So here i am gonna list the improvements that IO introduced to Hitman Absolution and whether they are effective or simply drastic. This blog will be updated frequently as i progress through the game. It will have me listing as many features and mechanics that don't work for a Hitman game, while some do in terms of improving over the last installments.

Good Improvements

• The disguise system is way improved in terms of realism and detection capability. In the past Hitman games you can simply pick up a disguise and walk just like you were that previous owner of the said disguise if you meet certain requirements such as holding the right weapons. Whether in Hitman Absolution if you disguised yourself as a cop for example, walking by fellow cops will blow your cover if you are facing them.
• The Enemy AI is more balanced, focused and fierce. They will simply chase you if they are suspicious until you decide and hide from their sight. Especially in harder difficulties were they react immediately and are more alert they will prove to be your will...worst enemy in the game.
• The serious addition of the cover system is pretty much helpful in any stealth game, which is absent in previous Hitman games. They allow you to "peak" around corners and walls instead of standing behind a wall and rotating the camera for better view. It also help for changing from cover to cover with "Sam Fisher-y" fashion without exposing your cover.
• Using objects as distractions. As far as i remember you only had a coin before to distract NPCs and make look "elsewhere". In Absolution you can nearly throw any object available whether for distraction purposes or lethal ones. This allow for more organic use of the environment objects laying around and work them for your advantages.
• What Hitman Absolution is great at is delivering tension. Tension is really vital to any stealth game, and since this Hitman game relies a lot on stealth, it builds up your tension meter to really heightened states, which in turn might make you do something illogically or act otherwise sharply.
• The combat and gunning feels a lot more "punchy" and delivers much more impact. With that said when you go about in a level without firing a single shot but you eventually do it because you need to assassinate you target or just you have to, it gives both a soothing and a shocking effect, helped by the dramatic sounds or effects accompanying these acts.
• The abundance of challenges and difficulties. The inclusion of challenges in this game helps the replayability value it tend to offer. You cannot always finish all the challenges in one playthrough, but maybe after three or more playthroughs. Challenges are their to remind you that there are different play styles you can achieve if you experiment and improvise. Not to mention the five difficulty options that surely will satisfy every person type out there whether he is new player, expert, or a perfectionist.

Bad modifications

• Hitman games are known for their virtually open sandbox levels where you have the freedom to go exploring and plotting to ultimately finish your objective(s). Unfortunately this game kills that concept in favor for more segmented sections in a level connected by checkpoints where exploring and plotting are kept to a minimum. Checkpoints are the real enemies in a Hitman game because implementing them means restriction and no more quick saves. It defies what the real premise those Hitman games were set for, which is experimentation.
• IO this time seemed to forgot what made previous Hitman games so original and fun and focused on a story that is more akin to movie fanatics. Hitman games were always about gameplay, with players always regarding the story as a flavor or ignore it completely. Whether in Absolution you have entire levels build with the story as a backbone, relying heavily on cut-scenes and wasted segmented levels, which seems radical in a Hitman game.
• The tailored and streamlined fashion of the game levels will render immersion useless, which again a factor that made the previous games enjoyable. Occasionally you will find yourself in a level with a setup of weapons and a suit that designed for that said level, you have no control over your equipment whatsoever prior to a level.
• It makes playing with Agent 47 seem less professional , and less playing as Agent 47 as a whole. Agent 47 now has emotions and apparent eyes (remember how his eyes always concealed especially in covers) that change the look of the cold-killer that he was before, a professional assassin who kills for money and probably enjoyment, now he kills over sentimental issues and for the sake of saving a girl.
• The instinct vision (or mode). You know maybe the Eagle Vision is cool in Assassin's Creed and Dark Vision too in Dishonored (it depends on the person) but seriously i never feel the obligation of including a similar "supernatural" vision to a Hitman game.
• The fact that this game plays a lot more like a stealth game rather than a Hitman game is depressive.

Bad improvements?

@Lugburz: These are all good points but unfortunately the bad points are the ones that I absolutely (no pun intended) loved about the Hitman games. I was very much looking forward to this game but now I'll just save hat purchase for a steam sale.

I just have to accept that the greatness that was the A new Life and A House of Cards missions from Blood Money will not be repeated.

@Lugburz: you forgot the part where half the game is generic stealth from 2002 but with 25 guards instead of 5 or 6. Also, higher difficulty levels would be fine if they didn't add way more guards in very bad spots and completly threw the game off balance.

