Exclusive Hitman 2 interview and first screens

Hitman was something of an underground hit for Eidos and IO Interactive last year. The game chronicled the adventures of Codename 47, a cloned assassin who not only had to terminate a number of high-profile underworld figures, but also had to confront the ghosts of his own shadowy past. Now with Eidos signing up Hitman 2 for an arrival early next year, we put out a contract on lead designer Jacob Andersen, tied him to a chair, and shone a light in his eyes. This is what he told us.

GameSpot UK: What has happened to Hitman since we last saw him?

Jacob Andersen: The game starts in quite an unconventional way--at a small monastery in Sicily. After the massacre and the weird experience with the clones in the basement of the lunatic asylum at the end of the first game, Hitman fled and is now trying to figure out who (or rather, what) he is. He has put down his weapons and spends most of his time in the herbal garden of the monastery. Father Vittorio, a priest, has spent months with Hitman in the confessional chair. Father Vittorio is the only person Hitman can connect with, and the former assassin sees him as family. You could say you won't get far into the game before Hitman is tempted to go back to his old profession.

GSUK: How was the story written?

JA: As for the original Hitman, we have a professional writer attached to make "corrections," so the story doesn't get as confusing as we game developers sometimes make it.

GSUK: Will there be a quick-save function this time?

JA: We had a lot of complaints about the lack of a save game function in the first game. Hitman 2 will have a full save function, but we might limit it to a certain number of saves per mission like in Soldier of Fortune.

GSUK: Can you give us any example of any of Codename 47's new homicidal methods?

JA: How about an interesting scene where he dresses up as a surgeon to make sure a heart operation on a Mafia boss goes wrong? This time we decided to focus on the need to make killings as precise as possible without damaging innocent civilians or being caught.

GSUK: What perspective will Hitman 2 be played from?

JA: A lot of gamers would like to be able to play Hitman as a first-person shooter, so we will incorporate this into the PC version, where the perspective is best for sharpshooting. On the Xbox and PlayStation 2, you still control Hitman in the third-person, because that's the best solution when you use a gamepad.

GSUK: Is the original team involved in creating this sequel?

JA: Partly. We have hired a couple of newcomers, among whom is a very skilled 3D graphic artist from Canada. It is pretty hard attracting foreign labor because of the high taxes in Denmark, but there are a lot of very talented people here, so we are doing just fine.

GSUK: The music was important in Hitman. What type of score have you decided on for Hitman 2?

JA: As in the first game, the soundtrack is being written by Jesper Kyd, who is known for electronic music like techno and trance. We have asked Jesper to compose a classical score with a twist of his own personal sound. He is now working with a music arranger, and the soundtrack will be recorded by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Budapest. The orchestra has more than 60 musicians and a choir of 50 singers. The first demos we have heard are impressive.

GSUK: Have you had any requests about the license for a Hitman movie?

JA: Yes, there have been some, but the best proposal was to make a TV series like The X-Files.

GSUK: Thank you for your time.