Topic: Push Square Game Club Spooktacular: Resident Evil 4

@nessisonett There's a legitimate tactic whereby you get Agent 47 to bump into a trailing security guard, and they'll stop and say something like "Excuse me!" or "Ever heard of personal space, buddy?" before resuming their route. You can do this as many times as you like, on a really awkward loop, and they'll still keep a walking pace once you release them, meaning you can sprint ahead and get the target alone.

@Jaz007 @R1spam Glad to see you both discover the joys of post-assassination anonymity! Very occasionally, if I'm wearing the appropriate disguise, I'll feign outrage and rush in alongside the security guards, before going to "keep an eye on" the nearest exit. Beautiful.

I did a few runs in the Paris level this week and I must say it is a joy to revisit this game, certainly in the absence of MGS or Splinter Cell. The first run is always a mix of chaotic fun and a sense of discovery. It really shows the versatility and the different systems at play. I really like that you can execute a perfectly scripted plan using all your knowledge and skills, but that it is equally viable to just “wing it” and improvise. I never had problems with the episodic release schedule, because it felt much more focused and really encouraged me to fully explore each level (just like MGSV Ground Zeroes). Playing this game I really look forward to IOI’s take on James Bond. Should be a great match as long as they don’t make it too much of an action game. Also, it is great to read al your hints and tips. It gives me new ideas. So keep them coming..

I actually liked every subsequent playthrough of each episode better than the first, because you are more aware of all the possible approaches to a mission, and you can really go and plan to make the kill you want, instead of struggling where to find the key card for a certain door.

@Mr_B021 As much as I dislike episode release formatted games, I agree that this game is probably one exception where it does make sense, for the reasons you state.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the freedom to move on if I really wanted to, but the depth of replayability is better highlighted when the next level isn’t immediately available to beckon the gamer forward.

Personally I'm glad I played Hitman 1 after all the episodes had been released. That way I was still learning the game and getting better at it as I played through each level, instead of just being an expert at it by the time level 2 released. Replaying levels was more fun for me after I'd completed the game since I could then use all the tricks I'd learned from the other levels.

I preferred the episodic release too. Spent a lot more time on each level than in Hitman 2 and each new level releasing was proper exciting.

@crimsontadpoles I think I'm going to do this too. I'd like to feel like I'm progressing through the game a bit at least. I know it's not in keeping with this month's guidelines for game club but I think I'd rather go back and replay levels if I have the time. I know it's designed for replays but I am more of a progressor than a replayer so I need to satisfy my own behaviour before I try out the games intended behaviour.

With that in mind, I have done the Paris and Sapienza missions. Paris was a bit of a s-show for me. I managed to do the lady and her aide with a silenced pistol in a room they were in but the aide had just opened the door so I had to duck out and get changed somewhere. I managed to do the fella and his guard up the side of the dance floor with the garotte. Somehow nobody saw me but they found the bodies obviously so there was panic but I just legged it out of there. In between that, I killed a lot of randomers, just pushing them off balconies and stuff after I had run out of places to stash the bodies lol.

Same with Sapienza really, (spoiler tagged as this is next week's level I did the guy in by his mum's grave after putting some flowers down. (I climbed into the castle at the side and stashed my weapons so I'd pass the frisk as the delivery man) Then I dropped his body off the cliff. He looked like a fun person to kill in different ways based on all the clues and trails I found out about him after that. I did the woman in her office with some guard, I think I garotted the woman and CQC'd the guard. Then I spent ages killing people while looking for lab, even dropping canisters down various chimneys for no real reason lol. I dressed as a plague doctor and I killed the butler because I wanted his outfit. Took me ages to find his body bag because they moved it to the lab entrance, I dressed as him for a bit but had to change into a lab guard to go in to the lab really. I also dropped my silenced pistol and had to find that in another area where they were stashing bodies in body bags! I then dissolved some bodies while wearing a hazmat suit for the heisenberg challenge. I also loved how the cyclist was all injured at the beginning but when I killed the flower guy tending to him, all of a sudden he got up like he was fine haha. Anyway I killed him and took his cycling gear for a spell.

Anyway, I wanted to make some more progress in the game before making another post in this thread!

@RogerRoger Im not sure if I've seen a hitman film, I might have seen the olyphant one in the cinema but I struggle to remember it at all.

You know, I can see the Bond game being very similar to Hitman actually. There's a lot of leeway, as you've mentioned to play this game like a suave spy or like a bull in the China shop. My admittedly clumsy Daniel Craig approach to missions so far is evidence of this. Maybe I'll progress to a Connery like firm but fair approach before moving on to a Brosnan esque smarmy in and outer. Forgive me if I'm simplifying their characters, I've only seen about 10 or so Bond films!

Thanks to you and @nessisonett for the tips as well, they've definitely helped me be more aware of different things!

