't played that one, but it got savaged on release. But hey, more Hitman.

I played a demo of Absolution back when it first came out. It seemed much more linear, like they were trying to increase accessibility above all else.

I did like that you could turn away from people to slow down the rate at which you got recognised, though. That would be very handy in Hitman 2.

Yeah, Blood Money is clearly the draw in that pack. Absolution isn’t real Hitman as most people understand it.

I hope it doesn’t further cannibalise the already disappointing sales of Hitman 2, though. Couldn’t they have at least waited another couple of months?

SASO done on Marrakesh (didn't even have to go into the school!), a little slower than I'd have liked, and I've hit 20 Mastery.

Went back to Sapienza to mop up a couple of challenges, and had a bit of a poke around Bangkok.

I hope it doesn’t further cannibalise the already disappointing sales of Hitman 2, though

Hitman 2 has just been added to the PSN January sale for £28, or the Gold Edition for £41, so hopefully that'll get a couple of people on board before the remasters land.

Aggravating that they’ve reduced the price of the Gold Edition but not the standalone season pass. I’d buy that now, but I’m not paying more for 2 levels than I paid for the game in the first place.

The assassinations in this game are getting easier and easier.

Isle of Sgàil complete. It's a good level, but I think Mumbai might be the overall highlight for me, still. Lots left to explore, though, and you can
Spoiler - click to showdress in a suit of armour and kill people with a broadsword, turning it into an impromptu game of Dark Souls. And no, the armour does not appear to make you any harder to kill..

After a slow start and a couple of disastrous runs (successful, though they'd qualify for whatever the opposite of "Silent Assassin" would be), I'm starting to get the swing of Bangkok. I've the early stages of an SASO attempt planned, but getting up to Cross is proving challenging, and that's even without figuring out how to take out the security system.

Spoiler - click to showThe lawyer is easy - start with lethal poison on the docks, quick jog up to the buffet, and then into the basement to nab a master keycard from the laundry room while he bites it. From there I can get onto the roof and across to the other "tower", but then I'm totally surrounded by hostiles and there appears to be only one set of stairs (I'm sure health and safety has something to say about that in their review of fire safety).

I might just have to accept that more recon is necessary, grab a disguise and poke around some more.

There are a couple of ways to SASO Cross, but he's definitely one of the trickier ones.

Spoiler - click to showIt's possible to get him with the cake on SASO, which is maybe the fastest, though it does involve managing to grab the topper from the kitchen without being spotted, which is quite the challenge in and of itself. From there, you dash across the roof, as you describe, and stick it on the cake while nobody's looking. Hide in the crate, and Jordan will come down, have a meltdown, and everyone else will leave.

I think I've worked out a super-quick Sniper Assassin run for the Isle of Sgàil, once the guard thing gets fixed.

EDIT: I shouldn't care that aniki has a better score than me on Marrakesh, but I kinda do.

Getting that 15 Mastery on Whittleton Creek is turning into a bit of an epic struggle. I've done all the major stuff and loads of the miscellaneous side challenges and I'm still only sitting at 13. Going to have to work on a Silent Assassin run just to tip myself over the edge. Getting the clues each run is a bit of a chore, to be honest.

I do like the level a lot, but it's the complete opposite of Mumbai, where I hit 20 without even really thinking about it and still had a huge amount of stuff left to do.

I always do the same 3 clues:

Spoiler - click to showLegal files in the shed behind Cassidy's neighbour for the date; grab the shovel and dig up the cigar box in the frog habitat on the way back out for the meeting with the Constant; then through the basement tunnel to Janus' Soviet Shrine for the Ark Society photo and to take out the cameras.

All 3 work fine for SASO runs.

On another note, I managed to do Sniper Assassin on Isle of Sgàil. SASO still a mystery.

I appreciate that you spoiler-tagged that thing about the clues, but I read it anyway and I'm still no clearer what you're on about.

I appreciate that you spoiler-tagged that thing about the clues, but I read it anyway and I'm still no clearer what you're on about.

It's for Whittleton Creek - have you played that level yet?

Oh; I didn't know you'd moved on to Hitman 2 stuff yet, thought you were working through 2016 first.

EDIT: I shouldn't care that aniki has a better score than me on Marrakesh, but I kinda do.

Score's just down to the time taken, when you get to SASO. I could have shaved more time off, but I think I'd need a second lethal poison vital and the one in the tunnels isn't quick to get - it'd take more time than it saves.