After a six year abscence Agent 47 has returned, and the assassin has never been better in Hitman: Absoultion.
What really drives Absolution, and makes you scour every corner of the map, is the built-in scoring system. Instead of firing bullets, a point value is placed on nearly everything. Did you disturb the public? Did you leave any bodies behind or did you perform any executions? A point value will be displayed after each checkpoint, which is then placed on XBL or PSN leaderboards. Normally this doesn’t get to me, but the smallest things can dramatically change your score. I was constantly trying to beat my previous score and it kept me engaged all the way through to the end. The reason this concept is fantastic is because it gives players an incentive to continue playing, or hunting, for achievements or trophies, which involve playing the game on the higher levels.
Hitman: Absolution's story is the low point of the product. The story picks up right after the events of Hitman: Blood Money. To keep it spoiler free, Agent 47 has betrayed the International Contract Agency, and is now protecting a girl from being killed. The premise is promising, but it lacks execution. Most of the story is told to you via QuickTime cutscenes, which is mostly served to take you from setting to setting. They aren’t engaging, and at times I wanted to skip them due to how distracting they were from the gameplay.
Another issue is that if this is your first entry into the Hitman franchise, then you could be a bit lost. The game doesn’t do a good job in recapping what happened previously, and for that reason the story feels a bit misplaced. If you don't understand the “Hitman” rules that have been in place since it first appeared, then it’s going to be tough sledding.
IO Interactive has brought back the Hitman franchise and the classic feel is still in place. Absolution brings new things to the table that the franchise didn’t have before. What ends up dragging the product down are the story and presentation hiccups that hurt the game’s quality. With that all said, this is the best entry into Hitman, as returning fans will be in for a feast that was well worth the six year wait.
Score: 8.5 / 10
