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Hitman: Absolution. The one nobody likes or so it seems. The odd man out. I played it around the time it released and don’t remember hating it but before this review, I only remembered specific aspects and the awesome “Attack of the Saints” trailer. The franchise has evolved quite a bit since the first game and Blood Money feels like the culmination of all those years of tweaking and refining the formula. It’s one of the best stealth games ever made in my opinion. For some reason, the developers decided to go a different way with the next game, Hitman: Absolution. The result is interesting. It’s one of those games that was praised by some and derided by others.
Developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix, Hitman: Absolution was released for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in November, 2012. An enhanced version was released along with Blood Money for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2014 as part of the Hitman HD Enhanced Collection. For this review, I played the PC version. Absolution did include an online mode of sorts called Contracts which let players create their own missions and, unfortunately, it was shut down some time ago. But from what I read, the mode did leave an impact. Apparently the developers re-evaluated the model of the next game after realizing how popular the Contracts mode was.
The story opens with Agent 47 receiving a contract to eliminate his former handler, Diana Burnwood, who has betrayed the International Contract Agency to protect a genetically-engineered girl named Victoria from a life of violence as an assassin. Upon learning this, 47 agrees to protect Victoria and is branded as a traitor by the ICA. Things are made even worse for him when he is framed for murder after failing to assassinate the psychotic Blake Dexter, owner of a home security system company, who plans to kidnap Victoria and sell her to the highest bidder. The plot centers on 47 and his quest to rescue and protect Victoria as he’s hunted by police, thugs, and agency troops. Personally, I enjoyed the story but I admit it feels very different than previous Hitman tales. The developers were clearly aiming for a cinematic style and I do like the way the cut scenes are presented. If I was to describe the game in movie terms, I would say it comes across as an action thriller.
Adding to the cinematic charm is the Hollywood and other notable talent that makes up a portion of the cast including Steven Bauer, Traci Lords, and Powers Boothe. David Bateson returns to voice 47 and does a great job as usual but I think it’s Keith Carradine’s performance as Blake Dexter that steals the show here. He’s so over-the-top but not enough to make the character come across as silly. As a result, Blake Dexter basically overshadows any other characters in the scenes with him and Keith does phenomenal job portraying him as a psychotic lunatic. One thing I’ve enjoyed about the series is the portrayal of 47 as a sort of anti-hero. He’s a murderer but his targets are often repugnant individuals and that aspect feels more emphasized in Absolution. Almost every villain in the story is portrayed as a horrible person, making 47 look almost like an angel.
If you’re a veteran of the series, it won’t take long to see what’s different with Absolution. The biggest and most odd change is the linear level design. Hitman has always been known for its sandbox environments and the developers moved away from that in favor of missions with multiple, often smaller areas or sections connected by doors or load points. Many sections have you moving from point A to B and evading enemies. Any sections that do center on eliminating targets are easily the most enjoyable but most of these are set in what feels like more condensed environments than what veterans may be used to.
It really is an odd change because it basically strips away part of what makes Hitman Hitman. I always try to find the positives in anything I play and I can’t say the gameplay in Absolution is bad but why they slapped the “Hitman” title on this is bizarre because it feels like a different game. I’m guessing some of the radical changes were an attempt to make the gameplay more accessible and to attract a new audience but it feels like the developers lost focus on what made the previous games so great. Absolution certainly includes some remnants of what makes Hitman Hitman but, ultimately, it’s a gateway to a different experience.
It’s strange because the formula in Blood Money was refined and tweaked to a point that almost all the issues of it’s predecessors were eliminated, yet it was still challenging and retained the heart and core of what made the Hitman gameplay so much fun. It’s accessible and I think it’s a great foundation for future titles but the developers didn’t build upon it. Instead, they abandoned it for something new but not necessarily better.
The linear level design isn’t the only change. Absolution released around a time when I started noticing stealth games, including those in already established franchises, feature some kind of what I’ll call “magic ability” for the player to utilize. Actually, Absolution may have been the start of this trend but I can’t confirm with certainty. I know one of, if not multiple, Splinter Cell games released during the era along with Thief (2014) featured abilities like this. In Absolution, it’s Instinct. You can activate Instinct to see enemies through walls, fire trails that predict enemy movements, and it also highlights things of interest in the environments. Furthermore, 47 has an instinct meter that depletes when Instinct is used to move passed enemies in disguise so they don’t become suspicious. But wait, there’s more. Instinct also allows you to execute point-shooting. This is when you mark multiple targets for kills and when initiated, 47 will quickly shoot each foe you marked which is a great way to eliminate multiple targets quickly.
Considering the more linear level design among some other changes, I find Instinct to be a very odd and unnecessary new feature. Granted, the difficulty will affect how helpful Instinct is including how it regenerates. You could argue Instinct is a replacement for the in-game maps that showed enemy locations, movements and points of interest in the previous games and even they were less helpful on higher difficulties. But they weren’t connected to your disguise in any way. Instinct is which is what I don’t like about it. The maps were a way to get a lay of the land and plan out your approaches. Instinct serves a similar purpose but also determines the usefulness of your disguise.
