2012 was an interesting year for gaming.
2011 was dominated for me by the flagship sequels of Uncharted 3, Arkham City and Skyrim. This gave me no reason to look any further, my expectations were set and my satisfaction guaranteed. 2012 was more of an unknown territory for me. There were no obvious titles for me to pick up.
Incidentally, I don’t mention Assassin’s Creed III in this section because I only include actual games in my purchases, not barely-interactive tech demos with utterly inane stories.
This led to me spending a lot of 2012 searching for a new franchise to love.
Sleeping Dogs held my interest for a long time. I got a Need for Speed game on the day of its release, and even spent a big chunk of time playing FIFA Street. Yes, I played Journey, and no, I still don’t care.
I got overly attached to the Walking Dead, and fell in love with point and click adventures all over again. I even bought Far Cry 3, a game from a series I’ve never had any interest in, and took a punt on Dishonored.
In short, I spent last year like more of a “yes” man and less of a “stick to what I know and love” man.
So with all this new territory being broken I actually ended up missing out on what should have been a day one purchase for me: Hitman Absolution.
I love the Hitman games. I first got hooked on Hitman 2, spending the summer of 2003 with curtains drawn, sat on a couch, killing people in creative ways. The joy of cracking a level as a Silent Assassin and then going back and shooting people like ridiculous rag dolls with the Ballers was addictive and rewarding. Unlike other stealth games (Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, I’m looking at you) I was given the freedom as a player to complete the missions any way I chose. This freedom, combined with the interaction and environment made Hitman 2 an instant favourite of mine.
So does Hitman: Absolution live up the expectations of a nearly 10 year fan of the series? One who has been waiting 6 years for a new release?
Wait for it…
I’ve been thinking of this for ages…
Does it live up to my expectations?
Absolutely.
*tumble weed*
Well, I thought it was funny.
Moving on…
The game encapsulates everything about the previous entries in the series that made it great. It also adds some modern gaming mechanics, including a shooting method similar to Red Dead Redemption’s Dead Eye and a very welcome cover mechanic that allows smooth transitions from cover to cover. Anyone who has played Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be very much at home with this game.
The environments are beautifully made, the variety of solutions to each mission are still a joy to discover. The story clips along at a decent pace with plenty of loathsome characters to be killed. The thrill of finishing a level with the Silent Assassin rating is still as much of a joy as it was 10 years ago.
One thing that Absolution really gets right is the difficulty setting. To call levels difficult, is to oversimplify how well the game can be changed to match your play style. As someone who wants to feel as if I am inhabiting the mind and body of the mighty Mr 47, I enjoy having access to his abilities at their peak. For the purist you can also play the game with no HUD, no prompts and no access to the Batman detective mode styled Instinct ability.
Sometimes, a sequel can be a very welcome thing.
Now please, IO, for the love of all that is sacred, make Freedom Fighters 2 already!
