Hitman: Absolution
Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: Stealth Action
Platforms: PS3, X360, PC
MRP: Rs 999 (PC); Rs 4,000 (PS3/X360)
I fell in love with the Hitman series the first time I played Silent Assassin at an Xbox kiosk at a mall in London in 2003. It may just have been the Indian mentality of making the most of free things, but I travelled 30 minutes to that mall for three days straight just to finish that game. Spending hours analyzing levels, hunting for silent assassination opportunities and hoodwinking guards has since been high up on my 'favourite things to do in a videogame' list. Contracts, while not particularly polished, followed the same principle, and the franchise hit its peak with Blood Money, which remains my favourite stealth action game of all time— perhaps that raised my personal bar for Absolution too high. While it is, without question, a very good game, Absolution isn't the game the ardent Hitman fan has been waiting for. While it has its share of classic moments, Agent 47's latest conquest is largely aimed at capturing a newer, less experienced fan base. Perhaps that's what six years of videogame evolution does.
Someone tell him this isn't Arkham Asylum.
47, Hollywood Boulevard
While previous titles have been more about the assassinations than the story, Absolution makes things very, very personal. Agent 47 is tasked with assassinating Diana, his former handler (the posh British voice we've come to know and love). This is followed by a large amount of cinematic melodrama (and cleavage) which I won't get into, for the sake of avoiding spoilers. There's an entertaining cast of characters, revealed over a number of lengthy cutscenes. Certain parts of the story are just plain bizarre, what with RPG-wielding special agents dressed as skimpy nuns, but the voice acting is stellar throughout. Even though the dialogue is decidedly corny, it's all very engaging— much more so than the diabolical 2007 Hitman movie.
Absolution may not be It's not the most jaw-dropping title I've ever seen, but the environments and character models are very detailed, and with all the eye candy turned up, everything looks very, very polished.
Contrary to common belief, the Bible can kill you.
Wire And Dine
Absolution largely plays and feels exactly like a Hitman game should. A brief tutorial takes newcomers through the ropes, and gives veterans a refresher. There's a handy cover system in place, which forms a big part of how you play the game. Hitman pros will find themselves fibre-wiring baddies, stealing their clothes and dumping their bodies into cupboards and dumpsters in no time. However, the disguise mechanism is slightly different from how it was in the previous versions. In the days of yore, players could get away unnoticed in pretty much any disguise of their own unless they shot the place up or walked into a restricted area. In Absolution, characters that have the same disguise as you will start getting suspicious the moment they spot you, which makes sense. A cop would realize, after a few seconds of staring, that the bald guy with the weird tattoo probably isn't on the force. I found this behaviour to be far too aggressive on higher difficulty levels (enemies could smell a rat before I stepped into the room), but this was fixed, to a degree, by one of IO Interactive's many week-one patches.
Hitman's AI has never been particularly strong, perhaps playing on the stereotype of henchmen being complete dunces, and Absolution continues that trend. Enemies oscillate between extremes of aggression and downright obliviousness. I've lost count of the number of times a guard watched me choke someone to death, had his gun pointed at me, but gave up looking for me within seconds when I 'hid' behind a tiny cabinet in a dead-end corridor.
47 delivers a regulation tetanus shot.
Basic Instinct
The newest, and most controversial addition to Absolution, is 'Instinct', which is an interesting beast. Based on the difficulty level, Instinct, with the press of a button, enables a sort of X-ray vision which highlights enemies and their patrol paths, and provides hints on where to find items and clues for signature kills. Subduing and killing enemies, and hiding their bodies, fills up an instinct meter, which can be used to evade enemies who seem suspicious of you (by blending in, very similar to Assassin's Creed). Alternatively, if you're the run and gun variety, you can also use Instinct in a tight spot to freeze time and do a mark-and-destroy point shooting sequence, not dissimilar to Red Dead Redemption's Dead-eye.
A lot of people have had their say about 'Instinct' going against the principles of the Hitman franchise and possibly making things too easy, but I don't see it as too much of a problem. Newcomers to 47's world will probably find it useful, but those who feel it detracts from the experience can simply turn it off, or better still, enable only certain aspects of it. For instance, I was heavily reliant on flashing clues on the area map in earlier Hitman games, so I chose to have Instinct highlight clues for me, and do nothing else. I was quite happy with the overall experience.
Want skeletons in your closet? Here's step one.
New Dog, Old Tricks
Most levels in Absolution are split into a number of sub-parts, as opposed to the previous policy of one massive playground. Rather than being pure stealth-action, the game leans more towards the traditional action-adventure formula— where you're compelled to tick off one objective after the other. It's a very linear experience. However, some levels allow you the luxury of lengthy exploration and feed your sadistic ingenuity for making kills look accidental, which is the highlight of any Hitman game.
While it's difficult to garner a perfect rating for each mission in the first play through the single player campaign, the Contracts mode allows you to come back to your favourite missions and search for all the Easter eggs and hidden kills you missed. There are a surprising number of achievements to be unlocked in every level (quite similar to the pre-release Sniper Challenge DLC), so there should be plenty to keep completionists busy climbing up worldwide leaderboards.
Ladies love 47 because he has the Axe effect.
A New Agency
Whichever way you look at it, Absolution marks a new era in the Hitman franchise. Based on the teaser at the end of the campaign, it would seem that future titles will continue to be linear, story-driven action titles with stealth thrown in for a USP. If you're a fan of the series, that's really what Absolution feels like— a Hollywood-ised sequel to your favourite indie movie. I suppose I'll come to terms with that eventually, but for now I'm just going to have a sulk. Yes, Absolution is a good videogame; yes, it has mass appeal; but is it a good Hitman game? Not for me. I'll take the bald, barcoded pixels of Silent Assassin any day of the week.
Gameplay And Design: 4/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Mojo: 3/5
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Minimum Hardware Requirements: Intel Core2Duo E6700 \ AMD Athlon X2 6000+, 2 GB RAM, AMD HD2900 \ NVIDIA GeForce 8800, 10 GB HDD space, Dual-Layer compatible DVD-ROM drive, Windows Vista.
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