Here's 17 Minutes of Hitman: Absolution Gameplay With Commentary from IO Interactive

@Castiel said:

Where is his tie?

No tie, no hitman!

Seconded. He looks like a politician on the campaign trail.

"A vote for I, Agent 47, is a vote for lower taxes, fewer gun laws and mandartory Armani suits for all."

The guy walking away from the explosion like nothing is wrong definitely had nothing to do with it

@Khann: I guess I just had faith in the team - I've played every single Hitman game to date and each has been better than the one before it. They always kept true to the formula and continued to streamline things that needed more polish and adding new options to the gameplay. In the original game you couldn't even choke someone out with the piano string without raising an alarm unless you were in the "sneak" position which was slower than most enemy casual walk patterns - series certainly came a long way.

I just couldn't see I/O suddenly turning this series they've worked on for over 10 years into a mindless shooter all of a sudden. This gameplay looks great though and is everything that Hitman has always been and much more. I like the bullet time shooting (because bullet time is ALWAYS cool) I like the cool intuition mode and the in-depth stat tracking is just awesome. If people wanna raise a ruckus about the nuns trailer then I'd hate to use a term that I wholly dislike of "I guess they don't understand what Hitman games are all about" but thats the only thing that springs to mind. I'm just happy that a game I'm a huge fan of is finally getting another awesome release.

Where is his tie?

No tie, no hitman!

Why is hitman suddenly in the 60's? lol looks GREAT though, played all hitman games up to this point, so I guess you can call me a fan.

@Humanity said:

It has been discussed to death how it's difficult to show off exciting "stealth" footage in 6 minutes on stage.

I don't see why that has to be the case. If all you want is people to gasp in awe at your explosions and flashy lights, sure. But what's wrong with a little subtlety?

And don't try to tell me everyone knew exactly what that was about. How many countless times have devs showed a rough demo that people have made excuses for, and it has turned out to be exactly that way?

@Khann said:

@NoelVeiga said:

@Shaanyboi said:

@Dixego said:

Take that, people who bashed the trailers!

On a separate note, where's 47's neck barcode?

? That trailer was still a fucking abomination. I'm glad to see the game is turning out alright, but that doesn't excuse that pandering shitty marketing

I'm pretty sure he means the reveal trailer where 47 shot a bunch of guys and made every geek whine about how they "had made Hitman into a shooter".

Yeah, we remember. I'd like some acknowledgement of that one from the guys that freaked out, given how straight-up Hitman this game is turning out to be.

I am one of those that was not pleased with the "E3 Demo" footage. That footage was what they chose to use to market their game, and it did make it look much more shootery than fans of the franchise would like. This video has certainly made me a lot more interested (even though the AI seems retarded), but I stand by my reaction to the first video, as that was all I had to go on.

What they showed in that E3 video was what they wanted the gaming community to discuss, and if that's a gross misrepresentation of what their game actually is, then the blame is on them.

Anyone that has played video games and is a fan of the series knew exactly what the game was about and why they showed that footage. It has been discussed to death how it's difficult to show off exciting "stealth" footage in 6 minutes on stage.

@NoelVeiga said:

@Shaanyboi said:

@Dixego said:

Take that, people who bashed the trailers!

On a separate note, where's 47's neck barcode?

? That trailer was still a fucking abomination. I'm glad to see the game is turning out alright, but that doesn't excuse that pandering shitty marketing

I'm pretty sure he means the reveal trailer where 47 shot a bunch of guys and made every geek whine about how they "had made Hitman into a shooter".

Yeah, we remember. I'd like some acknowledgement of that one from the guys that freaked out, given how straight-up Hitman this game is turning out to be.

I am one of those that was not pleased with the "E3 Demo" footage. That footage was what they chose to use to market their game, and it did make it look much more shootery than fans of the franchise would like. This video has certainly made me a lot more interested (even though the AI seems retarded), but I stand by my reaction to the first video, as that was all I had to go on.

What they showed in that E3 video was what they wanted the gaming community to discuss, and if that's a gross misrepresentation of what their game actually is, then the blame is on them.