When 47 is wearing a disguise, a visual indicator will appear on the screen if people are suspicious and they can be suspicious from a significant distance. If you don’t move out of view or activate Instinct, at a certain point they will recognize 47 and then his cover is blown. Activating Instinct will reduce or eliminate the suspicion, letting you move passed them but it depletes the Instinct meter in the process. There are ways to replenish Instinct but if completely depleted, your disguise is almost useless. In Hitman 2 and Contracts, you could walk around in disguise and be relatively safe as long as you didn’t get too close to enemies or do anything stupid like start shooting in plain sight among some other things. Blood Money introduced the notoriety system which affects how easily people can recognize 47 but if you remained stealthy and kept your notoriety low, you would be safe in disguise for the most part. The disguises acted as a way to get you passed enemies and into restricted areas. It’s a crucial part of the gameplay and series charm.
In Absolution, if you’re in disguise and walk into a room, it’s possible multiple enemies will have their eyes on you, getting more and more suspicious, making it feel like you can’t go anywhere without activating Instinct. It can be tedious, especially if you’re trying to figure things out and plan out some kind of approach. I was able to stay hidden and sneak around some areas without disguises but it usually proved to be a more difficult way to progress. I’m guessing Instinct is the game’s way to keep you moving but disguises have always been a big part of the gameplay. I enjoyed acquiring disguises to access new areas in the previous games. As simple as it is, there is a sense of reward and satisfaction in that. That’s gone in Absolution. Instead, you need to make sure you have enough Instinct for the disguise to work which I found to be annoying after a while.
I guess the new disguise system is kind of realistic in the sense that just because 47 is in disguise doesn’t mean people won’t be suspicious and I can see how it relates to the difficulty. But it’s just not as fun anymore because now disguises rely on Instinct, this newly introduced power or resource that is consumed and regenerates for not any kind of realistic reason but for gameplay reasons. If this was any other franchise, I would probably give Instinct more slack but I feel it really destroys a crucial part of the Hitman gameplay. But then again, Absolution doesn’t really feel like Hitman. This new system does work with the other changes that were made so I can’t really say it’s terribly implemented.
To elaborate further, due to the more linear nature of the level design, a big part of the challenge in Absolution is simply evading enemies. In fact, several sections center on that very thing. Figuring out where to go and how to reach certain locations is pretty obvious in many sections so if the disguises worked like they did previously, it would definitely make things too easy. Without Instinct and with the right disguise, you would be able walk passed almost every enemy without any trouble. The way Instinct and suspicion work feels like the game’s way of making up for the changes to the level design.
Overall, I think the gameplay in Absolution is mostly solid. But, again, it just doesn’t feel like Hitman. That’s the problem. Much of the fun has always been exploring large sandbox environments and figuring out how to reach your target. Whether you want to do it all guns blazing or take the silent approach is all up to you. If you’ve seen our reviews of the previous games, you know I’ve said they are basically puzzle games disguised as stealth games. The puzzle is figuring out how to reach and kill your target undetected – finding all the pieces and putting them in place – and successfully doing so is often immensely rewarding. Some of that is carried over here. There’s often multiple ways to reach and kill targets and you have the option to take a loud or silent approach. But many of the puzzles here don’t feel as challenging and as a result, not as rewarding to solve. Hitman has always had it’s own unique thing going on but the linearity, smaller environments, and Instinct in what I’m assuming was an effort to streamline the gameplay and also make it more accessible only makes it feel more generic in a way.
Another reason why Absolution feels more generic is because, in my opinion, it’s simply not as immersive as the previous titles and that’s because some of the realism is lost here. I don’t want to make it sound like the prior games are super realistic simulators but some of the realistic aspects did add to the tension and satisfaction of the gameplay. Instinct is part of the problem along with some other small changes. A good example is how the game handles large weapons. 47 can now conceal them on his person which is undoubtedly convenient but it’s one of those small things that leads to the lack of realism. In the previous games, 47 would need to carry them in his hands or in a case and could only conceal small items and firearms on his person.
The game does autosave and the environments include actual checkpoints to activate. In the more linear sections, it’s not hard to figure out where to go and how to evade enemies and depending on the difficulty, Instinct can make how to progress and accomplish goals very obvious. The more open-ended areas feel more like traditional Hitman. One thing that really bums me out is the lack of a proper hideout or weapon room. It was just a cool thing the previous games included. You could walk around a shed, hideout, or training area and weapon room and view and test all the weapons you’ve collected. You can collect weapons and even disguises in Absolution but they are viewed from a menu which is just not as cool.
