After the last uninspiring entry, I had lost all hope for the upcoming Hitman.
Once again it appears as though I was wrong.
By all reports the brand new Hitman is a fitting heir to Hitman: Blood Money, a game most regard as the most recent classic entry into the Hitman series.
The only issue I hear (some) people complaining about — the episodic nature of the game.
But some feel as though it fits Hitman, and I sort of agree. The game, at its best always felt like a series of small, self-contained murder sand-boxes and so much of the joy in this series comes from exploring the different, grisly ways one can dispose of a target. An episodic game allows its players to explore those possibilities, and get excited for the next murder sandbox. Seems like a good model when you think about it.
Yet I also understand those complaints — particularly in an age where players feel increasingly exploited by micro-transactions and DLC content.
What are some of your thoughts?
Comments
11 responses to “Community Review: Hitman”
I guess it depends on whether the episodic nature makes it more expensive. If you can get all the episodes for the same price as any other full AAA game, then i don’t think the episodic nature of the way it’s delivered is exploitative. At least it means you can buy the first episode relatively cheap and not pay for the rest if you decide you don’t like it. Although some might say that that’s what used to be called a “demo” and didn’t actually cost you anything at all.
But that sort of goes against the strengths of episodic content. While many people do it to help fund a games development during production episodic games work better when they’re trying to make a game that is consumed differently to regular games. If an episodic game is just going to work out as a fragmented full priced AAA game I’d rather just skip the episodic part and see the full game released. It’s like saying a TV show should be a full movie sliced into 10 minute episodes that cost as much as a movie ticket. That might work to a degree but it’s a wasted opportunity.
Instead I want episodic games to cost more and contain more. An episodic Mario game shouldn’t be 8 Worlds at the price of a regular Mario game, that’s sort of pointless, it should be 22 Worlds rapidly released at the price of two regular games spread across 22 instalments.
I know realistically episodic games tend to be 8 half-Worlds at the price of a regular Mario game, but I think part of the problem is the way gamers perceive the value by directly comparing it to AAA releases. We’re trying to make a new type of game work while tying it down to an established model that’s only cosmetically related.
I love it – everything about it. The varied nature of being able to kill a target in the ‘main’ missions, the way it’s mixed up in Escalations, and – most importantly – Episodic. More games should do this, I effing love it. I’m a busy gaming dad, y’know!? Episodic is absolutely the best way for me to keep pace with AAAs and not get left behind. I wish Witcher 3 had a similar approach!
How was absolution uninspiring? As an entry to the series it was great, personally I’m happy with the new Hitman as well, it keeps the great control scheme (seriously play Blood Money on the 360 the controls are horrid) but ditches the story for a sandbox instead
It’s one of those games where you can start playing and then hours have passed while you’re busy trying to extricate yourself from the mess you’ve gotten yourself into – it’s brilliant!
Yeah, I’m going to wait til the game’s actually finished before buying it. It looks great, but it’s basically only one level at the moment.
I want to repeat certain levels that I like because I’m curious about different ways of doing things. What I DON’T want is to repeat levels over and over and over again because I have enjoyed and want more Hitman right now… but can’t because there isn’t any.
I have this problem where I’ll listen to a song that I really like, and can sometimes listen to it so many times that I start to hate it. That is what will undoubtedly happen here if I replay that one damn level.
(Also, the always-online single-player DRM as implemented here is kind of a dick move. You can technically play offline, but not if you want any kind of progression or variety when you repeat the one level a few dozen times.)
I only got Life is Strange a month or so ago because I can’t stand episodic anymore. Netflix has spoiled things for me. If I want to binge on content, I will binge on content. Same with Telltale’s Walking Dead.
I am also one of those people that if I leave an unfinished game long enough I will never return to it and finish it and it kind of irritates me when I don’t finish a game (at least main story, not platinum trophy)…
I tend to agree.
I wait until all the episodes are released before playing (especially in Telltale’s releases).
On a semi-related note I dislike the ‘reminders’ that are played when you load a game, think Battlefield: Hardline or Far Cry Primal ‘Last time on ect.’ I know… I played it! IMO
It sounds odd, but the thing that annoyed me most about Absolution is that I need a different disguise to get past, and I had to leave my suit behind. I love my suit.
I think the game is one of the best uses of episodic content so far. It really works.
They have also put a lot of work into the sandbox and the way it offers you challenges and suggestions are brilliant. I only picked this up on the weekend but I haven’t even gotten to the first level. I have just being repeating the training ops over and over. Really good.
I don’t get a lot of time to play games anymore, I find I have a lot of other things that take up my time (and I am single, god forbid I get a partner) and I find the episodic content to be good, I can focus my limited gaming time on playing the available episode of Hitman, and still playing Fallout 4. There are only so many times you can attempt all the feats and challenges in Hitman before you get sick of seeing the same level, so only having a few hours through the week, and a bit of time on the weekend to play works in well with that.
I was honestly very surprised by how much effort they appear to be putting into each of the main story levels. For $15 the intro pack was an absolute steal for me just to see if it was the game I was hoping it’d be… And it is. It is likely the closest we’ll ever get to another Hitman: Blood Money short of a straight remake.
I also think it’s one of the best uses of episodic release I’ve ever seen.
Most other episodic games have the issue of “Well, you’re basically stuck now until the next episode release. Enjoy the great nothingness of waiting.” because the vast majority of them are not sandbox games designed for being replayed over and over.
Episodic games like Walking Dead simply have never made me want to replay them to see the different outcomes… And even if you do, most of the game turns out to be largely identical except for a character switch here or there anyway.
But the levels in this new Hitman are absolutely designed for replaying to a degree you will never see in something like Walking Dead, etc. As such it honestly feels less episodic and more just waiting for the next DLC sandbox level to drop.
It’s not like you get 3/4 of the way to your target then the game just jarringly stops like, “Now just wait for 3 months when you’ll actually get to reach your target and kill them!”
Dude you can suit only the whole damn game if your good enough. Did you try?
To anyone who didnt like Absolution did you realise the story was just a huge tutorial showing ways to kill so you can make contracts on anyone using what you learnt in the tutorial/campaign?