History VideoGame / HitmanContracts

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: As the story begins we see a television screen with a ballistics expert named Donna Davis explaining the operation of a standard handgun in a demonstration. As the bullet in the cutscene leaves the gun there is a sharp '''BANG''' and a woman screaming as the television screen goes static.

* YouJustToldMe: The Wang Fou bar initiates a funny conversation in which 47 extracts the truth from a bartender by giving him nervous bowel syndrome.

* BringMyBrownPants: In the original, the barkeep is very chatty; he'd even let you know of another foreigner locked in the basement for trying to crack one of Hong's many safes. In the remake, he's having a diarrhea attack from stress, refuses to answer questions (Lee Hong? [[TheMobBossIsScarier Never heard of him]]), and hands you a VIP card just to shut you up long enough for him to run back into the restroom. He also leaves behind a laxative bottle, which will be useful for getting past Tzun. Just spike the soup in the kitchen and then offer it to Hong. Hong will begin to reach for the soup when Tzun decides to taste test. Observe.
* TheButlerDidIt: Ahh, the temptation to steal the butler's clothes in "Beldingford Manor"... It will give you access to the whole house, but it's not really necessary seeing as the butler can unknowingly kill Alistair with the arsenic.

* ChekhovsSkill: 47's reticule disappears when he's standing close enough to an NPC. This is your cue to take out your pistol and clobber them. There's only one mission where it becomes useful, however: "Hunter and Hunted". 47 is stripped of his gear (including the sedatives), SWAT have cordoned off the block, and firing an unsilenced gun is a no-go. Noiselessly stealing a paramedic uniform is key to completing this sequence.

* DashinglyDapperDerby: The reporter in Rotterdam definitely sticks out: A pinstriped suit, bowler hat, and bright red corsage. It looks comically out-of-place in a biker bar. But his hat will get you an audience with Rutgert.
* DeadManSwitch: Boris goes nuts (as usual) once he's surrounded and arms his nuclear device. Once the SWAT teams mop up the freighter, the voice on the radio will "initiate phase two", at which point Boris will shoot the skipper and make his threat: he's going to blow up the harbor unless he's allowed safe passage off the ship ''and'' a helicopter! The [=SWATs=] won't dare shoot him because they know what a detonator does. There are several ways to spoil his plan: either kill Boris before the SWAT arrive, or defuse the bomb in the holds and ''then'' kill him, or steal the dead man's switch from his body (quickly, before the ship explodes) and hop in the extraction chopper yourself.

* EarlyGameHell: The Hong Kong and Budapest missions were the only ones you could really perform cleanly, which unfortunately means very little has changed since then. They're way too simple for a game with such labyrinthine early levels. Things heat up again in "Hunter and Hunted."

* {{Homage}}: If you are disguised as a SWAT officer, you can join the raid on Boris' ship and even mow down the Russian sailors, and the SWAT officers will not fire upon you. Or, if you're out for Silent Assassin, just hang to the rear of your squad and let them do your dirty work for you. This is a reference to the ending of ''Film/TheProfessional''.

* LaxativePrank: In two levels (Lee Hong's place and the Siberian airbase), you can spike some soup with laxative to help lure your target to the toilets.

* OpiumDen: The lawyer, Andrei, can be found vaping on a bed in the first floor of the slaughterhouse. You may pose as an attendant and serve him a pipe before plugging him, leaving no trace of your handiwork. (Wearing red was a bad choice, Counselor.) You can also knock out Campbell's girls with the pipe, before turning your attention to Jabba himself. So long as the window shutters are closed, nobody will disturb Campbell or discover the body.
* PillowPistol: Available in three of the bedrooms in "Beldingford Manner". If you lack a silenced pistol, using one of the throw pillows should do the trick. Or you could just smother them.
* PottyEmergency: The easiest way to dispose of Fabian Fuchs is to spike the Borscht and follow him to the bathroom after. He'll be too busy shitting his brains out to even notice you pull a gun on him. For some reason, Yurishka keeps the laxative in the kitchen.
* PressStartToGameOver: The absolute instant the final mission starts, run like hell. The SWAT raid every single room and then barricade each exit after they're done so you can't hide, nor can you exit somewhere peacefully.

