By Nathan Morgan
2016’s Hitman, a soft reboot of the franchise sought to bring the series back to its roots. After the somewhat negative response to 2013’s Hitman Absolution, developers IO Interactive wanted to dial down the set pieces and create something more unequivocally Hitman. Their result, you ask? 2016’s Hitman, a soft reboot of sorts, with each level or “location”, released episodically, packed to the brim with, missions to complete, targets to dispatch and lots and lots of killing to be done.
The game released five episodes in total, allowing you to take control of Agent 47 and tackle each episode any way you see fit. Each locale is a sandbox with plenty to do and well, kill. Take the game’s opening level, Paris for instance. After a brief tutorial, you are placed in the middle of a fashion show at a luxurious French palace. Who your targets are don’t really matter, the story is there if you want to pay attention to it. But where the game really shines, is the Mission Stories, these are scripted, objective based missions, often utilising many of the games features to get close to the target or meddle in their plans. Most of them are important, allowing you to get a perfect kill, through a variety of means. One example sees you overhear a conversation, about a fireworks display, in the palace grounds which your targets heading to after the show. Now you can wait until the fireworks go off and take him out there, or you could follow the mission, steal a technician disguise, steal the fireworks remote, trigger it early and take him out much quicker and… in style. These Mission Stories are a welcome addition and are often quite humorous and can range from killing a target with a chandelier to dressing up as a famous model who happens to look just like you, to get into a top secret meeting held by a target, making way for a great moment, watching a cold blooded killer attempt to pass of as a fashion model, which he does by the way, with flying colours.
The game has fun moments like these sprinkled throughout each location, letting you know the developers aren’t taking themselves too seriously. The developers go to great lengths to create memorable kills without having them handed to you on a silver, blood stained platter. The gameplay aside from the aforementioned missions allows for seamless exploration in each location. The targets themselves, dictators, activists, entrepreneurs,the bad guys, aren't entirely one dimensional however with each given a quick biography before each mission, letting you know their experience, strengths and weakness. Although this doesn't seem to come into account during gameplay. A militia leader with more combat experience than you can throw a fish at, ( a fish makes for a pretty good weapon in the world of Hitman) can still be taken out in the most ridiculous manner. Which is a shame, it would be nice to see the targets own skills have real impact in the gameworld. Instead they seem to be fooled by every disguise no matter how poor and still investigate every noise despite their experience. Still the game impresses with its rewarding Missions, engaging and tight gameplay and impressive locations.
8/10- Great.
