Hitman V: Absolution

[Noodle Lizard]

What do we think about this?  Blood Money is one of my favourite games of all time, and Hitman 2 and Contracts both have amazing sequences.  There's a gameplay trailer out for this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWf3dPKYf1E) - looks basically like a graphically-superior version, but it's hard to tell much about the story or how the new mechanics feel.

I particularly like the bit in the stoner's pad, I have a thing for those nice little asides and encounters.  It's also one of the things which made the Max Payne games so enjoyable.

[Famous Mortimer]

I tried to play one of them (I think 2, but I can't remember) about a year ago and couldn't get on with the control system at all. But I remain open-minded if the new version has made some changes there.

[samadriel]

I don't mind the new predictive abilities etc, but I hope the game isn't going to all be laid out in a linear progression with unavoidable combat like the gameplay trailer above (developers don't create set-pieces like that helicopter chase unless they're certain that the player will experience them).  It's exactly the problem Splinter Cell Conviction had; now that the protagonist is a little more deadly, the devs feel free to slack off on actually crafting stealth-compatible level design and take the position that players should just shoot their way through anywhere that the baddies are laid on too thick.  I wonder if you can steal a uniform within the library; that'd probably skip the shootout with the crowd of cops, at least.

[Viero_Berlotti]

I'll probably give this a go. I'm a big fan of stealth games, but I don't think there has been a decent one this generation.

The early MGS games and the first 3 Splinter Cell games were probably the peak of the genre. Since then stealth games always seem to be compromised affairs. Developers don't seem to want to alienate the Modern Warfare, FPS type fan. So they always water down the stealth element of games like this by making it possible to play through all-guns-blazing. It could be argued they are giving the player choice, and that would be fine if it wasn't to the detriment of stealth gameplay.

They also always seem to try to make these games open ended, non-linear, sandbox affairs as well now. For me the best stealth games had a strong storyline and linear narrative, the variety would come in how you approach and work your way through each mission. I think they ruined the Splinter Cell series when they started adding things like moral choices within the game. You can call me shallow, but I don't play a stealth game to make moral choices (I'm already a cunt for giving Tom Clancy my money). I play a stealth game to sneak through the level and take out the bad guys undetected.

[Noodle Lizard]

As far as I remember, all the other games had multiple ways in which you could get your mission done, and within each of those different ways you had a choice of just how stealthily you did it.  In Blood Money, a newspaper story appeared after each mission and its content depended on how smoothly it went.  For instance if you did it completely stealthily and made each death look like an accident, it would say something to that effect and not mention any evidence of foul play, whereas if you went in guns blazing, it would report a maniacal bald man shooting the place up.  If I remember correctly, this also affected your progress on subsequent missions, since guards would be more alert the less stealthy you'd been up until that point.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

I'm a fan of the Hitman series and have been worried about whether they'll sacrifice the stealth element in favour of unavoidable, all-guns-blazing action sequences.

A mate attended an expo in America and saw a demo. He seemed to suggest that you could still go for a Silent Assassin ranking, but all the gameplay videos I've seen so far have been heavy on the gunplay. The helicopter sequence in particular seems to go against the core gameplay of the series.

It's what pisses me off about the Assassin's Creed games; it's usually impossible to stealthily take out your intended target, without also having to slaughter the entire palace guard and army too.

[Noodle Lizard]

I presume they just wanted the helicopter bit for the demo to reel in yer shoot-'em-up fans and such.  From my experience of past games, I could see a few ways whereby it wouldn't make sense for a helicopter to chase you (by disguising yourself as a cop).  If that's the case, and that seemingly big events such as a fuck-off big helicopter coming after you are only triggered by your choices, then that'd be awfully impressive.

That being said, I'm rarely smart or graceful enough to figure out how to do it "Silent" until I've seen a walkthrough - same goes for Assassin's Creed, although I think those games actually have become less about stealth and more about medieval combat and parkour.  Not a terrible thing, though.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I didn't get on with Hitman 1-3, but Blood Money[nb]For the purposes of this post let's pretend that 'Blood Money' isn't actually an amazing Psygnosis side-scrolling shooter with a helicopter and a submarine and a scary voice introducing it.[/nb] is probably one of my favourite games. The missions are perfect little puzzle boxes. When you first try them, they seem impossibly complicated and it feels like you'll never work out a way to finish them smoothly. After a few tries you can work out enough to stumble through, taking out quite a few people as you go, raising the alarm once or twice. You can stop there if you like, but if you're interested you can refine your approach again and again. You find these little windows of opportunity, other ways of getting around, disguises that work better than the ones you were using before, and slowly you develop the perfect run. Even then it takes a bit of luck and some skilful timing, but once you get it down to an art it's among the most satisfying experiences I've had with a game.