@Th3solution I'm having mixed results with the coins too! It's mainly because the NPC is facing my hiding spot when they pick up the coin. I've managed to lure people further by throwing a couple of coins but I have to time the second throw properly or they just ignore it if they're either consumed by the first coin or walked away too far to hear the second coin. If its a failure then I'm out of coins 😭 lol

@ralphdibny I’ve never been a high utilizer of the “tossing or placing a distraction” mechanic in my stealth games. I agree that it’s often just too fidgety and they end up facing the wrong way, not hearing it, etc. I barely used the wind chimes in Ghost of Tsushima, even when I went for stealth. Same for MGS games when you could distract guards with magazines and stuff like that (although it was at least funny to see the guards ogling the magazines 😂)

One tip for using coins as a distraction is that you can pick up the coin immediately after throwing it. They'll still investigate the noise. That way, if you're unable to knock them out, you'll still have the coin.

@Th3solution I did a lot of knocking on walls in MGS, I think the various Snakes are a bit faster than 47 too so it's easier to run around the block and get them from behind

@crimsontadpoles oh sweet, yeah that should do the trick!

For me it’s been the total opposite of an episodic release. I had the entire trilogy to start with. I’ve replayed a couple of levels from Hitman 1 to get my progress back since I tried it first as a Plus game when H3 was approaching. That aside, I’ve been playing them in order and will probably play them again afterwards. Maybe I’ll do a replay or two of some levels before I start H3’s levels, but it’s been neat playing through it sequentially. I also take like 1-2 hours going through a level, I take my time and let the sights sink while I’m at it.

So after multiple reloads, I finally got that second target alone and finished Paris.
Score 61,360.
Time 44:42.

I think that’s pretty poor but for a first time maybe not so bad. I’ll try some different approaches now

Second attempt ....63,316.
Basically about the same. But it was fun to run around dressed like Helmut Krueger.

@Th3solution nice one! My points have all been 0. I get the 25000 or whatever it is for killing the targets but then I get minus 5 bazillion for killing every one else lol. Also both of the levels I've done have taken about 2 hours

@ralphdibny To be fair, my first run took me at least 3 hours real-world time, possibly longer. If I killed a non-target NPC, I reloaded. If I was discovered or hunted, I reloaded. If I did anything that I didn’t like the consequences of, I reloaded. Sometimes I messed around dropping chandeliers, pulling fire alarms, tossing coins, etc. all just to see what happened, and then I’d reload. So I was able to ultimately finish the level without killing any non-targets, but for some reason I didn’t get the bonus for being undetected, despite never going into hunt mode or arrest. I guess they count being caught trespassing or getting a warning from security as a demerit for that bonus.

On the second run I tried to go as fast as I could, so after taking over as Krueger I killed the male target with a chandelier while he was at the bar (not sure how many innocents bit the dust too, but there were probably several) on my way to meeting the female target, who was super easy to get rid of with that opportunity, and then booked it out of there, so despite the whole thing taking only 20 min., the collateral damage cost me so many points that my score was the same.

I’ll probably try at least one more just to see if I can experience some of the other opportunities. It be nice if I could get some poison or an explosive this time around to make things interesting

@Th3solution ahh fair enough, I only ever reload if I get myself into an unrecoverable crock of doodoo. On my first go around anyway that is. The challenges are tempting to replay for but it seems like so much is going on, or at least could go on, that it feels very daunting. Once I've played through all the levels, I might go back and replay for some of the easier challenges but somehow I doubt I am going to get to the level where I am able to kill both targets undetected wearing a red tie. I also think any score higher than zero is going to be a no go for me whatsoever 😅

I'll be interested to see what you think of level 2. There's a very interesting costume in that level. Generally I do like that you can just wear any clothes. So even if there is a random and specific looking NPC, you can just knock them out and nick their gear.

@ralphdibny My third run was not as successful and my score went down into the 20,000 range. I did successfully use poison this time though, so that part was satisfying. I did two different opportunities, so at this point, I think I only have 2 more opportunities to do. So I might just do one more run and see if I can beat my score and get a trophy in the process. 😄

@Th3solution haha sweet! Good luck!

@ralphdibny Since I posted that last night, I went for the 4th run and was able to get the opportunity for assuming the role of the sheik (that was pretty hard and took several restarts because the opportunity times out quickly) and dropping the light rig while the target is on stage. However, I got the dreaded 0 end score, largely because dropping that rig kills a ton of innocents. But the silver trophy for getting all opportunities popped at least.

So with that, I’ve seen quite a lot of Paris (although still a fraction of all it has to offer) and I went ahead and took a peek at the Sapienza level. Wow, it’s very different! It looks fun though but the map seems even more confusing. I mostly just explored around of a few minutes and haven’t made substantial progress on it.

It’s Sunday which means it’s time to move onto Sapienza! It’s a very different level from Paris in its layout and should be an interesting change. Same as last time, we’ll see who gets the best time and score! I don’t think I’ll do as well on that front, I haven’t played Sapienza anywhere near as much 😅