Hitman, is doubtlessly my favourite game franchise ever.
As my first experience with that genre, these games litterally turned me into a stealth weirdo. Here, I'll review the first four games at once, to avoid disorder in my evaluations list. (I haven't played Absolution, so it won't appear there.)

I remember back in my college days, when a good friend of mine gave me Hitman : Codename 47 for me to try.
His words were the following : "It's an amazing game! Non-linear, and you can choose the way you want to complete your objectives and kill your targets! For instance, there is that mission in which you can disguise as a waiter and poison the food!"

(I didn't know yet, that much later I would just end up on the roof and snipe the target from a little concealed window, because screw the poisonned food. Hiding on the roof like a coward was the way I did it.)

Out of pure curiosity, I gave the first Hitman a try, and I loved it. I spent my evenings on it, struggling on the hardest missions, but enjoying it nonetheless. Eh. killing a drug lord with a minigun has its own benefits.
Two weeks later, I gave the game back to my friend and said "Boy, it was epic."
How big was my stupefaction when he told me they did a sequel called Silent Assassin!
I reacted like a fangirl. "I NEED TO PLAY DIS NAOW. NAAAAAOW."

Besides I'd like to thank Liam sooo much for gifting me the whole Hitman collection during Christmas 2012. Liam if you read this, you're awesome and I love you.

I could finally try the second game, which improved a lot from the first. It's a must-have for all Stealth lovers around here, and I had my best Hitman hours on this game! You can even murder evil twins, one of them eating crisps and pizzas in the basement of a Malaysian airport, the other relaxing in his jacuzzi at the top of a highly guarded skyscraper.
*Applies "Only featured in this game!" stamp of awesomeness*

I then, tried Blood Money, for the fact everyone recommended that game over the two previous ones. Graphically, it was a stunning improvement. As for the gameplay, it had been, once again, perfected : Body hiding, Weapon customisation, beverage poisoning, etc... And those custom newspaper articles at the end of each mission are hilarious! Blood Money is worth gold, and I really recommend your to play it once in your life.

Finally, I acquired Contracts, as known as Silent Assassin's spiritual sequel, which subtly links the events from the original game, with a certain chapter found in Blood Money's cutscenes.

Apart from Contracts being a much darker game than the others - although it fits perfectly with its plot -, it's still an awesome addition to the series. Half of the missions are remakes of the old famous ones from Codename 47. And when I say "remakes", I do not allude to the cheap remakes based on graphical improvements. No, those missions had be redesigned completely, the objectives are the same, but the layout of the map and the buildings have changed, and there's even more exciting ways to finish your job successfully.

Well, I could talk for hours about Hitman, or relate my most memorable moments, but the best you could do for now, is try by yourself and take control of the well known Agent 47 for the best assignments of your life.

Hitman : Codename 47 - 16/20
Hitman : Silent Assassin - 18/20
Hitman : Contracts - 17/20
Hitman : Blood Money - 18/20

> Be me, 13-14 years old.
> While at school and during recess i explain to my best friend what type of game is Hitman.
> I showcase him (live action) how to kill someone with fiber-wire.
> Teacher passes by, thinking that i'm trying to harm my friend.
> I end up in directors office explaining what i was trying to do.
> Feel so embarrassed!
> They say nothing (the teachers).
> I'm free to go!!!

Must play 10/10! All the good memories that i have from this game...

Disguised as a chef and stood around the kitchen. A guard walks in and kills me. 10/10 would stealth again.

Hmm...
*rubs chin*

Codename 47 was a success, a success that needed a sequel. And what do the good sequels do? Fix what's broken, evolve what's working. And Silent Assassin does that...kinda. Unfortunately, not always right. The overall structure of the game remained the same - you have a map where you need to do something, preferably unnoticed, and then, usually, leave the area. But how you do it is slightly different. First of all, and that is important for more... kind, i guess, players like me, - you can knock out enemies with a chloroform instead of killing them. This also means, that now you can knock out innocent people in the area and use their clothes almost without any consequences. Almost, because knocked out people do regain consciousness (quicker on higher difficulty), and because there is a new meter. Yes, starting with this game there is a "suspicion" meter in play. And it's rather stupid, unfortunately. When you are seen by enemy/guard-type characters, their "suspicion" goes up. It's universal for the map and it can only be slightly changed by what you are wearing at the moment. But it didn't work as well as in later installments, with lots of smaller "if"s in play, where enemy/guard character could truly be described as "suspicious" and not "crazy and paranoid" and willing to shoot a hotel visitor just because he made a wrong turn (and yes, this can happen). What's also sad, is that the infamous jungle chapters from Codename 47, are here as well, only now you're in snowy Japan. Why would developers want to leave this kind of section in the game is still something i don't understand. But it's a solid game. Not yet as refined as Contracts and Blood Money, but not as raw and hardcore-ish as Codename 47. Definitely worth the play. P.S. Jesper Kyd's music is amazing as always. P.P.S. You can now save in the game, if that put you off in Codename 47. Amount of saves depends on the difficulty level. P.P.P.S. The game is ridiculous to play if you speak russian. Russian stereotypes in this game are amazingly funny. Game even starts with a very harsh russian profanity, it's the first thing you hear when you start the game.

