Still, at least the sequel does a better job at adding just a little bit of life to the character and their handler through bits of extra radio chatter, compared to the original.
The structure of this single player game remains similar to its predecessor. You select a mission, your loadout, and get dropped into a semi-open world. From there, the map clearly points out where the objective areas are located, and there are usually a few ways to get there. Along the way you'll be met with enemy patrols and checkpoints, which you can sneak by, or eliminate everyone inside by whatever methods you choose. The basics of the gameplay haven’t changed – you find a good elevated position, get your binoculars out and start tagging enemies. With careful planning and timing, you can clear entire bases without raising any alarms. If you choose to, many times you can also sneak through without eliminating anyone, take everyone out with silent melee kills, or go in guns blazing. The loud approach remains rather stiff, with assault weapons not feeling very good to handle. The game also insists on occasional first person platforming/climbing, though much less than before. It can still be a bit silly that you can climb on some objects but not others, especially when it comes to urban settings – such as on some stacked crates but not others, despite jumping high enough to clear the object. In sniping, too, there are no major differences to be found. Your scope still has an indicator (which can be turned off) that clearly shows where your bullet will travel, and lets you adjust your aim for distance/gravity, and wind speed and direction. There's still a great amount of satisfaction to be had when making challenging shots. The bullet-time camera, which you can adjust the frequency of, follows your shot all the way to its target, which is fun to see. However, it prevents you from pulling off critical shots in quick succession as it un-scopes you afterwards, which is a bit of an issue.
The experience is quite similar, and in some cases that's not a good thing as little progress was made in problem areas. AI is very important in stealth games, but sadly Contracts 2 continues to have many of the inconsistencies of its predecessor. Enemies have unpredictable vision, and there are bugs AI can get stuck on something while on patrol, or snap between animations which teleports them a few feet – a big deal when you're trying to line up a clean shot. In another example, a flood light that was shot out remained operational and would spot the player. You might encounter a few different enemy sub-types, but everyone except for the heavily armored foes are eliminated with a single headshot from any class of sniper rifle, so there's not much variety improvement. You can hide in the grass, but the game takes far too much liberty here – you're considered hidden when your entire torso is clearly exposed. The hiding mechanics could have really used an improvement, as it's also often unclear which type of grass will hide you. Sneaking up to grab and interrogate an enemy results in extended animations with awkward pauses in dialogue, and the only thing you can gain is marking of all other enemies and where the gear stash is. You have five missions which you must play in succession as the story unravels, but the game puts a lot of emphasis on replay value.