#GOODGAME - Hitman Absolution

"Bald badass."

Agent 47 makes me wanna wear a monkey suit to a Nerf war.

The only Hitman I knew was the movie that casted Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47. I think my brother did play one of the Hitman games but since he owns a PC and I own a Mac (and have not owned any other since 2008), t'was rather difficult for me to have a go at it. Plus, my brother is only his computer 24/7 which means I don't even go near the PC unless I've knocked him out cold or drugged him.



I confess that I completed the game on Easy mode but I have a good reason for it. This game was what ignited my love for video games, specially consol and PS3. I used to be spending a lot more time on the Xbox till it fizzled out and died (it was the really old one) and the last console game I played was Fatal Frame. So you can pretty much calculate how long ago that was.

Playing the Game:
I like the fact that there's auto-aim save for when you have to do a focus hit (Agent 47's special ability oops was that a spoiler?) or when you're sniping. I like both really. Don't like the fact that I can't carry a SMG and a sniper rifle plus my standard handguns. That kinda makes me a sad kitty. I did try the game again on Normal mode and realised that in Easy I was so reliant on Instinct to get out of tricky jams that when I played it on Normal, I found what a complete and utterly useful noob I was when I kept getting spotted and ended up turning everything into a bloodbath which in turn led me to not getting a high score for that level. I am a competitive little snark and I hate losing. I also hate not getting a good score. So I think that's why after finishing the story off on Easy, I didn't put in as much effort (or any at all) on Normal and especially when Instinct doesn't generate over time. Doesn't make sense? Well, play the game, finish it and then come back to this review.

Plot:
I like the storyline though I think four chapters is just way too short. Hitman shares the same emotional spectrum and range and Kristin Stewart a.k.a Bella 'Creepo' Swan. And yes, that was a joke. Then again, you don't expect a hired assassin to be a prize bag of emotional randomness.

Overall:
I still say four chapters is too short. Though they say that there are so many different ways to strike off your targets, it really isn't so much and there were times where I felt that my choices and the outcomes were rather limited. The best bits were of course the focus shot, very Matrix-esque, and sniping. Not advocating having guns and brutal manslaughter but this is a game so just bear that in mind. The most memorable bit of this game is perhaps the fact that you can choose to complete your missions stealthily like a ninja or be the mercenary Loki and set fire to the rain. Ok... bad and nonsensical analogy. What I meant to say is that you can do all things quietly and minimize non-target casualty or you can just fuck it and riddle everyone with bullets. The latter mostly made me feel like a Chaotic Good D&D character.

I wanted to record a montage of me playing a level over and over again because I was trying to kill off the drug lord in Chinatown (is it me or everywhere you go in the world there must be a Chinatown) in the various ways suggested. When I couldn't I'd restart. When I alerted too much attention and killed too many people, I restarted. When I missed an opportunity, I'd restart. I think you get a decent idea of what I meant by being competitive (obsessively at times).

The DLC and online play - Contract - wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I was sold on the idea of making things difficult for other players who signed on to the Playstation Network and tried my contract out. But when I actually played it, the feeling was very meh. Either that, or the people online creating the contracts were less imaginative and creative than I gave them credit for.

Get it for the fun value in finding the different (but not so many) ways in killing someone and sniping from a really long distance. Once you're done, stow it, give it to a relative/friend or just sell it off at a lower value. There's not really that much re-play value so yeah...