Hitman: Absolution

Quite an anomaly in the Hitman catalogue, Absolution plays very differently to the previous games. You'll experience action sequences and level designs that would better fit the Arkham games, and it's hard not to notice that Agent 47 is forcibly steered down many more courses of action than we're used to seeing. Still, there's enough of what we enjoyed about the earlier Hitman games to please fans of the franchise.

A stealth game with an interactive story makes this game one of the best in it's genre. The story of the game is perfectly mixed with the gameplay. Each level brings new challenges and new way to execute the kills. Each level puts you in different scenarios which makes the game more and more interesting. Every kill is special in it's own. The interactive story makes you feel like Mr.47 yourself and each level brings some character development. Highly recommended for all stealth and hitman franchise lovers.

The fifth run in baldie's franchise, Absolution packs new features and even a competitive leaderboard mode.

As in previous installments, you play the scary man with the lustrous head. In case the name is not clicking yet, the story follows 47 as he tries to right some wrongs and protect a kid with a mysterious past tied to the Agency. A babysitting contract killer. Fancy that. Being the sequel that it is, if you've never played at least one of the other games in the series before, you're probably going to miss out on a lot of references, but the narrative is still entertaining enough by itself that you don't *have* to.

The thing that stands out the most is how the general presentation and vibe have changed. Better art style, atmosphere and level design make for a much more cinematic experience. Simultaneously, Absolution favors more linear stages than its predecessors (something that's gotten a lot of flak for), but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The most significant difference is the tweaking of structure in assignments. Where before you had one big level per mission, in Absolution, each level is broken down into separate screens, each one with their own objectives. It's true that this compromised the freedom that, say, Blood Money gave the player, but it also helps in not getting overwhelmed in huge maps if exploration is not your thing.

There are also quite a number of mechanics that have been introduced to 47's repertoire, most notably, the Instinct feature and upgrades tied to your mission performance. While we've all seen sequels that basically add new features to make an extra buck, all of the additions in this one are actually well thought out and make gameplay much more varied and interesting. They feel organic to what the game needs, they're well executed and are just plain cool to engage in. Mix this with the fact that the HUD is very clear plus contextualized commands (a la Heavy Rain, sort of) and you get something that is extremely easy to sit down and play. Regrettably, they also took some neat things out, such as choosing your loadout before each mission, the ability to buy equipment and hiding weapons within other portable items. My uncle Bob used to say: 'if it ain't broke..." and he was a wise man.

The cool bit about all of these new things, though, is that you're not forced to use them. There are five difficulties when starting (or continuing) a save that range from a very easy mode, where the Instinct gauge regenerates automatically and guards have Down's, to a 'Purist' mode, where not only you lose the Instinct button and checkpoints, get a more snappy AI and a much less forgiving damage threshold, but you also don't even get a HUD. If you're worried about the challenge, Purist will keep you busy for a long time.

Lastly, the prominent Contracts mode is a mix of create-your-own-murder and some multiplayer competition. Basically, Contracts lets you load up an objective-free level and 'create as you play'. Kill whatever mark you choose, under whatever conditions (murder weapon, disguises, exit path) you choose and make a mission out of your choices. Through an online voting system, other players can tackle the contract you designed and try to beat your score fulfilling the criteria you set. While I can appreciate the effort to add some online competition to the game and the idea behind a reverse whodunit is certainly great, it would've been nice to have some more variety when setting up your own contracts.

The core and substance of the game are basically left untouched: you sneak around, kill stuff in whatever way you so choose and walk away.

Of course, there are some faults.

Besides the occasional getting stuck in a wrong angle when trying to move behind cover, a corpse bouncing about because the physics engine decided to be naughty and some other seldom glitches, I've seen a lot of reports on low performance, poor FPS or instability, usually coming from people with nVidia cards. I myself (an ATi user) haven't experienced a single stutter with everything on max but it seems to be hit or miss in terms of performance.

