Killing Gary Busey: A Harrowing Hitman Experience (Spoilers for Elusive Target)

I killed Gary Busey. It feels strange to write that sentence but killing Gary Busey as an elusive target in Hitman had a very large impact on me. That being said, the fact that Busey was the target is purely incidental. It came down to the unexpected sense of urgency I felt as I went about setting up the kill, taking the shot and slipping away.

I began the endeavor by loading into contract to see what I was up against. After some careful and stealthy observation, I discovered that Busey was sauntering in a loop, stopping at various points between the church and the beach. Those of you who are familiar with Sapienza know that the church is a superb vantage point if sniping is your thing. I figured that I could get a clean shot from the steeple as long as I was patient and waited for the perfect moment. I had not planned for a long range kill so I loaded up the mission again. This time making sure to arrange for a suppressed sniper rifle pickup, in the sewers beneath the church.

I re-planned and reloaded the mission, ready to put my target down. I quickly made my way to the pickup in the sewers. Along the way I silently subdued a plummer who got in my way. it was a minor wrinkle but it did not change my plan. I got the rife and quietly crept though the sewers and into the church. Making my way past unsuspecting workers.I shuffled silently up the stairs to my predetermined perch. I stood up there looking for Busey, suppressed rifle at the ready. After a few minutes of careful scanning I spied Gary Cole, Busey's co-star, making his way toward the church. This meant that Busey was nearby.

I waited a bit more and spotted Busey walking with his guards a log the beach. I tracked him in my scope as he walked up and down the beach, completely unaware of the quick death that was in store for him. I let him walk along a bit more. I was itching to take the shot but I knew I would not get another chance. I waited. Finally, he stopped to answer his phone. This was the moment. I lined up the my sights, squeezed the trigger and watched the actor's knees buckle as pink mist escaped from his head.

That was it. All I had to do was get out. I dropped the rife and began to make my way down the stairs of the steeple. I moved down, checking each flight, one by one, making sure there were no surprises in store for me. I was nearly at ground level when I spotted three guards charging up the stairs. "Oh no!" I said to myself out loud. I darted back up the stairs in hopes of buying myself time to improvise a way out.

I managed to get up to the top, with a few precious seconds to think. I remembered that there was an overhang that I could shimmy across. I wondered if I could use that as a hiding place while I felt things out and planned my next move. I hung over the side of the railing, taking care to ensure I would break line of site with the three trigger happy guards rushing to meet me. They yelled commands at each other and paced around a bit as they searched for me. Eventually they retreated back down the stairs, moving their search else ware. One even took my rifle with him. I muttered to myself, "I can't believe that worked!".

When the roof was clear I made my way down to ground level and took the boat out of the harbor; unseen, and unharmed. I felt pretty badass, having such a risky move pay off like that. In the end I had no choice. No saves. No restarts.

That's what I love about elusive targets. The stakes are high. You can't just restart, or roll back to an earlier save. Once you've killed the target or escalated the situation in any way, the option to replan and restart goes away. In my scenario I had to commit. When the guards pegged my position I had to try something unexpected and crazy, or I would have lost the opportunity for good.The best part is that it actually paid off! I accomplished my mission. This was one of the most exhilarating moments I've had with a videogame in a long time. I was hesitant about the proposed bite sized nature of the elusive targets but in the beginning.However, now that I've done a few I think they are very unique and serve to set the game apart. The sense of urgency that this "one and done" format brings to the table, makes the game feel incredibly immersive. I felt like 47. The satisfaction I got from succeeding in such a rare opportunity though such an unexpectedly slick method will stay in my gaming memory for quite some time. If you have Hitman, I recommend checking out this target while you still can. I am definitely looking forward to more unexpected, and badass moments with more elusive targets.

Pretty good move. I did it pretty much the exact same way but took the priest disguise so the guards I anticipated ran right by me up the stairs.

I screwed it up. I shot him from the top of the stairs by the beach and climbed the pipe to the safe house thinking that they'd give up eventually. They did not.

