Evening Telegraph: Activate

Having made quite a name for himself in the game’s three previous outings, Agent 47 has now become embroiled in a war between two rival contract agencies.

When assassins from his agency, the ICA, are systematically eliminated in a series of hits, it seems a larger, more powerful organisation is taking over.

After Agent 47 suddenly loses contact with the ICA, he twigs that rifle crosshairs are about to be trained on his baldy bonce.

Hot-footing it to America to lower his profile and make a killing (for lots of cash, of course), he also determines to find out exactly who is decimating the ICA and why.

Although Blood Money as a title is a bit of a no-brainer (do any hitmen do it for free?) the way in which you use your hard-earned is a bit different in this title and how it is spent creates a unique gameplay experience for each player.

Now you can do cool things like bribing the Press to keep your face out of the morning paper, or customising and upgrading your weapons to match your personal style of assassination.

Agent 47’s tools of the trade can be modified in a variety of ways including sound, recoil, rate of fire, damage, reload speed, accuracy and zoom.

Having the best weaponry at your disposal is a definite advantage as, the cleaner the hit, the more money you earn.

Alternatively, you can make as much mess and noise as you like with remote-controlled bombs, or even dropping a priceless chandelier on your target.

Graphically the game has moved on a fair bit, with rock-solid textures, convincing particle effects, amazing environments and highly detailed characters.

This evolution has also taken in new gameplay techniques, from distraction and accidents, to body disposal and using human shields.

Agent 47 has had an upgrade too and can now climb, hide, scale ledges and automatically pass low obstacles.

All this is just as well, too, as enemy characters have been on the smart pills, as is evidenced by guards now following blood trails, investigating suspicious items and dodgy behaviour.

Mercifully, the game has four user-selectable difficulty levels, from Rookie to Pro, so you can get you money’s worth from the word go.

Blood Money also features the Hitman Online Ranking System that gives players the opportunity to compare and compete against friends and adversaries from across the globe.

Gamers are ranked in a number of different and continually developing levels, so whether you’re a stealth assassin, or a shoot-out supremo, your proficiency at eliminating targets is assessed in categories ranging from Highest Paid and Most Wanted, to Most Accurate and Best Hitman.

VERDICT: Bigger, better and deeper, Blood Money sure hits the spot.

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Tourist Trophy

PS2; £34.99; Sony;

www.touristtrophygame.com

By George Wright

AS it’s from the makers of Gran Turismo, you’re probably thinking this game will be a bit of all right. Well, you’re right.

The game delivers a visual treat right from the off with a sumptuous intro movie that shows off what’s in store and more than whets your appetite.

But, put your brakes on and don’t fall into the trap of racing right into Arcade mode, as, like me, you’ll crash, crash and crash again.

Tourist Trophy is not a game you can pick up and play easily, it’s just too authentic for that. Just like the real thing, if it’s your first whirl on a bike then you need to know what you’re doing.

Be prepared to spend at least a couple of hours in Challenge mode getting to grips with the basics and earning your licences before you begin to chisel your way deeper into the action.

With over 100 sport bikes in the game’s garage, you’ll be forever trying to master challenges and win races in order to unlock more two-wheeled treats from more than a dozen of the world’s leading manufacturers such as Honda, BMW, Ducati, Yamaha, Triumph and Suzuki.

And, just as in Gran Turismo, each is superbly recreated both in looks and engine noise.

Three camera angles provide great views of the machines in action on city streets and racetracks around the globe — especially in the replays, which are a treat to watch.

The game demands precision control with the focus firmly on a real-racing experience aboard machines meticulously recreated with authentic cockpits, performance and adrenaline-inducing handling.

All this and loads of equipment to customise, including licensed helmets and leathers — what more could a biker want?

VERDICT: A must-have for motorbike fans.

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PCTV USB Stick

Pinnacle; around £42; www.pinnaclesys.co.uk

By Derek Uchman

Who remembers the first Freeview tuners for the PC? It was only a couple of years ago, but they were the size of a half-brick. And they got searingly hot too.

Things have changed quickly, and now many are the same size as flash drives. Some, though, have gone to the opposite extreme and are so small, they require specifically designed connectors. The PCTV USB Stick, however, has it just about right — very, very small, but big enough to take a standard RF aerial jack. Ideal for a laptop.

Installation is a snap, and it only takes a couple of minutes to locate all the Freeview channels and radio stations. Organising them, though, is another matter. If fact, we wrestled for what seemed like an age to get the channels in an acceptable order.

Same goes for recording programmes. The software was unnecessarily cumbersome, and we guarantee you’ll lose a few shows while you work it all out.

Most digital tuners record using the MPEG2 format, which can chew up gigabytes on your hard drive. The PCTV USB Stick, however, can be set up to utilise DivX — a much more acceptable format if hard drive space is at a premium.

As for picture quality, well, we haven’t seen better. It’s absolutely spot-on, although channel-hopping can be a little sluggish.

Also supplied is a remote control unit, so you can complete the PC’s transition to a fully fledged TV.

VERDICT: A great product, but Pinnacle really need to make the software more user-friendly.

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