Old But Gold !
a Milestone in Computergame history!

100% recommended for any stealth games fan. A must for Hitman fans, and not a bad game to start the franchise (the 1st one isn't as good). I consider this one the best game in the series, maybe because it's one of my childhood games.
The collectibles and replayability of the missions to get the Silent Assassin ranking in all of them ensure that you'll get a good 10+ hours of game.

For real men only.

Old but still goog game :)

good game 5/5

First game I ever played in the Hitman series. Great stater, the AI is a bit difficult but the concept and actual gameplay is fantastic.

10/10 would reccomend to anyone willing to play a sligtly older game.

Before playing, I recommend using this widescreen resolution fix.

A follow-up to Codename 47, Silent Assassin improves the gameplay by adding various features and fixing some problems from its predecessor. While the story is not so interesting, the gameplay is unique which keeps you entertained until the end. There's an FPS mode to make this game more interesting (and you can see legs too!). You can also save anywhere (most of the time), but limited to a certain number of times.

Hahah i love the people with negative reviews: "Its too hard even on normal, too sensitve guards etc..."

Well when this game was new (2002) my dad bought it, i was 5 at the time (b. 1997) and after watching my dad play it a couple of times, I decided to try it out, and I absolutely loved it.
Now, When i was about 6 or 7 years old I started playing the game on hard, cause I had beaten every single mission on normal with silent Assassin rating and i did the same on hard and Professional.
So next time you want to "♥♥♥♥♥" about how hard this game is, just think about this:
"A 6 year old could beat the game with silent assassin rating in the difficulty: professional"

Now for you people whinning about this game not being as good as Absolution I think you started on the wrong game because no original fan likes Absolution and most of them think Hitman Silent assassin is the best one, Even the voice of hitman says Hitman 2 is the best of them all.

9.5/10 Really, really good game.

nice old game

Hitman 2 Silent Assassin is the best entry in the series so far. Increasing difficulty and pressure on stealth, the game actually brings up challenges, not only to assassinate the target, but to enter and escape the area undetected is a key feature that makes this game stand tall on its own accord. The game offers a variety of weapons like its predecessor, and takes you through an amazing storyline spread along 21 missions. For me, this game beats all records of stealth games so far. 10/10

That tomato's pretty nicely modeled.

RECOMMENDED

So, I owned this game back on CD until that one broke, and when it appeared on Steam, it didn't take me long to make the decision to re-acquire it.
This game is one of the classics and my personal favorite of the series (maybe, mabye tied with Blood Money).
Don't expect HD graphics as the game is fairly old, but they still hold up and the gameplay makes well up for it.
The game mostly gives you free reign over how you deal with your missions, wether you go in guns blazing or infiltrate the building disguised as the milkman, take out your target and leave without anyone ever knowing better; the only consequence being a distinct shift in your overall mission ratings (though wether or not a Mass Murderer rating is good or bad is still technically up to you. *wink*).
What you have to know is that if you play it quiet, you play it slow. Be prepared to wait for good whiles to learn guard routes or for your target to be in the perfect spot; be prepared to reload often (if you're a perfectionist) when things didn't go as planned, or quickly adapt to your new situation.
So, overall, if you enjoy the thought of being the unseen angel of death that puts Altair and Ezio to shame, or if you played and enjoyed any of the other Hitman titles (and for some reason don't already have this one), this is a definite must-have.

The Hitman series is a piece of history. I think this game was the fruition of the stealth/action genre, and its effective implementation have inspired dozens of other games, including Assasin's Creed. Hitman 2 is my favorite, not because it's the best, but because it was one of the first PC games I fell in love with. The atmospheric mood, soundtrack, and art stylization really drew me in and have greatly influenced what I look for in the medium. While the gameplay has dated, the effective combination of other aspects have kept it consistently in my top 20, even a decade later.

Gameplay: 5
In a post Assasin's Creed world, it has definitely dated. At the time, however, the controls and AI were stellar.

Story: 6
Nothing revolutionary, but it serves to draw together the wide variety of locations presented in the game.

Art: 9
The mood and atmospheres are incredible. No other game at the time captured the diversity of worlds so well with so little graphically, justifying literally hundreds of hours of slow sneaking - without ever feeling dry or boring. This combined with the music makes it a classic.

Music: 9
Jesper Kyd is a master. At a time when most games featured popish midi synth, he had his soundtrack was performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.

Should you play this?
If you haven't played this before, you likely won't be impressed. But if you like classic games and want to see a bit of history, enjoy it for the fantastic environmental moods the game creators were able to capture. For those of you who enjoyed it 10 years ago, you'll appreciate a replay.

Can't beat level one
10/10

Infinitely better than the original, fun to play, well explained, better controls. Everything is improved and more fun.