Ever wanted to blow off some steam by popping off a few rounds? Somebody ever rub you the wrong way and you wanted to use force to make things right? Have you ever been so sickened by the world's evil that you wanted to take it upon yourself to take out the trash? Here's your virtual opportunity.I'll try to keep this short (if you want a lot of excellent details and commentary, feel free to read the longer reviews listed beside this one). Blood Money is an outstanding game. It provides extensive entertainment for shooter gamers of both styles: Unleash your fury of firepower and destroy everyone (including the household pet) in your path, or cautiously and systematically conquer each objective with little or no unnecessary roughness. From big guns to borrowed identities, Blood Money offers an unbelievable sense of realism in the world of professional killing.There are a lot of missions (I apologize for not having the exact number), and although the primary objectives in each are pretty similar and self-explanatory (kill the target), the means of doing so can vary significantly. Each mission provides a new and exciting environment, with various places to stash the bodies, multiple disguises to jump into, an appreciative variety of weapons to use, and different opportunities to assassinate the targets. Your personal weapons are upgradeable: Silverballer .45 pistol (or PISTOLS once you have the money and progress to purchase that feature), SPAS-12 shotgun, MP5 sub-machinegun, M4.

The Hitman series fits in its own place on the third-person action game spectrum. On one side you have stealth games like Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid, while the other is filled with stuff like Resident Evil 4 and typical third-person shooters. Hitman is everywhere and nowhere in particular, because the flexibility of its gameplay caters to fans of either side of the spectrum. Hitman: Blood Money has this flexibility and a few other elements that make it a viable purchase for Xbox 360 owners and Hitman fans on other consoles.In Hitman: Blood Money, Agent 47's story is played totally through flashbacks and recollections of a mysterious, scarred-faced man who claims to have hunted down and killed the elusive agent. I didn't think that the overall story was as particularly gripping as the individual scenarios found in each level. Hitman: Blood Money invites some of the emotion and some of the tension that perhaps a real assassin might feel: is killing another person easy to do for the sake of money? It's possible that some might feel remorse for 47's victims.Each of the twelve levels is a cleverly conceived romp that Io Interactive should be extremely proud of. From the initial training mission, where you'll kill an amusement park tycoon, to one where you'll cleverly kill an actor as he practices an opera on-stage, each level is exciting. When the player completes the level the way it was intended--with stealth--the clever side comes out, and the feeling of accomplishment.

I purchased this game and within a couple of weeks of getting it, I had completed it at different difficulty levels. One of the great things about this game are obviously the graphics and the various means of accomplishing your missions. There are some who will choose to go through guns blazing and others who will prefer taking the quieter approach. Both methods are fun but the silent methods are the most challenging. The music by Jesper Kynd is quite suited to the atmosphere of the game and it helps raise the tension at the right times. The AI of the non-playable characters in the game is quite good and at times it can be frustrating at how often they will spot you if you are acting out of the ordinary. When playing for the silent assassin rating, you come to realize just what kind of skill is required to do well in the game. The range of weapons and modifications available are quite impressive though I'm sure some will still complain about it. It's definitely a violent game and though you can turn the blood and gore off, it's still a rather violent game. There are far worse out there but if you're a parent concerned about the level of violence your kids are exposed to it's probably best to steer clear of this game. Then again with a name like "Hitman: Blood Money" in the title, what do you expect? In some respects it is similar to the stealth games like Splinter Cell but whereas in Splinter Cell you often remain hidden in the shadows, here you can mingle though if you turn.

Agent 47 is back in Blood Money, and like always, he is contracted to assassinate certain people for a variety of reasons. However, as the story progresses, 47's contract firm called The Agency is being killed one by one by a rival firm. So, if you couldn't guess, the last few missions revolve around unveiling and taking down this rouge group.Your main arsenal consists of a variety of customizable guns such as a handgun, shotgun, sniper rifle, SMG, and assault rifle which, like I said, can be customized by the money you earn throughout your missions. You can also pick up enemy guns and tools laying around and add that to your inventory if you wish. Besides the typical guns, you get to use 47's trusty fiber wire for strangling people, sedatives, poisions, remote mines and other nifty gadgets. You can also do some hand to hand which includes punching and headbutting your victims. Oh, and you can climb things and hop railings.In the spirit of the Hitman series, after you knock out/kill just about anyone, you can steal their uniforms. Most of the time you'll need a certain disguise to get close to one of your targets. So for instance lets say you have to get close to a secured wedding and the grrom, first you would need an invitation then from there kill a high ranking guard and take his outfit while disposing of his body. Disposing their bodies can include throwing them off a rail and out of sight, or hiding them in a dumpster of sorts.Now you would think with all these options.