Hitman:Absolution

[Spike88]

Originally Posted by Valantine

My biggest complaint is the quicktime system: seriously - if I wanted to play some stupid quicktime event or use some stupid "instinct xray vision type BS" I'd have bought it on the console as these have no place in a PC game!

I can understand your opinion on the QTE, they probable made the decision so you weren't sitting there with no "control" during disarms. But it's one of those hit and miss things. Some people like that you're still in control during the hand-to-hand, others hate QTE.

As for the Instinct mode, I can't find it as a flaw at all. It's up to you to actually use it. If you want to find things out on your own don't use it. It's the same functionality as the map(showing you points of interest), juts overlayed ontop of the map. No one is forcing you to use it, and you can turn it off if you feel the need to.

Originally Posted by the_tyrant

-snip-

I agree with your thoughts on the disguise system. It needs to be a bit more refined. I can't remember the name, but there is a Hitman like game set in WWII that has a disguise system that is pretty well done. The disguises go by rank, if you disguise as a private, other privates wont notice you, while higher ranks will. Certain units like the Gestapo can tell your disguise no matter what(if I remember correctly) and there are certain disguises that are pointless to use(these are usually targets, or really important people).

I'd like to see a system like the one you described where smaller groups would see through your disguise more than bigger groups, but throw in "bosses" that can tell the difference. If you dress up as a bellboy, other bellboys shouldn't care, but if you were to dress up as a security guard for a small and tight security firm, the others would be suspicious. It should also depend on distance, if you are farther away or can't see your face, they leave you along, if you get closer is when they get suspicious. Although it gets tricky with police officers, as most police officers tend to know most local police officers(even if they work for different agencies). Again, it should be by distance, if you get within 10 feet they can start to tell the difference.
To make the system more complex there should be "bosses" that can tell who are you. If you dress up as a waiter inside a restaurant and bump into the head chef responsible for hiring up close, he should start to detect you. There is a great example of this in the Hitman: Damnation novel where 47's disguise is blown by the person responsible for hiring new bellboys in a hotel.



A complaint of mine is the weapon system. I honestly prefer the one from Blood Money or previous games(which while a bit clunky, make more sense than Absolutions). While you could carry a lot of crap in previous games(almost an infinite amount of small firearms) you couldn't put away long guns. In Absolution you are limited in what you can carry. You can carry one side arm, your AMT hardballers, one melee weapon(previous games let you carry many more), your fiberwire, and then two long guns. If you "holster" a long gun, it magically disappears. Also, at no point do you get frisked, which is a good thing since it's impossible to drop a weapon once it's picked up.

You can acquire DLC weapons through pre-orders or the CE. Other than the fact you can use them in contracts, I found this pointless as you can't choose your loadout before a mission. Although the one light in the tunnel is the fact that these weapons and any other pre-order dlc was made available on launch as DLC. You can buy what you want for .99c a piece or buy all of it for 5.99. You may be thinking what's good about that? 90% of the time these pre-order/Collectors Edition "exclusives" are never made available, making you feel like you missed something neat(this is generally true when it's extra levels).


Now for some more good things:
The small touches in the game are really superb. These range from the fact that 47's tie isn't static(it moves with your posture), to gum stuck on the inside of that closet your hiding in.

There are plenty more accidental deaths.
If you kill someone using an "accident" and there body is discovered it doesn't penalize you, and the guards don't go into "alert". Which I feel is the way it should be. I think it's more suspicious for someone killed by an accident to be hid, rather than found out in the open.

If a guard finds a body that was killed by an accidental death, they'll rush over and kneel by its side. In previous games, they find the body, inspect it and then go back as if nothing happened.

Another nice aspect is that standing stationary in large crowds of NPC's blends you in Assassin's Creed style.


I can see why they made the decisions for this game(focusing more on a dramatic story over typical Hitman gameplay), while it's not perfect it's a pretty good game.

I'm hoping the sequel will be a pleasant mix of Blood Money and Absolution. Ideally I'd like to return to Blood Money type missions where you were put into the map and set free, and where you can choose your equipment. However I'd like to see the accident mechanics, crowd system, and reinforcement system to return from Absolution.

I'd also like the weapon system with customization to return from BM.

As for the more linear "escape" missions, I'm in favor of them to return if their done correctly. If you pull a smooth hit and get out without an alarm, you wouldn't have to do them. However if you do a shoot out, you'd have to do an extra mission where you escape. For example, if you go into a hotel, get into a shoot out, you'd have to do an extra mission where you have to get out of the hotel after S.W.A.T and police officers have closed down the nearby areas.