Agent 47’s reboot begins…
Agent 47 is back in HITMAN. It’s not your standard Hitman game, but released episodically over the course of the year with the beginning pack acting as a Prologue training mission as well as 2 other scenarios for 47 to take out certain targets. The scale of the game is much larger than anything in the series before, the locations are huge and the number of ways you can assassinate the targets has increased dramatically. There are so many ways to do the job that its hard to think that you’d do the same kill in the same way twice.
The game begins with 47 in training as Diana Burnwood choose him to join the organisation of assassins. 47’s first mission is a simulation on a yacht to take out a certain target, you can do this in a number of ways like poisoning his drink, dropping an escape raft on him or disguise yourself as the person he’s meant to meet and simply garrotte him. In fact, the game has a brilliant menu that shows you potential ways to kill your targets, by highlighting specific objects to advance that particular plan.
For example, the Paris mission is set in a Fashion Show and one celebrity male model looks a lot like 47, so disguising yourself as the model and meeting up with one of the targets is easy enough, provided you carefully hide the body of the model you’ve knocked out/killed. There’s also more than one way to exit the area, I chose to steal the helicopter at the end and made it through with no-one suspecting me as the killer.
The Intro Pack only has 3 missions, but it does allow you to create your own contracts by playing through a level, marking potential targets for kills and even setting up specific ways to take them out, along with Escalation contracts that add a bit more of a challenge. If there’s one complaint I have with HITMAN, it’s the loading times…which can be ridiculously long at times. Don’t get me wrong, each area is a big environment and I expected as much, but it still takes a damn long time.
Gameplay-wise, HITMAN is a great combination of the best of Blood Money and Absolution. It definitely shows promise and while some may disagree over the way the game is being released, none can disagree with the results, which are highly positive.
Visually, HITMAN is superb. The locations are breathtaking and the amount of people that can be on-screen is amazing as it doesn’t seem to impact the framerate. Character models are nicely detailed and I can’t wait to see the next areas. Voice-acting is superb with David Bateson reprising his iconic role as Agent 47 and the soundtrack is just as good as past entries.
The Verdict
HITMAN takes the gameplay of Absolution, while combining the intuitive ways of killing from Blood Money to make what could be the best game in the series. The Intro Pack is short, but full of potential and I cannot wait to see what is next for gaming’s favourite assassin.