I guess someone got their hands on a review copy of Hitman: Absolution. A playthrough has been posted on youkuObviously, there are spoilers. I didn't watch much but I jumped around a bit to get a decent idea of how levels play out. They seem a bit more linear than Blood Money with levels broken up into segments. Overall, gameplay does seem decent, though it's hard to tell since the guy playing it plays it like Splinter Cell. This combined with the PCGamer review has me thinking this will be a solid game if not quite living up to Blood Money.

Lynch cameo at 3:40

@Rainbowkisses said:

Lynch cameo at 3:40

That's great!

@Ravenlight: Just read somewhere that Kane has a cameo in the Streets of Hope level so I checked it out. He's at 6:00.He's front and center in that cutscene so they are certainly not being subtle about it.

That makes me happy in the pants in the non-PG-13 way. Completely divorced from gameplay, I think Kane and Lynch are great characters.

Ha, that's pretty awesome. Just reminded me that the two were also character skins in that Lara Croft Guardian of Light game... Like, what the Hell?? Nice to see them still managing to get some screentime here and there despite their own franchise being most likely dead and buried at this point. Poor guys, they deserved better.

Ni Hao!

Im having real cold feet ordering the game. I have $30 in credit at gamestop I should order it tonight but ugh...so torn on if I think this will be decent.

@Demoskinos: I had my wife tell her mom to remove it from my Christmas list. I'm no longer confident that this is going to be the Hitman game I want it to be. Better to just wait for release and gauge the reaction.

Sexy. Very sexy.

@Demoskinos said:

Im having real cold feet ordering the game. I have $30 in credit at gamestop I should order it tonight but ugh...so torn on if I think this will be decent.

How about you wait for the product to be released before you pay big money for it? :)

Sniper Challenge was pretty solid at least, I have it pre-ordered but that credit can go elsewhere if the game is meh.

@Demoskinos: If you really are on the fence about it I would just wait till reviews and the Quick Look comes out. If you still don't know by then I don't know what to tell you.

If you need anyone to thank for that brilliantly unnecessary flashy cinematic crapntro, thank Mass Effect. It's like a plague now, this cinematic "story" shit :/ The name of the game is HITMAN, we're here to hit not watch emotional story cutscenes.

Edit: There should be a blood-wiping minigame here. Shooting someone in the skull then hiding their body is not enough when there's a pool of dark blood on the ground!

Edit 2: The player's using Batman vision.. I'm done watching. Which is good, I needed a reason to stop.

@AhmadMetallic: I like the introThe only thing that bothered me is I'm left wondering why Agent 47 wouldn't take the guard's disguise after killing him. It's melodramatic but that seems to be the overall tone this game is going for. The idea of more of a focus on story really doesn't bother me. My biggest concern was that they were going to take it too seriously, but the leather assassin nuns put that concern to rest.

The focus on the story does bother me, because Hitman has never had a good plot. It also seems to be the case that some sacrifices were made to the gameplay for said "story".

After watching a whole playthrough, I can say I'm disappointed. It's like Splinter Cell: Conviction 2.0 with some small Hitman elements thrown in.

It's been on YouTube for days, as well. It looks great.

I am also deadly serious when I say that it is my perception that 90% of the Hitman fanbase are the whiniest, most entitled little shits, ever.

And in spite of that, you'll still buy it. Because remember what happened when Blood Money came out? The exact same thing. There were enough Interbutt tears to create an entire flood, people screaming "IT'S NOT CONTRACTS!" - and now, years later, we have people screaming "IT'S NOT BLOOD MONEY!" - and next time a Hitman game is released, you'll all scream "IT'S NOT ABSOLUTION, ABSOLUTION WAS THE BEST GAME EVER." - and you'll buy that shit once again.

@Incapability said:

I am also deadly serious when I say that it is my perception that 90% of the Hitman fanbase are the whiniest, most entitled little shits, ever.

I never understood this. I'm a huge fan of a lot of these old games as well yet every time an interesting and decent sequel is coming out, everyone is SO PISSED!! Not only for hitman.

Anyway, yay! videogames! this new hitman looks like it will be a lot of fun.

@Incapability: I've been playing Hitman since Hitman 2, and I've always thought they've been better and better, with Blood Money being the best, and I thought that when it was released. Every fanbase will have people that complain sequels are not like the previous games. I am kind of skeptical on this game though. I really hope it turns out great because IO is one of my favorite developers. Watching videos of Absolution makes it look quite linear. Linear games are fine, but what made the previous Hitman games so much fun was they dropped you in this open world and said "have at it." I'm sure this game will turn out fine, but I'm going to wait and see what some other people say before throwing money at it.

Look, it's Saint's Row 3! 
 
  

@SonnyCheebah: That is the exact thing that came to mind when I saw this.