Mitsota Reviews: Hitman (2016)
Hitman (not to be confused with Hitman: Codename 47) is a stealth-action murder simulation developed and published by IO Interactive in 2016. This is the 6th main series Hitman game, for those keeping score; But it's a soft reboot, so who cares? Certainly not 47.
The game follows 47, a professional assassin who specializes in infiltration and covert assassination. 47 works under Diana Burnwood for the ICA, an international assassination company; and is unknowingly sucked into an international information war across 7 distinct worldwide destinations.
I'm not going to say that the plot is weak, I'll say that it takes a backseat to the gameplay. 47 himself doesn't seem interested in the plot very much, and honestly? Neither am I. It's all very vague and disconnected, not only from the gameplay, but from itself.
Right, enough about the story already, let's chat about the good part, the gameplay! (yay!) For all but one of the fifteen missions, the player enters a small open world sandbox as a civilian and must find a way to kill one or more NPCs who wander the map without being killed, and ideally, without being noticed by anyone.
They can do this in one of many ways, such as poisoning a target's food, throwing them from a building, strangling them, dropping heavy objects on them, drowning them, locking them in in a sauna, even destroying a vital organ needed in a transplant. Or ya know, you could just cap 'em in the back of skull and walk away. In the words of Scrooge McDuck: "Why wouldn't you want to do it the easy way?"
Even though headshots on your target are highly effective, there are only 2 or 3 silent weapons in the game. This combined with the absurd number of guards and civilians wandering around each location (with an average of 150 hostiles and 200 NPCs per map) means that even if you choose the easy way, you need careful planning and positioning to eliminate your target without attracting attention to yourself.
Not only will guards rush you from all sides, but guns are highly inaccurate when fired rapidly, so you'll be overwhelmed very quickly if your just go in guns blazing like a moron. That's not to say that this game is cruelly punishing to newcomers like previous titles, however.
Returning from Hitman: Absolution is the radar, with a new sleek design and a function that tells you when you're trespassing or in a kill zone. 47 also seems to have stolen some Wayne tech between games, as there's a new detective vision mechanic. Also, to make sure that any idiot can bumble their way through the game, there are built in waypoints that guide players through scripted opertunitites step by step.
Now I can hear the hardcore Hitman fans flying to their keyboards to complain, but don't worry, IO thought of you in advance! All of these helpful UI elements can be toggled to your liking, including waypoints, the minimap, detective vision, and even the full HUD if you really wanna immerse yourself in the murder experience.
and why wouldn't you, with such immersive and interactive environments? I'm not gunna say Hitman has crazy next-level graphics, but it's hard not to get sucked in with all the subtle details like full environment mirror reflections, realistic glass shattering, locational damage animations, hundreds of unique NPC conversations!
With all this scenery to chew on, you'll probably want to spend some time goofing around with the NPCs and items scattered everywhere. Lucky for you, there are tons of side challenges available to complete, which will net you new unlocks like starting locations, costumes, and new weapons. Going hand-in hand with this unlock system is the revamped player contract system, where players can make their own variations on a level through a simple 2 button target marking system. Convenient!
While the main game itself wasn't very long, and the story didn't grip me, the gameplay totally steals the show and keeps me coming back for more assassination fun! A solid current generation game that doesn't push the envelope that hard, but knows what it wants to do; and does it well!