Hitman: Absolution

Presentation. Top notch, attention to detail is immaculate. I like the gritty dingy aesthetic of this game. It's a stand out in the series when it comes to art direction and tone. It's easily the most memorable aspect of this game. Sound. It's nothing to write home about. Jesper Kyd's last Hitman game was Blood Money and you can feel his loss in every entry since. His music elevated every previous entry and here everything is forgettable. What you will remember though and get tired of hearing constantly is the annoying static sound of enemy vision cones trying to lock on to you as you sneak around the level. For that alone it's personally the most annoying sound design of any Hitman game. Gameplay. It's a generic cover based stealth game that pretends unwillingly drags along the disguise system from previous game. Absolution feels as though it despises the stealth gameplay of previous outings and punishes you for trying to play with disguises by making them absolutely flimsy, to the point of uselessness. No longer confident to walk into enemy territory with the knowledge that you have outsmarted the opponent, you will instead be confine to mostly crouching and hiding behind corners. Outside of this mediocre stealth gameplay, fire arms feel great to use, it's too bad using them is negatively reinforced by the games scoring system. Conclusion. This is not a bad game is, but it's not good either. It feels like the game doesn't know what it wants to be and is at odds with itself. Playing this game like you would any Hitman game prior or after feels like an immense chore due to how the disguise system fails to be intuitive or enjoyable and going loud is deemed the wrong way to play by how the ratings system pushes you to feel bad in doing so. Absolution is a Hitman game feels like a morbid curiousity at best and a forgettable stealth game worst. You could do better. Even Codename 47 is a better game. For series completionists only.

It's not a bad game by any means, but the changes made to the core gameplay make it feel less like the Hitman that we all know and love. Other reviewers have already listed bad checkpoint and save implementation, "instinct" instead of a map, and various minor things that need doing in order to get the best level-score (this is not a bad thing in itself, just a bit annoying). Another half-baked thing is the disguise system. If in older titles your disguise would work as long as you didn't do anything suspicious, or as long as you didn't stay in an enemy's line of sight for too long, in this game (and apparently in the later titles) your disguise gets blown as soon as a character wearing the same outfit looks at you. Yes, it makes certain sense, but does every single guard know every single other guard, no matter how secretive the organization? I don't know, but I doubt it. Yet, the game seems to think so. The game's levels are episodic, each episode consists of 2-4 levels, and all episodes are connected by an overarching plot, which takes centre-stage, compared to previous titles. The ICA sends 47 to 'hit' Diana Burnwood, his former handler, because she went rogue. Having a years-long partnership and friendship, 47 grants Diana's last request before 'hitting' her: to protect a little girl that Diana kidnapped from the ICA. As it turns out, the girl is more than meets the eye, so this, and 47's honour make him betray the ICA, who then sends its best to put 47 down and recover the "stolen asset". The plot takes a small page from Leon ('The Professional', in the US), sending you on a wild ride across the US, going from 'overly serious' to 'downright absurd' plot-points, then back again. The game is more like Manhunt than Hitman: the crazy plot has you sneak around levels filled with trigger-happy psychos making do with whatever you can find; you're a glass-canon, and your disguises are mostly useless. Fun game, cool (if absurd) story, questionable design choices.

I think every Hitman game has its own fans ,and "Absolution" is just a little different from the previous ones. I expect some sneaky shooter ,and the game delivers it. The game gives the possibility to play in different ways like undetected or using the entire disguises system, but the idea that the game works when it is an action shooter it's kinda impressive too. Ai of enemies is more silly than dangerous, and it is really easy to exploit it in the favor of the player. After completing the game I need to say that there are few sections that really feel designed to be done loud. Levels themselves feel really more linear,condensed and connected by the story. Story feels like a revenge action movie from the 90's. Story might not suit “Hitman” but for itself it really is not bad ,I don't get why some people hated it so much. All of the visuals and sounds are still good, nothing spectacular; but it has the charm. Everyone will expect something different from this game, for me the game was really ok and fun to play or even speed run it exploiting that silly Ai of enemies. Hitman Absolution is 6-7/10, and it has its own identity.

A little clunky at times with its animations and weird cutscene to action transition, the gunplay is stale and kinda boring

Another bitter-sweet experience, similar to the resurrected "Thief". The Hitman is finally back from the abyss, but not in good shape. "Instinct" simplifies the game too much, levels are mostly linear, they are no longer sandboxes that much like in older Hitman games, and AI could be more unforgiving. The only good thing about this game is that it put Hitman again in the spotlight, and allowed to gather enough attention, so developers could create 2016's Hitman (which is a way better game). My recommendation is that: if you want to have much raw and oldschool experience play Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Hitman: Contracts, and Hitman: Blood Money; if you want to experience more modern gameplay, play the new Hitman saga, now rebranded under Hitman World of Assassination. Hitman: Absolution you can simply skip.