@WilltheMagicAsian said:

If your screenshot is supposed to speak for itself, it doesn't. What am I supposed to be noticing? The lighting? The third-person cover system?

@Oni: How does the intuition meter thing interact with your hate of how useless disguises are? Or is there no intuition on hard?

I have never played a Hitman game before, besides one mission in Blood Money.

Glacier2 is really something else. I enjoy more and more companies taking the initiative to develop their own engine rather than submitting to UDK.

I bought this blindly after reading Yummy's thread. Here is a screenshot from my steam account:

The game is amazing and I find myself replaying missions after I beat them just to find alternative paths. For me, this has been a great experience.

@Zekhariah said:

@pubbles said:

@themangalist said:

@Chaser324 said:

@Spoonman671 said:

Everybody else seems to like it. Sorry you're having a shitty time with it.

To be fair to the OP, neither the critical nor the fan response is universally positive. There are a lot of reviews out there that describe a lot of the same issues and a similar level of disappointment.

Nor from what I read would I not be disappointed either.

I'm struggling to parse this sentence -- I can't understand it whatsoever. Am I the only one?

I'm unable to not able to not be unconfused by it.

You have my sword, as neither I, have not been able to not parse as well.

All fair points. Though the new prompts and controls make it infinitely more accessible, and the gameplay is still just as deep and fun. Though I do pine for bigger maps without sacrificing complexity.

Fun fact: 47 has skills that level up, the higher the score you get in a mission you unlock things like "more instinct meter." or "slower instinct meter drain." which on Hard is VERY important. I played upto the Strip club level and them bumped it down to normal as my SKILLS were too low to continue.

Think of it as an RPG were you get the choice of New game or New game + with more and tougher foes while you start off at lvl 1 with zero skills.

You have to play on normal to play hard and upwards. One part learning the game two part is "Training" 47.

The games easier once you unlock more SKILLS.

Also its reminds me alot of the games before Blood money, and yes its turned into more of a stealth game.....however Hitman 1 to 3 was basically stealth was your best option.

Also ontop of an also. THERE IS ALOT to this game. You have barley even started so dont throw your "DONT BY THIS GAME!" opinion when you have not even gotten a 1/4 into the game.

I'm enjoying the game so far (just finished the "greaser" mission series they showed in a video months ago - trying to be vague so as not to give away anything). It's not quite as "open" as Blood Money was, and it's true that the levels are split up into discrete sections. And I think it's fair to say that it's not as good of a Hitman game as Blood Money was, too.

However, it's probably my second favourite in the series so far. The mission goals have led me to replay some missions multiple times in multiple ways, and it still feels incredibly satisfying to perform environmental kills on all of your targets, and escape a mission unseen. I've yet to encounter a mission with the same level of genius as the opera mission from BM, but plenty that have rivaled other missions from that game. The story isn't great, because some kind of nonsensical things happen, but a few of the characters are pretty awesome (Keith Carradine is fantastic in this game).

Comparing the game to Splinter Cell is just dumb, unless your analysis doesn't extend beyond the facile point that this game lets you "mark and execute" targets, which if you're playing the game like a Hitman game, you're virtually never using anyway. Oh, and there's a few air ducts you can crawl through - BOOOOOOOO!

It's a "smaller" experience, level-wise, than the last Hitman game was. Aside from that, it's a Hitman game. If you like the Hitman games, but don't think they need to strictly adhere to the Blood Money formula, you'll probably like this game. If you've been convinced for months that this game was going to be "dumbed down", and have been railing against it, your preconceived notions have pretty much destroyed any chance of having fun with it anyway.

I’m not really sure how I feel yet.

I’m enjoying it as a game. It looks great, it sounds great. It feels good to play.

But as a Hitman game, I’m not so sure.

It has definitely been a long ass time since Blood Money came out, and I feel like all of the story sections in this game, are IO trying to play “Catch up” with the rest of the industry – “This needs to be a Hollywood blockbuster of a game” – And I do not feel like they succeeded. Where it falls shortest for me is the characterization.