###Cut content includes the roulette table and the kitchen; Fritz doesn't gamble, and you can't escape out the back of the hotel this time. The fascist sympathizer is gone, and he doesn't give you a SPAS-12 to kill the diplomats with. Instead, Diana leaves you the shotgun along with some ''"drop dead gorgeous roses"'' (classic Diana humor) to kill the bombers.

###The bartender is a nervous wreck and will deny everything when 47 questions him, getting irritable bowel in the process. However, you can loot some items from the bar after he flees into the men's room.

** Just like last time, your first thought might be to reach for the rat poison before serving Hong his meal. In ''Contracts'', you have the added option of spiking the soup with laxative, which will pacify Tzun and give you a minute alone with Hong. Otherwise, Tzun will pull a gun on you, just like in the original.
** The fake-out when Bjarkhov goes to get a drink, but quickly turns around to give you a suspicious look after you refuse his offer. If you try to wire him beforehand, he will see 47 approaching. A nice little way of IOI telling you not to be too hasty.

* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: When you first emerge into the asylum, you'll find that one of the SWAT officers was overwhelmed by the inmates and stabbed to death. It is for this reason that you can't linger too long in the lobby, despite the police using it as safe zone. If you wait for too long, one of the patients will magically pull out an SMG and shoot up the place. This will summon the nearby SWAT who will shoot at everyone. Unfortunately, they will shoot at you, too.

** The "Rendezvous in Rotterdam" refers to a muckraking journalist who is bidding on Rutgert's incriminating photos. If he makes it to Rutgert's office before you do, it's game over. You can stall him by stealing his bribe money, tranquilizing him, or just interrupting his smoke break with a garrote.

** Similarly, you can drown one of the Fuchs brothers as he floats in the pool. If you keep out of sight, the guard lingering nearby doesn't bat an eye to his struggle (which is even ''louder'').

* YouJustToldMe: Heading to the Wang Fou bar initiates a funny conversation where 47 extracts the truth from a bartender by giving him nervous bowel syndrome.

* ArmorIsUseless: Averted. Disguising yourself as a SWAT officer will give 47 increased damage resistance.

** Dr. Ort-Meyer's lab is ''much'' bigger and high tech than it was in ''Codename 47'', and it is somehow filled with inmates of the asylum. The Mr. [=48s=] are depicted as being more austere, with buttoned-up jackets to contrast with 47's unbuttoned one. There's around 15 of them in the original corridor, but ''Contracts'' included more dead clones littering the rooms (25 in this version), including three inside of the chamber where you shot Ort-Meyer. Also, the basement is accessible by elevator, rather than a secret staircase. SWAT are preparing to storm the complex, whereas previously, they had already taken it over by the time 47 completed his objectives on the first floor.

* BloodierAndGorier: "Asylum Aftermath", full-stop. Though to be honest, the gore is concentrated in the first two levels only -- but it's plenty enough.

* DeadManSwitch: Boris goes nuts (as usual) once he's surrounded and arms his nuclear device. Once the SWAT teams mop up the freighter, the voice on the radio will "initiate phase two", at which point Boris will shoot the skipper [!] and make his threat: he's going to blow up the harbor unless he's allowed safe passage off the ship ''and'' a helicopter. The [=SWATs=] won't dare shoot him because they know what a detonator does. There are several ways to spoil his plan: either kill Boris before the SWAT arrive, or defuse the bomb in the holds and ''then'' kill him, or steal the dead man's switch from his body (quickly, before the ship explodes) and hop in the extraction chopper yourself!

