I've been dabbling a bit with Blood Money, but outside of that, I've found Hitman's series clunky and nasty. Hitman: Absolution arrives after a long pause, with totally reworked mechanics, a subtle take on replayability, and an extreme amount of polish. Agent 47 was initially responsible for taking down his key handler after he had been accused of treason, as well as for capturing and transporting a very important young girl to the organization. Things take a turn, however, and you're going to find yourself protecting this little girl and appealing to the agency that you once promised to work for.
During the initial stage, you can get used to the adjustments that expertly weave a tutorial in the middle of the goals. Agent 47 has some cool new tricks up his sleeve that will make the defeat of his enemies so rewarding. First and foremost, it has the power to cover up behind objects as well as switch from cover to cover. The cover system is far from original, but it's new to the Hitman series and makes the clunky hiding around past games feel very streamlined. Instinct is another new and important function. Something identical to Eagle's vision in Assassin's Creed, various key items, arms, and markings are outlined in yellow. It also makes you see enemies behind the walls, as well as their walking route and lets you slip past enemies in disguise without raising any suspicions. New players will definitely rely on Instinct as a crutch at some points, but it is important to note that this is not entirely adequate, and playing the game at higher difficulty levels limits the degree to which you can use it.
The best part of Hitman, though, is that absolution is going to be the way he approaches the goals of the point. Like Dishonored, who helped you rid of your rivals in a number of innovative ways, Hitman strives to do the same and succeeds to a large degree. It was always up to the player in past Hitman games to work out innovative ways to get rid of the goal, without any direction. Absolution doesn't actually take your back, but it does give you hints on how to try to remove your goal in a variety of ways. A quick look at your checklist will show you the various ways you can reach your goal, but it doesn't tell you precisely how to do it.
The best example of this is at the level of the King of Chinatown, since it is one of the shortest levels in the game, allowing you to hop right back in and play with the different ways to get your goal. You come across your target, for example, and you can easily shoot BAM and his head, escape the cops, and win the task. Yet you're supposed to come here right now and do it differently. Find the sniper rifle and fire it from the window, move it to the garbage compactor, poison the Chinese food he orders, poison the heroin he orders from his drug dealer, and even impersonate his drug dealer. There is too much variety in this one level, and then it is translated to each next level.
It also pays off to go back and replay levels not only to see it in a different light but to improve the ranking of your assassin. This score mechanic is the way Absolution rates players for how well they're doing. Getting spotted and needlessly destroying enemies who are not your main target will reward you with negative points, but successfully sneak past sentries, smash your mark without being noticed, and use a variety of masks to reward you with big points. It's up to you to decide whether it's worth killing a guard, and losing a few hundred points, to achieve your target and get rewarded with a bunch of points.
It's brilliantly built so if you don't care about score and rank at all, you can freely kill all the enemies on the level before you hit your final target. However, anyone seeking a competitive advantage would really have to be imaginative in order to score a full number of points. There is therefore a chance to get a decent grade. Achieving a certain score level would give you a number of permanent advantages that would make Agent 47 even more powerful to deal with. In addition, the completely genius Contracts mode gives players the ability to make up those goals, challenge themselves, or even let the community try them out. You mark targets, you define targets, literally, everything is up to you. Not only does this introduce a real sandbox feature to the game, but it extends its playtime significantly.
Absolution just looks fantastic. The amount of detail, not only in the characters but also in the level design, also reflects the amount of creativity and excitement that has gone into the game. Generally, the levels are multi-stage. For example, you will first be asked to get to the 8th floor unnoticed during your hotel assignment. After several accidents have taken place, you'll find yourself on the rooftops, running from the feds, eventually making your way to a very groovy cannabis farm. Again, each of these segments has a number of ways to get through them, and it's up to you to discover them all.
