Challenge: Leap of the Ninja

Put the Ninja out of his misery and gain a 1.07 point modifier.

Dealing with the threat of the Ninja

Since this is the first of the Challenges that we will be unlocking in this mostly amazing mini-game there are several issues we should address, not the least of which is how they managed to pack such an amazing amount of content in to this tiny little game! For example this Challenge has you hunting down the location of a very dangerous Ninja who, thanks to our contacts at the ICA we know is not only working for a rival organization, but is present here in the hops of locating and killing us... OK maybe not, but doesn't that sound so much cooler?

As you can see from the video embedded above this guy is a LONG way away from our sniping nest. In fact he is so far away that making this shot -- a shot that is being taken using a standard long-range sniper rifle at this range and in particular with a silencer attached, with no spotter, and no notion of the wind? Well suffice it to say it is a miracle of a shot.

Some Factoids about the Kazo TRG

According to the official description of this precision sniper's tool, "The Kazo TRG is almost unique in being a purpose-designed sharpshooter rifle. Deadly, adaptable and accurate, the Kazo is 47's preferred tool for sniping."

Within the world of Hitman and the Sniper Challenge, the Agency Kazo TRG is a fully customizable weapon that has a number of upgrades that it can be fitted with – assuming you have the money to pay for them – which include the following:

• A Silencer (Stock Feature that we receive it with)

• Extended Clip (A magazine that holds extra rounds can be valuable)

• Extra Clip (Having an extra Magazine means being able to quickly reload if things go wrong)

• Rapid Fire Bolt (Smoother action, faster loading)

• Magazine Well (An extension that fits around the Magazine slot in the weapon)

• Low Velocity Ammo (Combined with a silencer offers nearly whisper-quiet shooting)

• Modified Stock (Intended to increase the stability and improve aim)

Of the customizable options above while you should either be familiar with or able to work out in your head what each is for and why they make the weapon better, there are several that you may not be familiar with...

A Magazine Well -- this is basically a sleeve that is fitted to the slot in which the Magazine is inserted into the weapon, and it serves several purposes, but it is most commonly fitted to Weapons that are being used with large capacity Magazines (or “clips”) because it provides more contact surface with the weapon, and thus, makes it less likely that Magazine will be damaged by stress or bent due to its center of gravity being “off” from what the weapon was engineered to accept.

Bearing in mind that like a surgeon's tools, a sniper rifle is a precision instrument that is engineered to perform in a specific and predictable manner, when you start messing with the Kit that is part of it you can (often will) throw-off the balance that has been created through considerable expense and thought in the engineering and design process. The Magazine Well assures that when the shooter utilizes large capacity Magazines in the TRG they are less likely to be damaged either when inserted or as a result of handing of the weapon.

Low Velocity Ammunition – believe it or not most of the “sound” that occurs when you fire a rifle originates both from the explosive report that is generated by the rapidly burning gunpowder (what most people confuse for an “explosion” but is actually the very rapid burning of the fuel – gunpowder or cordite – the creates the gases that propel the bullet out of the barrel) and to some degree from the physical effects of the projectile (the actual slug or bullet) passing through the sound barrier.

In simple terms the sound wave that is created by the displacement of air within the chamber and the burning of the fuel combined with the less intense sound of the projectile passing through the sound barrier are the primary source for the loud sounds of a weapon being discharged. When a firearm is engineered with an eye (and ear) towards reducing those sounds the approach that is usually taken is directed in two areas: the redirection of the sound wave and the gasses, and slowing the speed of the projectile so that by the time it leaves the barrel (muzzle) of the weapon, it is traveling at a speed that is slower than the speed of sound.

To obtain optimal results in addition to using a Silencer (actually to be accurate a Silencer is not so much a Silencer as it is a device that is designed to either reduce the sound of the discharge to an acceptable level or to do that while at the same time re-directing the flow (their direction) as they are discharged from the muzzle). When the shooter is serious about reducing the sound that a weapon creates they invariably combine that technique with sub-sonic ammunition, and often choose to use a weapon with a slower feed rate in order to reduce the mechanical sounds for semiautomatic Weapons.

If you are really curious about that side of this there are a few really great books on the subject that you can find online including one that is published by the US Marine Corps Press. If you are curious what the real-world equivalents to Agent 47 uses in the field for close-work assassinations that require silence and discretion you should be prepared to be shocked (I know that I was)... But you should first understand that there are no standard-issue assassin's Weapons in the catalog for military shooting.

The infamous Silverballer Mini-Commercial for Absolution

Some Unrelated Factoids about Silenced Weapon Tech

I have this Story from a family friend who was not a secret agent or government hitman, but spent his entire professional career prior to retirement as a master gunsmith, working for the government at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, where he participated in a number of formal test programs for different firearms that were considered for US Military service. He actually knew Eugene Stoner (they played bridge and considered each other to be friends) and participated as a member of General Wyman's .223 caliber evaluation team, so it is fair to say that he was there for a lot of this and so I believe his stories.

The way that he tells in, in 1961 as the result of what is probably still a classified program that at the time was assumed to have originated from the CIA (but who can say?) a number of requests were sent to the Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, for a sidearm that was suitable for “sound-suppressed close-action use” (that is not the wording I would have chosen but if you read between the lines you should get the idea). In short, the experts at BRL were asked to provide a number of Weapons that were ideally suited for use by people whose work required them to get very close to their targets, in semi-public and public places – work in other words that resembles that of Agent 47.

After a number of tests, what the BRL engineers delivered was a pair of revolvers that had been heavily modified along with boxes of special ammunition for each. They were a 1958 Sentinel Model R-101 (.22 caliber 9-shot revolver) with a three-inch barrel, and a 1957 Sentinel Model R-106 (.22 caliber 9-shot revolver) with a six-inch barrel.

Both had their fixed front sight (this was really just a metal protrusion from the top of the barrel near the muzzle) removed, and the last ¼ inch of the barrel threaded on the outside to accept a silencer, which was included with each revolver and that adds five-inches to the length of each when installed. In addition to this, the cylinders were machined and adjusted to provide a close fit to the barrel where they met, and I understand that they were each given what is called a “Trigger Job” that was intended to smooth out the double-action mechanism.

The idea behind the selection of these particular revolvers was that they held three extra rounds, were able to be modified for a very close fit between the barrel and the cylinder, and were of a caliber that was less likely to throw all of the fine adjustments out of whack during use. In properly trained hands they were incredibly lethal, almost silent, and other than the bullet that they fired, left no Evidence behind that could be used to trace them. They chambered the most common ammunition in the world, and although they used specially made ammunition could, in a pinch, fire regular .22 ammunition and while the special ammunition that was created for them was a type called .22 LR, they could use the .22 SR ammunition commonly used in small frame pistols without that adding to their sound signature.

Here endeth the lesson...

Back to the Kazo, you should get a feel for this as unlocking it in Sniper Challenge also has the effect of unlocking the weapon in Hitman: Absolution (assuming that your game does not get bugged) which is one of the bonus aspects for this free mini-game (in addition to providing gamers with a Hitman-related game to play while waiting for Absolution to be released).