I've been playing hitman since silent assassins on PS2 so I know and love the series. At best this is a 6 out of 10 for the game by itself without 1 (2016) involved. There are many improvements in this game, I actually didn't care for the original hitman 2016 game as the last half of it seemed rushed or there were elements of it that were poorly thought out. Such as in Bangkok there was hardly anywhere to hide bodies. In Colorado it was too many targets to the point i might as well play a third person shooter such as saints row, gta or watchdogs. The level in Japan was an absolute chore where you had to wear the right costumes to get through doors. Thankfully IOI does listen to their fans and found ways to improve their games.
I'm basing this on the gold edition of the game so this means I have new york, haven island and the rushed DLC sniper assassin missions.
This feels like an expansion pack at best, there's what 8 levels? I don't care how diverse they are but this and hitman 2016 should have been one entire game. The way the GOTY version of it is. Yet when saints row made gatt out of hell or saints row 4 it didn't get the response this did. The jazzed up tutorial level Hawke's Bay hardly counts as a mission.
The levels are just as diverse as ever. It's been a while since they did a level in India as the last few levels in it were quite controversial in silent assassins. The levels are full of life and lots of tiny details. Anyone who calls these levels small should just go play a hollow open world game where hardly anything happens in it such as GTA 5. I found agent 47 runs a little too slow in this but it just emphasizes how large the worlds are. The only two levels that I really disliked were the ending portion of "another life" where you take out the old man Janus where you've got to uncover all the clues in town. Honestly who has the patience to do that more than once or twice. Yet in Colorado on the hitman 1 2016 you don't have to do that more than once. Then the very last non-DLC level I wasn't a fan of. It's supposed to be hard. For example the white house level of blood money. It's got a great atmosphere and concept but I just didn't like it. It seems like a recycled Batman type level they never got right as WB had some part in this game. This was an issue with the level in Italy for hitman 2016 as well. It felt like a chore but at least there was an escape plane after and if you plan to do all the challenges you'll need the patience of a saint. I feel sorry for speed runners and of course people who want to play levels over and over again.
There is more story to this game but unless you waste more money as this is already quite an expensive game you really only get so much and it's far from a memorable epic. ALL the DLC missions and extras are so half baked minus the two new maps. I thought the side missions were all lazy and or poorly thought out Such as just taking out some Indian guy who walks not even 300 feet, the guy in Santa Fortuna to do suit only is notorious for being more difficult than most real missions. I'd seriously rather do Colorado again without knocking anyone out.
One new element that they added was hiding in the bushes similar to metal gear solid 3, splinter cell or shadow of the tomb raider and similar third person shooter games. I wish they would get rid of the stupid hand to hand combat nonsense. It's not resident evil 4. There are hardly any cameras in the non-DLC levels. The only level in the double digits of cameras is the level with Janus or if you've got the DLC Haven Island. I love how the map has more color to show where our weapons are. I was relying on my memory in hitman 2016. You get some new weapons which are under appreciated such as the dart gun and the projectiles such as the grenades or a projectile that zaps people that admittedly makes the game too easy at times as electrocutions even in puddles counts as accidents. I don't know why the explosives you plant can't be done the same way in hitman blood money as holding all the buttons seemed very convoluted.
Picking up certain items is a bit of a pain. Such as the explosive in the guards room in Haven Island. Or the gold statues for one challenge.
One thing that counts as an accidental death that can be rewarding among other things but how is it an accident someone drowned in a toilet or getting blown up by a propane tank. Even if you place the propane tank in places it never was. I'm kind of on the fence about the poison syringe unless it's one of those that does heart attacks or something.
Ways to improve
there are WAY too many challenges, there are some that can only be done in levels but there is always a poison, drown in toilet, strangle, shoot and explode. No joke it'll take you an entire day per level even if you know what you're doing to get everything.
The weapons are an absolute weak point in this game. From the really stiff aiming, sure it's improved slightly for people who use controllers.. but.. holy crap, it's not just me I've even seen youtubers with no life miss shots like I am. There are too many weapons and most of them just seem like reskinned versions of others such as that stupid black pistol 47 usually starts out with, that could seriously be just customizable options for the pistol to bring back more mechanics from blood money. The enemies take too many bullets which one on hand is absolutely satisfying. On the other hand, how am I supposed to be stealth? Sure body armor can affect a health bar but still. It would be helpful if the weapons had bars to see how good they are at ranges and little things like that. Plus from far away with the black lilly or silverballer pistol it's too forgiving you can get head shots even though you aren't spot on. It kind of cheapens the thrill.
Indias escalation challenges needed more time, they are the hardest ones in the game for some reason. One they want you to take three targets out and it seems they have a mistake in the briefing when looking at the targets where they used the wrong image for the second target so you will fail the mission a few times.
Why is agent 47 not invisible or at least invincible when designing a contract. I wanted to get these certain targets and i was still getting spotted and died. I mean sure it's essentially quality control but still it's annoying.