The downside to all this is that your first four or five attempts at a level can be quite frustrating, and that's not really what people seem to want out of AAA blockbusters now, or even when Blood Money came out. 47 is a big, recognisable character - I seem to remember him being positioned as the next Lara Croft for Eidos - and he's even had a (rubbish) film. This is a big-name, big-budget game. It's amazing that Hitman has got away with being so obtuse and difficult for so long, considering its profile.  A lot of the videos and early word seem to suggest that the big, open, initially alienating levels might have had their day.

Still, we won't really know until it comes out, will we? Blood Money had a trailer that made it look like you'd just be going around blowing people away the whole time, but you didn't have to do that if you didn't want to. I'm cautiously excited anyway.

[Noodle Lizard]

My all-time favourite Hitman level is the opera house one in Blood Money.  I think that's the only one in which I could achieve Silent Assassin ranking with each outcome.  It's brilliantly designed.

I remember the Heaven & Hell party one being visually and thematically awesome too, but I don't think I ever figured out how to do that one without arsing it up big style at least once.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

My all-time favourite Hitman level is the opera house one in Blood Money.  I think that's the only one in which I could achieve Silent Assassin ranking with each outcome.  It's brilliantly designed.

I remember the Heaven & Hell party one being visually and thematically awesome too, but I don't think I ever figured out how to do that one without arsing it up big style at least once.

Once I'd completed the game, I attempted to replay each level with only 'accidental' deaths. The heaven and hell party was the one I remember I couldn't crack - the Hell target could be rigged to fall into a shark tank, but the only way to take out the target in the Heaven club and for it not to be suspicious, was to push him down the stairs. Unfortunately, the window of opportunity was so small that I'd always get caught. Couldn't be bothered persevering.

[Noodle Lizard]

Once I'd completed the game, I attempted to replay each level with only 'accidental' deaths. The heaven and hell party was the one I remember I couldn't crack - the Hell target could be rigged to fall into a shark tank, but the only way to take out the target in the Heaven club and for it not to be suspicious, was to push him down the stairs. Unfortunately, the window of opportunity was so small that I'd always get caught. Couldn't be bothered persevering.

I can't remember it too well, but I think you can snuff one of the Hell targets out by simply activating the pyrotechnics switch and then going about your business.  Eventually you get a little side-screen shot of the target being flame-grilled like so much bad meat.

I also remember killing the Heaven target while he takes a piss, which may not have come out as accidental, but never raised an alarm.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I love A New Life (the gangster in the suburbs). There are so many ways of doing that one. A good one was to camp up in the treehouse and snipe as many people as possible, then go and mop up the rest (including the dog). There again, you could pull it off really neatly by distracting the target's personal guard, dashing in, slitting his throat, then stuffing him in the cupboard. Then you just stroll off and nobody realises anything has gone wrong.

[Noodle Lizard]

I love A New Life (the gangster in the suburbs). There are so many ways of doing that one. A good one was to camp up in the treehouse and snipe as many people as possible, then go and mop up the rest (including the dog). There again, you could pull it off really neatly by distracting the target's personal guard, dashing in, slitting his throat, then stuffing him in the cupboard. Then you just stroll off and nobody realises anything has gone wrong.

Was that the one where the most obvious way to do it was to disguise yourself as a clown?  Yeah, that's a great one.  I seem to remember rigging the barbecue in order to roast some unfortunate in that one too.  Wasn't there also his drunk wife who would seduce you if you were dressed up as the poolboy?

[DJ Solid Snail]

It also features this insanely funny easter egg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0EKZgclqRQ

[Noodle Lizard]

Hah!  Brilliant!

There were quite a few easter eggs in the Hitman series.  I think in Hitman 3: Contracts, there's a ghost knocking about in the hotel level near a completely unrelated crime scene (in which there's unaccountable thunder and lightning through the windows which appears nowhere else in the level).  If you're a really smart cookie, you can actually kill this ghost and drag it around.

[eluc55]

There isn't a series in the world I love more than the Hitman games; for me Contracts and Blood Money are as good as games can get, and I must have played certain levels in both of them over a hundred times each. The scope of every level, and the sheer imagination on display is rarely matched in computer games; but I imagine if you haven't played them its easy to assume its all about the killings, with the only variation coming from how violently or how silently you kill your target. But there's so much more to it than that; the death is only a tiny part of each perfectly designed puzzle box that makes up the game. It's about using your imagination at every step of the process, from the moment you enter the level, to the moment you swagger out; cutting power to the right rooms so people come out to investigate, setting off fire alarms to clear out entire floors, turning off metal detectors or going in with plastic guns, drugging the right people at the right times - using aphrodisiacs, or poisons - lethal or non lethal - and working round the different consequences of each, placing guns in other people's luggage so they get arrested and you can collect them later in the level, dressing as a swat team member so no one thinks its odd when you storm in with the team and shoot the target, or maybe drugging a delivery boy while he goes for a piss behind a dustbin, placing a bomb in his case of money, waking him up, then waiting five minutes for him to deliver it to your target. Every level is a rubics cube of possibilities, and every playthrough reveals one more opportunity to experiment. The death is only the cherry on top; the electrifying 10 minutes leading up to it need never be the same.

