Should I buy "Hitman: Absolution"

[Movitz]

Please keep this thread spoiler-free.

I really enjoyed "Blood Money", and am interested in seeing how the story ends.

But I've heard that the gameplay is very different from "Blood Money", more linear and such.

So I ask: any of you that enjoyed "Blood Money", did you also enjoy "Absolution"?

 

[TheGamerElite33]

Its nothing like blood money or previous games. its totally different game and pretty much dumbed down version like see through walls, cutscene assassination, too much action and less stealth etc.
i dont think its worth it.

 

[Zhukov]

I thought it was alright. I enjoyed it more than the other games. That said, I didn't enjoy it enough to ever finish it. Also, I thought Blood Money was clunky pile of arse, so my opinion may be suspect.

It has a mixture of linear levels where you got from Point A to Point B and more open assassination levels that just have an area with one or more targets that you have to kill by whatever methods you see fit.

Oh and to address the, err... let's call them points, in the second post, you can turn off the seeing-through-walls thing in the options, the assassinations don't happen in cutscenes and you can be as stealthy or as action-y as you like.

 

[Evonisia]

It's not like Blood Money, really. The linearity is really present in some of the missions but I must say that the bigger, more Blood Money sized maps are a joy to behold. The stealthing is solid and unlike the only competition of the time (Dishonoured) it doesn't try to force you in picking which style you play (most of the time, there are a few exceptions).

Less methodical, more momentum is the best way to describe Absolution. I liked it, but I will be honest and say that I never finish the game in a few sittings (though I have finished it twice). It's a nice game for picking up for an hour or two and then you don't feel bad when you go back to it to find that you're still only on Mission 7. I also think the middle part of the game is the worst part. Pretty much every mission between the Chicago ones and the last five or so have the same enemies with different colouring and similar stealth solutions.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

I really enjoyed absolution but there are far too many ways to assassinate your targets. The game becomes more fun when you try to do all the different techniques and ramp up your scores and some of the bonus challenges are hard. The characters are all over the top psychopaths and the story is batshit crazy...but it's a cool game. I picked it up for 3 quid and was very very happy with my purchase...

 

[tippy2k2]

I've played through all the Hitman games. I bought Absolution for $5 due to hearing how...kind of bad it was.

I thought it was good (Not great but not nearly as bad as I was prepared for it to be). Evonisia above with the "less methodical, more momentum" is absolutely the perfect way to describe the game. The game is a lot more linear (although some levels really open up) but I found that the game was at its best when I went for the sneaky assassination and just ran with it rather than methodically looking around and planning everything I was going to do step-by-step for the greatest assassination known to man...

Unlike many others here it seems, I did finish the game. I wouldn't blame people if they didn't though; the story is just kind of the bare-bones reason why 47 is doing his thing than actually compelling. It is more "Saints Row" though with over-the-top caricatures of people so that may rub some people the wrong way since it's awfully hard to take anything anyone is doing seriously...

 

[Doom972]

While I didn't like it as much as I did Hitman: Blood Money or Hitman 2, I do think that it's a good Hitman game. The new checkpoint system means that instead of having large open levels in which one mistake means you're fucked and have to shoot everyone or die, you move between smaller areas that you have to get through in order to proceed until you reach your target. It reduces the challenge and tension, it allows you to rely more on tactics rather than memorizing guard patrols and timing (though you'll still have to rely on it to some extent). If you enjoyed Blood Money, I think you'll enjoy this one too - just keep your expectations reasonable.

 

[Smooth Operator]

The story doesn't relate between these games so you get nothing out of that.
Consider Absolution the modern take on Hitman, everything is simple, everything is outlined in neon, you don't plan anything ahead all the items are put at your feet when the designers decide you need them,...
And the story also doesn't invoke the setting of an assassin, the character is forced to do cool shit just because that is what he does nowadays, far more John McClane then any 47 we have seen in the series.

Did I like it... well the game is completely functional, the only problem I really had with it was that things didn't make sense at least 80% of the time.

