Today, we are getting into spoiler territory for the 007 First Light/Hitman collaboration. I am a huge fan of Hitman, but care little for James Bond, although the upcoming IO Interactive game looks awesome. As you may know, up until recently, The Banker Elusive Target was free-to-play, so I jumped on that.
I wanted to wait until the free period was over for one key reason: spoilers. It was a very short level, so being vague about everything wouldn’t have been fun to read or write. Having said that, you have been warned if you were waiting to try it. From here on out, there be spoilers.
Paris was the perfect location for the casino theme
The Casino Royale level takes place in Paris, the usual location for the Sanguine fashion show. When I first heard about the mission, I thought that Dubai would have been a better spot. However, having seen what they did, I was pleasantly surprised. The catwalk area of the estate was transformed into a fully functioning casino.
You could play card games and throw away chips at the Roulette table; it was the perfect area. A little cramped, I felt, but it didn’t need to be bigger. It wasn’t a central part of the story. Unless you followed one of the Mission Story options, which brings us neatly onto the actual reason 47 is here.
Mads Mikkelsen reprised his role from Casino Royale as Le Chiffre, and he got himself in a spot of bother. He is in debt to Vicente Murillo, an old Elusive Target from Hitman 2, and plans to get himself out of it by winning a high-rollers card game. Agent 47 is there to make sure that Le Chiffre fails in that quest.
Unfortunately, there is only one Mission Story to follow, provided you don’t just ignore it, charge through the mansion, and blow up Le Chiffre. What a waste of the crafted narrative that would be. Anyway, as you’d expect, 47 needs to get an invitation to join that table. There are three ways to do this.
Some ghosts of Hitman past pop up to say hello
The first is to win a wager with Abhijeet Rangan, brother of Dawood Rangan, whom you’ve already bumped off. Best not mention that. It’s probably the easiest way, since, disappointingly, the Roulette wheel always lands on the same number. It would have been much better if 47 had to rig it somehow.
Second, assassinate Bai Siyu in the bar to steal her invite. Kind of boring. The best way is to meet up with our old friend Agent Smith. He trades you his if you take care of a target for him. Pretty straightforward, but it is nice to see Smith again. The only downside is that you don’t get to have an interaction with him at the card game.
Invite in hand, 47 pops upstairs and shares a drink with Le Chiffre, with some loaded conversation over a drink. Clearly, our favourite assassin hasn’t seen Casino Royale, because the drink was poisoned. After the first round, which Le Chiffre cleverly wins, you have to leg it to the car park to find an Antidote.
Or, don’t. You won’t die either way. Pass out, and you just go through a capture sequence. I suppose that IO didn’t want people to fail this Elusive Target without really trying. You win in the end by bribing or threatening the card dealer. I suggest threatening, because you get a nice quip about 47 not needing a “licence to kill”. Cheesy, but a cool reference. That’s something I appreciated about the level. They could have overloaded the James Bond nature of everything, but it was more restrained.
A rather quick mission that left a bit to be desired
Anyway, you do your dirty little cheat, Le Chiffre loses everything, and then gets unceremoniously bumped off by Murillo. An easy, 20-minute mission with an almost guaranteed Silent Assassin ranking. I am a little disappointed that we only got the one route, as interesting as it was.
Overall, I did enjoy the mission, but it wasn’t exactly thrilling. It was a fun little jaunt that I would not recommend paying for if you missed it being free. The biggest takeaway is that IO is still keeping Hitman alive, which is great to see, and I am excited to use the bonus items I will get in 007 First Light. I might not like the James Bond franchise, but I do love Hitman.
