Year: 2000
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Jesper Kyd; Pierre Földes
Number of tracks: 12

★★★★★

Missed the mark

I stand by what I wrote in my review of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell : Namely, that Sam Fisher's adventure was one of the co-founders of the stealth game genre - alongside representatives such as Thief or Metal Gear. Now this list is missing the game series that has the secret elimination of targets in its name: Hitman. Hitman.

The series about the bald hitman with the barcode on his neck first saw the light of day in 2000 with Hitman: Codename 47 (not to be confused with the 2015 film of the same name). However, unlike his genre cousins, Agent 47 doesn't just stay in the shadows, but likes to run around in broad daylight with the right disguise on the hunt for his victim. Garrett or Solid Snake don't have this luxury in most cases. For this reason, I wouldn't classify it as a stealth game, but in the end it doesn't matter because I'm not really interested in the actual game, but its music.

This was released around five years after the game's release together with the music of its successor, Hitman 2: Silent Assassins, as an original soundtrack and comprises twelve tracks. A nice gesture, which in my opinion far too few games received at the time. Well, in the days before Spotify and the like, a release always meant that the music had to be pressed onto a blank CD, packaged and marketed, but that's the way it is with art!

Was the score that was put together for the first two Hitman-games at least worth the effort? In the case of Hitman: Codename 47 , my answer would unfortunately be no. Because even though Jesper Kyd, one of the greatest modern game composers, was on board, it was one of his earlier works. According to the Hitman-wiki , he was not solely responsible for the music, but had the support of Pierre Földes and Jun Mizumachi (sound design). Their work is described as follows:

The score for Codename 47 consists entirely of electronic music, which pairs well with its action based gameplay, but is much different from most of the other Hitman-scores, as the others are a mix of electronic and instrumental, and sometimes vocal. […] The album is a very good indicator of Kyd's musical style and how it has developed from its roots, especially within the Hitman-series.

Hitman-Wiki

I can completely agree with that, which is why the songs don't really work for me overall. Many of the tracks sound more like a visit to an underground electro club or a scene in Blade Runner (Hitman Codename 47 [Extended Version]) rather than a narrative accompaniment to a game. Together with the uniformity of the music, this gives the album the feeling of a radio station from one of the early GTA-games. Only Hitman Codename 47 [Original Slow Version] triggers something in me because of its proximity to Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun ... albeit only briefly.

This review on deejay.de , meanwhile, speaks of a 'bubbling combination of ambient and cinematic music. [Kyd's] typical sound of big melodies and groovy electronic sounds can be clearly heard, especially in the hypnotic title track'. Even though I would underline the term 'hypnotic' in particular, this is not enough for me as a non-player of the game to get anything out of the score apart from some occasional groove along.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Intro	Jesper Kyd; Pierre Foldes	1
02	Hitman Codename 47 [Extended Version]	Jesper Kyd	3
03	Hong Kong Themes	Jesper Kyd	3
04	Jungle Exploration	Jesper Kyd	3
05	Dark Jungle	Jesper Kyd	2
06	Hotel Themes	Jesper Kyd	2
07	Harbor Themes	Jesper Kyd	3
08	Hospital Themes	Jesper Kyd	2
09	Hotel Music [Early Demo]	Jesper Kyd	2
10	Rainforest [Early Demo]	Jesper Kyd	3
11	Atmosphere [Demo]	Jesper Kyd	2
12	Hitman Codename 47 [Original Slow Version]	Jesper Kyd	4