We're a cynical bunch here in the games media, and we like to have a grumble when things don't work out exactly like we want them to. Hitman was one such game that received the full pelt of the industry's ire, with its complicated episodic format being the source of irritation. But, y'know what? Credit where it's due: IO Interactive and Square Enix actually made it work.
Sam Brooke's been continuously impressed with Agent 47's monthly offerings, and the casual rollout of the content has actually suited the series' experimental gameplay. The final episode – set in Hokkaido, Japan – will launch on 31st October, though the developer has hinted that there may yet be a Season Two for this popular title. It'll be fascinating to see how it takes this model forward.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 5
I played no other games this hole year but hitman this by far the best stealth game of the year. Episodics is defiantly the way to go with this franchise, can't wait for season two to arrive. Elusive 11 I'm waiting on you now
Sort of regret not jumping on the bandwagon at the beginning. I convinced myself to wait for the retail version, but I feel like I've missed out by not playing it along with everyone else. Ah well! I'll play it eventually
i bought this as a full release and am saddened it has gone backwards. So totally disagree this is a return to form, despite me wanting it to be REALLY good.
Let's start with the badly reported kill animations / methods. THEY ONLY WORK IF YOU ARE STANDING AT AN EXACT POSITION RELATIVE TO THD TARGET, WHICH MEANS THEY ARE ACTUALLY NOTHING MORE THAN INTERACTIVE CUT-SCENES.
Surely reviewers, that is a huge distinction in lauding a titles credentials for 'innovative, creative assassinations'?
Moreover, the gunplay is shockingly cumbersome and is a mockery of balletic gunplay, which when combined with the scouting, stealth and actual physicality of movement, makes Hitman 2: Silent Assassin the best of the series by a mile.
And that was released over a decade ago.......
I've been playing this, and despite the missions being fun, this completely, 100% deserves the ire of the industry and should be stopped. We need to make sure this doesn't become commonplace.
On the surface, there's nothing wrong with it; the gameplay is broken up into distinct missions with their own plots anyway, and so releasing them as episodes makes sense from that standpoint. But in reality this is just Square Enix releasing less game for the same money.
Previous Hitman games would feature a dozen or more unique missions like the ones in the current Hitman game, but in this one there's been, what, six? They then pad these individual missions out with filler content that the older games - and presumably, if this game had been a single release - wouldn't have. This gives the illusion of more content but really it's just throwing busy work at the player - go kill this random chef using a pencil, or this guard on the third floor using a spatula - and none of it matters and is merely there to give you more to do using the level layout you've just downloaded.
It's annoying because the core game is a lot of fun, but had this been released as a single package at the start, people would be questioning where the rest of the missions are. Releasing it like this is just letting SE make money out of less product, and that's not good enough.
If I'm honest, I'm mainly mad about the lack of platinum though.
I don't like the way the game is being released, but I've heard it's the best Hitman since the PS2 era. I think I'll grab this when the full game is out.
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