2 of the greatest stealth games get a HD makeover
- Developer: IO Interactive
- Publisher: Warner Brothers
- Genre: Single player Stealth
- Release Date: 11/1/19
- Platforms: Xb1/PS4/Pc
- Reviewed on: PS4
- Game Supplied by: Publisher
- 4K visuals at 60 frames per second
- Increased texture resolution
- Upgraded texture formats
- Super-sampling
- Upscale support
- Heightened shadow map and mirror resolutions
- Improved lighting
- Updated controls for a more fluid experience
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Hitman HD Enhanced Collection, a compilation of two classic Hitman titles enhanced in 4K resolution: Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution. It will be available digitally January 11, 2019, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Both games can be played in 4K resolution and 60 fps, including many other improvements that bring these two classic titles into 2019 with the attention and love that they deserve.
“We’re very happy with this collection and how we were able to update and remaster two of our classic Hitman titles for modern consoles,” said Hakan Abrak, CEO, IO Interactive. “Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution have helped us on our journey to where we are today, and we’re looking forward to players enjoying them in 4K and 60 fps.”
Hitman HD Enhanced Collection will feature:
More about the two classics:
In Hitman: Blood Money you experience a globe-trotting adventure from the vineyards of Chile, to the Paris Opera House and even the White House itself in a face-off against a group of assassins known as “The Franchise”. When assassins from his contract agency, the ICA, are systematically eliminated in a series of hits, Agent 47 suspects that a larger, more powerful agency has entered the fray. As he suddenly loses contact with the ICA, Agent 47 senses that he may be the next target, so our merciless contract killer travels to America to take care of business himself…
Rediscover Hitman: Absolution and experience the deep and personal story of Agent 47 as he pursues redemption across 20 intense missions. Enjoy a distinctive art style that combines with rich dialogue and performances by an impressive Hollywood cast to create a unique gameplay experience.
No one was as pleased as I was to hear of the HD collection remake of two of the best Hitman games in the series. I was blown away by Hitman Absolution and originally reviewed it with a 9/10 score. With some recent excellent HD remasters (Shadow of the Colossus, Gears Ultimate, and the newly announced and spectacular looking Resident Evil 2 ) already released and to come, it was interesting to see how this HD remaster faired. It also raises the question is this a review of the games or the HD remaster of the games? The answer is no it’s not a review of the games, it’s a review of the remaster.
First however it needs to be commented on the strange release date. This is because it was only recently both Blood Money and Absolution were released as part of the Xbox 1’s backward compatible library. Blood Money was also free to gold members. So having both games already I had actually played a little of each again on my 4K tv this way very recently. I was then taken by surprise of the announcement of the 4K HD remaster of both games shortly thereafter. Why release one of them free and the other to the backward compatible library, only to then, a couple of weeks later, release a £50 HD remaster of them both ?
£50 for a remaster of one very old game and another fairly recent one is one thing if these games have had a total rework as in the case of Gears 1, Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 and Resident Evil 2, but they haven’t. In fact all they have really had ( detailed above ) is a 4k makeover of some old graphics. Blood Money especially looks just as rough as it did before and hardly any different from the backward compatible version. The only noticeable thing to the eye is the 60 fps upgrade. The rest of the improvements are minimal at best. Absolution however was a stunning game to look at originally and does in fact now look superb. There is much more definition to the environments, and the already excellent lighting has again been improved to be much more immersive. The section in a library type setting being hunted by the police in the dark and gloomy environment, is especially enjoyable as the torchlights from the hunters look and move beautifully.
However, the audio hasn’t been touched, graphics in the cut scenes the same, and as the contracts mode has been removed from Absolution, there is even less content than the original game. Although Absolution now looks much better overall it’s still a poor HD remaster of two superb games. With the recent release of Hitman 2, it wouldn’t have been a stretch of the imagination to have hoped that the engine for Hitman 1 and 2 were used here on these old games. Although they do play better than the original, they have not been given the new engine either.
SUMMARY
£50 for a HD remaster of two games that have frankly had the barest of minimum of upgrades is almost insulting. If the games had been totally reworked from the ground up with the new engine, current gen graphics, and audio then this would have been an excellent purchase.
However, as it is, at this price it should only be played for those Hitman fans who just can’t get enough Agent 47, and have not played Blood Money / Absolution before. Even if they haven’t played the games before, and own an Xbox, playing these games via backward compatibility, you will not really notice much of a downgrade from the HD collection and save yourself a lot of cash in the process.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!