If the Hitman series ever needed an injection of creativity and innovation, then this would be the moment. And that moment is so good.
Hitman: World of Assassination Part One – VR Edition from developer Io Interactive is something to behold. While the original game was certainly a step in the right direction for the series, featuring more of a community-based Hitman that feels and plays bigger than the rest, taking that concept and putting it into a virtual reality environment props it up in a different way.
Playing through missions in a first-person VR perspective and putting the gamer in Agent 47’s shoes creates an entirely new experience of suspense, drama, intensity, and heightened caution of how Agent 47 moves and looks at people during missions. The additional effort that went into making this a rich experience for the gamer and how that paid off is what is so damn impressive. Now, there are some minor issues with the gameplay, as it isn’t perfect, but what you get with the VR access far outweighs any cost ($9.99) or glitches that come with it.
So, sit back, make sure you’re stealthy and cool, and let’s quietly discuss Hitman: World of Assassination Part One – VR Edition in this review.
Virtually good
The VR component for Hitman: World of Assassination Part One – VR Edition is an add-on. When I say ‘simply’, I mean on paper, squinting from far away, it is a piece of a bigger Hitman pie. In reality, the add-on takes everything you may have played in World of Assassination and completely changes how the experience works.
Moving from third-person to first-person and looking directly out of the eyes of Agent 47 is something spectacular. Considering the outrageousness of the game, the stakes that 47 usually falls into during missions, and how immersive the game was before this VR access completely delivers a different type of gameplay environment. For example, one of the first missions I played involved eliminating a couple of people in a newly built skyscraper. In this mission, you start outside the skyscraper that lies towering in the clouds. You get that feel of danger from looking down at the moving clouds and seeing the tops of the other buildings around you. The stakes start high, and that is even before you try to blend in with a crowd and take people out.
Once inside the skyscraper, the game began to rear its technical head. Putting on outfits required you to pick up clothing and physically bring it toward your body to put it on. Accessing objects requires you to reach and grab. How you look at people and how they stare back at you in the eyes becomes relevant and raises the intensity of the mission. Everything about this visually puts you in the moment, and instead of being the outsider looking into the mission, you’re now fully a part of the mission. That changes everything with the gameplay, how you experience it, which is the brilliance of the VR access.
Now, once you go from observing and interacting to aggressively pushing forward with your assignments, the world begins to feel a hell of a lot more real. Using the same mission for an example, I had to sneak around in restricted areas of the skyscraper. Peering around corners took on an entirely different process, where I had to pop my head around the virtual corner to see what was happening. Having to take people out and steal their clothing, then hide their bodies now become more of a process. When I had to take down one of the helpers to take on their clothing for a disguise, I had to wait for them to get out of sight, then I had to strangle them. I had to strangle them physically with my hands. It’s a bit warped to think about, but that’s the game. Once they perished, I then had to take their clothing and hide their body, which required even more active and physical effort on my part. Then I had to play it cool and hope to sneak into the next part of the mission undetected.
The entire feel of the game was cranked up to 11 with the VR access perspective, and it created such a rich immersive-ness to the gameplay. There’s just something more sinister and yet purer about being a hitman rather than just controlling one. In my opinion, it was a good shift from Io Interactive, and they treated it mostly well.
I also think that it was a smart move to base the VR world on mostly existing content because you come right into the experience with familiarity of missions, the world, and what you need to do without missing a beat. It gives a great comparative gameplay experience (third-person vs. VR) when you know how a mission played before and what you’re getting with said mission via VR. I’m sure financially it was a smart move as well, although not everything was perfect.
Mostly well
The biggest issues with Hitman: World of Assassination Part One – VR Edition were that there were some rough spots in the gameplay. I ran into a few situations during the game when my movements spazzed out a bit and caused a ruckus with characters around me. For example, the game will allow you to pick up and drink a glass of champagne in the previously mentioned Skyrise mission. You want to fit in, so you want something fancy to drink and blend with the rest of the rich drinkers in the room. When I reached for a drink, and the game gave me the green light with an onscreen indicator, I guess I grabbed too hard, the glass broke, and the waiter freaked out. That freak-out set off the security guards, who came with guns a blazing. I didn’t intentionally mean to do any harm, even my movement and actions were subtle at best, but it set off the area and characters immediately. This is akin to accidentally bumping into someone during Red Dead Redemption 2 and causing a huge fight where you become a wanted man for no good reason. In short, sometimes the interactions with characters can be a bit overly sensitive.
The other issues I came in contact with were characters clipping into other characters, sometimes getting caught in them, and just small technical glitches that don’t matter to the story or mission, but disrupt the experience. And let’s not discount that last mention. The purpose of virtual reality is to put you into an experience that feels real and immersive. When you have glitches or overly sensitive mishaps, then you not only become hesitant to let yourself go full immersive, but you also are reminded that everything you’re doing isn’t real. Now, I do realize this is a game and that is to be expected, but this is a VR experience, and its main purpose is to physically convince your body and brain that you’re in whatever scenario you’re playing.
Ultimately, the glitches won’t hurt the gameplay much at all but they probably do need fixing, especially if you’ve got players dropping money for this access. The more immersive you can get your players in the game, the better this experience is going to become.
Presentation factor
One of the more impressive parts of Hitman: World of Assassination Part One – VR Edition is how it looks. I’m sure that Io could have dialed it in and just thrown a first-person perspective at the player and called it a day, but they did a wonderful clean-up job for the PSVR2 platform.
Visually, each mission looks similar to the others, and each mission delivers fantastic lighting, rich textures that have details on them (especially with people), and some solid amount of ray tracing. You won’t break away because of the visuals; rather, your brain is going to be convinced you’re wherever you are because of them. Even with the environments, they’re detailed and stand out in a good way during the VR experience. It’s pretty and it works.
Super special kudos have to go out to whoever put together the audio engineering for this game and how it is delivered onto the PSVR2. People talking around you is so immersive, and you won’t realize this fully until you try to sneak out of a situation and a guard begins yelling at you from behind. The audio feels like it’s behind you, and you can gauge distance with the audio. It’s crazy how well this aspect of the game is during gameplay. I was impressed, and I can’t recommend headsets enough if you play this game.
Overall, on the presentation side of the tracks, it’s a gorgeous and audibly impressive game.
Now, on that sweet note, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
Hitman: World of Assassination Part One – VR Edition from developer Io Interactive is an impressive and immersive VR experience that raises the bar for the Hitman series. It brings good content that will put you in the shoes of Agent 47 in an entirely different way. The only hiccups are some glitches that are wandering around the game, but the core gameplay is solid.
