So last month Hitman for the current gen systems came out and I bought the intro pack. After playing the intro missions I stopped before doing the Paris mission. Playing the intro missions reminded me of what I enjoyed about hitman and I started to get the urge to go back and play all the old games.

So after remembering I had Hitman Trilogy HD and Hitman Absolution via PS+ on PS3 I downloaded all 4 games and proceeded to play through all of them getting every platinum trophy.

I just finished up Absolution tonight. It was a pretty fun romp. It was interesting seeing the games evolve over time. I could write a longer blog worthy post about my individual observations on the games but I'll save that for another time. Time now though to go to Paris with 47. :)

Below are links to my PSN profiles page showing off my completion for each game.

Hitman 2 - http://psnprofiles.com/trophies/1815...sin/Demoskinos

Hitman Contracts - http://psnprofiles.com/trophies/1819...cts/Demoskinos

Hitman Bloodmoney - http://psnprofiles.com/trophies/1821...ney/Demoskinos

Hitman Absolution - http://psnprofiles.com/trophies/1718...ion/Demoskinos

It's cool man, I believe you.

@hippie_genocide: Don't upset him. If there's a way to assassinate you, he knows it.

You have surpassed 47. I now give you the codename: Big Hitman.

Big Hitman 48. 2. Definitive Edition.

Now I just want a fanfic that merges the Hitman and Metal gear stories. Well actually fuck... both have clones so... I guess were already halfway there.

Props and condolences for getting a Platinum in Absolution. While I didn't absolutely hate that game like most people, it's also not a Hitman I would particularly want to spend a whole lot of time on. There was so much potential there squandered by the level design and poorly implemented outfit system. Even the "big ending" was kind of OK for a Hitman game, a decent twist. I'm also probably one of the 3 people on the planet that thought the nuns looked super cool and absolutely fit into the ridiculous Hitman world. They reminded me of Metal Gear Solid bosses and it was a really cool encounter to be outnumbered, outgunned, and yet systematically taking out these psychotic women one by one using your cunning and skills.

Congrats, i've always found the Hitman games to be a bit too janky (for lack of a better word) to really get good at but I see the appeal.

I felt like Absolution had more personality than the other games, granted that's the only one i've completed. (a coherent story helps me finish games, no matter how bad they are)

@boozak: They definitely expanded the narrative arch for better and worse. The older games were a lot more about being sandboxes to play around in with very loose plot elements stringing them together. Not to dredge up yet another long winded discussion about Absolution's shortcomings, but for me the major most damning problem was that there were too many levels that felt like they were lifted from a shooter instead of an open ended Hitman game - long corridors that tasked you with sneaking by enemies along the way. Everything else from the presentation to the ridiculous characters was really good.

We have similar feelings on Absolution on the whole, but I'm going to disagree with you on the nuns. They remain the low point of the entire series for me. The MGS boss fight comparison is apt, but that's not what I want out of a Hitman game at all. I seriously thought they were just another slightly distasteful marketing stunt that had no chance of actually being featured in the game, and then there they were. Ugh. That said, the cornfield was the most interesting area from a design standpoint (outside of the excellent Chicago library level) in the entire game. It was cool to go all Ghost and the Darkness there, but I still think the inclusion of the nuns as characters was lazy, juvenile, and stupid (and not in fun ways). Enough on that, though, because it sounds like you've heard it before.

There has been quite a bit of weirdness in the periphery of the Hitman universe. To wit, apparently I'll be cracking virtual Gary Busey's dome with a crowbar shortly. Which, if you think about it, is an "uh, okay?" prospective bit of gameplay. Then again, this stuff usually doesn't dampen my enjoyment of the games overall (though I'd be lying if I said the Absolution nuns didn't). Provided Sapienza is even half as good as the latest game's Paris level was, it will already be my GOTY. Bringing this back around to Hitman completionism, I've only got one challenge left on The Final Test to complete and four Escalations. I expect to be done with those by the time Sapienza releases, so their episodic timing appears to be just about perfect, at least for me.

