Hitman: Absolution

This is a very different game from the previous Hitman titles. That's because Square/Enix took over most of the development and direction of the game, guiding it into new territory which turned out to be an okay thing to do.I should first start out by telling you why I have loved the Hitman series since Silent Assassin: The atmosphere. IO and Jesper Kyd (music) really sucked you into the past games. Even when the gameplay mechanics were fidgety and certain devices lacked production value, there were those perfect moments when you truly felt you immersed in the environment, badassly (not a word?) moving towards your target for the satisfaction of the kill.Absolution still has that, and it's BEAUTIFUL. Arguably, the best thing about the game is the graphics and environments. Many of the maps are fairly linear based, but they are truly beautiful. The Glacier2 engine is superb. The game looks absolutely perfect. You WILL get sucked into the environments. I recommend headphones and an HDTV. :DAt times the Absolution story felt goofy; little aspects reminded me of Quentin Tarantino movies. If a genetically engineered assassin is the limit of what's believable, you'll find yourself going "HUH? This is just silly/overthetop/unnecessary-fan-service/etc." But if you don't let that get to you, you'll enjoy the game. Dare I say Square/Enix made this title more appealing to mainstream gamers. But let me keep reminding you: They did this well!In terms of gameplay, six years after Blood Money, Absolution is VERY different.There is a completely new stealth mechanic (duck and cover) that definitely works, and a comfortable HUD that makes gameplay LESS annoying than previous titles in the series. Still though, VERY different:One difference for example purposes. There is no more map! You used to rely on the map in the old games, planning your hits via a layout similar to Tom Clancy games... You DO have a radar and "Instinct" in Absolution--providing overly-omniscient pieces of info/detail about NPCs. This results in a lack of "realism" when you can essentially "see" a guard through a wall. However, it certainly has its conveniences compared to the old functions of the menu map. The saving upside to all this is you can mostly customize your gameplay style and turn off EVERYTHING that makes the game too easy for your tastes... If you want the "realism" of the environment, the Purist difficulty mode turns off all HUD details and makes the game as challenging as it's prequels.And speaking of customization, Square/Enix did one OUTSTANDING thing for the series... They added rewards and incentives and keeps a record of those throughout your playthrough. Sometimes these come off as hints or spoilers--clues for achievements that aren't really clues as much as they are explanations for how to get certain kills--and they are retained and recorded increasing your overall score, and giving you reason to go back and play levels. And again, these hints are not forced on you; you don't have to look at them if you don't want to. But you have that pleasant option if you are a completionist.ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE: Last thing I'll mention: In the old games, I would determine personal goals to give me reasons to reply levels I enjoyed... Just pointless hits that would end up losing me the story level, but was nevertheless fun to play. NOW, you can do this as part of the game, and earn score/money to unlock weapons, etc. Am I making sense?You play through a level, tag and kill ANY NPCs you want (up to three) and then your recent assassination becomes an online mission for ANYONE to play. You can even write your own mini description and mission title... This is truly a lovely addition to the game, as it lets your creativity run wild and increases the replay 100-fold.Final words: Square made a stellar game. It has it's super-stupid moments, but it's nice to see this franchise moving in a rather positive direction. If you are a diehard fan of Silent Assassin, Contracts and Blood Money, be prepared to be slightly alienated by the new game. Though if you were a fan of the dark world of Agent 47, and NOT necessarily devoted to the specifics of gameplay mechanics in the first games, then I can't imagine you'd be disappointed by this title. It has so many additions/inclusions/new-features that you always wished for in a Hitman game. It's just different! (lol, but it's been so long since Blood Money, you may not even remember?)

Almost every other series out there either starts to suck or just stops altogether, but the Hitman delivers every time. This game, just like all the Hitmans (and I've been playing since Codename 47 was released for PC) totally rocks. It has everything the other Hitmans have with the addition of some extra moves. Sneaking up behind people to snuff them out is no longer necessary. You can now just walk right up to them, weaponless if you so desire, and annihilate. This means even more violence than the previous games and that's what I play for. Not running around hugging every corner to achieve some kind of stupid rating.Stabbing people. Strangulation. Blowing people up. Popping heads. Gutting them with machine guns. Setting them on fire. All that good stuff that, in my opinion, qualifies as art. And the hitman does it with style. You can entrap targets in this game by purposely blowing your cover and make some dead idiot suspicious of you. Just calmly walk away, and lure that piece of meat into some empty alley somewhere. You can even pretend to surrender just to get him even closer to you.Lots of people said disguises are useless in this game. That has some truth. They don't get you where they would have gotten you in previous games but he's such a deadly assassin now and murders people twice as fast and in so many talented ways that you really don't need a disguise anymore. I prefer leaving each mission with my suit anyway.You don't need to be stealthy. Just find yourself a nice machine gun and a lot of ammo and you can kill everyone in a level since now the hitman can FINALLY take cover and return fire. And with a accumulation of instinct, you can pause the game for a duration that allows you to pick heads out of a crowd of people before unleashing a spray of bullets with one tap of the trigger button. Real nice addition. In fact, this game has been made so much easier to kill that anybody, even people who suck at video games, can play this game. So, that can be a downfall to some. But for me, the more creative ways I have available to me to take out my enemies, the better.The environments in this game are superb. I absolutely love them. They are not bright and shinny like the ones were in Blood Money. It's more dark like in Contracts. The whole beginning where you are being chased by the NYPD was flawless. Everywhere you go you got cops tailing you. Talking about you. Asking civilians about you. Cursing your existence. Yet none of them have any idea of what you look like and I love leaving a trail of dead uniforms everywhere I progressed through the game. My first play through I killed most cops dressed as a cop...which was amusing. The environments seem much more lively than in previous games since there's so many crowds of people around, talking, arguing, being questioned. A lot of the times you can pick up on conversations that can clue you in on key locations on the map that will help you escape.If you enjoyed previous Hitmans, you will probably enjoy this one. If you did not enjoy the previous Hitmans, you will most likely enjoy this one since its been dumbed down enough for anybody to play.