EIDOS INTERACTIVE SETS SCOPE ON XBOX
Copyright 2002 www.tombraiderchronicles.com Source: Eidos Interactive

[ May 1st 2002 ]

Eidos Interactive, a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment for the PC and console gaming systems, today announced that Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, the follow-up to the worldwide best-seller Hitman: Codename 47, is currently in development for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox game console. Created by Io Interactive, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is currently slated to arrive on store shelves in Fall 2002.

"The Hitman series is groundbreaking in the stealth shooter genre," said Chip Blundell, Marketing Director of Eidos Interactive. "The nature of the series lends itself perfectly to the gaming consoles. Hitman 2 places gamers in the role of a hired gun codenamed Agent 47, and provides them with innovative and thrilling missions that will put the Hitman series at the top of its genre."

Hitman 2’s storyline begins in a Sicilian monastery. Agent 47’s attempts to distance himself from his violent past are detoured when he is discovered by local criminal underworld and tricked into returning to his trade. Caught in the middle of a ring of deception, Agent 47 soon discovers that he has been manipulated and the hunter must now watch his back, as he has become the hunted.

"The Hitman 2 team is building on the original Hitman in order to develop a stylish game built from the ground up for the advanced video game consoles," says Janos Flosser, Managing Director of Io Interactive. "Hitman 2’s incredibly intensive gameplay and in-depth character interaction makes for an incredible third person based gaming experience."

Hitman 2 has an outstanding list of features, including: a choice of 1st and 3rd person viewpoints; mid-mission save options; a revised and enhanced inventory system allowing gamers to acquire and carry weapons and equipment from mission to mission and ending pre-game "shopping"; a detailed ranking system; multiple play styles allowing gamers to complete missions with the primary target as the only casualty, or gamers may choose to "blast-your-way-through;" and finally, Io Interactive has implemented an advanced level design and engine dynamics system providing gamers with open levels and no set path to play.

Agent 47 is armed with a massive weapons arsenal such as knives, handguns, sniper rifles, and various explosives. He is also given new non-lethal weapons and pacifying gear including chloroform, poison darts and stun guns as well as laser-aiming devices, night vision goggles, and lock picks. Gamers will acquire more hidden bonuses as the game progresses.