“Birdie” is the worst example. Who the fuck is this? A guy, who seems young, has perfect hair, very well dressed, is fairly well spoken, smart ….. but hangs out in a trailer full of birds and lets them shit all over his clothes? And he just hangs out as normal, like he isn’t covered in bird shit? That is just kind of weird. .. it doesn’t ring true for me. And it smacks of a hamfisted attempt to come up with an “original, interesting character”. It just comes off as super weird.

Also, whenever that developmentally challenged gentleman is on screen, I instantly feel uncomfortable. Lenny is clearly disabled, and yet playing the role of a gangster? Is this supposed to be funny? Am I suppose to laugh at this…… ?

I’m playing this with my girlfriend sat next to me and …. I find it difficult to defend gaming’s legitimacy when Lenny limping about and being all disabled and saying he wants to be in charge and …..

… ehhhhhh. .. ugh.

The line of sight detection at infinite range by characters that you're disguised as sounds straight up broken...a patch that addresses this may be a little too much to hope for.

Oh well. Last weekend I Redbox'd CODBLOPS 2 for 2 bucks and beat the campaign in about five hours in a single playthrough...I'm all for supporting developers with my money, and even buying games at full price when deserved, but this game seems like it's worth a $2 night's rental to check out the campaign. I feel like I would be extremely disappointed if I bought it.

I think I'll do the $2 Redbox rental for Xbox 360 soon, try to make it through the campaign in one night, and then I'll probably pick it up on PC as soon as it's offered at a deep discount.

@AlexW00d said:

@Spoonman671 said:

Everybody else seems to like it. Sorry you're having a shitty time with it.

From what I can tell, most people have said much the same as the OP, but some don't care as much that it's not a Hitman game. Some do though, like the PCGamer review and the RPS review.

Same thing that happened to Splinter Cell (Conviction was it called?). It reviewed okay by people who didn't give a shit it was nothing like an actual Splinter Cell game, and everyone who actually enjoyed the series were just really sad.

@BisonHero said:

@Oni: How does the intuition meter thing interact with your hate of how useless disguises are? Or is there no intuition on hard?

If you have intuition, you can make your way past someone in the same disguise. It doesn't regenerate on Hard and higher difficulties though, so it's kind of a one-shot type deal, it burns up really fast. I don't mind the mechanic at all, it's silly but so is a lot about Hitman. It's still just ridiculous that without using intuition, disguises are next to useless on enemies of the same type, regardless of how much distance there is between you or how many people are ostensibly blocking the line of sight. They can seriously see straight through a whole crowd of people, unless you're standing still.

Some people have said I shouldn't pas judgement because I'm "only" 1/4 through the game. And I've "only" played for 4 hours. Only in videogames...

I have already bumped it down to Normal in the Hunter/Hunted mission. This makes the stealth tolerable, though still not fun. It's still basically trial and error and mostly me shuffling along walls and rolling from one point of cover to the next.

Played 22 hours on Expert (no checkpoints), and that's just the first 5 levels because of all the challenges and ways to take out a target. Loads of replayability and trial and error :P

Playing down on Hard is actually more the normal difficulty if you're good at stealth games.

It certainly has more options of going about objectives than Dishonored, there are sometimes 10 ways to do an assassination. King of Chinatown, especially.

just finished the game , it was great , got silent assassin on only a few levels but it felt pretty good doing so , the rest i just cut my losses or didnt want to replay the mission again , i played on normal , but i intend to go right back into expert or purist mode even , theres sooooo many challenges and collectibles left , and random dialogue to see , and events , and finish some levels the fun way , i.e killing everyone :)

definately a departure from previous hitman games , but not at all a disappointment. the very last level was short but sweet too ,

Played it at Eurogamer and it didn't seem too bad. Still interested in checking it out.

YOUR OPINIONS MEAN NOTHING TO ME, ONI!!!!!!

Sorry to see you're not enjoying yourself, I'm having a fucking blast.

I am enjoying this game (not taking into account some very frustratingly linear parts of the game), however as a Hitman game I'm really disappointed.

Let me tell you, I love Splinter Cell (all of them, even Conviction). Half this game is trying to be Splinter Cell Conviction and that bummes me the fuck out.