** This one may be a hair too dark for the more Indiana Jones-level of violence in ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'', but ''Contracts'' is by far the stand out in terms of depicting just how far down the rabbit hole of mankind's depravity that 47 has had to go for his job. The first target kidnapped and murdered your client's daughter. The third target kidnapped your client's son...to literally hunt him down in the forest, as a hobby. Your fourth target isn't even evil, he might even be a good guy -- just a gumshoe who got in over his head.

###Speaking of the Rotterdam, the Flamin' Windmills have been retconned from street punks (some of them were black people) to all-white bikers, and a brand-new mission takes place at their bar/HQ. One thing which was kept in is that they still enjoy watching strippers.

** Dr. Ort-Meyer's lab is ''much'' bigger and high tech than it was in ''Codename 47'', and it is somehow filled with inmates of the asylum. The Mr. [=48s=] are depicted as being more austere, with buttoned-up jackets to contrast with 47's unbuttoned one. There's around 15 of them in the original corridor, but ''Contracts'' included more dead clones littering the rooms (25 in this version), including three inside of the chamber where you shot Ort-Meyer. Also, the basement is accessible by elevator, rather than a secret staircase.

** The opening level, "Asylum Aftermath", picks up right where the original game left off. As such, there's nothing to do in the basement but stroll past the corpses of the Mr. 48s. Also, SWAT officers have taken over the complex and will gun down any orderlies on sight, so you don't have to worry about them. (The orderlies are armed with puny stun guns, so it's not like they're a threat to begin with.)

** The bystanders in Paris don't count as [=NPCs=], even though they respond to your movements and can be shot. They're stuck behind a barricade, so the cops just ignore them. Rien voir içi. Also, if you feel like abusing the AI, keep bumping into the SWAT while in disguise to make them turn around and face a brick wall. Both will allow you to take out Fournier (the final boss!) with a minimum of fuss.

* TheButlerDidIt: Ahh, the temptation to steal the butler's clothes in "Beldingford Manor"... It will give you access to the entire house, but it's not really necessary seeing as the butler can unknowingly kill Alistair with the arsenic.

* ChekhovsSkill: 47's reticule disappears when he's standing close enough to an NPC. This is your cue to take out your pistol and clobber them. There's only one mission where it becomes useful, however: "Hunter and Hunted". 47 is stripped of his gear (including the sedatives), SWAT have cordoned off the entire block, and firing an unsilenced gun is a no-go. Noiselessly stealing a paramedic uniform is key to completing this sequence.

** In "Deadly Cargo", Boris will eventually activate a dead-man's switch for the nuke, at which point if he dies, the entire city dies with him. You can't shoot him at this point without him dropping it and setting off the nuke... but you can use the fiber-wire on him and pick it up afterwards, because for some reason that doesn't count.

* LittleUselessGun: The "[[AKA47 SG220]]" silenced pistol is basically a quieter and much less effective version of the silenced Silverballer. It has the exact same ammunition capacity, but fires the more common generic pistol ammo. Point blank headshots are not even guaranteed kills with this gun.

** The Hong Kong missions play pretty much the same (albeit at nighttime), although there are cosmetic changes:

** IOI were working overtime to add more entertainment and atmosphere to Hong Kong, which were the most archaic levels in the series (due to technical limitations of the time). The park, neon fish restaurant, and Lee Hong's fortress look pretty cool at night, and it's fun to experiment with the new ways to kill all of the Red/Blue Triad targets.

It also serves as a remake (for all intents and purposes) of some of the ''[[VideoGame/HitmanCodename47 Codename 47]]'' missions, now using the improved game engine from ''[[VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin Silent Assassin]]''. There are more ways to win, along with a brand-new sniper's nest in most levels.

For tropes shared with the original, see ''VideoGame/HitmanCodename47.''

