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PC Game Review - Hitman Absolution
7 years ago
I've gone back and forth on my opinion on the Hitman games. When I first played the demo on PS2, I thought it was boring and clunky. Then I learned you could shoot a guy with a loud gun, and casually walk away and the security would ignore you. After all, killers don't walk away from a crime scene, right? But then I went back to not liking them as they seemed to rely heavily on trial and error. Sure, you can beat a man to death with own golf clubs and drive away in his car with no one the wiser, but that often took knowledge of the maps.
When Hitman Absolution came out, it was hated for being the game that "dumbed down" the series, adding an "instinct" feature that allowed you to see through walls, see where guards were walking ahead of time, and avoid people seeing your face by, say, adjusting your hat as you walked by. But critically, it gave hints to things you could do so that, in theory, you could know what a button did or what area was off limits before you ruined that particular run. However, these noob friendly features were up my street.
If you're reading this you're likely already familiar with Hitman, but if not a quick overview is you're dropped into an area. Be it a hotel, a town square, a nightclub, whatever, and have to kill a certain person, or certain people. You can go guns blazing, but this being a stealth game that's not always wise. Instead you make use of disguises, traps, and other tricks to get the job done.
When it works it's amazing. You feel like a bad arse when a plan comes together, casually walking out with no one the wiser and the targets death being chalked up as an improbable accident.
Unfortunately, even with the aids there's still a fair bit of trial and error. Knowing where someone is going to go, what they do there, and when is often key to setting up a good kill. When you do know what do to, there's often a lot of waiting for them to get around to doing the thing you want. You can slow down time but not fast forward, which can lead to minutes of waiting. This is made worse due to the focus on getting a perfect run. The game gets better when you ignore points and ratings and roll with the punches.
Going loud is fun, but as said, it's discouraged, even when it makes sense plot wise to do so. The epilogue level seemed to break with me being unable to leave the map as the guards spawned endlessly and never stood down from high alert. The disguises are also poorly done as all people of the same profession recognize each other. This makes sense when you're disguised as one of a dozen friends, but doesn't make sense when every cop in the world knows each other and can pick out a fake from across a crowded train platform. This means disguises can sometimes work against you since without one you're at least free to walk around public places. There are also scripted converstations to sit through that state as you approach, and you have to wait each time for the guards to go back to patrolling.
Like many stealth games, the ending is bad too. Unlike other kinds of games stealth games have no real escalation. Sure, patrol paterns can be more difficult, but there's no tournament to win, cool action set piece to do, or dragon to slay. There is a plot with you killing various bad guys, and while the villains are horrible people you kill the last guy how you kill everybody else. Sneaking up behind him with a garrote. The mystery is predictable, and while the game has some weirdness like a guy with a robot arm, or a team of BDSM nun assassins, but it never doesn't do anything with them.
But the main issue with the game is that it just doesn't work. Bugs are bad in most games, but they are worst in stealth games. In the strip club there was one woman who would run across the map to find the body as soon as I killed a specific guard. In another level a guard stood staring at the only exit to a room I was in and would not turn around, I no items to use to distract him and he spotted me too fast if I tried to use a gun. I had NPCs notice bodies I was dragging but not me dragging it. The contracts mode is completely dead due to the servers not existing any more.
Hitman is at it's best when you're put in a location with a target and various means of taking them down. The linear sequences aren't bad, but they're not as interesting and not really replayable. Ultimately, the game has too many tedious elements to make it worth seeking out.
When Hitman Absolution came out, it was hated for being the game that "dumbed down" the series, adding an "instinct" feature that allowed you to see through walls, see where guards were walking ahead of time, and avoid people seeing your face by, say, adjusting your hat as you walked by. But critically, it gave hints to things you could do so that, in theory, you could know what a button did or what area was off limits before you ruined that particular run. However, these noob friendly features were up my street.
If you're reading this you're likely already familiar with Hitman, but if not a quick overview is you're dropped into an area. Be it a hotel, a town square, a nightclub, whatever, and have to kill a certain person, or certain people. You can go guns blazing, but this being a stealth game that's not always wise. Instead you make use of disguises, traps, and other tricks to get the job done.
When it works it's amazing. You feel like a bad arse when a plan comes together, casually walking out with no one the wiser and the targets death being chalked up as an improbable accident.
Unfortunately, even with the aids there's still a fair bit of trial and error. Knowing where someone is going to go, what they do there, and when is often key to setting up a good kill. When you do know what do to, there's often a lot of waiting for them to get around to doing the thing you want. You can slow down time but not fast forward, which can lead to minutes of waiting. This is made worse due to the focus on getting a perfect run. The game gets better when you ignore points and ratings and roll with the punches.
Going loud is fun, but as said, it's discouraged, even when it makes sense plot wise to do so. The epilogue level seemed to break with me being unable to leave the map as the guards spawned endlessly and never stood down from high alert. The disguises are also poorly done as all people of the same profession recognize each other. This makes sense when you're disguised as one of a dozen friends, but doesn't make sense when every cop in the world knows each other and can pick out a fake from across a crowded train platform. This means disguises can sometimes work against you since without one you're at least free to walk around public places. There are also scripted converstations to sit through that state as you approach, and you have to wait each time for the guards to go back to patrolling.
Like many stealth games, the ending is bad too. Unlike other kinds of games stealth games have no real escalation. Sure, patrol paterns can be more difficult, but there's no tournament to win, cool action set piece to do, or dragon to slay. There is a plot with you killing various bad guys, and while the villains are horrible people you kill the last guy how you kill everybody else. Sneaking up behind him with a garrote. The mystery is predictable, and while the game has some weirdness like a guy with a robot arm, or a team of BDSM nun assassins, but it never doesn't do anything with them.
But the main issue with the game is that it just doesn't work. Bugs are bad in most games, but they are worst in stealth games. In the strip club there was one woman who would run across the map to find the body as soon as I killed a specific guard. In another level a guard stood staring at the only exit to a room I was in and would not turn around, I no items to use to distract him and he spotted me too fast if I tried to use a gun. I had NPCs notice bodies I was dragging but not me dragging it. The contracts mode is completely dead due to the servers not existing any more.
Hitman is at it's best when you're put in a location with a target and various means of taking them down. The linear sequences aren't bad, but they're not as interesting and not really replayable. Ultimately, the game has too many tedious elements to make it worth seeking out.