Why am I spending half the game running/sneaking away and not assassinating fools in interesting/unique locations and in clever ways? Why are there chase sequences and quick time events?

WHY IS THIS NOT A PROPER HITMAN GAME. WHYYYYY.

Good game though overall, just could have been so much more.

@Laivasse said:

@Abendlaender: Yes the vendor suspicion in the Chinatown level is insane. When I was exploring that level in a vendor's disguise, one vendor looked at me for too long (about 5 seconds) through a massive crowd of people, from about 30 feet away. Her reaction was to point, scream, then run off and hide off in a corner moaning to herself with her hands on her head. Just bizarre behaviour. Sure, the older games had plenty of jank and flaws, but a) we are now in 2012 and b) that's her reaction just from looking at me wearing some stall-vendor's clothes. Nothing else. This kind of sensitivity to disguises is a first. I'll PM you about SA on the Chinatown level.

I played that level like 30 times on Hard, Expert and Purist and I don't have the slightest idea of what are you talking about. I stabbed, sniped, exploded, burned, shotted and pushed the king to death many, many times. I didn't manage to escape always but did it 6 or 7 times I believe.

I'm a huge fan of the series and I don't share the praise for Blood Money, the first Hitman is the best in my modest opinion. I used to play on the harder difficulty without saves and changing weapons in real time with no pause. I am very happy that they went back to checkpoint and changing weapons in real time, for me it is a purer Hitman experience.

Last night I killed almost everyone in the Terminus Hotel just for fun and got a -180,000 points. Haha.

Enjoy!

Thanks for a summary of your experience. I've seen a few other reviews hinting on the same problems. I'm going to wait until the price drops, I'm focused too much on NBA2K13 and Forza Horizon at the moment.

@Spoonman671 said:

Everybody else seems to like it. Sorry you're having a shitty time with it.

That is a wildly inaccurate statement.

Only from the five first lvl's huh. I'm looking forward to playing this at my own pace and figuring things out for myself. It's been so long since I perfected Blood Money, I'm exited to pick up this new hitman. I know they have set up some linear missions to advance the story, but i'll make up my own mind when I play it.

do any of you guys know about purist mode? It seems like the way to play that game if you've enjoyed hitman games in the past.

I like how one of your points is that it's trial and error. All Whitman games have been trial and error.

I like how one of your points is that it's trial and error. All Whitman games have been trial and error.

Looks like I can take my time with Blood Money and pick this up from the bargain bin known as Amazon in a year or so. Thought they would pull it off but looks like they couldn't. Damn

@Dagbiker

I like how one of your points is that it's trial and error. All Whitman games have been trial and error.

All Whitman games?

Who's Whitman?

Walt Whitman?

@Oni: So no more this then?!

@Dagbiker said:

I like how one of your points is that it's trial and error. All Whitman games have been trial and error.

In past Hitman games, you could save at any time, this negating some of that. Also, most levels gave you enough freedom to figure out your own solution for each target. This is a different kind of trial and error, the kind of "I have to sneak past these guys but I don't know the exact correct route and timing so I'm just going to keep trying until I get it right". there's almost none of that in past Hitman games. With the right disguise, you could walk around pretty much undisturbed unless doing something suspicious, and the only trial and error part of that was "when can I kill this guy without anyone watching". Which, again, is mostly negated if you save right before you do anything suspicious.

@Oni said:

Why get rid of manual saves? Who knows. It's baffling.

Arguably the most baffling aspect of video games to me. Why do developers have a personal vendetta against manual saving? LET ME SAYVE! Checkpoints are terrible for so many reasons..

don't ever post again.

but seriously i find the game to be all kinds of awesome and i disagree with pretty much everything you said and the first part of your complain mostly sounds like you chose the wrong dif compared to what you wanted.

also the disguises works fine its not perfect but thats for a reason imo. if you kill a guard and run around the other guards ofc they will get suspicious you don't change your face but there are multiple times where if i took a police uniform/construction work/what ever i could walk around unbothered, unless i did something stupid. and yada yada yada

opinions man opinions.

and terrible spelling/contructions of the different sentances on my part as well

I don't think personal qualms with the way the game is structured is a valid justification for telling someone "not to buy a game." If a game is broken, which would impede the player from actually experiencing the game, that's an entirely different story. From your post you sound like you're sour on the design choices, (which you are entitled to) but when it comes down to it, anyone could find themselves on the other-side of the fence and really enjoy the mechanics and changes.