Get rid of the quick time events with the fighting
master difficulty is pointless, there's so little different in it versus professional. Maybe a few extra guards. They could have made it harder like leaving evidence. Having to pick up shell casings or certain accidents don't count as silent assassin. Or less items to bring on the mission 3 on casual , 2 on professional, 1 on master.
I wish there was a money system to unlock weapons and upgrades instead like in blood money
fix colorados challenge with the scarecrow and the two syringes or make it something else all together. I'm including this even though it's in the older game but like Bangkok and that coin challenge it needs to be addressed.
Fix india and the bug that they have/had where you cannot clear this one particular challenge where you have to make 3 gang members sick in the slums
mission stories i am so glad you can turn off, they make it certain missions too easy to get silent assassin.
The leveling up system is pointless to me for the profile. Do you get anything extra? Nope! Just bragging rights.
Make sniper assassin missions require less grinding to get to level 20 mastery it will take you days. To the point you can take out all 18 targets in under a minute and 30 seconds. It will take you 20 MILLION points to get level 20 mastery. At my best I was getting 2 million points a game. That is when you've got a good route to do, don't miss a shot and so forth as time doesn't help much with a bonus.
I would get rid of contracts mode. It's not fun and does not include any extra replay value.
Why did they get rid of a list of costumes we've already collected such as in Absolution in the start menu. This seems like a step back. The super secret ones can still have question marks but this is dumb where you'll most likely just mow through the whole entire level. 47 would be proud.
Screw the flash bang grenades. If you have the need to plow through an entire level of people you'll probably get seizures from all the white flashes. Can you hold instinct to get rid of it? No. Not really, the game relies too heavily on them. It's like the freeze missiles in twisted metal 2. I could broadcast footage of the game during a gun fight and open a night club using this game as a strobe light sometimes.
The level in Columbia to get two targets to die on the same statue requires too much luck
getting robert knox and the fish guy on the pier to get hit with that sign the model of the fish and the hit box are very unclear and need a serious update
how come 47 can't pistol whip people when behind them or throw weapons like in blood money. I get that it's super dangerous to throw a gun with the safety off to the floor but to get rid of pistols in a lake would be nice or an option to dump weapons when he is near water or anything? Yes there are garbage bins but still.
Why can't 47 inject poison into people on the floor? Or run behind them like the fiber wire when he is detected for the last one.
One of my favorite improvements is challenges don't have to be done on all the difficulties, the security cameras improved slightly too. Where as in hitman 2016 on the standard difficulty they were just annoyances.
Should you try or buy this game? Absolutely when it's on sale. It's not perfect and the DLC I'll grab when it's in the bargain bin but that's about it. It's a step in the right direction but still not great.
I'm basing this on the gold edition of the game so this means I have new york, haven island and the rushed DLC sniper assassin missions.
This feels like an expansion pack at best, there's what 8 levels? I don't care how diverse they are but this and hitman 2016 should have been one entire game. The way the GOTY version of it is. Yet when saints row made gatt out of hell or saints row 4 it didn't get the response this did. The jazzed up tutorial level Hawke's Bay hardly counts as a mission.
The levels are just as diverse as ever. It's been a while since they did a level in India as the last few levels in it were quite controversial in silent assassins. The levels are full of life and lots of tiny details. Anyone who calls these levels small should just go play a hollow open world game where hardly anything happens in it such as GTA 5. I found agent 47 runs a little too slow in this but it just emphasizes how large the worlds are. The only two levels that I really disliked were the ending portion of "another life" where you take out the old man Janus where you've got to uncover all the clues in town. Honestly who has the patience to do that more than once or twice. Yet in Colorado on the hitman 1 2016 you don't have to do that more than once. Then the very last non-DLC level I wasn't a fan of. It's supposed to be hard. For example the white house level of blood money. It's got a great atmosphere and concept but I just didn't like it. It seems like a recycled Batman type level they never got right as WB had some part in this game. This was an issue with the level in Italy for hitman 2016 as well. It felt like a chore but at least there was an escape plane after and if you plan to do all the challenges you'll need the patience of a saint. I feel sorry for speed runners and of course people who want to play levels over and over again.
There is more story to this game but unless you waste more money as this is already quite an expensive game you really only get so much and it's far from a memorable epic. ALL the DLC missions and extras are so half baked minus the two new maps. I thought the side missions were all lazy and or poorly thought out Such as just taking out some Indian guy who walks not even 300 feet, the guy in Santa Fortuna to do suit only is notorious for being more difficult than most real missions. I'd seriously rather do Colorado again without knocking anyone out.
