“A murder in paradise” would suit the new episode of Hitman perfectly. With the pleasant release of the first episode of Hitman in March, we knew we were in for a treat with the next episodes. The last episode was a decent start to this episodic release game but it didn’t really live up to the past game experiences of “agent 47”. The first episode got a “tech demo” vibe to it, showing off the new “Opportunities” system. It backfired a little since this murder improvisation system was followed by the amount of disguises. Let’s see if this game can remind us of the real hitman that we truly love…
The game’s next chapter takes us to a summer paradise “Sapienza”, located on the coast of Italy. The creation of this fictional town is the perfect setting for a midsummer night’s murder. The town is a large map with a big amount of details: street art performance, delightful color pattern, a peaceful atmosphere, … The incredible coastline blends astonishingly well with this amicable graveyard around the town’s church. The one-minute-long cut scene within this episode overflows with fantastic voice work and facial animations. When it comes to presentation, the developers did a great job. Along with this beautiful setting, the game still suffers from big loading screens and simplistic menu screens, probably due to the fact that the game insists you to have an online connection at all time.
This mission’s episode offers you the opportunity to infiltrate a beautiful villa where you should eliminate two main targets and destroy an experimental virus that’s located in an underground lab. By exploring the area, you’ll stumble across different costumes that allow you to bypass security checkpoints, where the security thinks that you’re just another employee. A lot of time goes to exploring and finding critical items that can be useful during your assassination. To get to your target or objective, you’ll need to be constantly aware of your surroundings as security personal scouts the same area for possible hostiles. Fortunately for you, the security’s AI can easily be fooled by implemented game mechanics such as the line of sight. Manipulating this mechanic is very simple and it allows the player to just crouch their way out of trouble. Of course, this episode offers a lot more open space than previous mission which makes the player feel at ease. No more crowded small rooms like the previous episode, unless you’re entering the underground lab facility which changes the rooms setting very quickly. The room’s harder to navigate and it takes you a lot more patience to get to your objective, although this might seem frustrating, completing an objective in this maze of narrow hallways and well-placed crates, it does feel rewarding. Patience is the key to all while aggressive behavior is punished by extreme force. The use of Hitman’s radar and listening to other people’s conversations is recommended.
The opportunity system allows the player to roam the world freely and become inspired for their next kill. The first episode showed off the different kill opportunities and this episode doubles the fun to boost your creativity. Your targets can be murdered in various ways since you’re given the freedom to kill your target how you want them to be killed but you have to be careful since your target can only be taken out a certain amount of times during your current game. Your targets also seem to follow the same routine over and over again, no matter how many times you restart the game and this takes away the game’s immersion. The town feels so realistic and yet the main targets don’t react to what’s happening around them. The game also offers a lot of challenges but they can easily be completed by using the same gameplay path over and over again. It may seem easier but it’s also less fun.
Patience is the key to all while aggressive behavior is punished by extreme force.
The Hitman experience within this game is pretty decent but the melee combat system and shooting mechanics kill the immersion of being agent 47. These mechanics still need some work as they don’t feel “quite right”. In the beginning, there were also a few bugs and disconnection issues but the developers quickly released some new patches that seemed to fix most of the problems. A reconnection without losing progress is a big plus for the game but it’s not perfect.
Sapienza is a strong episode and I have a feeling that we’re getting closer and closer to an awesome Hitman game. I must admit that I’m having second thoughts on this episodic release kind of thing. At first, I was very skeptic and I thought they wanted to put a Hitman game on the market as fast as they could, to earn some money, but I’m definitely seeing the advantages of this decision. Launching an episode, hearing the wishes and complaints of your community, adapting to their thoughts and releasing a new improved episode may be necessary to create the “perfect” game.
If they maintain this production value and fix some of the issues, we’re in for a treat. On to the next one!
