This was a toughie.
Arkham Asylum introduced a melee combat system that was simple and exhilerating. When it comes to the predator sections, Ryan said it best: in other stealth games you feel vulnerable, but in Arkham you feel like a god. It was polished, the story was fun (until the end), but most of all the gameplay was hard to pull myself away from.
If Arkham Asylum made you feel like a god, Blood Money made you feel like a devil. Puzzling out ways to silently or accidentally assassinate your targets was downright dastardly. The feeling of simply walking away from the chaos and commotion of a level without any attention directed toward you is unmatched. It's also a staple of the Hitman series. So what makes Blood Money the best iteration of the series? (Full disclosure, I've yet to play Hitman: Absolution)
Simply put it's the scenarios and the mechanics. You'll visit an opera house rehearsal, a southern wedding, Mardi Gras, a heaven and hell themed club, a playboy-esque party in the Rockies, a dubious rehab center, even the goddamn White House, and more. Each locale and generally terrible target brought their own spin to the accidents system, ways to rig your environment to make your hits look like, well, an accident.
But accidents aren't just things like falling chandeliers or pianos. Falling off a ledge or taking a nasty tumble down some stairs count too. The games scenarios all follow a certain timeline of events, and if you want to make out with the Silent Assassin ranking, you'll have to pay attention and plan around these events. At this point the game basically becomes a murder puzzle game. Run to one target, push him as he's walking down a particular set of stairs, run to this other area and grab a weapon, run to the attic and kill the groom, then get the fuck outta there. Unlike a puzzle game, there are many ways to complete a mission, and discovering them all is a joy.
The stories are both acceptable. Arkham Asylum is a fun romp through a supervillain run mad house, and Blood Money has 47 drawn into a conflict with a rival agency. The great part of Asylum is of course seeing all of the villains that take a stab at ending the Bat. Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Bane, and Killer Croc are some of the big ones, and it's fun to see how Batman comes across them all while he tracks down the Joker.
The conflict with the Franchise, rival to the Agency, in Blood Money makes for some really fun encounters with rival assassin's though. Whether it's suddenly getting killed by a woman dressed as an angel or straight up duelling a man dressed as a demon, the rival assassins often make for an interesting aside to the scheming and stalking. The plot also gives some more interesting insight into 47's character, specifically through his relationship with Diana, his handler throughout the series, and also with a canary he keeps in his hideout.
Arkham Asylum's story gets pretty silly toward the end, and the final boss is just dumb. Blood Money's "final boss" is one of my most memorable moments in a video game. In Asylum you just fist-fight Joker who's hopped up on Bane's "Venom" serum. In Blood Money you just watch as your body is cremated, but as you hit buttons you notice the screen gets less dim, and 47's heart begins to beat. You've then got to reawaken 47 by pushing whatever buttons or keys you can, and once awake are given a single directive: kill everyone. The head of the Franchise is there thinking he's won, and everyone in attendance knows your identity. After massacring your own funeral, 47 disappears into a shady Chinese backroom, inquiring about "work" after leaving the Agency. Awesome.
Arkham Asylum made 3D melee combat a selling point in games, with plenty of other titles lifting the simple and addictive system. There's not really anything else like Blood Money though. It's the quintessential modern assassin game, and good ol' nefarious fun.
Good times were had in Arkham Asylum, but Blood Money was the more memorable and interesting video game experience of the generation.
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