Mission four: A New Life of Hitman Blood Money is where the difficulty really begins to show. Flash video, high-quality version and a transcript of the narration are all available. This mission is a single target and takes place in the most unlikely of locales: an upper-class American suburb. Unfortunately the target is surrounded by a battalion of paranoid and heavily armed FBI agents.
Hitman Blood Money is classified as "18" in the UK and "Mature" in the US which means that it is unsuitable for minors; fairly warned be thee.
Download the higher quality version (87.6MB, XviD video, VBR MP3 audio)
View the video transcript
Notes
I went through three different types of narration for this level: describing the level, describing the process and describing some general tips. I settled on a combination of the first two and, as I mention, it's a difficult level to describe because it's very dense with possibilities. I used the phrase "very very" 4 times in this run through, obviously because using only one "very" didn't provide enough emphasis; I've reduced my reliance on "actually" (once) and "so" (9 times) but switched to using "but" (17 times), probably because this was recorded late at night versus early evening.
Details
Play time: 8:37
Rating: Silent Assassin
Retrieved suit: Yes
Accidents: 1
Close Combat Kills: 1
Bullets fired: 0
I can't decide whether I like this mission or not, on the one hand it is one of the most interesting "non-linear" levels, yet on the other it has a lot of niggling annoyances. My reliance on the sedation syringe for removing guards and getting uniforms is my undoing in this level, and had I but a single extra dose I would have been able to omit killing the wife; she may be a philandering wench but no reason to be burninated. To codify how completed the level:
Go to the catering van and put anaesthetic on the doughnuts, take the doughnuts to the surveillance van and sedate the FBI agents inside. Meanwhile, wait for the hedge-cutting woman to drop her head down and sneak into the house with a veterinary practice and swipe a bottle of ether. Go into the surveillance van and take an FBI uniform then head into the house and upstairs. Put the ether onto a pair of panties in a pink bedroom, then head downstairs and outside to a utility shed, pick the lock (after waiting for the pool boy to pass by) and pick up a bottle of lighter fluid. Put the lighter fluid on the barbecue ("rigging" it) then head back inside. The wife will immolate herself which will allow you to pluck the microfilm from her charred remains then head back inside and upstairs. Wait until the target comes upstairs and into a room, sedate his shadow then head into the room and kill the target. Escape, grabbing the suit along the way.
There are no special tricks to this level, so no guard cycling or clever timing tricks, just plain old sneak and kill; the real skill comes from not getting suspected by the rampantly paranoid FBI agents.