- Developer: IO Interactive
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Genre: Stealth action adventure shooter
- Release Date: 11/03/2016
- Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One & Windows
- Game Supplied by: Xbox
UPDATE:
After a couple of missions now being released its clear that Hitman offers much more than first thought.
Initially I was quite frustrated at the ease of the game and how easy it was once you figured out a couple of basic routes, and whilst there was plenty of different ways to complete your mission, I still found it a little too frustrating. Well now episode 3 is out and after many attempts, scouting, attempting and ultimately failing Agent 47 has won back my love. Some might wonder why having failed to complete the missions (in the ways I want to that is) why I’m enjoying the game more. Well it has come down to the sheer depth on offer and the amount of information you can and need to take in to succeed at these missions.
Read about each mission towards the end of the review.
Original Review:
Agent 47 is back and his powers of deception, cunning skill and accuracy are all at your fingertips, pop a cap in his head, or cut his throat with your classic fibre wire you decide.
Let’s start with all there is to do, as some may not be familiar with all the varied challenges and options you have in Hitman.
Firstly there is no set difficulty, you tailor the game to your skill set or in my case frustration levels. For example you can turn on Instinct, this makes characters, targets, items and traversal options highlighted with the holding down on the RB button. Attention alert, this shows the attention level and direction through an indicator on-screen.
These two settings alone will make your game easier but turn off even more and you’re practically on your own meaning you will have to do your research before you head into your mission. This is achievable by checking out your briefing screen, reading about your target is knowing your target, what do they like, do and other details will aid your search and inevitable assassination attempt.
So that’s easy enough right? Wrong, even if you can pull off a nice kill (which for the newcomers to hitman might seem difficult at first) you should head into the challenges, not to task yourself too soon but in fact to help understand what options you might have. The first missions offer poison, fibre wire, using certain distractions, drowning him, using explosives or my favourite, assassinate the target in a life raft accident (no i didn’t manage to do this one) who’s to say which one will have you die repeatedly and which one is like putting it in super mega easy mode.
Then there is the leaderboards, use more skill and stealth, complete it faster with no alerts and you will score more, or will completing 3 challenges and taking another 5 minutes grab you the high score? Compete with friends and others online for the best scores and win those bragging rights.
So far this all follows the story mode, exploring and learning about exotic locations and high value targets, Hitman has you in awe of its visual worlds created by 17 year veterans in designing this series and it shows in the details. Tiny things like writing on timber in building sites, scratches in old pieces, dirt and grime in the relevant areas, spit and polish on those expensive items. That all being said I really didn’t like the graphics, sure details were there in small forms like the above mentioned, however nothing looked ultra realistic. Everything had that distinct graphically made look about it, depth was added with colour and shading not actual depth in the object and aside from our beloved Agent 47 none of the story mode characters really had the cutting edge graphics we are seeing in games now. And then you take into account the number of people on-screen at any one time all interacting, you are able to hear all the conversations, move onto the next one and in many cases discover hints about the path you might choose.
Story mode is very expansive, get through it as quick as you can or learn and discover the mentioned challenges. Patience is the key in this game and if you can wait for that guard to move (assuming he will) or you can wait and see the rooms patterns then you might just complete the contract but Hitman takes no prisoners, when you’ve made a mistake you will be punished. Whilst the variety of backdrops and nicely invented maps offer a wonderful variety and certain level of intelligence to the game for me it’s not here the game excels.
Contracts, you know, like in the Direct line ads, “Contract Phillip, Contracts” Well Agent 47 has loads of Contracts.
Create unique challenging Contracts for others to play or take on those challenging contracts others have cunningly created. Other games with this user based content proves to be very successful,however for some reason they don’t seem to get enough recognition. Screamride, The Golf Club, FarCry and Halo to name but a few where you could play for months just based on others content. I didn’t spend much time on Contracts but from my previous experience it can be where the most fun is in the game and certainly adds its longevity.
Hitman Info:
Episode 2 Details:
Episode 3 Details:
Summary
Okay so you know what you can do, it looks pretty good, sound is all around you so keep alert to your surroundings and the physics are pretty good. What’s not to like? Frustration that’s what! You’re making great progress, alert one wrong person and BOOM you’re compromised, mission over! Start again (yes you can save progress) but if you get stuck and believe me I have been known to, checking YouTube, or asking friends will be your best option and there are only so many times you can relive groundhog day!
I enjoy these games until I get inevitably stuck and although the graphics are sub standard if you like a challenge, stealth and some open world play with taxing options then Hitman will keep you entertained for many a silent killing. It has so much to offer especially the continuing episodes.
UK CHI3F
9th June 2016 at 7:28 amCant say how much this game has grown on me as more episodes have come out, also quite easy to jump in and out