Last night I wrapped up the final level of Hitman: Contracts, not really a Hitman 2 sequel, but then not exactly an expansion either. In fact, I wonder if the developers even really knew what it was they were creating. Unlike the previous two Hitman games, this one did not follow a linear timeline of jobs that (more or less) tie into the overall story. Instead, Contracts is a series of flashbacks to previous jobs as the character of 47 lies critically wounded on a table in a dingy hotel room. So, first off, we lack the story arc that ties the jobs together, however tenuously. The second problem is that many of these missions seem to be revisions of tasks in the original Hitman: Codename 47 game. Both games have a sequence of 4 missions involving rival Hong Kong gangs, culminating in the elimination of the negotiators and the crooked chief of police, and then the assassination of a gang leader. Each game also has a hotel mission involving two brothers, a florist, and a bomb. I can't figure out why they felt the need to include these rehashed maps. They're not the original map layouts; the levels have been completely redone and your starting equipment is different. But... why? Was it really so hard to come up with new ideas?

Anyway, the game ends on a clear and unambiguous lead-in for a sequel, so I'm really hoping that the next Hitman game makes up for these shortcomings.