I agree with what you've said so far. Unfortunately, the direction they took has made this Hitman game one that I absolutely do not need to own. I rented it, had some fun, beat it, and now I'm done with it.

Also, bad improvements doesn't make any sense. Reword that?

@pyrodactyl said:

@Lugburz: Also, higher difficulty levels would be fine if they didn't add way more guards in very bad spots and completly threw the game off balance.

You are right on that, some guards locations are impossible to bypass if you are going for 'suit only' and 'not spotted' but i don't find that a bad feature but quite a good one. The harder the game the better it is.

@Lugburz said:

• The fact that this game plays a lot more like a stealth game rather than a Hitman game is depressive.

I feel like I could live with some the other cons, but this is basically what keeps me from buying the game right now.

@Lugburz said:

• It makes playing with Agent 47 seem less professional , and less playing as Agent 47 as a whole. Agent 47 now has emotions and apparent eyes (remember how his eyes always concealed especially in covers) that change the look of the cold-killer that he was before, a professional assassin who kills for money and probably enjoyment, now he kills over sentimental issues and for the sake of saving a girl.

Once you finish the game you'll see this isn't the case. Also, why are people saying that 47 has never shown any emotion in previous games? Have you played the previous ones at all? Hitman 2 for example, where the game starts with him feeling bad about the things he's done?

@YOU_DIED said:

@Lugburz said:

• It makes playing with Agent 47 seem less professional , and less playing as Agent 47 as a whole. Agent 47 now has emotions and apparent eyes (remember how his eyes always concealed especially in covers) that change the look of the cold-killer that he was before, a professional assassin who kills for money and probably enjoyment, now he kills over sentimental issues and for the sake of saving a girl.

Once you finish the game you'll see this isn't the case. Also, why are people saying that 47 has never shown any emotion in previous games? Have you played the previous ones at all? Hitman 2 for example, where the game starts with him feeling bad about the things he's done?

Or more recently, Hitman: Blood Money when he thinks Diana has betrayed him? He sounded pretty goddamn mad about that.

I'm 4 levels into the game, and on the whole I actually really like the game. Maybe it's because I lowered my expectations a whole lot going in, but I can stomach the bad stuff. Yes, the levels are smaller, but they are most certainly not small, they're divided into sections but when you put it all together they're actually quite large. The game feels more alive than any previous Hitman game. In the Chinatown mission for example, while I was waiting for the drug dealer to come to the pagoda, there was this milf talking on her cell with her son/daughter, arguing about piercings. The conversation lasted a good two minutes and I just listened for no other reason than I found it really awesome that there was 2 minute long banter in the game. Or the guard that doesn't have cancer? There are loads of conversations in the game, that make the NPCs look more human. And yeah, I know there were conversations between enemies in previous games, but there's a lot more in this one.

And this isn't the first time 47 risked life and limb for another person, remember father Vittorio? I will say the hand holding with Diana made me cringe, but she saved his life, even a ruthless bald killer clone can appreciate that. And he still killed her, so...yeah. And the teenage girl, well she's very much like 47 from what I can gather, I don't know seems like 47 maybe going soft in his old age. But it's not quite as bad as I expected it to be. I'm kind of glad that they have an actual plot this time around. There was a really awesome moment where that nun takes in Victoria, I really liked that part.

The way disguises are implemented I think is really awesome, even when I'm pissed off about it. It's certainly interesting, but the problem is that enemies see through your disguise way too fast (on hard), and even worse is that civilians see through you as fast as actual security, that's some bullshit. But still a very interesting system, just needs some refinement.

But the fact that you can't choose weapons before the start of a mission is unforgivable, that really was a huge fuck up on IOI's part. And even worse is the fact that I'm 4 missions in and I've only killed one target. I can understand if a couple of missions don't involve an assassination but 3/4...ffs IOI.

Instinct, don't hate it, don't love it, definitely prefer the map over it. It's okay I guess.

In the end IOI didn't go wild, the game isn't nearly as bad as it could have been, but they did make some stupid decisions. It's still very much Hitman, and he's still that bald headed badass we know and love, hopefully we'll see a lot of improvements in the sequel.

Also, kind of off topic, but I just ran into this video and uh, David Bateson is one of the most intimidating people on the planet.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Also, kind of off topic, but I just ran into this video and uh, David Bateson is one of the most intimidating people on the planet.

I would pay to see him play 47 in a real Hitman film.