The Hitman series holds a special place in my heart for being the only stealth action series that i actually like, let alone bother to come back to again and again (sorry Splinter Cell, you just don't give me what i need). Hitman: Absolution is the first REAL next gen game in the series (sorry guys, Blood Money doesn't count) and the gameplay reflects the conventions of modern game design.... for better or for worse.
Suddenly my irrational fear of corn fields feels justified...
Like the previous games in the series, Absolution drops you into living, breathing gaming ecosystems of which you are the dominant predator. These ecosystems are populated, mostly, by hapless civilians going about their daily lives completely unaware that the bald guy standing next to them is a super assassin on a job. Unfortunately, the A.I. had a way of going all PSYCHO GIRLFRIEND and start accusing you of shit for no logical reason. Compared to those nutjobs, the NPCs in this game are downright... well, logical; technology is a beautiful thing. This jump in IQ fixes one of the biggest flaws that's plagued the series from day one.
Since the NPCs no longer freak out for no reason....
it's now your responsibility to give them one.
While modern tech has been kind, modern gaming conventions haven't. Hitman has always been about (sometimes daunting) freedom; freedom to tackle the assignments however you want so long as your target ends up dead. But this generation's insistence on handholding and scripted nonsense has somehow infected this game. While the environments feel more alive than ever (densely populated and offering tons of freedom) the game is far more scripted than before. Rather than handing you a picture of a guy and saying "kill that dude", the game gives you more specific objectives like "escape" or "infiltrate" or "kill that dude". Some levels can be completed without even hurting a single person. You also don't get to choose your own loadout anymore, which is a disappointment. In previous games, the feeling that came from an unexpectedly creative assassination was exhilarating; sadly that feeling somewhat lacking here.
Agent 47, your assignment is to pick up my dry cleaning and get an order of
Peking duck whilst avoiding food poisoning.
Like so many other last-gen series being reintroduced on current consoles, Hitman is a mixed bag of what was and what is. The only question is: do the improvements mean more to you than the setbacks?
(to be continued)
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