Agent 47’s Greatest Hits: 10 Best Hitman Levels

5. Traditions of the Trade – Hitman Contracts (2004)

This remake of a Hitman: Codename 47 level sees Agent 47 travelling to a hotel in Budapest, where he must assassinate two brothers who are planning to detonate a dirty bomb at the hotel’s UN Conference. The level is packed with various opportunities to take down your targets; do you pose as a bell-boy and strangle your target in the shower? Or jump from balcony to balcony to find an alternative entry point? Do you drown his brother in the pool, or wait patiently until he enters the sauna so that you can lock him in and steam him alive?

As with all Hitman levels set in a hotel, part of the fun of this mission is exploring every nook and cranny to discover the little details the developer has added. In an abandoned wing of the hotel there’s a ghost, and if you pay a visit to the florist you can pick up a box of long-stemmed roses that contains a shotgun, a blatant reference to the mall scene in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

4. Curtains Down – Hitman: Blood Money (2006)

Hitman: Blood Money introduced several new elements to the series, including weapon customisation, the newspaper that detailed your crimes after every mission, and the notoriety system. However, the most important feature was the ability to make your target’s death look like an accident, and in Curtains Down, the second main mission in Blood Money, you can engineer the craftiest of accidents.

The mission takes place in a Parisian Opera House where one of your targets, a world-famous tenor, is rehearsing the execution scene from Tosca. Your other target looks on from a well guarded box-seat. With meticulous planning and a lot of patience, you are able to swap the prop gun for a real WW1 pistol, making sure that the show doesn’t go on for the tenor. When the other target realises what has happened, he sprints down to the stage but unfortunately trips over right underneath a chandelier which falls and crushes him (when you detonate the bomb that was strapped to it during your earlier visit to the attic).

After that you can brush the dust off your shoulders and leave the scene, leaving everyone to come to terms with the tragic coincidence that just occurred.

Sometimes you don’t need Silverballers or fibre wire, and that is when Hitman shines brightest.

 

3. A New Life – Hitman Blood Money (2006)

A firm fan-favourite, A New Life places Agent 47 in perhaps the most strangest of settings: a quiet suburban street in San Diego, complete with neighbours trimming their hedges and a dustbin-man doing his rounds. I say ‘strange’, because up until this point we had been mostly infiltrating grand manors and the hang-outs of the elite. It was a refreshing change of pace, and what we got wasn’t just one of the most fun levels of the game, but one of the most fun levels in the last ten years of video-games in general.

The target, a gang boss turned state witness, is holding a party for one of his young children. This provides Agent 47 with several opportunities to get inside the FBI-guarded house, the clown costume being by far the funniest.
Although this is a small level, there are plenty of discoveries to be made, including a dustbin lorry which can be used for the disposal of dead bodies, and an air rifle in a tree-house, amongst many more. They ensure multiple paths can be taken through the level, ensuring that no two playthroughs will ever be the same. A Hitman level doesn’t have to be big in order to be good. Sometimes, a smaller space filled with lots of options can make a fantastic level, and A New Life is a perfect example of this.

What makes A New Life so memorable is that it takes place in an idyllic and innocent setting, providing a stark contrast to the violence that ensues when Agent 47 comes a-knocking.

 

2. Beldingford Manor – Hitman Contracts (2004)

An absolute classic level that fits in perfectly with Hitman: Contracts’ theme of darkness.
Taking place on a quaint English countryside estate at night-time, complete with manor, stables and grounds, Agent 47 must rescue the client’s kidnapped son and kill his captors. Their plan is to hunt him, instead of foxes, the very next day.

Every aspect of this level is on point. The gloomy atmosphere creates an unnerving sense of dread, while the level design is amongst the best in the series. Hidden passages provide plenty of opportunities for the player who loves to explore, and once again there are so many original ways to take care of the targets. Do you poison the old man’s bedside tipple, or smother him with a pillow while his mistress sleeps soundly beside him? Do you drop a jerry can of petrol down the chimney to kill his son? Or do you sneak up behind him and cave his head in with a fire poker?
A level that is ripe with ways to experiment, this is Hitman at its finest.

 

1. Sapienza: World of Tomorrow – Hitman (2016)

As discussed in the section dedicated to A New Life, sometimes size doesn’t matter. However, the second mission from this year’s Hitman, shows exactly what can be achieved using a large space.

Sapienza is huge, and it’s a much-needed step up for the series. Instead of restricting you to one or two buildings to carry out your murderous deeds, World of Tomorrow lets Agent 47 loose in an entire Italian coastal town. There’s a church, a town square (complete with shops and a town hall), a harbour, apartments, a mansion, and underneath that is a cave which houses a state-of-the-art science laboratory. All of these places are filled with tools and opportunities that you can take advantage of to carry out your mission.

It’s overwhelming, beautiful, and easily the best sandbox the developer has ever created. It’s also a love letter to long time fans of the series, with several references to older missions in the canon.

If Hitman 2’s Invitation to a Party reminds you of Connery’s Bond, then World of Tomorrow is definitely reminiscent of Daniel Crag’s take on the role, as Agent 47 is tasked with killing evil scientists and infiltrating their secret underground lair to disarm a deadly virus. Also, with his pressed white shirt, aviator shades, and starting the mission reading a newspaper on a bench, 47 has never looked cooler.

When you factor in the numerous challenges, the escalation contracts, and the ability to create your own contracts on any of the game’s NPCs, the replay value of this single level is extraordinary.

I only hope that this exceptional standard is matched, and ideally bettered, in the second half of the season.

 

Honourable mentions

Anathema – Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002)
This level was included on a PS2 demo, and it was the level that made me beg my mum to purchase the full game for me. It provided the blueprint for all future Hitman missions. Yes, a Sicilian Mob boss needs to be whacked, but how exactly do you go about doing that? The freedom of approach was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and it blew my mind.

The King of Chinatown – Hitman: Absolution (2012)
There’s so many ways to kill the ‘King’, from blowing up his sports car to kicking him down a sewer grate. It was such a pity the rest of the game didn’t match the quality of this excellent early level.

You’d Better Watch Out – Hitman: Blood Money (2006)
Agent 47 sure does love a party. This one’s held at a playboy mansion built into the side of the Rocky Mountains. Highlights including spiking your target’s drink with an aphrodisiac, shooting out the bottom of a spa which hangs precariously over the edge of a mountain (who thought building that would be a good idea?), and the only opportunity in the entire series to dress Agent 47 up as a psychotic-looking Santa Claus.