Good read. This makes me really want to get this game, but I don't know that I can do that right now. I hope they roll out some elusive target stuff when the full game comes out, as I will probably pick it up then.

@sloppydetective: Thanks! yeah I hope they keep these going so that poeple that are waiting for the full version can get a taste of them!

@mrroach:I thought about that angle but it seemed to exposed to me. I fugured the steeple at least isolated enough to give me a head start on my escape. It turns out I was wrong about that but things worked out anyways

@pyrodactyl: I thought about the preist outfit as I passed by it on my way in but I wanted to do it suit only but you're escape sounds very 47 like

I love this blog. Well written, duder. You were able to convey the parts of this game that make it truly great. I just completed this elusive target challenge myself earlier today, and in a fairly similar way. I actually just shot him from the roof just outside the safe house door, next to the little drop-in shortcut to the mansion. After shooting him, I dropped the gun, hopped down that shortcut, and casually strolled out the main gate past the two guards and peeled out in the car waiting there. I like your story better though, ha.

I hope to see some more blogs from you in the future!

I took a sniper rifle shot from the safe room that Brad & Dan always use, by the mansion. There was a large enough distance that the guards couldn't reach me before I exited from the start position. I missed the 1st shot though, so Busey was only staggered in the arm, and 'target lockdown appeared', the guards were rushing him away when my 2nd shot headshotted him.

In honor of Brad and Dan's gameplay finally forcing me to buy the game I took him out how they would have wanted me to.

Gary Busey has died

Nice work!

I went on to the roof behind the safehouse and tried to find a good vantage there. Unable to find one I ducked into the house toward the lower side of that roof. I moved through there to the stairway that lead to an ally and went into the first room, which is the top floor on the building just behind Busey's stop outside the church. I subdued a woman watching the crowd from her balcony and took her spot. As Busey rolled up I realized I was close enough and above him that I didnt need my noisy sniper so I popped him in the skull with my trusty silenced pistol. Went back the way I came and slipped out the front door of the safehouse while guards were still storming the apartment complex I did the deed from.

Good read. I did the same thing except, made the shot from the little rooftop behind the safe house. The location where Busey and Cole met and talked was the perfect time and I was hidden from all of the guards and onlookers by the tree that is right there.

One shot and then sauntered over to the car in front of the villa. No where near as a good tense story as hanging off the church steeple. :)

This game really needs a rifle briefcase...

I took the easy way out. Waited until Busey was walking towards the church, picked up a pair of scissors from the barber shop, threw them pointy end first into his face, ran to the boat. Not pretty, but I think Gary would have been proud.

@cornfed40: This basically what I did but for some reason I did it on the pier which made escaping a fairly tricky matter

@the_ruiner: yes I agree. It has to be coming. The they have used so many promotional stills with 47 carrying a briefcase. I bet it'll be an unlock in future levels

I don't think the briefcase fits this game as much as BM. Too many bigger outdoor areas so far. It would be overpowered I think.

The ability to get a guard outfit and openly brandish any weapon is the new briefcase. That being said, the briefcase had styyyyyle, and I think it would be a cool unlock.

Also, we get to see Brad & Dan attempt this later today, so that's exciting. I'm going to bet on their typical "kill target, immediately get shot by guards" result.

Ah I guess I hadn't tried carrying the sniper with a guard outfit on.

I love the briefcase trust me I just don't think the fit is there. It's very badass.

@dudeglove: you can totally have a rifle slung on 47's back if the uniform is of someone who would carry openly Like police or armed security

@notnert427: I like being forced to plan how to get the rife to the sniping point . It adds a layer of complexity. It makes sniping risky, thus more rewarding. At the same time there would be cool applications if the briefcase was in the game. A scenario where you could toss a briefcase with a disassembled rile in it over a fence into a restricted area and pick it up later to setup the kill. Also, in something like a hotel or an airport setting you might trick NPCs into sneaking a gun past security for you. I think there are still ways to make things tricky even with the case. I am thinking of the VP assassination in blood money om this one

I thought about the well but I could not think of a way to get the guards away

Embassy guard yeah or military

Found him was very easy, I then followed him until I know the full AI rotation, went back to the first safehouse, sniped him from the roof, got out. 12mins and Busey is in the body bag.