It's a great series for the most part, and I'm glad to see someone going deep into it. The new one takes all the best things from the previous games and is truly awesome.

@notnert427: But why is it lazy or juvenile? I don't understand what people find so outrageous and distasteful about a couple of psychopaths dressing up as nuns. They are sexualized, but that is nothing new to videogames or Hitman for that matter. Their appearance wasn't exploited in any way. It's completely in line with that universe full of really bizarre individuals, and Absolution especially presented every single person through this lens of an LCD laced fever dream. Apart from their sexualized outfits it's not like there is a long shot of them licking their pistols or dancing around a strip pole. There isn't any of that weirdness you get from the B&B squad in Guns of the Patriots either - something that even I can't honestly defend apart from saying "it's dumb but oh well." I really do think the media made this into a much bigger thing it actually was. I think the designs for their outfit were really cool and like I said, found the entire idea pretty cool. If you want to talk about cheap and juvenile then we can bring up that one mission in the hotel where the woman takes off her shirt in order to seduce 47 - that was pretty needless.

My issue with them isn't really due to finding them offensive; I just thought they were really uninspired/contrived. "Let's put sexy nuns in there!" sounds like an idea a teenage boy would come up with, or worse, an idea that was intended to cater to teenage boys. As mentioned, it's not like the Hitman games have otherwise been "above that" or anything, but the nuns to me represent a lack of creativity that was sadly a bit common of Absolution on the whole. I think I might have been far more willing to look past their inclusion if the game hadn't been so linear, but given that it was, the nuns to me are the lightning rod because they were the most depth-less characters in a game that could have used a lot more depth overall.

@notnert427: I thought they had the most character and depth than most antagonists in that game since they actually had a backstory. But hey to each their own.

I liked the characters too in Absolution. Everything in that game felt like the developers just finished watching a Tarintino movie marathon. Cause like every single person in that game from Dexter to the Nuns were all the same kind of over the top caricatures that would be in a Tarintino film.

As for The Saints specifically to me at least while they were sexualized the Nuns part didn't come off to me as someone checking off a box on a list of sexual kinks. It felt more to me like the nun thing was more put in there for the juxtaposition of women dressed like Nuns basically committing terrorist acts. Which again, to me just seems like its straight out of a Tarintino movie. I guess different people will get hung up on different things so I'll never get the uproar about The Saints either.

congrats! that is no small "feat", if ya catch my drift...cuz u know...feats in the new...ah fuck nvm.

@demoskinos: How I looked at it too. Like I said - Metal Gear bosses. Weird, crazy and over the top in absolutely the best way (to me anyway).

lol Big Hitman, that's amazing.

Well congrats Demo, I had no idea you were a Hitmaniac.

Will be curious to see what someone like yourself thinks of the latest. Those links are a little scary honestly. Have you always been in to Hitman actually? When did you first get clipped? i.e. what is your series history here?

@demoskinos: You still have to show proof that you beat Hitman: Codename 47. I remember buying it on a whim in Comp USA when those stores still existed and boy.. it's so rough but the concept was so amazing in 2000 or so that I pushed on through to the very final mission. Did I mention that in the first game there was no saving and some of the missions were looooong. The last mission was really awesome though.

@humanity: Actually I can!

I didn't play through it this time but I did play through it last year. In fact I documented the entire thing on my YouTube.

@geraltitude Well, my first Hitman game was Hitman 2 Silent Assassin of which I played on oddly enough the Game Cube. It was the first one to come to consoles so when I saw the commercials for it I thought it just looked rad as fuck and picked it up. Been playing every game in the series ever since!

As for the new Hitman I just actually finished playing a bunch today. The Paris mission is really cool! I'm not sure I'm behind the episodic formula but I do think the game is pretty goddamn solid. Interested to see if they are going to play each mission as just individual sandboxes or if they are going to try to give some sort of connective tissue between them with a narrative.