Hitman Absolution (Revisited) Review

 
OK, so this post is actually more of a revisitation as it is one of my earliest posts on this blog and doing this one will be put me within just a single post of 500th on this blog.  So, whatever I choose for that has to be a pretty good one (or at least try to be!).

Anyway, so the post I am revisiting this time around is a game review I did on the stealth action game, Hitman: Absolution, which was released five years ago and I had been playing again quite recently having upgraded my PC (more for video editing reasons than gaming) as it was a game on my Steam account.

So five years later...is it any good???  Well, let's suit up, grab that fibre wire and those ballers and take a look...

And yes as I will mention a bit about the plot, you can expect the usual warning...

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY

Right so the game's plot starts with Agent 47 (voiced by David Bateson) who is tasked with having to kill his former agency handler, Diana (Marsha Thomason) who has gone rogue.  On entering Diana's apartment, 47 shoots Diana while she is in the shower and 47 comforts her as appears to be dying, she hands him a letter saying and pleads with 47 to keep a young girl named Victoria safe from the Agency.  47 agrees to protect Victoria and he hides her at a catholic orphange and contacts an informant named Birdie, who asks his to perform a hit on a Chinatown gangster.  47 does the hit and in exchange Birdie informs 47 on the whereabouts of Blake Dexter (Powers Boothe) who may have more information on Victoria, Dexter being the corrupt and very wealthy CEO of Dexter industries.

47 learns that Dexter is staying at the "Terminus" hotel and as 47 enters the hotel and evade's Dexter's men, and eavesdrops on a conversation Dexter has in which it is revealed that Dexter intends to auction Victoria off to the highest bidder.  47 tries to strangle Dexter's large bodyguard, Sachez, who knocks him unconscious and Dexter has 47 framed for the murder of a housemaid.  Dexter then sets the hotel room on fire and leaves 47 for dead who eventually regains consciousness and evades the patrolling police.

And from here the plot thickens even more as 47 must try and find out why the agency want Victoria so badly and also fend off his enemies in the process.

THOUGHTS 

After a six year absence, Hitman Absolution sees the game series return in fine style as this game definitely has alot going for it and it manages to largely keep with the same tone as the previous Hitman games.  It also manages to keep the balance of stealth and action just about right although with its more free flow movement system than the relatively static movement in the previous games, it feels at times more like playing a Splinter Cell game than Hitman, however this is no bad thing.

Absolution also explores an interesting theme in 47's character where he is now put in the position that he must care and protect for someone rather than just be a cold calculating killer who acts purely on orders.  It also shows the Agency in a more negative light too as they wish to kill off Diana and obtain the young girl Victoria, who turns out to be a genetically enhanced clone who was bred for killing, and Diana wished for 47 to stop that from happening.  And 47 even realises this himself that a young girl such as Victoria should not be allowed to become a killer at the hands of an amoral agency and this does show once more that he does have some morality and decency in him.

GAMEPLAY 

Moving onto the game's control system and gameplay which are both excellent and the movement is a big improvement on the previous games as 47 can now walk and run faster around the environments.  47 also has some melee attacks such as close one on one combat with enemies where you have to press a button at a specific time in order to retaliate.  In addition to this 47 can now also subdue his victims with a chokehold or he can also snap their necks, as well as this 47 can also pick up objects such as a screwdriver, wrench or a bottle to kill or knock out his victims with.  47 can also do fake surrender moves where say e.g. a policeman tells him to put his hands up but when they approach, that's when 47 will attack them but you need to time your moves carefully when using hand to hand combat in this instance. 

Objects in the game can also be used by 47 to create distractions so he can bypass guards or whoever else, so 47 can throw a bottle for e.g. to distract a guard from his post so 47 will sneak by.  Similar to the previous games, 47 can also hide in dumpsters or cupboards and take a sneak peak as to see if someone is nearby.  47 can also use dumpsters or crates to dump dead or unconscious bodies in them and usually you can fit two bodies in there which is quite handy!   

Weapons wise 47 has quite a large array of guns to choose from in the game as you can use 47's classic silver baller silenced guns, or sub machine guns, rifles, shotguns and machine guns.  47 will also access his trusty old fibre wire as well, which has always been 47's classic method of dispatching enemies silently and effectively.  The game also introduces a new feature in combat called point shooting where 47 will go into a slow motion mode and target his marks and he will execute them in a chain automatically.

