Hitman: Contracts Developer Interview

Can 47?s nightmare flashbacks deliver a sequel as popular and compelling as Hitman 2? GamePro.com grills the developer to bring you the exclusive details.

The assassination game has been a booming business for Eidos and Io Interactive. As the lethal Mr. 47 returns to active duty later this spring, GamePro.com spoke with Jacob Andersen, game director at Io, about the unusual new direction of the Hitman series, the series? past missteps, and its future direction.

GamePro: Please start with the general background of Hitman Contracts. What is the overall story, what will 47 be doing, and where will he be going?

Jacob Andersen: We find 47 in Paris. His last hit was a success, but for some strange reason, the police quickly caught up with him and tracked him down. 47 has been wounded in the escape attempt and is now hiding in a cheap hotel, where he?s patching up the holes in his body. The police call in the GIGN (the elite French SWAT team) to take him down. While 47 recovers strength to proceed with his escape plan, the strong medicine takes him on a journey into his own dark and twisted mind. He recalls past contracts, but the memories have been corrupted to appear disturbing and evil. 47 must now battle the ghosts of his past before he can move on.

GP: Please give a few examples of the missions that 47 will undertake in this game.

JA: 47 gets an assignment to kill a Romanian gangster calling himself ?Meat King.? The Meat King is throwing a party at an old slaughterhouse in light of his recent acquittal of a murder case, and 47 must infiltrate the party and kill both the meat king and his lawyer, and he?s also supposed to dig up any clues of a young girl?s whereabouts. The young girl is the one the Meat King had been accused of murdering, but the body was never found.

GP: Why call the game Hitman: Contracts instead of Hitman 3? Is this game a side story rather than of a sequel?

JA: Well, this is definitely not the last time you?ll see Mr. 47, so we thought the numbering was getting silly, therefore we removed it. The first rumors about the game were about Hitman 3: Contracts, which was the title at first.

GP: Will 47?s mysterious past continue to be a big underlying theme? Will the player discover any tantalizing new details?

JA: 47 will discover some disturbing facts about his past during this episode.

GP: Will the game continue to use the third-person view, and did you consider switching to first-person?

JA: We continue the game in third-person, but still have to option to switch to first-person. This issue has always been discussed a lot, so we decided to include both view modes so the player can choose for himself.

GP: How are you tweaking the overall gameplay?

JA: We have gotten a lot of really useful feedback on Silent Assassin. A lot of people thought it was a bit too hard, but the hardcore Hitman fans thought it was too easy. We will widen the difficulty settings a bit this time, making the Easy mode easier and the hardest one (Professional) harder. That should satisfy all (we hope).

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