I'm so relieved that the developers kept the Hitman formula intact!

Agent 47 is a vampire and this video proves it!

@Shaanyboi said:

@Dixego said:

Take that, people who bashed the trailers!

On a separate note, where's 47's neck barcode?

? That trailer was still a fucking abomination. I'm glad to see the game is turning out alright, but that doesn't excuse that pandering shitty marketing

I'm pretty sure he means the reveal trailer where 47 shot a bunch of guys and made every geek whine about how they "had made Hitman into a shooter".

Yeah, we remember. I'd like some acknowledgement of that one from the guys that freaked out, given how straight-up Hitman this game is turning out to be.

@AgentZigzag said:

I've never got on with the "tag targets, shooting done for you" mechanics. Always feels like a cop out to me. Like admitting that the controls can't quite handle the gameplay so we have to have control taken away. Wasn't a fan of it in Red Dead Rev nor Splinter Cell. For me it removes all satisfaction of seeing a group drop dead because I didn't actually do it, I just told the game what to shoot and it did it for me. Looks nice otherwise though.

Eh.

Red Dead's combat was a straight up shooter, so I see it there. For Splinter Cell and Hitman not so much. I hate it in stealth games when I do my sneaking right and then fail to get the second guy in a group with a headshot, or he moves and I just miss. I like the notion of "your reward for being unseen is that all these guards go away".

The guy walking away from the explosion like nothing is wrong definitely had nothing to do with it

Holy shit at that last scene. Somebody needs to make a gif out of that.

I've never got on with the "tag targets, shooting done for you" mechanics. Always feels like a cop out to me. Like admitting that the controls can't quite handle the gameplay so we have to have control taken away. Wasn't a fan of it in Red Dead Rev nor Splinter Cell. For me it removes all satisfaction of seeing a group drop dead because I didn't actually do it, I just told the game what to shoot and it did it for me. Looks nice otherwise though.

@Krystal_Sackful said:

Oh come now, 'silenced' guns still make a lot of noise.

Hardly the game to rally about realism for.

@AlianthaBerries: Good to know.

@Dixego said:

Take that, people who bashed the trailers!

On a separate note, where's 47's neck barcode?

? That trailer was still a fucking abomination. I'm glad to see the game is turning out alright, but that doesn't excuse that pandering shitty marketing

@Ksaw: I find your comment jarring, it really jars me up

Oh, I see the latest Hitman is using the new SpeedHUMP middleware.

I wish I was a bigger fan of the Hitman games than I am, but this is looking great. I felt that way when I first saw it, and still do. I really don't know, but I have a feeling this is a game that's going to fit well with fans of the previous ones, but at the same time be more accessible for newcomers as well.

I think it's funny how the cops go to the blown up place, but take no real notice of a man walking away from an explosion un-phased by it all. Then the whole crushing the guy with the car. Now that I've watched all of it... it seems a little ridiculous. It also seems like the developers revel in all that violence, which at times is a bit hilarious the way they talk about it so seriously.

when is this game taking place? over multiple time periods or what?

@squirrelnacho said:

@Potts said:

And people doubted that this would be a good Hitman game.

Really digging the Splinter Cell mark & execute bit. Hopefully that will be awarded more for stealthy kills, and won't just come back with time.

LOL at the watered down Splinter Cell mode. If someone want's that in a Hitman game go play a different game. The game already looks easy enough.

you really have to ignore the line "you can turn these stuffs off" do you?

@Potts said:

And people doubted that this would be a good Hitman game.

Really digging the Splinter Cell mark & execute bit. Hopefully that will be awarded more for stealthy kills, and won't just come back with time.

LOL at the watered down Splinter Cell mode. If someone want's that in a Hitman game go play a different game. The game already looks easy enough.

@UKSamwise said:

This.

Hype for game.  Cannot watch.  Afraid spoilers. 

the cash register should have been shocked by the gunshot

point shooting seemed to superhuman

@GERALTITUDE said:

Wow, super impressive. Game looks awesome but how many levels could there be if they're all so detailed?

