Hitman Absolution Impressions

[xan_racketBOY_fan]

As a fan of the excellent Blood Money, I'm a little disappointed in a few things in the new Hitman game, Absolution. The first thing I noticed was the new disguise system. It's welcoming that NPC's in similar outfits can grow suspicious of you and call you out, but on higher difficulties they instantly recognize you're an imposter (for example, in the tutorial mission, I walked into a greenhouse disguised as a guard. The moment I walked through the door, the two guards 30ft away from the front door already knew I was in disguise!). Having the game set to Normal eases the NPC's off just a little, but not by whole lot.

A jarring omission from the previous game is the ability to close doors, or even hit the switch of lights. Why can't I?! It makes no sense. I was playing a mission earlier where I took out two NPC's inside a bedroom. Just outside the door are three armed guards in a lobby, and here I am trying clean up my mess with this damn door wide-opened.

One thing that's a vast improvement from Blood Money is the inventory screen, but the way 47 removes and conceals items from the inventory is just so "videogamey". There's animation of him pulling an item out, but there isn't one when he puts it back - the item simply disappears from his hand! This may sound like nitpicking, but when Blood Money had great animation in regards to how 47 handled items in his possession (for example carrying shotguns/rifles in his left hand when not in a ready stance, but still had his right hand free to use other items - very much like Max in Max Payne 3 carried his guns). The lack of animation is so silly that you can pick up a container of gas and "conceal" it by tapping down on the dpad and it will magically disappear ... ugh, what happened to 47's "I'll-place-my-hands-behind-my-back" animation? It was so cool!

The last item on my list (that probably bothers me most) is the fact that there's a level score constantly displayed in the upper left-hand corner. It's just so distracting knowing you're being scored for every little thing you do, or don't do right. Why must a big red number pop up when I'm spotted for trespassing - grade my ass at the end of the mission; with this score card part of the HUD, it feels like I'm playing some arcade mode or something. The only way of removing this (and everything HUD related) is playing Purist Mode ... which is the highest difficulty setting.

All these things I feel can be easily corrected with a future update, and I know I'm not the only Hitman fan that feels this way. Hopefully IO can roll with the jabs and address some of these issues and make Absolution the perfect Hitman game.

[Opa Opa]

I love Hitman games, but do you think this game delivers a full $60 experience or should I wait for a price drop?

[Gamerforlife]

The level score system actually makes me want to play the game more. I think ALL games should rank your performance in a stage, though I can understand how some people would prefer to not be made aware of it until the level is over. They should make the in level notifications an optional thing. It wouldn't bother me personally, but it's a valid complaint.

I heard the game has an annoying checkpoint/save system though, and I can see that being a turnoff for me. I don't have quite the same amount of patience as I used to when I played those old Tenchu games where you had no checkpoints or mid level saves at all. I'm not that gamer anymore.

[xan_racketBOY_fan]

@oppa, after spending more time with the game and advancing in the story, I'd like to say its worth it. Right now Frys has it for $50.

@gamerforlife, the score system is actually starting to grow on me. Seeing my mission completion score is higher than the national average is great. As for the checkpoints, the only issue with it is that it doesn't actually save progress in regards to which NPCs you've taken out. That's actually a pretty major issue (the use of them are optional)