The more i keep playing the more i'm getting frustrated. This game has some very weird stealth systems. And those systems kinda break the game.

@Grillbar said:

don't ever post again.

but seriously i find the game to be all kinds of awesome and i disagree with pretty much everything you said and the first part of your complain mostly sounds like you chose the wrong dif compared to what you wanted.

also the disguises works fine its not perfect but thats for a reason imo. if you kill a guard and run around the other guards ofc they will get suspicious you don't change your face but there are multiple times where if i took a police uniform/construction work/what ever i could walk around unbothered, unless i did something stupid. and yada yada yada

opinions man opinions.

and terrible spelling/contructions of the different sentances on my part as well

Yet if you dress up as a cook, cops suddenly forget your face but all other cooks know something is up? System sucks.

The way enemies respawn when you load checkpoints is ridiculous. I reloaded a checkpoint earlier to find that the game had respawned a guard, in my disguise, right in front of me, looking at me. Instant disguise fail, every time. Remember that's the only save the game allows me to have.

@crcruz3 said:

@Laivasse said:

@Abendlaender: Yes the vendor suspicion in the Chinatown level is insane. When I was exploring that level in a vendor's disguise, one vendor looked at me for too long (about 5 seconds) through a massive crowd of people, from about 30 feet away. Her reaction was to point, scream, then run off and hide off in a corner moaning to herself with her hands on her head. Just bizarre behaviour. Sure, the older games had plenty of jank and flaws, but a) we are now in 2012 and b) that's her reaction just from looking at me wearing some stall-vendor's clothes. Nothing else. This kind of sensitivity to disguises is a first. I'll PM you about SA on the Chinatown level.

I played that level like 30 times on Hard, Expert and Purist and I don't have the slightest idea of what are you talking about. I stabbed, sniped, exploded, burned, shotted and pushed the king to death many, many times. I didn't manage to escape always but did it 6 or 7 times I believe.

How can you not know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about the basic disguise mechanic, as applied to the stall vendors. They scream and panic when they see you dressed as a vendor in a crowd of 100 people. It's dumb. That's it. Like another poster you seem to assume my complaint is that I had trouble completing the level. I didn't. Like you I completed it in a multitude of different ways. The vendor disguise logic is still retarded. There's no reason for them to be so suspicious. Goat's cheese sellers are not some elite militaristic club.

@Zidd said:

do any of you guys know about purist mode? It seems like the way to play that game if you've enjoyed hitman games in the past.

It isn't. Instinct is so integrated into the game and the way the disguise system works that it's practically unplayable without it. Purist is for when you have everything memorised.

all i know is that if all the game is sneaking around cops, i don't wanna pay 60 bucks for it

Well okay I just put like 3-4 hours into the first couple levels of the game and in taking my time with it, I feel pretty damn satisfied with it. I'm experimenting like crazy, just like the other games. I have so much fun trying a crazy or bad idea and seeing how it pans out, then restarting the level or checkpoint.

Mostly my strategy is to kinda go psycho a couple times, and run around the entire map as fast as I can killing everyone, so I can just see what things there are in the environment to play with. Then I restart and just go at it carefully and deliberately. Still haven't managed to get silent assassin it seems harder to get through levels without at least knocking someone out.

One gripe I have is that there just haven't seen any (I guess I haven't found them, hope they are there) of the classic Hitman "accidental" deaths. Blood Money had some really memorable instances of those, like replacing a stage prop gun with a real one, or rigging a barbecue to explode.