I've often complained about the way modern action games have become obsessed with  "scripted" events designed to make the experience more cinematic, when the consequence is a game you have little or no impact upon; but Hitman perfected cinematic gameplay for very different reasons. Nothing feels more cinematic than a slick, professional kill carried out with panache; watching a play disguised as a cop, clicking the concealed detonator in your palm and watching the lights crush the lead actor, then calmly walking off as everyone around you starts screaming, watching as your second target charges down the aisle towards you and your first victim, oblivious as you click the detonator a second time and bring a spectacular chandelier crashing  down on top of him, walking past your second corpse, never turning, never even breaking a sweat, into the hall and onto the streets. Two kills, no witnesses, silent assassin.

This is why the new game fills me with such dread; so much of it looks scripted, with little or no opportunity to experiment. And its not just the helicopter sequence; its the drug den and the pre-scripted actions the junkies follow, the scene where you walk past the cops and it becomes slow motion and worst of all, the scene with the donut while the cop talks to you. I don't want to watch a fucking cut scene mid level, I want to play the sequence, and if I want to blend in by eating a donut, that's my choice.   

Who knows, maybe that was just a level that relies heavily on scripted events to sell it to a new audience, and in fairness the very first level of Blood Money (at the funfair) is even more linear, allowing you to learn the tricks of the trade. But its more than that this time; the developers seem to have thrown out several other integral parts of the game; most worryingly the note perfect score by Jesper Kyd has been dumped in favour, it seems, of a more generic, dramatic score, and the actors who played 47 and Diana have both been scrapped and replaced. It all points towards a team throwing the baby out with the bath water and with little interest in what made the early games so wonderful. I only hope I'll be proved wrong.   

[Noodle Lizard]

I take your point about them throwing out elements, and agree that the score was integral to the other games.  But as far as the voice acting goes, I think they're quite easily replaceable, and from that trailer alone, the cutscenes and other dialogue feels a lot less clunky than in some of the past games - which was one thing that let them down ever so slightly.  But it never really affected the gameplay, and I'd assume that a change in voices wouldn't affect the gameplay either, in and of itself.

I do get the impression this level is "for the trailer", but even so I do see alternative ways in which it could be completed.  The donut bit is definitely strange, as it appears that you have to pick up the donut in order to trigger that final cutscene (which is probably something I wouldn't do, and hence would be running around like a fucked chicken trying to figure out what I'm meant to be achieving).  BUT it probably is an introductory level, and there would probably be some instruction telling you what to do - just like the first level in Blood Money, as you said.

I'm still optimistic.  I think they're aware that Hitman's fanbase is too rabid to risk fucking it up too badly.  Hopefully the abortion of a film adaptation[nb](a completely inexplicable swordfight between 47 and some henchmen on a subway?  ReallY?)[/nb] hasn't pushed the developers to try and emulate it for whatever stupid reason.  That being said, it did concern me a bit to see an interview with the developers where they said they were trying to make it "easier to get into for all".  NO.  Don't want.  Elitism does have its place in gaming.

[eluc55]

I take your point about them throwing out elements, and agree that the score was integral to the other games.  But as far as the voice acting goes, I think they're quite easily replaceable, and from that trailer alone, the cutscenes and other dialogue feels a lot less clunky than in some of the past games - which was one thing that let them down ever so slightly.  But it never really affected the gameplay, and I'd assume that a change in voices wouldn't affect the gameplay either, in and of itself.

No, I agree, the voices don't make or break a game. It's more that removing the voice actors who have always played the parts makes me question if they've got a similar attitude towards more integral gameplay elements. More significantly, losing Jesper Kyd and replacing him with that generic "Inception" soundtrack in the demo[nb]Which could, of course, be temporary.[/nb] is a very bad sign.   

[Noodle Lizard]

Just checked who's replaced Jesper Kyd doing the soundtrack:  Peter Kyed and Peter Peter.

Well that's just a pair of very, very silly names.

[eluc55]

From this interview with the Absolution developers: http://www.vg247.com/2011/10/10/sing-for-absolution-io-answers-your-qs-on-hitman-absolution/

The music supports us as well. Bear in mind we have a very advanced, organic music system. If you play violently, with more action, you'll get more rock music, more riffs, more dramatic music. If you play it the stealthy way, it'll play more heart-pounding stuff, the moments where, 'Oh, so close, but you got away': the music will support that.

