Hitman.... Wandering about Paris

I've been enjoying Hitman. I'm still on the Paris mission, the first 'real' mission, I'm not rushing it. The amount of content per map really adds to the longevity and replayability. The Paris mission is like all the missions I've seen online, a huge, complex thing. This is one of the few games that is so complex yet not totally frustrating because of it. Which is a surprise given the games emphasis on thinking, lulls and quick action. If I spend 30 minutes of progress and it ends suddenly by being killed or getting spotted, I've not felt like throwing the keyboard or mouse at the screen, I've thought about it, tried it again. Progress is being made. There is more of a feeling of accomplishment with this game.

Despite talking about thinking things through there are times to murder half the map, ignore any score or ranking to complete a challenge. I try to avoid that and meet it half way with a more tactful version. For example a fun set of challenges are based around a vampire costume, my last one, is called 'For My Next Trick'.

A lot of the talk around this mission on the Internet is about creating a custom player mission to complete the challenge. Mainly because the targets don't go anywhere near the oil drum that the mission wants you to use to kill a primary target.  My view was to think 'if the target wont' go to it voluntarily then I'll have to take one of them to it'. What I did was to play a normal version of the Paris Mission. taking my time to clear the area around the 'shed' where the barrel is located. I poisoned the target and his bodyguard to make them separate and vomit , once separated, the main target was subdued. I then collected the costume and firework trigger. I moved the unconscious target to the oil drum. No easy task given the long distance and the number of still living witness's. I punctured the drum and with the target in place I activated the fireworks display and set the oil on fire.

Job done, time to escape for a horrendously bad score. The challenge was the real goal and with it completed it's justifiable.