There's a lot of talk these days about how games can offer players various routes or paths to get from one place to another, making the gameplay non-linear. The theory goes that if you let the player choose between two paths, then they feel more responsible for the outcome. In Hitman: Contracts, the idea of "paths" hardly exists. There are so many ways in and out of rooms that calling them "paths" seems like dated terminology. (Remember the first time you played the open ended style of "GTA III or Vice City") It's time to get that feeling all over again.

More than any other pure stealth game, Contracts offers a sense of freedom. It's a great feeling to be working on your third objective for a level and randomly find another way you could have accomplished a task earlier -- and this happens on nearly every level. The game lets you loose on a level to accomplish what you want when you want, and you can even save your game at will. That was one feature that I would have cherished with the GTA games. These choices make the player feel responsible for everything that happens, so if you try an experiment and your idea works, it's because of how you did it, not something that is scripted.

The flip side of having this kind of freedom is that individual head-to-head encounters don't tend to be as exciting. Since the developers don't have ESP and can't design a level like this knowing exactly what the player will do when he or she comes across an enemy, they aren't able to put as much polish and drama into that scenario. The freedom you have validates this trade off.

If this all sounds a lot like a review of Hitman 2, don't be surprised. Start to finish, Contracts is basically a gift for fans of the second game. The story is set up so you play through levels in Agent 47's past and build up to his present, which means some of the levels you come across are from the original Hitman. Also, the gameplay doesn't really address the criticisms some people had Hitman 2 and instead builds on the things people liked from that game. So you still have clumsy melee attacks and a weird slippery running style, but there are more unique weapons and ways to kill people to give the fans what they want.

The artificial intelligence is better since guards work together and talk to each other, and there are more civilians to interact with in the levels -- but Contracts doesn't seem to be out to perfect the Hitman concept; it's out to give more of what was in the previous games. And this can come around to hurt the overall quality since there's not a lot of polish in the details. For instance, if you try to climb down a flight of stairs off the edge of a flat surface, you'll see an awkward animation transition that slows you down, sometimes turns you around, and looks awful. Problems like this could be because the game was rushed out, but regardless they hurt the overall quality. So it's safe to say Halo2 will be utterly flawless:)

Details aside, the new additions give the game a lot of variety. Any game that has 60 weapons can't be all bad, and there are even different ways to use them. Look at the level designs for further variety -- there are loads of things you can do in these levels that you don't have to, but are able to if you desire. Am I starting to sound as if I am describing GTA again?? Somewhat, but Contracts is better. If you turn off the water heat, someone may leave the shower. If you drop bombs in the furnace, bad things will happen. So many choices will guarantee higher replay value.

There's a lot to do here if you go back once you've beaten the game, so if you're looking for some stealth gameplay in a sandbox environment, this is a great beginner's course into the world of Agent 47. If, however, you're expecting something as revolutionary as the multiplayer in Pandora Tomorrow, or the high polish of Snake Eater, this isn't for you. Still, you have to admire an open ended game style. Unless you are able to have XBOX Live downloadable content, how else can we stay interested?