In November of 2000, the world was introduced to its most prolific contract killer, the cold and resolute Agent 47. He had his sights on Gamers everywhere and he was tasked with one mission - entertain with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as successful as his creators had hoped and he took a drubbing from the critics. But the hitman wasn’t beyond redemption, and the game’s publisher, Eidos, contracted him to take another whack at the original target.

The subsequent titles, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and Hitman: Contracts, weren’t without flaws either, but they enjoyed significant success both critically and commercially. And so once again the calm killer has returned, but will his strengths help him carry the day, or will his flaws surface again and finally bring him down?

Well, one of Hitman's sequel-spanning strengths has always been atmosphere, and Blood Money is thick with it. Walking through the casino levels you can almost smell the smoke, alcohol, and sex, and the levels set in the Deep South are suitably dank, fog-filled, and boorish. In fact, its here that the subtlety of the developer's black humor becomes visible. Though you never see anything laugh-out-loud funny, for a game about a cold and calculating assassin, there are quite a few moments that will bring a smirk to your face.

One level loads up with the sounds of shotguns going off - sure to give you a jolt of adrenaline if you've been playing the game for a decent span. As your nerves tense you realize it is nothing more than a handful of country yokel's on a ramshackle swamp pier firing at fish in a murky marsh. At the nearby wedding you will find men in suits topped off with trucker's hats, as well as women in daisy dukes, and the host in a Boss Hog suit complete with white hat. There's even a good natured game of inbred punch-out, with a circle of inebriated men taking swings at each other and then sharing a good laugh and a clap on the back after a few fists have landed.

In other levels, African-Americans speak ebonics and wear gold chains, Arabs smoke hookahs, and Latin Americans oversee their drug empires from the comfort of their palatial haciendas. It is all stereotypically perfect.

But in the past, developer IO Interactive's biting jests have gotten them in trouble when their depiction of turban-wearing Sikhs raised enough public outcry that they finally decided to sanitize the Gamecube version before it went gold.

Then Hitman: Contracts hit store shelves filled with bondage and S&M themes with no response from the public, so Blood Money isn't self-conscious either. Besides cultural stereotypes, there is the decadence of dance club called "hell", a trip to a porn mogul's estate, and one of your marks is an opera fan who likes little boys. And I don't mean like, as in thinks they are cool. I mean like as in like-like. As in check box 1 for yes or 2 for no, like.

So parents shouldn't be considering this one for timmy's Birthday.

We have a few other concerns as well. Though the number of items in the environment you can use seems to have doubled, your ability to know exactly which objects is still frustrating. There were a few times where I had to run Agent 47 around the perimeter of rooms rubbing his body up against everything while watching the HUD options in the upper left of the screen to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

Also, the series has always struggled with clipping issues and an inconsistency in environmental interactivity. Agent 47 passes wraith-like through the huge tropical plants, corners, and other objects. Grab a baseball bat and swing it all around and you’ll see it whistling harmlessly through pillars and pinball machines alike.

But take that baseball bat or a fire extinguisher and hit one of the many prostitutes over the head with it and you will hear a true bone-jarring thud. And all of the rest of the games audio is fantastic - from the weapon reports to the voice acting. And Jesper Kyd, once again does a fine job with the score.

In addition to the great sound, Blood Money features a story that is quite memorable. Small segments of it are unfolded through cutscenes at the front of each level, and the twists toward the end will leave you excited for the inevitable sequel. All the cutscenes are presented using the game's engine which was given a significant overhaul since Contracts.

Besides some improved graphical effects like the volumetric fog, normal and bump mapping, and light and shadows that rival those found in the latest Splinter Cell game, the engine also uses and entirely new crowd system.

In one level in particular, there are literally hundreds of citizens walking about the streets of New Orleans during a Mardi Gras celebration. Its pretty amazing to see, and their unscripted reactions to each other also seem to be quite the programming feat.

But sooner than you'd like you'll start to notice that while the behavior and quantity of people around is impressive, the small number of character models isn't. There just shouldn't be that many people wearing chicken get-ups or joker hats - even if it is Mardi Gras.

(Video review: And another thing Eidos - Its all ready an "M" rated game, and this is Mardi Gras? Wear are all the beads and their requisite counterpart of exchange? [pretend to lift up your shirt] I mean its not like you are shy about this stuff? We all remember Singles: Flirt Up Your Life…)

And at the mention of new models and behaviors, Agent 47 has a handful of improved and new abilities - The best of which is the ability to engage in close combat. Now if you approach someone without having a weapon drawn, a click of the mouse will see you shoving, punching, or headbutting them. If they have happen to have a gun pointed at you, the same click will initiate a dramatic disarm that ends with you looking down the barrel at them ready to squeeze off some rounds. Screw that up though and you'll get to see the new death animations. Coupled with The screens red tinge, they serve to humanize the bald killing machine more than in the previous titles.

Your targets, the security guards, secret service and marines in the game don't benefit from the same improvement in physical dramatics though. They'll still provide some humor with their over-the-top ragdoll deaths that often have them landing in awkward or compromising positions.

…which they don't seem to mind as they come at you in waves with lemming-like disregard for their own safety. In fact, if you decide not to use stealth, often you can find a room or hallway that serves as a good chokepoint and eliminate nearly all of your opposition in an entire level - as long as you don't run out of ammo. They will just keep running towards you with abandon.

If you stick to stealth though, you'll never experience these A.I. oddities and you will be able to keep a better handle on your notoriety and cash - new features in Blood Money. Your notoriety is a reflection of the public disruption your killings have caused. If you go in guns a-blazing it effects your ability to blend in and move around unnoticed in subsequent missions. So you'll need to use some of your hard earned cash to pay off local police, press, and witnesses. That is all money that could be going to upgrading and customizing your weapons for increased accuracy and capacity. It is a clever system that forces you to approach each level with a little more long-term strategery (to borrow a phrase).

For newcomers to the franchise, We think its important to mention that there is no multiplayer component in Hitman, and there never has been. Though this time around there is the option of uploading your scores online. It’s a half-hearted attempt that must have been thrown in just for xbox live subscribers - but, come on, what kind of hitman goes around sharing his exploits? Money is the assassins only reward. (Though 360 players can unlock achievements.)

But For a game that is single player only, there is a significant amount of replay value - and not just from the different difficulty levels. Even when playing the same level on the same difficulty setting there are a myriad of morbid completion possibilities. This was a feature touted from the very first game in the franchise, but Blood Money is the first that seems to have gotten it just right. Many times you will be about to complete all the mission objectives and then stumble upon a birthday cake, chandelier, or briefcase that could have served your purposes with a little nefarious tampering. Every time this happens you'll find yourself considering a replay using the new possibilities you discovered. So those who choose to shoot their way through the levels will be missing out on all the fun that can had by way of poisons, remotely detonated mines, and clever accidents. This is true of all versions of the game – xbox, PS2, PC, and 360, which are all identical, from a gameplay perspective.

Hitman: Blood Money is an enjoyable sequel that doesn’t take too many risks in regards to changes to its now successful formula. So fans who were content with most of Agent 47s methods should be happy. For those neophytes out there considering some experience with murder-for-hire, you will find getting Blood Money to be very rewarding.