[DJ Solid Snail]

Finally got 'round to watching some gameplay footage and I'm a bit worried that the all-new Ezio Vision is going to make this game far too easy. Hitman's all about trial and error -  replaying levels repeatedly and learning the characters' routines, then working out your best course of action. Giving you some weird supernatural ability to see through walls and where people are going feels like a total emasculation of a gameplay engine that's already so well-realised. I'm all for more depth and realism but I'd rather they avoided any fundamental messing with it, especially if the aim's to make things easier.

[astrozombie]

I am a huge fan of the Hitman series, I like all games equally however enjoy Contracts the most. I know it's a remake of the first game for the PC, but it's a massive improvement on that.

Blood Money too is a classic game. I have high hopes for Absolution, I can't get on with Assassins Creed and stopped playing Splinter Cell after not enjoying Double Agent. I have yet to complete MGS 4.

Favourite missions: The hotel level on Contracts is a good mission where you have to get to the lab. Took me a good few hours to crack that on Silent Assassin mode. I'm also with the OP on the Opera house level in Blood Money, that is loads of fun.

[Jerzy Bondov]

The eagle vision thing is just the replacement for the map, which (on lower difficulties) was pretty supernatural anyway. Perhaps if you play Absolution on Professional, the spidey-sense will be neutered in a similar way to the map.

[madhair60]

I can't play Blood Money at all.  I just don't have the right mindset for it.  I need someone to actively sit next to me and teach me how the game is played so I stop trying to blunder through like it's any other TPS.

[Theremin]

Blood Money too is a classic game. I have high hopes for Absolution, I can't get on with Assassins Creed and stopped playing Splinter Cell after not enjoying Double Agent. I have yet to complete MGS 4.

You were right not to play Splinter Cell: Convinction. It was terrible narratively, graphically, and mechanically.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

I can't play Blood Money at all.  I just don't have the right mindset for it.  I need someone to actively sit next to me and teach me how the game is played so I stop trying to blunder through like it's any other TPS.

It's very much about trial and error gameplay - which, understandably isn't for everyone. With each level playthrough you learn a little more about the environments, guard patrol patterns and useful items/tools. It can be thoroughly overwhelming at first, but the fun comes through carefully learning about each stage and experimenting with and exploiting the information you gather.

Think of your first few tries as reconnaissance missions prior to the perfect run through once you're in full possession of the facts.

[Noodle Lizard]

I can't play Blood Money at all.  I just don't have the right mindset for it.  I need someone to actively sit next to me and teach me how the game is played so I stop trying to blunder through like it's any other TPS.

I must be one of the least graceful/patient gamers out there, I usually just try and get the mission done as quickly as I can with little concern for collecting the "trophies" or special ranks or whatever.  But it really is rewarding with the Hitman series to do it properly because you get actual results as opposed to "You've Won This Thing" or "You've Achieved This Rank Which You Can Brag About To 12-year-old French Kids On Xbox Live".

For instance, in the opera house mission, you could theoretically just go straight in, shoot both the targets and get out as quickly as possible, but there's nothing to it.  But actually sneaking backstage, switching the prop gun with a real gun, and watching the performance as one actor unwittingly carries out your hit for you is extremely satisfying.  And then watching a fat guy get crushed by the chandelier you attached an explosive to only moments later while your bald ass walks away truly does make you feel you're "the man".[nb]Then, of course, reality floods back in and you realise you've lost your ambition, all your dreams are increasingly intangible and unrealistic, and you're alone.  And you'll be woken up again tonight by your own searing misery[/nb]

My advice would be to watch a few playthroughs of certain levels on YouTube and then try and replicate them yourself.  Once you've got a good idea how it all works, it becomes far easier for your brain to put pieces together and figure stuff out for yourself.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I love Blood Money. It's got to be one of the most rewardingly replayable games ever, right up there with your fallouts and such. You pretty much have to be stealthy the first time you play, because you won't otherwise be able to afford the weapon and health upgrades that you need in order to go on a killcrazy rampage.

[Don_Preston]

Blood Money was the only game from the series I could actually do well on. From the very first mission of Hitman 2, I couldn't even sneak up on the postman delivering flowers to the mafia don's villa without attracting attention.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Blood Money was the only game from the series I could actually do well on. From the very first mission of Hitman 2, I couldn't even sneak up on the postman delivering flowers to the mafia don's villa without attracting attention.

Yeah, Silent Assassin - and even Contracts to an extent - are pretty harsh with their stealth mechanics. You have to find the absolute sweet spot to move without making too much noise, but fast enough to keep up with targets. I managed to get Silent Assassin ranking for each level when I first played it, but I seriously doubt I'd have the patience these days.

I find the first Hitman a chore to play. No saves means you have to execute each mission flawlessly, which is unbelievably tedious when you're 90% of the way through an immense stage, then unexpectedly walk into a guard's line of sight. There's also the Colombian missions that completely go against the stealth element of the rest of the game.