You start at your first mission in an abandoned amusement park grounds. Here, you will get a hands-on tutorial on what you can do and with what. You have several methods of dispatching witnesses, threats, and targets at your command, from sedatives to poisons to semiautomatic weapons. You can use any weapon you want in any manner you want, but “Blood Money” is not a game built as a third person action shooter. You must use your wits for the most part, and you must not allow people to become aware that you have come in their midst to kill a target.

You will get the feeling that Agent 47 has been given a very realistic tolerance for pain because this game wants you to rely on stealth more than your ability to gun down everyone in your sight. Agent 47 is often given a cover or dons outfits that blend him into the scene. Sometimes you can find an outfit lying around, but more often than not, you will have to incapacitate someone to take their clothing. You can also take any key items they have. Killing people in the presence of witnesses starts a domino effect where your tension meter rises and anyone who is able to stop you will try their best. Once you blow your cover, everyone with a weapon has the potential to kill you. If two or more people are shooting at you, expect to be dead within a few seconds.

The main stealth element of “Blood Money” lies in the tension meter, a meter next to your health bar that gives you a hint as to how good your cover is or how much attention you are getting. As the tension rises, it changes from green to yellow to red. At the yellow level, you have some chance to fix things before you’re caught and killed. The challenge of Blood Money is all in how efficiently you complete your job while minimizing the attention you draw to yourself. Luckily, the AI is inconsistent, and NPCs act as they should sometimes, while at other times, they behave stupidly. That inconsistency allows you sometimes to escape what should be “game over.”

Although “Blood Money” provides you with a varied selection of weapons, most of them are too noisy or turn out to be useless in missions that require stealth. Your fiber wire, the sniper rifle, and occasionally your handgun are all that you need for even the toughest of missions. To add to the conspicuousness you want to maintain, you can refit and upgrade all of your weapons and buy accessories to add a silencer or buy items that allow Agent 47 to stay alive just a while longer.

One problem with “Blood Money” concerns the save-game mechanism. For seemingly no reason, “Hitman” requires that you free up about twice as much memory card space as any other game, but it doesn’t allow you the ability to save your progress within a level, just after you make progress. There doesn’t seem to be any reason at all that so much memory should be set aside.

Otherwise, the “Hitman” series is an excellent concept that -- in this edition -- not only manages to continue its good track record, but also contributes new concepts to the genre. You’ll have to play through the game yourself to find out if more assassinations are on Agent 47’s dance card.

Ratings (1-10):

Graphics: 8.5. Some collision detection fumbles mar a game based on stealth and the element of surprise.

Sound: 9.0. This is a game that has to be played with the sound up high, because your mission depends on what you hear and what non-playable characters are saying.

Gameplay: 8.5. “Hitman” is a unique stealth action title that allows you many options for completing each level.

Story: 8.0. Two characters that recall the past tell Agent 47’s story, a method of storytelling that works well enough.

Replayability: 9.5: Each level begs to be replayed to work as efficiently as possible and grab better headlines.