Despite my negative comments, there are several things I do enjoy about Absolution. Some of the mechanics were revamped for the better like the gunplay. I think it’s easily the best gunplay in the series up to this point. Movement feels good and if you decide to shoot your way through areas, it feels like a more streamlined third-person shooter than any of its predecessors. Guns feel and sound great and the game introduces a cover system that works pretty well in my experience. In general, the gameplay does feel a little faster-paced than previous offerings and many of the stealth elements the series is known for have been carried over. It’s still fun sneaking around, strangling and shooting people, you can stage accidents and the game does include some creative kills. I also like some of the new what I’ll call “takedown” mechanics. 47 can now subdue people with his hands, snap their neck, and fiber wire kills let him instantly drag bodies.
As you may or may not know, I have a love/hate relationship with the rating system in the previous games. Well it’s been replaced with a scoring system in Absolution. You are rewarded points for how you go about your business in each area and you can earn score multipliers for completing side challenges. The game does reward you for stealth above all else and you can lose points for getting spotted and performing certain actions. Earning enough points in a mission does unlock Assassin Techniques which are basically upgrades to 47’s abilities. Ultimately, I feel the same way about this new system as I do about the previous one and for the same reasons but I won’t beat a dead horse.
I do think Absolution lacks what I would consider exotic locations. For one thing, the game doesn’t take you around the world. Instead, you’re restricted to the United States, primarily Chicago and South Dakota. That’s not to say the environments are not diverse because they are and they all convey the same kind of gritty tone. That said, the atmosphere remains consistent from beginning to end which isn’t really a bad thing. Many areas or sections blend and flow together which makes sense due to the game’s more linear nature but only a few environments stood out to me as special or memorable. One of my favorite missions in the game puts 47 in an Orphanage after the staff there was slaughtered so you get to roam halls littered with bodies and filled with blood as you try to evade enemies and complete your objective. Another cool mission is “Attack of the Saints” which puts 47 at a Motel and Cornfield where he must eliminate the assassins hunting him.
As indicated earlier, any areas where the objective is to kill targets are easily the best in the game. That’s because these are set in environments more reminiscent of the large sandbox maps of previous games but on a smaller scale. You’re free to navigate around these smaller open-ended areas and can discover various ways to get passed enemies and reach certain locations and targets. I think one of the more interesting missions is “Birdie’s Gift”. 47 visits a gun shop where he finds his iconic Silverballers and must retrieve them. What makes the mission interesting is that it’s one of the smaller open-ended areas and you can complete your objective in one of two ways. You’re given the option to compete in the shooting challenge and if you win, you get the Silverballers. The other way will require you to find the key to unlock the case the Silverballers are in. There’s several cool guns to find and use in this mission and even though the environment is small, it is fun to explore and sneak around.
Despite not being able to play through the Contracts mode for this review, I do want to briefly talk about it because I have played it before and do think it was one of the cooler aspects of the game. You could choose a mission segment and select up to three NPCs as targets to eliminate however you want. The conditions in which you completed the contract such as disguises and what weapons you used among other things could be saved and the contract could be made available for others to play and they would basically have to meet the requirements or conditions you set. I thought it was a really cool mode and way increase the game’s longevity, adding a good amount of replay value to the game.
I do really enjoy the art style in Absolution. It perfectly matches the gritty tone of the plot. Not only that but the game simply looks great and much better than its predecessors. Everything from the character models to the texture work to the visual effects look great. Unfortunately, Jesper Kyd did not return to compose the game’s soundtrack. Regardless, I did enjoy several tunes and felt the soundtrack did fit the new style, presentation, and tone. Other than the music, I feel the audio work in general is solid and on the technical side, I did not encounter any major problems and the game ran smooth.
Hitman: Absolution is an odd game. It’s not a bad game but it is a bad Hitman game. Honestly, I think it’s a fine stealth game. Both the stealth and action elements can be fun and all the mechanics work. I also enjoyed the story and the Contracts mode was an awesome addition. If Absolution was unrelated to Hitman, I don’t think I would have too many negative things to say about it. It wouldn’t be my favorite game in the genre but it’s certainly enjoyable. As a Hitman title it’s just bizarre. It’s bizarre because they didn’t need to do this. As far as I’m concerned, Blood Money was it. That was the peak. Sure, things can always be tweaked but I felt the formula was perfected. Just build upon that. Absolution is one of those sequels that makes me want to reach out to the developers so I could simply ask “what the fuck did you do?”.
I really am guessing that Absolution was designed to attract a new audience but the problem with this is that it’s attracting them to a very different experience. If Absolution is a player’s gateway to the franchise and they enjoy it and want to try the previous titles, they will be in for a quite surprise because Absolution does not reflect what Hitman is and as of this review, I am thankful the developers did not continue in this direction.
I feel like I would be dishonest if I did not recommend Hitman: Absolution because it’s not a bad game. In fact, I think it’s a pretty solid stealth action game. I like the story, it plays well, the mechanics work, and the gunplay is good. It has all the qualities of a good game. Therefore, I would recommend it. But as a Hitman title, it is bizarre. I feel a lot of unnecessary and questionable changes were made and in my opinion, the result is not a good representation of the franchise and I don’t think it should be recommended as a starting point for newcomers. I would direct any newcomers to Blood Money or Hitman (2016).