@Syndrom said:

@Grillbar said:

don't ever post again.

but seriously i find the game to be all kinds of awesome and i disagree with pretty much everything you said and the first part of your complain mostly sounds like you chose the wrong dif compared to what you wanted.

also the disguises works fine its not perfect but thats for a reason imo. if you kill a guard and run around the other guards ofc they will get suspicious you don't change your face but there are multiple times where if i took a police uniform/construction work/what ever i could walk around unbothered, unless i did something stupid. and yada yada yada

opinions man opinions.

and terrible spelling/contructions of the different sentances on my part as well

Yet if you dress up as a cook, cops suddenly forget your face but all other cooks know something is up? System sucks.

This is basically where it breaks down. It doesn't make sense even within the logical ruleset of the game itself. I mean, the context is that you're a fugitive, and the cops are specifically looking for 47. They know what he looks like (the cops mention your physical description several times). So why would they not recognize you if you're dressed as a cook? I just don't understand why they messed with this mechanic so much, the disguises worked fine in Blood Money. If you hung around close to other enemies of the same type too much, they would get suspicious, but they wouldn't pick you out from 30 meters away.

I can agree maybe there should be saving at any time, but I sort of like checkpoints because you have to live with your choices more and improvise as opposed to "oh I made this tiny little mistake, let me reload my save again".

Also the whole "people can spot you when you wear their clothing" makes sense to me. If I'm wearing a janitor outfit, for example, I can roam freely by mostly everyone. Other janitors would obviously know I'm not one of them though. They can see you from a fair distance, but it's not hard to just turn your back and walk away.

Just Kane and Lynch being in the game alone got me to get this game. While I do agree the disguise system is lame, the attention of detial added to the game is good enough to keep me playing. The weapons are just awesome and satisfying to use. Even though Hitman isn't supposed to be a complete TPS, it matches up to the same amount of quality pretty well.

@Live2bRighteous said:

Just Kane and Lynch being in the game alone got me to get this game.

What? Really?

@Oni said:

How do I hate thee, Hitman Absolution? Let me count the ways.

-Open, sandboxy levels with assassination targets have been mostly thrown out the window in favor of a crappy, mostly linear stealth game, like a worse Splinter Cell. I've played the first 5 missions, and the vast majority of the time was spent dodging patrolling guards.

-Stealth mechanics are bad. If a guard sees you, an arrow on the screen indicates which guard sees you, and once he's definitely for real spotted you, it turns red (the arrow changes shape to indicate growing suspicion). Remember disguises in past Hitman games? Throw them in the fucking garbage, they're worthless. It's a cool idea: Disguises of one type do not work well on guards wearing the same type of disguise. EG: a cop will see through your cop uniform because he knows you're not a cop. Problem: They will spot you from across the fucking map, as long as they have line of sight their suspicion will grow. get too close and your cover is instantly blown. Problem 2: Lots of levels with NOTHING BUT COPS. So, you'll spend most of your time simply avoiding enemies, or taking them out if you don't give a shit about being professional. You get docked points for this, even non-lethal takedowns. Oh yeah, the game now has a scoring system to tell you on the fly if you're a good assassin or a reckless dumbass. Which would be fine if not for...

-Playing on Hard (which is the middle difficulty, I might add) is just fucking ridiculous. Disguises are blown almost instantly, there are WAY more guards, to the point where it's literally impossible to make a 'clean' path through a level without getting spotted. You'll have to rely on sheer trial and error as you figure out the correct way, and we're talking timing that has to be ON THE FUCKING DOT or you get spotted, and everything devolves into a crappy action game, with quick-time melee fights and shootouts that just don't belong in a Hitman game. I mean, yeah you can shoot your way out, but to make the stealth path SO HARD that it's almost impossible is against the nature of the game. Deus Ex: HR and Dishonored are both better stealth games AND better action games, and Hitman is ostensibly ABOUT the stealth.

-No saves, just checkpoints (which you have to find and activate in the levels). That means the trial-and-error nature of the stealth is even more aggravating, as you'll waste time getting through bits you've already played or sit around waiting for the guards to move into the right positions. Why get rid of manual saves? Who knows. It's baffling. Furthermore, enemies you've disposed of before activating the checkpoint respawn upon reloading the checkpoint. What the actual fuck.

