Hitman: Absolution

How often do we see games that have great ideas yet poor execution. Marred by technical flaws, even the greatest ideas are simply wasted potential. Hitman Absolution is not one of those games. With great graphics, smooth gameplay and terrific atmosphere there is no doubt about the quality of this product. How is it then, that Io Interactive with all this technical prowess managed to take such a huge step back where the actual gameplay was concerned?

Hitman Absolution continues the, now lengthy, tale of Agent 47 - a genetically bred, perfect killing machine. Plot was never a strong point of the Hitman series, usually doled out in sparse quantities to vaguely justify moving from point A to point B while leaving a trail of bodies in your wake. There is a much stronger narrative this time around. The story begins with 47 receiving an assignment to take out his long term handler Diana, who has went rogue and betrayed the Agency. Through an introductory tutorial level you complete the contract but in an uncharacteristic show of emotion decide to fulfill Diana's dying wish to protect a special girl kept under her care. It is nice to see Io Interactive attempt to enter the brave new world of storytelling where triple A titles resemble blockbuster movies with intense action scenes and professional voice actors. At times though it is better to either get it right or not try at all. The story in Absolution can range from cringe worthy to awkwardly humorous for all the wrong reasons. In stark contrast to the plot itself, characters are particularly well fleshed out and ooze with such vile vehemence that you just cannot wait to finally meet them face to face, preferably wearing a ridiculous outfit.

The basic Hitman premise is still intact. You begin a majority of your missions with a target to eliminate and proceed to do so in any way you please. There are usually numerous approaches to each situation ranging from staged “accidents” to simply getting a good vantage point for a quick shot to the head. Of course nothing is ever that simple as the people you are paid to liquidate are usually of some importance and as such have body guards, or reside in restricted areas. This is where the Hitman “puzzle” comes into play - figuring out what disguise you need to obtain in order to get close to your mark, and how to go about obtaining said outfit. This is also where one of the big changes to the series has taken place. In past titles 47 could strap on a chef outfit in a triad run chinese restaurant and no one would question why the cook is suddenly a six foot bald guy with a bar code on his neck. Absolution completely overhauls the suspicion detection mechanic making it heavily dependent on an instinct meter that you fill up by performing various tasks like silently taking out guards or causing untimtely accidents. If you don a cop uniform then no one will challenge you - until you walk into the line of sight of any other cop at which point you will starting accruing suspicion. The moment you are spotted by anyone wearing the same outfit as you, a radial suspicion meter appears with an ever growing needle pointing in the direction of the person currently wondering if he has in fact seen you somewhere before. If you don’t break the line of sight before that needle reaches it’s full length that particular NPC will become alerted and begin to seek you out, leading to a standoff each time. At this point the game still gives you an option to get out of this situation if there are no other guards in the vicinity, but most stealth game enthusiasts will just restart from a checkpoint. You can avoid inevitable detection by burning your instinct meter that helps 47 blend in and does not raise their suspicion even when walking right in front of a guard. Engaging instinct mode will not only limit you to walking with your head bent down low but also slows down time making it excruciatingly slow to simply walk by two guards until you’re out of sight. This meter burns quite fast and does not replenish on it’s own so you won’t be able to rely on it alone to get you through entire areas. At most, a single meter might get you through three very brief encounters. While in theory the idea that NPCs of a certain group would know one of their own technically makes sense, in actual gameplay this turns into a nightmare. Very often you end up in situations where a particular area is filled with nothing but a single type of NPC making that disguise useless. You will often find yourself fully dressed up, yet still clinging to cover and sneaking around so that you won’t by chance cross the line of sight of a guard thats two whole rooms away. People can see incredibly far in the Hitman universe. To add insult to injury, sneaking does not raise anyone's suspicion. A cop thats squatting down low and tumbling in between desks is less suspicious than one that simply walks down the hallway. Apparently everyone knows at least one loon that goes around crawling behind objects and rolling around on all fours, nothing weird there. All of this makes for ridiculous situations where disguises become pointless and Absolution is reduced to a second rate stealth game, forcing the player to crawl through vents and scurry behind low cover so the other janitors don’t realize you’re not in the union.

