Hitman: Absolution

Most helpful review Hitman: Absolution

• A couple of flaws ruin what could have been an excellent game...

   

  By a customer , 23 Nov 2012

  [Highly rated reviewer]

  It will hit you when you begin playing this game, that Agent 47 is now truly, an iconic video game character. The moment when you first see him in his famous black suit, along with his red tie and gloves or when you see the silverballers come out, these are the moments which will endure the longest when you think about HItman Absolution. There is an air of authority regarding 47 now which is hard to describe. Against all the odds, after years and years and a handful of games which have been reviewed with modest scores, 47 has quietly moved his way to the top. For anyone who has stuck with the Hitman series from the very beginning, you will appreciate most the way in which he is presented here. With an absolutely superb voice actor and top end graphics, the Hitman has become somewhat of a legend.
  
  So how does the game play then? Well, every game in the series has incrementally improved on the previous one, rendering its predecessor as being rather obsolete. I couldn't go back to the old games after playing the newer ones simply because the control schemes and the game mechanics seemed archaic. Absolution has done the same. You can now control 47 with an ease and efficiency which will make the older games laughable. Most actions can now be done with one button, as opposed to the confusing multiple drop down menus of old and you can now move through environments more smoothly and accurately. It seems like a simple thing, but the simple act of walking and running have always been an issue in Hitman. Before when you were trying to run through a doorway, Agent 47 sometimes felt like a runaway freight train, now however he looks and feels like an actual bipedal human being.
  
  The game has taken a step away from the series' roots this time around. You no longer take on individual 'contracts' or 'missions'. Instead, 47 is given a fully fleshed linear story. You're objectives are based upon the demands of the story and things become more personal. I personally think that either approach is fun, but I do approve of this change as it positively contributes to the characterisation of 47 on a level which hasn't previously been achieved.
  
  However, this does lead to some problems in regards to the actual gameplay elements. Before, whilst on a contract, things were simple. Hit the target. Now however, to accommodate for the story, you'll find that your objectives list will be peppered with words like 'escape', 'evade' and 'hide'. You'll be moving through areas, as opposed to operating solely within them. This is only underlined further by the games' introduction of wall cover. Agent 47 can now move between cover as smoothly as in Gears of War for example and while it is implemented rather well, it means that the core gameplay has changed quite a bit. Instead of hiding in plain sight and moving through areas through ingenious distractions, it has become all too easy to simply 'splinter cell' your way through areas. I can't help but feel that somewhere along the way, the makers of Absolution have lost the core essence of what it is to play a Hitman game.
  
  This leads perfectly to the single biggest problem with Absolution. It is one which stops the game from becoming something very special, kind of like a world class footballer who has a very serious heart condition.
  
  The problem is this. In the game you are able to wear disguises which are taken from the people you stealthily eliminate. This has always been the case in Hitman. When you wear a certain disguise, other people who are wearing the same uniform become deeply suspicious of you, if you get too close. Other people however, will not, as long as you are not trespassing. It sounds like a good idea in theory, but in practice it single handedly ruins the game. Here's why. Say you take a chef's uniform in an extremely busy Chinese marketplace. As you are moving through the crowd every other chef in the vicinity will become 'suspicious'. A golden bar will notify you where the suspicious glances are coming from and they will fill up the longer you are in their gaze, eventually hitting the tipping point. Many, many problems are generated from this system. Firstly, when the game says that npcs will become suspicious if you get too close, they mean if you walk anywhere within approximately 500 yards of them. The distance is unbelievably restrictive and infuriating. Secondly, this kind of mechanical, computerised and measurable form of suspicion is quite simply not good enough. It is highly reminiscent of the Assassin's Creed series whereby people become suspicious based upon a bar 'filling up'. This kind of system does nothing to represent the complicated, true nature of suspicion which is felt by real human beings. For example, as I walked through the busy crowds of the Chinese market every chef who was selling their wares looked through the crowd of hundreds of people, located me and their suspicion bars filled up. Why on earth did they care? I am just one chef of many. Surely they were busy enough as it was serving the hordes of people in front of them? Who in real life would run up to someone in that situation, demanding that they turn around immediately, verifying every little detail of their mannerisms and appearance? So many times in this game you will find yourself having immense fun only for it to be completely shattered. Another example. I infiltrated a large laboratory. It took a lot of effort and patience to acquire a scientists protective suit disguise. I then proceeded to walk into the shower rooms where the other scientists were washing off any radioactive contamination. Instantly, every single person in the room locked eyes on me. That's it. You've been caught, reload. I'm sorry but wait a minute, is this game trying to tell me that in that busy shower room everyone could see something that sent alarm bells ringing. for starters, the scientist overall have a hood that goes right over the head and a mask. They couldn't even see my face... The same can be said of wearing a security guards uniform and trying to go into the security guard only staff room so you can take a key card. Sounds fun, but it is a very, very bad idea, trust me on that one.
  
  The game tries to implement a way around this by giving you intuition. It's a bar on the right hand side of the screen which fills up every time you perform a kill. If someone is suspicious of you then you hold RB and you will get past them. However I have tried this only to see it fail, many, many times. The old Hitman games were far less restrictive in regards to their disguise elements and I was in fact hoping that this time around it would be even less so. I would have no quarrel with the game if people became suspicious of me because of my actions. If say, a fellow chef saw me butcher knife someone in that crowd, or a security guard saw me steal the keycard, then a reload would be a just punishment. Instead, you're punished as soon as you've stepped in the room. In Absolution it gets to the point where disguises actually become a major hindrance, not a help and you'll find yourself 'Splinter Celling' it again. Not playing Hitman as it should be played in other words. By simply removing the unbelievably restrictive suspicion meters of the npcs, this game would be exceptional.
  
  All in all, this game does deserve a playthrough. There are some moments where the problems with suspicion are nullified and you are given a beautiful glimpse at what the game may have been like without it. These moments are highly memorable and they show 47 in his greatest light. The story also contains many fun moments and story threads which quite simply deserve to be experienced, despite the absolutely fatal flaw which so sadly holds it back.

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