-Super small levels. Every mission is divided into several smaller maps, and when I say small I mean Deus Ex: Invisible War small. Even the assassination levels are tiny and don't offer nearly as many options as Hitman games of old. Remember the huge casino/hotel in Blood Money? If that level were in this game, every section would be its own level with its own silly objective. It would probably be 4 levels of dodging cops and guards and 1 level where you can roam around 5 rooms and find the couple ways to sneakily kill your target.

To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. I didn't even expect it to be as good as Blood Money, but it's barely even a Hitman game. Which wouldn't be so bad if it was a fun stealth game in its own right, but it's just not. It's not good on any level. Well, the graphics are good I suppose. Oh yeah, the story is bad too. And there's a LOT of it. And it locked up twice on the loading screen (pc version). GG. I have no idea how this game garnered positive reviews. It's true that it's not as aggravating on Normal, but even then it's just about passably mediocre at best. Avoid this garbage.

Ostensibly

@Chaser324 said:

@Spoonman671 said:

Everybody else seems to like it. Sorry you're having a shitty time with it.

To be fair to the OP, neither the critical nor the fan response is universally positive. There are a lot of reviews out there that describe a lot of the same issues and a similar level of disappointment.

The Hitman games have always been like that.

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Oni said:

Why get rid of manual saves? Who knows. It's baffling.

Arguably the most baffling aspect of video games to me. Why do developers have a personal vendetta against manual saving? LET ME SAYVE! Checkpoints are terrible for so many reasons..

I don't mind checkpoints for the most if they are done right. Ideally a save anywhere would be great and would save a lot of headaches for gamers but I don't know if it applies to the developer. I don't think developers outright go about not wanting to have a save anywhere system but that the the game has easier time writing and pulling the data from this spacific location then to have it gather information from every possible location in the game world. Still I'm not a developer so I don't know how this stuff works. Might be that checkpoint system is just a device "for the lazy" if deveoper can't or wont afford the time to implement a save anywhere system.

If developer decided to give you a save system that has specific save location then at least have the time to test it out and refine it. AC Brotherhood comes to mind with a horrible save system and an even more atrocious checkpoint system.

Personally I think any game with and open world gameplay element should have a save anywhere system.

@mordukai: Pretty much agree with all of that, and would add that for stealth games heavily based around trial and error, or that involve a lot of waiting around for patrols and such, manual saves are a must. Again, Blood Money did it well by limiting saves based on difficulty. This has horrible checkpointing.

@glyn: Thanks!

@Spoonman671: There are problems, although I'm still enjoying it. I'm wondering if the real mistake was thinking that because a difficulty selection was in the middle, it was the one to play. Rather than say... "normal".

@Oni: That's what I thought. It's been a while since I played Blood Money so I couldn't remember if it had a save anywhere system but you just had a limit to amount of saves. I think it should be taken on a game to game basis with the Save Anywhere system. For example, Demon's Souls had a very specific type of save system that correlated directly to the gameplay. If you played Demon's Souls you'd know what I am talking about. It did however, had a very specific exploit that allowed to have a pseudo save anywhere system but I didn't like using it.

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about. I come from an era of gaming where save where all but none existent I still remember the feeling I had when I first had the option to save my progress in a game. Shit, I felt like I was given a free cheat. ;)

@rebgav said:

@BaconBuTTy said:

@Dagbiker

I like how one of your points is that it's trial and error. All Whitman games have been trial and error.

All Whitman games? Who's Whitman? Walt Whitman?

A game where you sneak around killing people as Walt Whitman would be pretty fucking sweet.

@Oni said:

@Live2bRighteous said:

Just Kane and Lynch being in the game alone got me to get this game.

What? Really?

Yeah, it's pretty hilarious. Kane outright shows up in a cutscene and can potentially start a bar fight (though you can start it yourself, too), and Lynch makes for a great distraction to help you sneak around a particular area.

@Oni Yes, really. I love the series to death. It's what got me into hitman in the first place.

How did this thread get to five pages without anyone calling @Video_Game_King on linking entirely the wrong poem? I don't entirely fault him, but not every sonnet in the popular consciousness was written by Shakespeare. In fact, he's off by about two centuries.

(It's Elizabeth Barret Browning'sSonnet 43, if anyone's interested.)