* SequelDifficultyDrop:
** Unlike in the previous game, simply running won't immediately cause guards to open fire on you. You have to run around close to them for a prolonged period of time before they become suspicious enough to attack you.
** Sneaking is much faster than in ''Silent Assassin'', even if 47 moves like a mincing ballerina this time.
** ''Contracts'' introduced "Last Man Standing", which occurs when 47 has lost all health. Time slows down, and the screen becomes whiter and whiter until, finally, you keel over and die. The player can still open doors, shoot at enemies, and even pick up items, but they must score at least 3 headshots to escape the mode. If the player succeeds, the game resumes with some health replenished. Additionally, if the player has completed all objectives and is very close to the exit, it is possible to escape while in slow motion.
** The remade ''Codename 47'' missions are less maddening than before, thanks to the smaller maps and add-ons like the lockpick. And ''saving options''.
** Second verse, same as the first. You have to thwart Frantz's and Fritz's attempts to detonate a bomb again. In the hotel, the nice thing about Fritz's dental clinic is that the walls are lead-lined, so nobody outside (or inside, if you fire a gun next door) will hear your gunshots.
** The thermal bath is reserved for Fritz alone, so the guest swimmers and scary Hungarian lady are all gone (although there's a cop watching him and civilians looking through the window from the floor above). Also, the bomb suitcase is now impervious to detectors, making your escape as quiet as the grave.
** In Lee Hong's restaurant/fortress, the VIP/warehouse safes were moved to the basement and Lee Hong's office, both of which are well-protected. Luckily, the jade figure ''always'' starts off in the guard's quarters, and moves around only if you die and restart the mission. Having to break into the ''Codename 47'' guard's quarters was a bad stroke of luck, whereas in ''Contracts'' it's one of the easier locations. Similarly, you don't need to go to the brothel since Lee Hong has the codes on him.
** The requirements for Silent Assassin are slightly more lenient. You can kill two guards, provided it takes no more than one bullet to do so.
* SequelDifficultySpike:
** In order to throw off [=C47=] veterans and build up the dark atmosphere, the police have roped off large sections of the hotel and made it overall a bit more claustrophobic. You have to lockpick to get to a few crucial parts, the knife is in a completely different spot and is better-guarded, and guests and employees will be spooked if you pocket the bellboy's key when they're in sight. Also, don't bother trying out the towel boy disguise; you'll just be ejected by the guard in 10 seconds.
** Four more targets have been added to "The Wang Fou Incident", so your job doesn't end at blowing up the Triad limo. The other Hong Kong missions play out roughly the same as before.
** In ''Hitman: Codename 47'', you could just as well enter through the bathroom window and burst through the fish restaurant after everyone's sat down for their chat. In this version, the Chief has guards stationed right outside the fire escape. So not only can't you reenter once the cops arrive, but you have to schlep all the way back downstairs to leave. Also, the dining area is fully exposed, and there's a sniper who spots you if you shoot the negotiator and Police Chief from the wrong spot.
** In the original fish restaurant scene, you could safely drop the amulet before you go to the bathroom to get your gun or even drop it inside the bathroom on the window sill. Not this time: the Red Dragon amulet ''must'' be placed between the bodies of the Chief and the negotiator, and if you stupidly drop it while they're still alive, they will both reach for a piece and light you up at once.
** If you try to leave the brothel the way you came, the brothel madam yells for help and the Triads open fire, so you need an alternate route. Mei Ling will also need a hand when jumping the balcony, as she's not quite as spry as 47. (In the original, she could climb ladders and run across rooftops with ease) If she lands on the sidewalk, she'll scurry away to safety and you won't get the safe combo. Or you can have 47 kill/sedate her and be done... but he'll still have to slip out the back and avoid the madam.

* LethalJokeItem: In ''Contracts'', you can get [[NerfArm a cardboard tube]] (in homage to the ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' strip) which, when used properly, results in an instant kill on nearly any enemy. The weapon's description mentions that it was "crafted from the finest natural cardboard and honed to its maximum lethality", or "constructed from five-star ultra-dense musashi cardboard". Hitting an opponent with it sends them [[NerfArm sailing in a nearly flat trajectory]], usually only stopping when they strike an obstacle. Ouch. And yes, it can be carried over in other missions. You win it by getting a Silent Assassin rating on the Training level, but since training mode can't be 'beaten' the only way to do that is to use the level skip cheat.

