Report 24: Big Boys Time VII: Killing spree
This is the third entry in the Hitman franchise and it feels like the most solid one out of the first three.
The gameplay is even more fleshed out now. Besides the new levels, half of the game consists of remade levels from Codename 47. Said levels’ design (except for Traditions of the Trade, which is pretty much the same in that game) was pretty awful for stealthing it, and Contracts did them a great favor by making them easier and adding new ways to finish it.
The plot is on the weaker side in this one (although you can say it barely exists), but the good gameplay balances things out nicely, like always.
Overall, it’s a pretty good (and fairly short) Hitman game.
Now this one is a truly refined experience with a whole variety of ways of completing the task at hand.
There are quite a few new mechanics in the game. The most obvious one is a notoriety effect, that should’ve ramped up the difficulty if you’re doing poorly, but since I was almost always going for Silent Assassin or at least Professional rating, I barely had any trouble with it, and even with I did, you can lower it for a pretty cheap (even if you go Rambo with all the guns upgrade), so that felt pretty pointless. Yet you can always constrict yourself to avoid using bribes, and that can spice things up. While we’re at it, witnesses mechanic, accidents mechanic and the newspaper statistic at the end of the level are pretty interesting and fresh, even if they don’t change much.
Pushing is a fun and very convenient way of disposing of your enemies, even if it doesn’t work as intended at times (47 can just go for the headbutt instead of pushing the victim if you position yourself way too close, I guess).
Human shield mechanic felt pretty pointless and I haven’t used it once since the tutorial level for obvious (doing things the stealth way) reasons. I guess it’s been introduced to help in the situations where you are cornered and there’s no other choice than to go gun blazing; or to use during your gun blazing-only walkthroughs.
Coin tossing seemed like a no-brainer function to me, but I was surprised to realize I never actually used it during my playthrough. I guess my old Hitman habits die hard (pun intended?).
While being nothing to write home about, the plot is decently made and has an incredibly satisfying ending.
Overall it’s a great game and a great Hitman entry to start with if Silent Assassin is too old for you and you want something less dark and gritty than Contracts.
This game felt like a Thief 3 moment for the franchise. The game was heavily casualised, and it’s a pretty drastic departure from the way series used to be played.
My biggest complaint would be how linear most of the levels have become. Instead of a big multilayered levels, you move through levels from one small area segment to another (which also reminded me of Thief 3). There are way too many forced stealth segments, some of which were really annoying if you’re going for no kills or no detection. Also, devs really went all-out with the crowdy levels in this one.
It mostly feels like a completely different game with some of the Hitman game design slapped on it for whatever reason. It is also the most (and unusualy so) plot-heavy game in the franchise, the plot in question being unbelievably corny, especially when it comes to bad guys. You’re gonna hate it if you try to take it seriously (which is almost impossible), and it can be somewhat fun if you treat it like some b-movie trash (which it kinda is).
Even if you’re able to distance yourself from comparing it to the previous games, it does hold up on its own, but not very well. It’s okay, but nothing exceptional.
While being extremely simplified, it uses 100%-completion-hunting to create a perception of being bloated.
A classic thing I hate: the Contracts mode is unplayable now because its’ servers were shut down, so I’m not able to do its’ achievements and even take a look what it was about.
In the end, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it was and suprisingly pleasant to play at times, but it’s still not that good for a Hitman game.
Backlog progress status: far from assassinated