By: Robert Murphy
Over the years gamers have seen many secret agent type
characters in games and today I’m going to dig into a game that stars one of my
favorite highly trained agents in “Hitman Absolution,” that’s right, it has
been a long time since we’ve seen a “Hitman” game and I cannot wait to take
control of Agent 47 once more. The last
time we saw our bald and barcoded assassin was six and a half years ago,
leaving a lot of time and anticipation for fans of the franchise to wait,
hopefully our patience is rewarded in kind with our foray back into the
franchise.
"Not to be messed with" look
Trial and error is a big thing that I must say comes with
this game, but it is not meant to be a frustrating aspect to the game, no its
intent is for players to use their heads and learn the various different ways to
play through “Absolution.” Now what I mean by all of this is that like the last
“Hitman” game, “Hitman: Blood Money,” players have various different ways to put
an end to their targets miserable lives, and boy, are they enjoyable. Not only
this, but with each level there are times where you can search the entire area
you are confined to, to find weapons or documents that will allow you a
different way to complete your objective or make it easier for you to complete
an objective. As ever, the “Hitman” games are for the patient, so if you’re not
one of those trial and error types or a player who wants to play a mission over
and over and see the many different ways your enemies can be taken out, then you
will not find a game you want here. Some of the deaths for your enemies are
quick and clean, while others are long, but oh so worth it, as you see some of
your targets gasp at their last shreds of life before they go down…..by the way
these kills are also gruesome at times, if you couldn’t tell by that
description alone.
Using the new cover system
Now moving on to the task of getting to your targets, 47 has
been given new upgrades from previous games from his shooting skills to stealth
and more. This time around 47’s extensive combat skills come into play against
all of your targets groupies that get in the way of taking them down, where before
you had sedatives for taking down your opponents and keeping them down, now you
can just sneak up on an unaware enemy and grapple them to the ground. From here
you can either take your enemy down peacefully or just knock your enemy
unconscious or you can choose to snap his neck for being a bad guy or you just
didn’t like his face. Also, as you are supposed to be sneaky, there is a very
smooth and enjoyable cover system for players to use as they move quietly
through levels and it works great as you can silently maneuver and easily pop
out to take down an enemy or grab them and pull them behind cover with you as
well. But if you are above all the hand to hand combat and silent takedowns, 47
is always packing some sort of weapon and in “Absolution” we are introduced to
an ability known as Point Shooting. This ability allows you to use your
instinct meter to enter a slow motion state where you can lock onto your
enemies, shooting them in their vital points or just unload rounds of bullets
into their bodies but I went for the vital organs myself. Along with this there
is Precision Shot where you lightly squeeze your trigger to steady your aim,
making your kills cleaner and effective if you feel the need to shoot at all.
YOU OVER COOKED THE ROAST!!!!
Now I mentioned in the previous paragraph that there is a
feature in “Absolution” called “Instinct,” this is a meter that is filled by
preforming various tasks in the game like collecting evidence or silently
taking down enemies. Players can use instinct for various different things in
the game, the main aspect to using instinct is when you are using a disguise and
an NPC that has the same disguise recognizes you, you can use instinct to sneak
by them without your disguise being blown and you having to take down an
innocent by standard. Instinct can also be used to identify enemies in relation
to where 47 is and see what path they will take so you can ambush them, also
instinct identifies various objects/collectables in the game that you can use
and can help you complete your objective.
Instinct Mode in action
“Absolution” however isn’t all about the single player story
anymore, and the game breaks into multiplayer elements with Contracts mode which
is a sandbox style element where you can create your own custom hits within the
game’s levels, choosing whatever NPCs, weapons or disguises you want. You can
challenge your friends to complete your contracts faster and more efficiently
than you and vice versa with you being able to play contracts that your friends
make as well. Pausing a level in story mode will also present you with an
opportunity to play a user-created Contract instead if you aren’t feeling
challenged enough.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the new addition of
“Absolution” to the “Hitman” franchise, the game does start to pander to more
of a less stealthy aspect for players that choose not to be stealthy but at the
same time is still the same sneaky and stealth heavy game fans have played
before. Games today have begun to start to let players choose their own paths
and their own ways to play in a multiple different ways and while “Hitman” game
have always done this “Hitman Absolution” stepped up its game to the new
standard of multiple ways to play and I was truly pleased by it. Also 47’s
upgrades from previous games in things like hand to hand combat and stealth
were very enjoyable as well and makes being stealthy fun and easy. The only
thing that I can really say I wasn’t impressed with in “Absolution” is the
story which was lack luster and really didn’t pull me in but with all to do and
see in the game, I found myself enjoying playing the game and not really
thinking about it too much.
Good:
-Incredible replay factor
-Plenty of collectables and in game goodies
-Multiple ways to play a level and take down your targets
-47 receives new and enjoyable upgrades
Bad:
-Lack luster story
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