Welcome back Agent 47

The cold calculating killing machine returns for the first time in 6 years, and the developers did a great job of keeping the Hitman feel but improving the game and mechanics so that it didn't feel like rehash. I of course bought the collectors edition and it was not worth the extra scratch. This is the last "special edition" I'll ever buy, no fault of the core game, just fault of the "extras" which was just a gunpack you can unlock by playing the game anyway, and a behind the scenes DVD. The case was pretty baller though.

The "story" goes that your handler , Diana Burnwood went rogue for no apparent reason so the agency hires you to do the deed. When you pop her, she tells you to save a little girl named Victoria. Any more that than and it's spoiler central. Now while the story isn't Pulitzer prize winning it's enough to keep you going. I havent gotten to the end yet but I do kinda want to see how it all turns out.

Challenges are really the bright spot of this game. It sort of artificially extends the game by getting you to replay the same missions in different ways. In example, in the first real mission you can poison your target's cocaine and kill him, or you can poison his coffee to kill him, or you can poison his food to kill him. All 3 of those ways are a challenge and doing all 3 is in itself is a 4th challenge. Completing challenges increases your score multiplier and getting a high enough score unlocks new abilities for Mr.47 like decreasing damage taken or reducing recoil and reload times. So you'll run each mission a few times in an effort to make your abilities better to make the latter levels just a little easier.

Another innovative feature is the "Contracts" mode. This is where you can pick any completed mission and pick out your own targets and kill them in your own way. Once you complete the mission, and you have to escape the level for it to count, you can save it and upload the mission. The method of killing (weapon), outfit worn, hiding bodies, not getting caught are all factors it tracks. In china town you can kill cooks, cops, or vendors and not bother dealing with the kingpin or the drug dealer; so its very refreshing to play the same levels in new ways. You can also save the challenges you make and have a competition with your friends, unfortunately Im the only guy I know who has the game.  Best part? NO ONLINE PASS

I'm still working my way through the campaign mode, the learning curve is pretty steep, even on normal difficulty. If you get caught there is a very small window of opportunity to get away without having to pull your guns and clean house. The way disguises work is a little suspect. If you take a cops outfit other cops can tell you arent a cop, and that totally makes sense to me, I guess there are no rookies on the force in Chicago, heh. I just dont see how if you wear a street vendor's clothes all the other , but I digress. Once you understand how the game works, you can deal with it. SOme of the missions have a suit only challenge and for some I just dont see how its possible, but I suppose when Im going for all the other challenges I'll find a way (or I'll google it). I can tell Im getting near the end because not only are the levels getting redonk but both sides of the story are coming together.

Up over 93,500 gamercore, hopefully I can finish up this game so I can go back and finish AC3, but Connor is a dooshbag :(

till next time
~Malenko

The harder you push it on me, the more I'm going to resist.

Halo is a lot like anal sex, if you're forced to do it as a kid, you wont really enjoy it much as an adult. Ok that's a re-purposed  lima bean joke, but you get my point.

Last time I played Halo, it was the first one, on the first XBOX. I thought it was neat but I had better games to play and didn't think much of it. Halo 2 came out, and I don't think I ever tried it. I heard good things and the game looked really neat, but for some reason I never picked it up. Just not my cup of tea I guess.

Halo 3 came out, again heard good things, even bought a used copy but never actually put it in and played it. I almost went and got another used copy, but then it hit me. I don't think I really want to play the game. Fanboi elitism is probably the worst on that game, so I cant blame microsoft entirely for that.  It feels like every time I go into gamestop/ebgames whatever you want to call them, they try to sell me a Halo game. I mean I went in there to pick up need for speed and its like "oh you like racing games? try Halo for a change of pace", I go in to get Saints Row 3 and I hear "Well if you like shooting stuff, try Halo", I even picked up a 3DS for Bonnie and I got "Im guessing this pink 3DS is for your girl, why don't you pick up Halo so you have something to play while she's on her 3DS?" Maybe I like pink, homophobe. Sides, everyone knows handhelds are just replacements for newspapers and magazines in the bathroom. EVERYBODY POOPS!

So now, I go into the gamestop in the mall and I pick up AC3 and they pitch me Halo 4, I just can't get away from them trying to sell it to me. I went back and picked up my Hitman Absolution but I beat them to the punch this time. I walk up and say "Man can you believe people buy that shitty Halo game? All I got was confused stares and my fucking game. So yeah I don't hate Halo, but I don't like or care about it either. You have your Master Chief and Cortana I have Agent 47 and Diana Burnwood.

Time to go kill shit and not have a neon orange glowing sniper rifle to do it either.

~Malenko

You shouldnt always let they lie

Sleeping Dogs that is. This title was originally True Crime : Hong Kong and I'm really glad Activition dropped it, so that some other more talented developer/publish combo could do something with it.

First and foremost I have to stress this is not a Grand Theft Auto clone at all, it honestly doesn't even feel that sand boxy either. While GTA focuses more on the weapons SD focuses more on hand to hand combat, yeah theres tire irons and guns, but its more batman arkham then Nico liberty city.


One little hidden extra AWESOME bonus? If you have a Just Cause 2 savegame on your hard drive, you get to wear Rico's outfit, which lets you stunt hijack from further away and looks baller as fuck.

The game is not much of a challenge, you'll die more from getting stuck or your car losing control far more often then from enemies. Out side of the main story its still a grind fest and an item hunt. One thing this game does right for the item hunt is give you ways to unlock all the locations on your map. The only bad part about that is the found (light grey) and not found (dark white) icons look almost exactly the same. Even after beating the game I still lacked the money to buy all the cars and clothes and enough "triad" experience to get that achievement, which is why Im prety much going to be locked at 770 cheevie points instead of 1000.

Theres also "real world" events that you just happen to come across, unfortunately I didnt find them all and I cant really be bothered to walk around an entire city and hope I meet the unknown magical conditions for triggering them. A neat idea but the execution is just a bit off.

All in all its still a good game, was worth the $40 I spent on it, its like a GTA with less guns, less walking, less humor, but more quick time button mashing.

~Malenko