Also, some weird logic: The first target is on a phone, but the person at the other end thinks nothing of their choking death or the line going dead. The third target is crushed by a car in the shop, but the cops don't think it's weird that a mechanic walks out?

Hate to nitpick, but they're clearly trying hard to make these systems feel "real," and the realer the systems seem, the more frustrating it is as a player to run into Game Walls, so to speak.

This has always been a thing in the Hitman games. If you stick around once they realize what happened, they will try to take you down, and running away is pretty suspicious. As for the phone bit, I imagine it would take a while for whoever was on the other line to get someone to where he was killed, and 47 isn't too concerned about the investigation following the assassinations. But yeah, the whole "walking away when everyone else is running towards it" always bothered me a bit.

And people doubted that this would be a good Hitman game.

Really digging the Splinter Cell mark & execute bit. Hopefully that will be awarded more for stealthy kills, and won't just come back with time.

Oh come now, 'silenced' guns still make a lot of noise.

Apart from those cops taking explosions to the face and not being affected by that, this looks really awesome.

@jbrady said:

I told you not to worry when the nun trailer came out. you see that band-aid on the back of his head? that's priiide fuckin' with you. Fuck Pride. that shit only hurts...

This.

There have to be nuns all over the place, and then some, for this game not to be good. Looks pretty damn ace judging by this footage I just saw.

I had no real interest in this game but this video has shown me that I was wrong.

It's a Hitman game! An actual Hitman game!

so good

Not Lenny!! NOT LENNY!!!

Also, this looks fantastic.

They could have just released a screenshot of that last kill, and the look on 47's face would have sold me on this game.

@Dixego said:

Take that, people who bashed the trailers!

On a separate note, where's 47's neck barcode?

Scrubbed off to be replaced with a QR code, surely?

@GERALTITUDE: Yeah I thought the same thing. Also when he walks out of the garage while a fucking huge explosions goes off, and the cop looks at him like "Hey...that guy looks odd...probably nothing...definitely not the kinda guy who would set off a bomb."

Take that, people who bashed the trailers!

On a separate note, where's 47's neck barcode?

OK, you got me. That looks like loads of fun.

this looks awesome. will be pre ordering

Lets hope people will now shut the fuck up about the nuns.

This is my most anticipated game of 2012

@CH3BURASHKA said:

They've really got to do something about the costume changes - it was janky in the previous games, but they have a chance to remedy that. I'd settle for a MGS4-esque active camo effect that changes your suit to their suit, even if it doesn't really make sense within the game world. Of all current games, Hitman is one of the most game-y, so it could make something like that work.

Also, I totally love the "instinct shooting" that's been featured in a few games before, like Splinter Cell, but while it looks cool and makes you feel powerful, it's basically a win button that makes the game too easy and goes against the puzzle approach of Hitman. I guess it's an option I won't be using.

I never understood why they didn't just have 47 go off-camera then reappear with the disguise on.

This is a first day purchase for me, and I haven't bought a video game in over a year.

The "instinct mode" should be labeled easy mode, and the default should have that all removed. Those features are for people who can't stand to play anything thats not a linear action game. That is not what Hitman is about.

The levels still seem sort of small with with less challenging objectives. Still need to see if the levels are really as big as the old Hitman games. A lot of the obviously new fans here have no perspective on this.

The music sounds generic and pretty bad without the old composer Jesper Kyd, just generic suspense music. Additionally, they are just reusing the Blood Money Hitman theme now (something they never did before) which is pretty lame, they always had nearly all new music in each game before.

The old voice actor was a much better fit as well.

Otherwise it looks like it has many of the elements of an old Hitman game. Without the old voice actor and composer it's missing some important elements. Hopefully the gameplay and level design holds up.

I'm really glad they have escalating, dynamic alert levels for each individual NPC, as explained with the cop and the radio, instead basically having a "setalertmode = true" type of thing where the AI are all apparently telepathic. F*cking hate that.

I told you not to worry when the nun trailer came out. you see that band-aid on the back of his head? that's priiide fuckin' with you. Fuck Pride. that shit only hurts...