Also in addition to 47's use of disguises, such as when he takes the clothes of a person he has killed or incapacitated, he can also use his senses to blend into his environment.  An example of this is when 47 may have subdued a policeman, after he takes his clothes and walks into an area where there are cops he will holds his head down to conceal himself or pretend to go on his police radio.  And while this happens 47 will have a bar which measures the suspicion level of others, which will reduce as 47's enemies grow more suspicious of his disguise.  47 in this mode almost gives you the impression that he can see through walls, as he will see normal targets in yellow, targets to be killed in red, and targets to be subdued in blue.

GRAPHICS, VOICE ACTING AND MUSIC 

Moving onto the game's graphics they are simply superb and as the game series has had a complete visual overhaul the environments look stunning.  There is also a great deal of variety in the environments such as hotels, diners, bars, public buildings, industrial factories and even open desert.  The character models are also excellent and Agent 47's familiar bald visage looks that bit more lifelike and refined than before (although he appears to have heavier eyebrows!).

The voice acting in the game is also really good with David Bateson once again doing a great job as 47 as he delivers that assassin's dialogue in a very cool, calm and logical tone.  The supporting cast is equally impressive as there are some well known names here such as Keith Carradine as Dexter the main baddie, Powers Boothe as Travis the Agency head, Vivica Fox as Lasandra Dixon (not a far cry from her character in Kill Bill!) and Steve Bauer as Birdie, 47's informant.

The game also has a very good music score written by Thomas Bartschi which while it isn't in the same league as the previous scores by the superb Jesper Kyd, it is still worth paying attention to.  In fact I would have to say its a pity that Kyd didn't return to the series (and still hasn't since) after Blood Money but regardless of this, Bartschi's score still holds up well. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may refer to a spoiler!)

As for the game's flaws does it have any???  Well perhaps one or two but nothing much, first off I would have to say that in its new format the game does seem to borrow heavily from Splinter Cell in its new more free flowing movement, and while that isn't a bad thing it does make it does detract from the qualities that made Hitman unique in the first place.

Some of the features of the game don't really come much into play during use either, such as the pointing shoot mode, which is only really used sparingly in one or two scenes and in that annoying mission where 47 has to compete and win the best score in a shooting competition, which in itself is a real pain in the ass!  The other is when (SPOILER!) 47 has to take out the bad guy, Kurky when he holds a man at gunpoint and if you mistime it then you will get killed.   

Some of the inane chatter from the characters in the game can also be a bit annoying, such as when 47 uses his sense mode to blend in and for e.g. someone may look at him and say "Do I know that guy from somewhere?? Isn't that guy the guy that...." and so forth.  It get's a bit samey after a while to listen to, it has to be said.

I also found one sequence in the game that was a bit unpleasant to watch was when Victoria is forced to show her enhanced fighting skills and kills off some of Dexter's men, which left me a bit uncomfortable.  The idea of Victoria I thought was to protect her and keep her away from leading the life of a killer, so I found it a bit disturbing that they would choose to show her killing abilities.  However I guess it was maybe to satisy the curiosity of the gamers to see just what she is capable of.

I also found the whole idea of 47's enhanced senses a bit silly aswell given that when you use it, you can see through walls in an almost infrared style its like 47 has Predator vision (well its a bit clearer than that!). You also get this bizzare fire trail effect when 47 is in this mode and it acts like a leading line to your next target or location.  Its amazing ability for any assassin to have but in the context of the game its just a bit far fetched.

Another issue is to do with 47's fake surrender moves when he is approached by armed guards, cops etc, 47 puts his hands in the air but will engage in a fist fight when they get real close.  The problem here though is that it happens in a slow-mo, bullet time fashion, which is pretty tedious and you've got to time the hits by pressing the correct button.  I would rather they just did the fist fights at normal speed rather than rely on this bullet time crap yet again (that damn Matrix film has alot to answer for!) ;-). 

And last of all I thought it was a bit ridiculous the amount of gunfire that 47 can take before he actually dies as when he is often rumbled by guards or enemies, who armed with guns, they have to fire off hundreds of rounds before 47 finally goes down.  Perhaps that's to do with him being a genetically enhanced clone maybe but its still pretty daft to imagine that 47 can take a hail of bullets before he actually snuffs it! 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

Right, so to sum up, Hitman Absolution is a worthy follow up to Blood Money and the six year wait in between the two games were definitely worth the wait.  The game's gameplay is solid and is aided by a very fluid movement system for 47, plus the graphics are also terrific and it is backed up by some excellent voice acting.  And any of its niggles don't seriously detract from what is a very sold entry in the Hitman series.

OK, that's it for now and I will be back again soon with the 500th post on this blog but I will need to work what it will be.

So, until then its bye for now!