One new element that they added was hiding in the bushes similar to metal gear solid 3, splinter cell or shadow of the tomb raider and similar third person shooter games. I wish they would get rid of the stupid hand to hand combat nonsense. It's not resident evil 4. There are hardly any cameras in the non-DLC levels. The only level in the double digits of cameras is the level with Janus or if you've got the DLC Haven Island. I love how the map has more color to show where our weapons are. I was relying on my memory in hitman 2016. You get some new weapons which are under appreciated such as the dart gun and the projectiles such as the grenades or a projectile that zaps people that admittedly makes the game too easy at times as electrocutions even in puddles counts as accidents. I don't know why the explosives you plant can't be done the same way in hitman blood money as holding all the buttons seemed very convoluted.
Picking up certain items is a bit of a pain. Such as the explosive in the guards room in Haven Island. Or the gold statues for one challenge.
One thing that counts as an accidental death that can be rewarding among other things but how is it an accident someone drowned in a toilet or getting blown up by a propane tank. Even if you place the propane tank in places it never was. I'm kind of on the fence about the poison syringe unless it's one of those that does heart attacks or something.
Ways to improve
there are WAY too many challenges, there are some that can only be done in levels but there is always a poison, drown in toilet, strangle, shoot and explode. No joke it'll take you an entire day per level even if you know what you're doing to get everything.
The weapons are an absolute weak point in this game. From the really stiff aiming, sure it's improved slightly for people who use controllers.. but.. holy crap, it's not just me I've even seen youtubers with no life miss shots like I am. There are too many weapons and most of them just seem like reskinned versions of others such as that stupid black pistol 47 usually starts out with, that could seriously be just customizable options for the pistol to bring back more mechanics from blood money. The enemies take too many bullets which one on hand is absolutely satisfying. On the other hand, how am I supposed to be stealth? Sure body armor can affect a health bar but still. It would be helpful if the weapons had bars to see how good they are at ranges and little things like that. Plus from far away with the black lilly or silverballer pistol it's too forgiving you can get head shots even though you aren't spot on. It kind of cheapens the thrill.
Indias escalation challenges needed more time, they are the hardest ones in the game for some reason. One they want you to take three targets out and it seems they have a mistake in the briefing when looking at the targets where they used the wrong image for the second target so you will fail the mission a few times.
Why is agent 47 not invisible or at least invincible when designing a contract. I wanted to get these certain targets and i was still getting spotted and died. I mean sure it's essentially quality control but still it's annoying.
Get rid of the quick time events with the fighting
master difficulty is pointless, there's so little different in it versus professional. Maybe a few extra guards. They could have made it harder like leaving evidence. Having to pick up shell casings or certain accidents don't count as silent assassin. Or less items to bring on the mission 3 on casual , 2 on professional, 1 on master.
I wish there was a money system to unlock weapons and upgrades instead like in blood money
fix colorados challenge with the scarecrow and the two syringes or make it something else all together. I'm including this even though it's in the older game but like Bangkok and that coin challenge it needs to be addressed.
Fix india and the bug that they have/had where you cannot clear this one particular challenge where you have to make 3 gang members sick in the slums
mission stories i am so glad you can turn off, they make it certain missions too easy to get silent assassin.
The leveling up system is pointless to me for the profile. Do you get anything extra? Nope! Just bragging rights.
Make sniper assassin missions require less grinding to get to level 20 mastery it will take you days. To the point you can take out all 18 targets in under a minute and 30 seconds. It will take you 20 MILLION points to get level 20 mastery. At my best I was getting 2 million points a game. That is when you've got a good route to do, don't miss a shot and so forth as time doesn't help much with a bonus.
I would get rid of contracts mode. It's not fun and does not include any extra replay value.
Why did they get rid of a list of costumes we've already collected such as in Absolution in the start menu. This seems like a step back. The super secret ones can still have question marks but this is dumb where you'll most likely just mow through the whole entire level. 47 would be proud.
Screw the flash bang grenades. If you have the need to plow through an entire level of people you'll probably get seizures from all the white flashes. Can you hold instinct to get rid of it? No. Not really, the game relies too heavily on them. It's like the freeze missiles in twisted metal 2. I could broadcast footage of the game during a gun fight and open a night club using this game as a strobe light sometimes.
The level in Columbia to get two targets to die on the same statue requires too much luck
getting robert knox and the fish guy on the pier to get hit with that sign the model of the fish and the hit box are very unclear and need a serious update
how come 47 can't pistol whip people when behind them or throw weapons like in blood money. I get that it's super dangerous to throw a gun with the safety off to the floor but to get rid of pistols in a lake would be nice or an option to dump weapons when he is near water or anything? Yes there are garbage bins but still.
Why can't 47 inject poison into people on the floor? Or run behind them like the fiber wire when he is detected for the last one.
One of my favorite improvements is challenges don't have to be done on all the difficulties, the security cameras improved slightly too. Where as in hitman 2016 on the standard difficulty they were just annoyances.
Should you try or buy this game? Absolutely when it's on sale. It's not perfect and the DLC I'll grab when it's in the bargain bin but that's about it. It's a step in the right direction but still not great.