Hitman, the episodical game where opportunities and assassinations go hand in hand. A lot of games are linear and fun to play even when it’s straightforward, but games like Hitman give you the opportunity to play the game the way you want it to play. The latest Hitman has a simple opportunity system which allows you to plan different assassinations very quickly without the stressful feeling figuring out what “other” options you might have. However, the system isn’t likable for everyone as some players feel like the game is holding your hand a bit too much. People feel like the immersion quickly becomes absent in the game as the system pushes out the need to explore or even experiment with different ways to reach your goal. Then again, keeping the opportunity system to a minimal is still your own choice. Either way, this doesn’t stop Hitman from being the most creative killer he actually is, even when he’s in close quarters and has a limited set of options. Here’s our review of the latest episode.
This time, Hitman’s off to the tropical city Bangkok in Thailand. Thailand’s full of small streets, foreign markets, beautiful religious temples and a good amount of skyscrapers. These make up for pleasant assassination opportunities, if you were actually running around in Bangkok. Our Hitman isn’t in the mood for sightseeing and is heading straight for the kill in the luxurious Himmapan hotel. The Himmapan hotel looks like a house of the Gods because of the golden decorations, marble pillars and a tropical garden full of exotic plants. Truly, a murderer’s paradise.
Truly, a murderer’s paradise.
The level design of this episode’s map has a lot in common with the Parisian luxury house of the first episode, the only difference between these two is the option to walk around in the surroundings of the hotel, even though the action is mainly inside these 4 walls. The hotel is a beautiful playground with different rooms, lounges, hallways and even balconies as possible entries for “hard-to-get-in” kind of rooms. Your Hitman’s spider sense will go off in different directions as the opportunity system strikes back again and pretty fast but most of the time you’ll be disguised as hotel staff, obviously.
During your walk in the park, you’ll quickly realize that there’s a lot going on in the hotel. Different game personalities have chosen this hotel to stay the night and you’ll be intrigued of all the “assassination” options that become available to you, once you figured out what these characters have to offer. The hotel is living to the fullest thanks to the amount of different characters such as a peeking weirdo, a high-class cassanova and many others, which makes up for a vibrant and realistic atmosphere to keep a good sense of immersion.
Agent 47’s next set of targets may not have as much blood on their hands like the previous targets but they aren’t innocent. Jordan Cross, the lead singer of a rock band called “The Class” partied a bit too hard, got into a fight with his girlfriend that eventually fell to her death “by accident”. Of course, a famous singer like this shouldn’t go through this all alone and that’s where Jordan Cross’s lawyer named Ken Morgan lends out a hand to blur out this accident from the singer’s past.
The episode plays out like any previous episode but it’s much more on a smaller scale.
The episode plays out like any previous episode but it’s much more on a smaller scale. Graphically speaking, the game still looks great but the voice acting has the same problem as the previous episode. The local hotel staff speak with an American or even a British accent and this absolutely kills the immersion of the game. Everything has been well done so far: the graphics, the gameplay’s core mechanics, the sound design of everything else, … but this detail just kills the vibe. They really need to fix this. There also isn’t a lot to tell about the main plot since the game doesn’t actually gives you information about the whole concept. It’s just another episode in Hitman’s mysterious journey.
Conclusion:
There isn’t much more to tell about this new Hitman’s episode, just that it’s entertaining just like the previous episodes. The game looks great and sound has been developed very well, unfortunately the same can’t be said about one small part of the sound design and that’s the voice acting. This map might not be the biggest we’ve seen so far or isn’t the most impressive we’ve seen but it will definitely keep you busy for a couple of hours
