Hitman: Blood Money - Reception

Reception

Blood Money received generally positive reviews upon release, with an average critic score of 83% for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 versions and 82% for the Xbox and PC at GameRankings.

Many critics felt the game was an improvement over the previous Hitman titles, with Official PlayStation Magazine UK calling it "without question the best Hitman yet". Other critics shared this thought, despite feeling that the basic gameplay elements were similar, if not unchanged from the previous installments, with GameSpot stating that "the underlying stealth action is mostly unchanged" while "a diverse sequence of imaginative scenarios gives Blood Money its own fair share of violent thrills." GameSpy praised the expanded scope and options in each level, such as making kills appear as accidents, that "the game features enough choices and entertaining kills to have you playing some missions more than once, striving for that exclusive Silent Assassin rating."

The soundtrack was also considered one of the game's strong points, with IGN noted the "impressive orchestral compositions", while GameTrailers felt it "drives your emotions throughout each evolving mission" and was nominated for Best Original Music in GameSpot's Best and Worst Awards 2006.

While new features and additions to the series were praised, some critics felt the Notoriety system was "underutilized" and "half-baked" while others pointed issues from the previous Hitman games still being present, notably with the AI. GameTrailers found that "some enemies behave erratically in specific situations taking you out of the experience". TeamXbox said they couldn't "really see any more alertness or cleverness on the part of the CPU than in Hitman: Contracts".