@britxmenyuan:Very close to the Brad Method

I neglected to pack a Sniper Rifle, accidentally wasted my Proximity Mine and ended up having to wing it... Turns out the top balcony in the Plaza is a great place to throw a combat Knife from whilst ensuring no-one see's you... Bye Bye Busey! I also did not know you could 're-load' and change your starting kit... bit of a cheat I think, I personally kinda hope they remove the ability to do so. Smashing article, will try upload my next Elusive kill for all to see!

@bpcupid: ordinarily I would agree with doing away with the ability to re plan but I think it needs to be there. You go in pretty much blind with elusive targets and what makes hitman work for me is a certain degree of planning. I think taking away the ability to re plan would be too much given the clockwork nature of the missions you might be stuck with a bad loadout making it pretty much impossible to succeed.i prefer up close kills but for busey it was a sniper shot or nothing.

All I had was the silenced pistol. Waited until he was watching the street performer then shot him from through a window in the stairwell of a nearby building. Managed to climb to the roof, get down to the street, and got away clean.

Also. just picked the game up so this was my first elusive target. Didn't know that Gary Busey was the target until the mission briefing.

This was more or less how I killed him. It was my first elusive target so I was trying to do something cool, but I just started to get annoyed at the fact that there was no good opening (there probably was I just don't know how to manipulate the AI well enough). So I just got into a position near the hideout and shot him as he walked through the park. Then just went through the safehouse and out to the car. There was a part I thought was kinda funny where I was following around a PI I'd never noticed before and he was talking to someone on the phone about something and some person off camera was complaining that I was creeping around on the corner. Turn around, and Busey was just standing right in front of me. I also tried assassinating him from the bell tower in the church but for some reason that shot didn't kill him, just hit him in the back I guess.

I packed a sniper but couldn't be bothered to retrieve it and get into position. I ended up throwing a screwdriver in his face while he was on his phone next to the square and ran to the boat with a hail of bullets whizzing past me. Needless to say I got a low score.

Explosive duck every time.

Hmm yeah, that's a bit lame...kind of takes the "elusive" part out of it if you can do a bunch of recon and then restart with the perfect gear. So what are the actual restrictions on these -- I assume no saves, but when does it stop you from restarting?

@quantris: if you escalate the situation in any way. If you are suspicious or they are searching. It the replan option goes away for good and if you quit it counts as a fail. Also if you kill the target you gave to get out!

My first elusive target (and actually, my first mission with the game after the prologue stuff, I was basing most of what I knew from watching Brad and Dan, so I was already at a disadvantage).

I got him with a proxy mine on the grave near the church. Basically just saw him coming that way after he met Gary Cole. Ran up there, managed to put it down without being spotted. As he walked over, a gardener noticed the mine and was walking to a bodyguard or one of those suited dudes to snitch it out. Busey got their first. Kaboom.

I walked off and boated the hell out of there. Was pretty awesome.

I would like the ability to go back and do elusive targets I missed at some point. Maybe once all of the content is out they might do this? (I know there are plenty of escalation missions adding variety, but I like that elusive targets have their intro). They should still have some lock out/ one shot system. Maybe you'd have to go through them all to get back to a failed one or something.

@captain_insano: I would think that they end up unlocking the targets when they do the disc release next year, or at least that's what I'm hoping. I've only done about half of them.

Kind of a disappointing target. I didn't see any cool accident or environmental kill opportunities, and I didn't pack a sniper rifle so I got him with a pistol from a slight range and got out by boat. Wasn't glorious but I'm 3 for 3 on elusive targets now