While the story can, and largely is very forgettable, it’s the gameplay that went through such strange symbiosis which cannot be so easily ignored. Part Hitman, part something else, there are undeniable changes to the formula that steer the series in a questionable new direction. The Hitman staple from the very beginning were large open ended levels that prompted exploration and experimentation. Absolution, while pushing the presentation envelope with grittier, more detailed visuals, seriously dials back the scope. Areas are now much more confined and can be completed quite quickly even on your first time through. If the levels themselves were just a lot smaller you could let that slide, as the environments look simply spectacular. But the problem lies with Io’s decision to limit those sort of areas completely. The type of Hitman gameplay fans know and love is sprinkled in between awkward, short linear sections that have you sneaking from point A to point B while avoiding detection. There are at times up to 3-4 of such areas in a row before you are dumped back to a proper sandbox type stage with a target and multiple approaches. Some of these “leveks” amount to nothing more than walking up to a door, or engaging in a slow motion shootout. It is simply baffling why anyone thought this was a good idea. While I love stealth games and the act of sneaking around guards, this is hardly the biggest strength of Absolution and I often found myself just shooting my way through so I can get on with what I’d call Hitman proper gameplay. Another thing that has changed is the way saving is handled. You no longer have a save-anywhere option. In lieu of letting the player save at any time but limiting the number of saves by difficulty level - you now are confined to using specific savepoints in each level. These are glowing markers on the ground you need to walk over and activate, which just further narrows the way you want to play the level. Some people also took great issue with the fact that when reloading a checkpoint, all enemies in the entire level respawn, regardless if you’ve previously killed them or not. While this can be annoying, at times when you get sandwiched in between guards you had previously taken out and the guards you were about to sneak past - I didn’t find it to be that big of an issue.

Thats not to say everything Io has done is for the worse. Movement and environment interactions have finally been polished and feel very smooth and elegant. Past Hitman games felt quite stiff in both animation and movement. Agent 47 can now scale ledges and even though they are all at pre-determined locations, movement on a whole feels a lot more fluid. Picking up objects and interacting with the environment is done via clear, simple button prompts. You are no longer helpless when unarmed and the QTE driven fistfights are quite stylish. Character animations aren’t as stiff and doll like as they’ve been in the past. There are some levels that feature large crowds of NPCs which are truly a sight to behold. While the story itself is laughable, there are a handful of standout characters which not only have great voice-over work, but just look and feel like complete sleezeballs - something not easily done in videogames.

In addition to the main story mode there is also a multiplayer component that quite cleverly pits you against other players all over the world in custom made hits fighting for the highest score on the leaderboards. These contracts can be easily created by anyone and made public for the world to see and play. You basically choose any of the levels from the single player campaign and while roaming around choose who to kill and how. The game observes all details like what disguise you were wearing, what weapon you used, if you were detected and so forth. When you are done assassinating up to three victims in a given area, you make your exit and the game shows you all the conditions set for your contract. From then on you either upload your level to the net or invite friends to participate in score wars to see who can be the perfect assassin.

Hitman Absolution on it’s own is a perfectly capable game. It is when you scrutinize it against past titles in the series that a lot of flaws and simply baffling design choices come to light. The story is basically a huge joke that ends so meekly you’ll be scratching your head wondering if you missed something or if thats basically all it had to offer. As mentioned before, this wouldn’t even be a problem since the series has always relied on solid, fun gameplay - but even that has taken so many steps back with limited environments and a poorly designed save system that even that is hard to enjoy at times. Despite the harsh tone, Absolution is ultimately not a bad game as much as it’s terribly disappointing. Any fan of the series should wait for a sale and then give it a shot just to see what Io attempted to do this time around. We have been conditioned by games these days that with time everything gets bigger and better. While Hitman did get better on the technical side, the scope of gameplay took several large steps back. Hopefully this is just Io Interactive getting their feet wet in the current generation, and the next Hitman title will make a grand return to it’s former, open ended glory.