Action games rarely go off the script that makes them successful. It is what makes AAA games popular. You can always count on their formula and rarely do companies (publishers especially) want to deviate from what draws in the big bucks. Plus, people enjoy a good formula when it works. Hitman has followed those characteristics. The linear gameplay, the checkpoints, the confined world that caters to the story and characters— it was what made Hitman great. None of this is a knock against Hitman or any AAA games that ‘stick to the plan’, rather it’s an insight that no one in the gaming press likes to talk about much…except when that formula changes.
And this Hitman has certainly changed things up a bit for the series.
IO Interactive’s Hitman has strayed from what makes it popular. Gone is the gameplay that leads you straight down a linear-esque (not that all Hitman games are linear by definition, but just by instruction) pathway from point A to point B. The series has uncomplicated itself through this Hitman release and decided that gameplay simplification is far more valuable than the ‘same old, same old’. Essentially, IO Interactive has created a world where they put the gamer right in the middle of it all. They have created a Hitman where the player has to be the decision maker. They drop the gamer into the mission, explain the mission to the them and then basically say, ‘Get it done. We don’t care how, just get it done’.
Oh, the sweet taste of gameplay freedom.
Hitman allows you to choose the weapons/items you’re packing for missions, do some simple planning and strategizing and get right into the gameplay. How fast you get the mission completed, what methods you use to get it done — all of it is up to you. Choosing weapons and costume becomes vital to the process. Strategizing your methods before hitting ‘play’ is far more important now, as you don’t have the linear-esque cruise control option any longer. All of these things open up Hitman and make it feel like a player driven experience. If you fail, it’s on you. If you succeed, you can pat your smart self on the back and go hug your mom. Win or lose, IO Interactive puts you squarely in the driver seat. That is some good freedom.
Of course, breaking further away from the linear world requires some sort of compensation for said world and IO Interactive delivers big time in the artificial intelligence department. The AI of the NPC folks during missions adds another dimension to the gameplay. The non-armed NPCs are always watching 47 when things go down. They’re always ready to rat you out when things go bad in a mission. For example, during the Paris mission, I brought out my gun while in a crowd of people and they apparently don’t like that when it happens. People freaked out, security reacted and boom, I died. Replaying the mission, and trying a different route, I choked out a guard in one scenario in hopes of taking his uniform and disguising myself, but someone in the crowd of people saw me choke that poor man, freaked out and I became a hunted man again. The game forces you to be aware of your surroundings and the people who reside in the environment with you. It’s so consuming to the visual senses and forces you to become obsessive compulsive about the ramifications of your actions. It also requires you to truly strategize how things are done — that’s a huge plus. If I had to compare the A.I. to another game it would have to be Assassin’s Creed. Doing something in a crowd of people is never conducive to progression in AC. Same goes for Hitman, you have to watch your step with the NPC crowd, which adds another element of suspense to the overall body of work.
Staying with A.I., you also have to be very careful with the armed enemies. If they pick up on your ‘out of place’ look in a situation, they will investigate. Disguising yourself or simply putting on a certain clothing item before a mission (you can customize that) helps tremendously. If the enemy investigate and find out something looks wrong with you, they’ll call on a ‘hunt’. When a hunt is called, you’re basically screwed, as everyone in that particular mission that is armed is after you. You can tame things by hiding or simply getting out of the spotlight, kind of like what you would find in a game like Metal Gear Solid, but it’s not a simple brush off. You have to really get out of sight and wait a few minutes to completely be forgotten about.
Again, the A.I. is incredibly impressive on all counts. It adds a lot of beautifully unnecessary tension to an already tense game. It also adds a level of difficulty that might be frustrating to the average player, so watch yourself and don’t go in with guns a blazing.
As for the technical aspects of the gameplay, the controls are really quite easy to pick up on, especially if you are entering the series for the first time. Button indicators on screen will help with subduing, killing or giving you options for movement (and body placement — that’s fun). There wasn’t a time during my review period where I felt lost with the controls, which is always a positive.
Overall, the change up in style of gameplay makes Hitman interesting. The open world feel of the game will make you addicted to the missions. Knowing that you’re pretty much in control of strategy, style and way of completing said mission is what makes this title good, at least in my opinion. I am happy that IO Interactive is taking their time with creating worthwhile missions because what they did with the Paris mission, and its intricate details, gives me faith that they’re going to create good gameplay experiences for fans. I wish there was a bit more girth with the initial package, but the promise of more of this quick keeps me hopeful.
On the presentation side of things I would have to say that Hitman is still stuck somewhere between last and current generation standards. The in-game stuff is amazing to watch in motion. The depth of field with environments, the multi-tier locations, especially in Paris, that you can explore is something to behold. There were a few times where I actually got lost in the mansion in Paris. That’s how big we’re talking, folks. While the girth of the environments is impressive, what is equally as good is the amount of detail that went into creating them. Going back to Paris, as you peruse through the mansion of your target, you’ll find barrels of alcohol in storage, a full kitchen that has the little details down to the pots/pans, a shiny marble floor upstairs in the hallway, proper reflections, detailed shadows, detailed paintings and fixtures everywhere — in short, IO Interactive created a proper environment that emerges the gameplay into the Hitman world. Also, solid texture job that doesn’t have much obvious rendering going on.
I love it when developers spend some solid time on environments. That’s a sign that they truly care about the project.
On the character model side of things, while I still hate that no developer to my knowledge has figured out how to draw and animate hands without them looking like this, the rest of 47 and the people that reside in his world are impressive to behold. Skin textures are smooth, expressions are quite obvious and the swagger that 47 walks with when performing his hitman duty is expressive and fun to watch. Those details make the character who he is and IO Interactive did a great job visually representing him in yet another Hitman game. Mix him and the world he lives in and you have a presentation combination like no other.
So, where is the bad in the presentation? The cutscenes make me cringe. They’re really something that looks like it’s out of last generation. You still find some flickering edges on characters, some obvious space on faces (around the eyes especially) and movements that shouldn’t be there. There’s no other good way to put it, it’s simply last generation stuff. Can I live with it? Yeah, I can live with it, as the story makes the animation more bearable. You spend most of your life in this game with actual gameplay, so that’s a plus. IO Interactive isn’t the only developer to do this to their cutscene in this current generation, but I wish folks would clean it up just a bit. It has been awhile since actual gameplay looks better than cutscenes. When’s the last time you heard that? Again, it has been awhile.
In terms of the story and acting, it’s all good. You’ll enjoy the ‘going rogue’ storyline that the game provides, as well as the acting that pushes the gameplay into feeling like something out of Mission Impossible. The intensity of the dialogue helps illuminate the need to complete the mission. Love it all.
Overall, presentation was impressive, despite the cutscenes. The gameplay is all that matters and honestly IO Interactive knocked that out of the ballpark. Good visuals, good acting/story and you have some solid presentation.
Having said this, at the end of the day is the game fun? Is it work the price of admission? I believe it is. The open world feel of the game is what intrigues me. IO Interactive has built something that encourages you to mix things up, try missions out in different ways and to replay missions to improve your methods, as well as your outcomes. They have given you a world where checkpoints are gone (you can save as you go) and put it squarely on the gamer to choose/make their path to accomplish the goal of the mission. They’ve created smooth gameplay in the process, an active environment that players can live in and made an otherwise formulaic game into something new and fun.
Really, what more do you want from Hitman?
Onto the summary!
