HITMAN: CONTRACTS (M) (3 stars)
Eidos
XBox, PlayStation 2
Everyone's favorite chrome-domed hit man is back for a third time, and is again leaving plenty of naked, dead bodies in his wake. Although Contracts doesn't improve upon Silent Assassin to the extent Silent Assassin improved upon the original Hitman, it still provides solid covert action.
As usual, contract killer 47 can steal clothes and hide weapons to reach his target quietly, or just run in with guns blazing. Sneaking is certainly more fun, but it can also be maddeningly difficult, with enemy artificial intelligence sometimes bordering on clairvoyance. Shooting, on the other hand, is often too easy, with enemies walking into your line of fire until the biggest obstacle between you and your objective is an impassable pile of corpses.
But the controls are familiar, the film noir style cinematic, and the open-ended stealth puzzles, when they work, often ingenious. Definitely worth a few bucks in blood money.
MANHUNT (M) (2.5 stars)
Rockstar
XBox, PlayStation 2
Why star in a stealth-action game as a cinematic hit man, government agent or ninja assassin when you can be a blood-drenched, lowlife scumbag with a stocking over his face? Despite its gritty atmosphere and commendably smooth, if somewhat repetitive, hide-and-sneak game-play, Manhunt's snuff-film concept and purposefully gratuitous murder sequences ultimately limit it to being porno for sadists.
SPLINTER CELL: PANDORA TOMORROW (T) (5 stars)
UbiSoft
XBox
I died a lot when I first played this. Over and over again, I'd be mesmerized by the beauty of some lily pad floating in a creek when—BANG!—I'd be felled by unfriendlies, no doubt prompting my government to disavow all knowledge of my ever being in this superior sequel to Splinter Cell. Breathtaking outdoor environments, intuitive controls and increasingly cool missions make this the greatest stealth-action game I've ever played. The multiplayer portion requires an XBox Live subscription. I'm opposed to online gaming in general because of the cost, but that's just my frustrated proletariat bias. With its full potential realized, Splinter Cell is indeed a five-star game.
SHREK 2 (E) (2.5 stars)
Activision
GameCube, XBox, PlayStation 2
Once upon a time, there was a decent film-to-video-game adaptation … wait, that's just a fairy tale! Shrek and company's continuing adventures in the land of Far Far Away may entertain on the silver screen, but on the game disc, they leave much to be desired. Kids will hate the sluggish controls, and adults will hate the emphasis on fart humor. Far Far Away is where this game belongs, so we can all live happily ever after.
Matthew Scott Hunter has been known to mumble, "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start" in his sleep. E-mail him at [email protected].