Loadout, fun with armour-piercing rounds

[Art Blade]

Every once in a while, I fire up this still great game. Mainly because after you finished one playthrough, you can select any mission and replay it over and over again. Now, if you think about your loadout, there is one thing in particular that I think is worth mentioning:

Armour-piercing rounds.

To illustrate why it is so remarkable, picture the following scene (the Vinnie "Slugger" Sinistra episode): You have a W2000 sniper rifle equipped with those rounds, and hide in a house opposite of the house where the target lives. Now you open your door (far enough so you won't be spotted) and train your rifle on the door of the other house across the street, wait until it opens (sometimes a butler and a party clown walks in and out. Your door closes automatically, so you'll need to open it from time to time) and aim inside the house at someone. Now when your door closes again, and the door of the other house closes too, you can actually fire your rifle, penetrate both doors, and kill someone inside of the other house across the street and no one has got a clue what has just happened.

I love that feature, to be able to shoot through doors... also funny if you have a SMG/automatic weapon or your famous Silverballer pistol(s) equipped with those rounds, you can shoot a guard behind a closed door. Very useful  ;D

[spaceboy]

I love that feature, to be able to shoot through doors...

cheers to that Art.  Even simple destruction is appreciated, but when it gets more "realistic" the better it gets.

[PZ]

Wow, that's impressive.  :-X

[Art Blade]

 :) For those of you who don't know the game, doors have keyholes you may peek through, that's how I can watch after a shot what happens on the other side: door over there opens, FBI agents running around clueless, civilians running around in panic. Also, the easier the game difficulty, the more detailed the map; on easy you can spot living (circle) and dead (crossed out circle) characters, so it is easy to find out if you actually hit someone.

[PZ]

Thanks for that detail - very useful to know.  This one is still on my list even though I've not obtained it yet  :)

[Art Blade]

[smg id=2213 align=center width=400]

This is Agent 47 (you) with his W2000 sniper rifle he uses to carry around in a suitcase that is impenetrable by x-rays (it fools arms detectors in secured places). Looks like a martial arts act, but I took that screenie while he disassembled the weapon. It is a rather cool gimmick, you walk around with an unobtrusive suitcase, then find a nice place, assemble your weapon, kill the target (maybe through a window or door) and then you pack up and leave, looking innocent.  :)

I love that weapon, as well as the Silverballer and the mp5 kind of SMG. Those are my typical weapons, all silenced.

[PZ]

This game really sounds like my style.  Go in to do the job, and then leave as if nothing is amiss.  :-X

[Art Blade]

Indeed :) That's the perfect mission achievement, "silent assassin" -- only possible to obtain if you don't make any noise and don't raise any alarm. Also, avoid killing anyone else but the target(s) and avoid witnesses and video recordings (you can steal those tapes, though).

Of course, you can bring a massive loadout like a cranked-up SPAS12 shotgun rifle and so on, you have a remote detonator for two sticky bombs you can place nearly everywhere (which can be a lot of fun, but you need to be unobserved while placing them) and blow up a place and mow down anything that moves, the freedom to do what you like is what makes the replay value almost endless. I keep playing the game for years now ;)

[wexer9]

Didn't know doors could be penetrated. Thanks for the tip. :-X

[Art Blade]

wooden doors of houses only, and car doors and its chassis like of that observation truck in the pic above. Only few apparently can't be penetrated, but still ;D

Welcome, matey  :)

[tehsam016]

Just picked it up for the 360 since it'll be nice experiencing it on a big screen. I shall return with multiple stories of ownage/hilariousness.

[Art Blade]

I very much hope so, sam :) Maybe some fellow members who purchased that game and haven't yet shared their experiences will now follow your lead :)

[mmosu]

I must have missed this thread the first time around  ????  I may be wrong about this Art, but I believe the ability to shoot through doors is a mechanic that has been present in earlier installments in the series as well.  These games have always shocked me with the level of attention to detail.  It's like if you thought of it, you can rest assured the devs already thought of it too - truly a series designed by creative gamers for creative gamers  :-X

[Art Blade]

I don't remember if in prior games of the series there were armour-piercing rounds. Only those penetrate thin walls or doors. Not everything that looks thin enough is actually penetrable though. HM:BM is the most advanced game of the series, the prior games were light-years away from tech standards and ease of control this game features. :)

[Art Blade]

Oh by the way..

those sticky mines may "penetrate" too.. if you stick them to a wall outside of a room and detonate them, people close to the wall (on the other side) will croak  >:D

[mmosu]

Agreed with that - Blood Money is the most advanced.  There weren't ammo choices in the early games for sure, but I think there were some penetrable objects. The "Tracking Hiyamoto" mission in Hitman 2 comes to mind - it took place in a traditional Japanese mansion, and those paper walls would give way quite readily to gunfire, although the most satisfying way to hit the target on this one was to disguise yourself as a sushi chef and serve up some "improperly prepared" fugu  ;D

[Art Blade]

hehe, yes, that mission was great. If I'm not mistaken, I had arrows? Perhaps a crossbow.. Those went straight through those laughable paper walls  ;D