Glitches aside, there are some other issues. It's weird because the sum of Absolution's parts make up a very robust and polished product. Yet, there are aspects to design, like baddies spotting you in disguise from a mile away, certain missions sort of pushing a balls-to-the-wall, guns-blazing approach while at the same time penalizing you in rating for not being stealthy enough or the constant crutch on the new Instinct feature, that detract from the overall enjoyment. The way the scarcely-available checkpoints work are also a bit of a problem. While the general direction seems to build upon the good stuff from the previous games, some sections could've been fine-tuned better.

Summing up, Absolution is a more accessible and linear mix of what worked in its predecessors plus some decent new features, a much cleaner design and pretty visuals to boot. The caveat is that the franchise seems to be taken in a different direction, so don't expect a second Blood Money. It could've been better, but it still is a high quality title.

As a longtime Hit-man fan, I was eager to play the follow-up to 2006's "Blood Money," but as the years ticked by, I began to think it wasn't going to happen. Either that, or the programmers would take too long and we'd end up with a product like "Duke Nukem Forever." Luckily, the time spent making this latest installment of the Hit-man franchise was well worth it! The graphics are amazing, the music is haunting, and the possibilities are endless. 47 has never looked more real, and his character development is both realistic and engaging. The storyline might be more in-depth than previous Hit-man games (which some critics have scoffed at, strangely), but it just engrosses the gamer even more into this dark, awesome world.

Without giving too much away, the gameplay is basically the same as "Blood Money," but with a new focus option that allows you to see through walls and focus in on the patterns of the AI around you (think of it like Batman's sonar vision from "The Dark Knight" - it's basically the exact same thing). There's also an option to "point shoot," which is identical to the "Dead Eye" target-shooting from "Red Dead Redemption." Hey, if another game made it cool, why not put it in Hit-man? The only real complaint I have is that it's very, very difficult - even on the "normal" mode. The AI are extremely aware, and if you disguise yourself, chances are someone will notice. You can use your "instinct" to blend in and avoid detection, but it's hit-or-miss. And if you blow your cover, you're going to have a hell of a time finishing the mission. Still, it's a blast! And I can't wait to go back and complete every mission in every which way possible!

So here's the thing. A lot of people have similar complaints including: the game is too short, agent 47 is too flat and the gameplay is repetitive. All those things are vastly misunderstood.

The gameplay is actually not a one trick pony. The player himself chooses his own style. This can be "Rambo" style where you can shoot everyone on sight or you can see the level like a real world chess play. Let me explain. All the non-playable-characters (NPC's) move around the level (chess board) in a certain pattern unless you interact with the environment. This can be through interacting with NPC's and/or with items and traps. You can also try not to discover these patterns and just use stealthy approaches. Or, you can combine ALL of these play styles and switch between them whenever you want or see fit. And let's not forget about the signature kills that are little puzzles by themselves. That actually debunks the argument of the gameplay being repetitive. It's actually quite varied.

Depending on your play style the game can be short or quite long. If you're a perfectionist and restart at checkpoints every time you got spotted then you got your hands full. If you're some impatient monkey only playing Rambo style you will finish this game relatively fast. Don't punish the developers for this only because you decided to take the easy way for a game that's not solely intended for shooting everything on sight.

Yes, agent 47 is flat. But in a good way. He's a hitman and not some emotionally disturbed tearjerker. His seriousness gives him character and it provides for humoristic scenes like the tin foil hat scene or the elevator scene with the sushi guy. Of course, if you only go Rambo you will miss A LOT of these scenes since most levels can be completed in a variety of ways. Check the challenges tab in the game menu for tips on that. This game does have a story and it helps with Agent 47's character. The other characters put down a good performance.

However, there are some bugs in this game and I wish there were some boss fights or whatnot. I was disappointed about the nun assassins (if you've seen the trailer) because they aren't that interesting. Also, I found the scoring/point system somewhat distracting. Still, I would recommend this game because I found it very enjoyable.