I waited for Sanchez’s to turn his back to me, lined up the shot, and fired away. When I got there, I found my eagle eyes to have served me well, because a nice, sleek sniper rifle was sitting there. After choking out a guard, assuming his outfit as a disguise, and stashing his body in a nearby locker, I then walked right by his now-fooled colleagues until I reached the aforementioned vantage point. When I went to do the deed, I chose to blend in with the raucous crowd-which, like every crowd in Absolution, is portrayed fantastically thanks to IO’s great Glacier 2 engine-subtly moving my way around the ring until I reached the door to the catwalks upstairs, where I had earlier spotted a good vantage point of the area. This isn’t much of a spoiler, but around midway through the game 47 goes to assassinate the genetically-enhanced wrestler-or, Sanchez, if we want to use the name IO gave him-in the middle of one of his matches. But the sheer breadth of ways you’re allowed to sneak and kill here are so clever and, in most cases, so seamlessly built into each of the game’s sprawling locales that completing them all for a given section becomes a game in and of itself. Sure, at its core, this is still like any Hitman game-you start out each level in one place, and you have to get to another place, oftentimes subduing and killing targets along the way.
Simply put, the amount of freedom Absolution grants players on a level-by-level basis is astounding. Hitman games have always embraced their over-the-top nature, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but here I can’t help but feel like the opportunity to explore the more readily interesting aspects of an assassin like 47-one of the first things you hear upon booting the game is a very well-delivered speech about the utilitarian nature of his work, for example-was somewhat wasted.īut let’s be honest, you’re probably not picking up a Hitman game for philosophical discourse, are you? No, we’re here to kill the bad guys, and it’s here where Absolution plays as solid as ever. The Man on Fire narrative of one man on an unstoppable mission to save a young girl is compelling on its own, as are the ‘60s-style aesthetic throwbacks that can be seen through the game’s old school vehicles or the Dick Dale-like guitars that play at its start menu.īut for every potentially dramatic moment, there’s some creeper talking about how aroused he is upon being shot or some NPC calling 47 an offensive slur. It’s a competent and often witty tale, but let’s just say there likely won’t be any novelizations of this script anytime soon. He winds up having to care for a gifted (and therefore, valuable) young girl named Victoria, but loses her to a cast of cartoonish characters, the likes of which include a redneck businessman, his genetically-enhanced Hispanic wrestler sidekick, a greaseball imbecile, and the Agency’s director-who is the spitting image of Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation-among others. Things go to hell, and eventually the master assassin ends up at odds with former employers, the shadowy Agency. Originally tasked with assassinating a former colleague and close friend, 47 soon finds out that the hit isn’t quite what it seemed. Players will once again control the bald killing wonder that is Agent 47, as this time out sees him on a quest for revenge, redemption, and, you guessed it, absolution.Ībsolution’s narrative is more or less typical Hitman fare-dark, violent, and often ridiculous. Hitman: Absolution is the fifth entry in developer IO Interactive’s longstanding stealth-action franchise, and the first since 2006’s Hitman: Blood Money. Fortunately, it’s all the better for it.īut let’s take a step back first. This whole idea of games having to last longer in order to be worthy of a player’s time and money is widespread, and one that Hitman: Absolution follows to a T. And let’s not forget this generation’s massive spike in DLC either.
Some-like Call of Duty or Halo-have opted to do this by featuring a deep multiplayer suite, while others-like Skyrim or Borderlands-have chosen to simply pack as much content as they can onto a single disc. Players expect to get a bigger bang for their collective buck now more than ever, a sentiment that has led many game companies to pack as much replay value as they can into their titles. Here’s a simple truth: Modern gamers love longevity.
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