* LethalJokeItem: In ''Contracts'', you can get a cardboard tube (in homage to the ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' strip) that, when used properly, results in an instant kill on nearly any enemy. The weapon's description mentions that it was "crafted from the finest natural cardboard and honed to its maximum lethality", or "constructed from five-star ultra-dense musashi cardboard". Hitting an opponent with it sends them [[NerfArm sailing in a nearly flat trajectory]], usually only stopping when they strike an obstacle. Ouch. And yes, it can be carried over in other missions. You win it by getting a Silent Assassin rating on the Training level, but since training mode can't be 'beaten' the only way to do that is to use the level skip cheat.

** "Bjarkhov Bomb" is nothing to write home about, and trekking across vast strethces of empty terrain is as annoying as ever. But the blizzard effects are improved and the airstrip is a definite money shot.

* "Bjarkhov Bomb" is nothing to write home about, and trekking across vast strethces of empty terrain is as annoying as ever. But the blizzard effects are improved and the airstrip is a definite money shot.

* "Bjarkhov Bomb" is nothing to write home about, and trekking across vast patches of empty terrain is as annoying as ever. But the blizzard effects are improved and the airstrip is a definite money shot.

** To a lesser extent than the other games, but the regal Budapest hotel and the view of the river looks very authentic.

** In "The Bjarkov Bomb", it's possible to kill both targets ''and'' sink the submarine at the same time. All you have to do is wait...and wait...and wait...and wait for Fabian to finish his meal, mosey over to the maintenance shaft, ride the slow-moving platform, walk upstairs to the commander's room, meet with Bjarkov, share a pint, walk back downstairs, get in a jeep, and drive all the way to the sub. Still, the fact he even does this shows a greater attention to detail than in previous games. Alternatively, 47 can snipe his targets after they're done joyriding around the base.

** IOI were working overtime to add more entertainment and atmosphere to Hong Kong, which were the most archaic levels in the series (due to technical limitations of the time). The neon fish restaurant and the surrounding city block look pretty cool at night, and it's fun to experiment with the new ways to kill all of the Red/Blue Triad targets.

* SceneryPorn: IOI were working overtime to add more entertainment and atmosphere to Hong Kong, which were the most archaic levels in the series (due to technical limitations of the time). The neon fish restaurant and the surrounding city block look pretty cool at night, and it's fun to experiment with the new ways to kill all of the Red/Blue Triad targets.

* SceneryPorn: IOI were working overtime to add more entertainment and atmosphere to Hong Kong, which are the most archaic levels in the series (due to technical limitations of the time). The neon fish restaurant and the surrounding city block look pretty cool at night, and it's fun to experiment with the new ways to kill all of the Red/Blue Triad targets.

* SceneryPorn: IOI were working overtime to add more entertainment and atmosphere to Hong Kong, which are the most archaic levels in the series (due to technical limitations of the time). The expanded fish restaurant and the surrounding city block look pretty cool, and it's fun to experiment with the new ways to kill all of the Red/Blue Triad targets.

''Hitman: Contracts'' (2004) is the third game in the ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' series by Creator/IOInteractive, though it's really more of a [[{{Interquel}} mini-episode]] set in-between levels from the then-unreleased ''[[VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney Blood Money]]''. It also served as a remake (for all intents and purposes) of some of the ''[[VideoGame/HitmanCodename47 Codename 47]]'' missions, now using the improved game engine from ''[[VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin Silent Assassin]]''. There are many more ways to win, along with a brand-new sniper's nest in most levels.

* DespiteThePlan: 47 successfully eliminated both the tenor and the ambassador in the opera house. As he was leaving the scene, Albert Fournier, a friend of both D'Alvade and Delahunt, shot him, thus triggering the events of ''Hitman: Contracts.''

###The Cheung Chau fish restaurant is much bigger, and there are more ways to deal with the targets:sniping, poisoning food, and so on.