The concept of killing someone isn’t new to gaming, but the act of killing someone and hiding the body is one that hasn’t been explored all that much.
Blood Money sticks to the premise of delivering a different type of stealth game. You’re not a high-tech, secret agent saving the world; instead you’re a contract hitman whose ultimate concern is getting paid. The justification or any nobility to the hits is of little concern to 47, which is where
Blood Money tries to shake things up.
Blood Money’s narrative is told in a scattered way, tying in past events to a current plan. Initial missions are recollections told by the leader of the Foundation giving an interview to a news reporter. The events are unrelated, except for the fact that they all seem to end like most fishing stories with 47 being the one that got away. Eventually, these stories begin to point to the bigger plot; the Foundation’s systematic killing of members of ICA, the group 47 works for, and a much larger political plot. Without giving too much away, the story picks up later and is worth playing through the game for. Also, make sure you stick around for the credits…
Gameplay is open-ended and allows a decent amount of flexibility for accomplishing goals. Your goal in each mission is to take out your appointed targets while not drawing attention to yourself. This can be done through a variety of means, including using silenced weapons for kills and multiple disguises. Some of the more ingenious mechanics involve making deaths look like accidents, such as using explosives to drop chandeliers on victim’s heads, poisoning food or drinks or even replacing prop-guns with real ones. Of course, you can always use brute force and just shoot everyone – but then you’re missing the point and making things hard on yourself. Then again, trying to perform perfect kills and achieving the “Silent Assassin” rating is pretty hard too, so there is no real easy way through the game.
Success during missions is measured through two means: tension and notoriety. Tension is measured by a small meter next to your health bar. A clear or green bar means that no one is aware of your presence while a yellow one means that someone is on to you. Red means you’ve screwed up really badly and usually means you’ll have to shoot your way out. Tension goes up whenever a body is discovered, or someone hears or sees a murder. For the most part, the system works, though there are inconsistencies. During one mission, I pushed a target into a gator-infested swamp while in plain view of one of his body guards without alarming them. But, in the same mission, I silently snuck into the kitchen to poison a cake and suddenly had 3 rednecks blasting me with shotguns. Inconsistencies like these aren’t common, but happen enough that they’ll force restarts (or reloads).
If you’re caught by someone, it is usually in your best interest to kill the witness, otherwise your notoriety goes up. The higher your notoriety, the harder it is to blend into a crowd since people know to look for you. Notoriety can be lowered between missions by paying off certain people, though this cuts into your payment for the mission and makes it less likely you’ll be able to buy the better equipment available.
Your mission rating is given via a newspaper front page that is created based on how you performed. Everything you did in the mission, from the number of people killed to the methods to the number of shots fired, is all documented in the story. One story even referenced a previous mission by stating that the poison used in this killing was linked to the poison used in a past mission. It doesn’t make the game, but the effort is neat and it sure as hell beats a bland window.
