Gamescom 2012: Hitman:Absolution

It was the beginning of Saturday at Gamescom and we could already tell that it was going to be a way busier day than both Thursday and Friday. So me and Rob decided that we would get at least three of the big games done today. So first we went to Ubisoft to have a try of Assassin’s Creed 3, but the queue was five hours long, so we instead decided to head over to Square Enix and try out Tomb Raider and then Hitman:Absolution.  As Rob will be talking about tomb Raider, I’ll be talking about Hitman.

Hitman:Absolution is the fifth game in the series and follows on from Hitman:Blood Money.  The demo we played was based in Shanghai and the mission was to kill the King of Shanghai, who is a drug lord based in Shanghai.  The game looks very impressive, a lot better than the previous Hitman titles.  While playing it, the first thing that I was shown how to use, which is new to the Hitman series, was the ‘instinct mode’.  This is similar to the ‘detective mode’ in Batman:Arkham City and the ‘sonar vision’ in Splinter Cell:Conviction.  Using this mode allowed me to see where important items which can be used to take out the target and it also allowed me to see where the main target is, as well as police officers in the area.

Using this ability I was then able to plan out how I was going to take out the target.  I decided that I was going to do it as stealthily as possible, as is always the way I play if given the choice.  While I was walking through the level deciding on how to proceed, my target called someone up to arrange to get some cocaine of him, so I decided to intervene after the phone call.  I snuck past the cop outside the drug dealers apartment, killed him and stuffed him in a locker.  With him dead I was able to steal his clothes as a disguise and go and meet the the King of Shanghai.

After meeting with him, he asked me to take him to the cocaine.  So again using the ‘instinct mode’, I found some cocaine stashed away down an alley way with no one around.  So after leading to the spot, I used my trusty garotte and strangled him and then dumped him in a bin.  Once this was done, I just walked casually out to the exit to complete the mission.

It’s this aspect which makes the game so good, being able to decide how I want to do the level.  Although I did enjoy this, so far the game isn’t massively different from Hitman:Blood Money, except for the new ‘instinct mode’ and the improved graphics.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, as Hitman:Blood Money is a great game and with the addition of ‘instinct mode’, the ability to really plan your assassinations is a great new feature.

Hitman:Absolution is set to be released November 20th on PC, PS3 and 360.