 

[Post Tenebrae Morte]

It's pretty good. As others have said, It is like silent assassin and relies on improvisation. You can't stick around in a group for too long and will be required to keep your eyes on everyone. Essentially, it's somewhat more like splinter cell at times, but it's still quite good. While it doesn't have the spectacular way that blood money would give you a rush with a properly planned assassination (like the opera house. Watching the actor get shot dead, then dropping the chandelier on the director as he comes running, via an explosive placed on the gears, is pretty great.)

For those who don't understand the story, look up the history of the girl he's protecting. You'll see why he wishes to do so. He didn't choose his existence and, even when he tried to get away, 47 is always dragged back in. 47 would likely want nothing more than to get a nice cottage or so forth and retire, but his skills and being bred to be a natural assassin, means people won't let him sleep.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Haven't played it but from what little gameplay I've watched it looks pretty good. I'd buy it if I found it cheap.

 

[Rozalia1]

To give my voice on the matter. Hitman Absolution is a perfectly functional game which I enjoyed more than the older games. It being worse or better than the rest is pretty irrelevant ultimately, there is nothing really all that wrong with the game.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

It's an alright game. The problem with Absolution is that it tries to be a stealth game instead of a Hitman game. There are some great open levels with hits in them, it's just that the levels that don't feature hits (which are more in number) are standard stealth levels where you go from point A to point B. Some of the stealth levels are really good though, but the last half or so of the game just seemed to drag on and on with disappointing level after level. And so many of those levels are packed with enemies and really the only way to "ghost" through most of them is distracting enemies by throwing objects. And the disguise system SUCKS, you have to use Instinct to "blend" to get by enemies in a disguise even if you're in a full body disguise. And, the story is just a mess, they throw some twists and such towards the end that really don't make much sense (a lot of stuff is dropped on you in the epilogue). Some key characters do get cutscene killed instead of there being a level where you kill them, it kinda doesn't make much sense to do that in a Hitman game that needed more hits. Lastly, the checkpoint system sucks as well, it saves only your position, not game STATE (so all those people you killed/knocked out/hid away/etc. are back in their original positions).

 

[bug_of_war]

It's a pretty good game, though I've never played Blood Money so I aint got a clue if it follows on from it and what not. I suppose the thing that alienated some people was just how much weaponry/objects you could carry didn't make sense/different from the previous games, but I personally didn't care about that shit. One thing I can criticise it on though is that the gameplay sometimes feels as if it's unsure if it wants to be a stealth game or an action game. It penalises you through the games scoring system for killing anyone bar your primary target, yet it gives you so much weaponry to go guns blazing that sometimes it feels much more fun and simple to let loose.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Save your money. It's an awful game and has so little in common with the previous entries to the series. Everything you love was taken out of the Absolution and it got replaced with linear levels, a rechargable magic bar, a fucking score that updates while you play (so if you want to get SA rating you will be restarting dozens of times). It's closer to Splinter Cell than Hitman in that you have a series of linear areas and you stealth between them, occasionally changing a costume or taking someone out.

It sucks as a straight up action game, it sucks as a stealth game, it sucks as a Hitman game, it sucks as a puzzle game. About the *only* thing remotely close to actual Hitman gameplay is, funnily enough, the multiplayer mode. In MP, players pick a map, distribute some targets about it and set a time or method of killing (or other criteria). The player then tries to beat the challenge.

Gone are the open maps, gone are multiple routes, costumes, weapons and the rest. Replaced with a dull game that I got bored of a few chapters in (the convent), uninstalled and never thought about since. Seriously, save your money and play Blood Money again for a great experience. Or, install Contracts which is now on Steam (evidently that years-long copyright issue has been resolved) and play the Hotel level, remade from the original game (but with Hitman 3's better graphics, saving ability, weapons, etc). The Hotel level in Contracts is an absolute masterpiece of game design, Hitman, and gaming at its finest. Alongside Oblivion's "Whodunit?" mission for the DB, Hitman's Hotel level is one of the best missions of any game, ever.

The new magic mechanic, focus or whateverTF it's called, is bollocks. You also have infinite knock-outs, unlike older games where you only get two non-lethal takedowns per mission). I even tried a cheat with infinite focus to see if it helped make the game any better (by removing focus from the equation)...it didn't.

TLR - Save your money and play Blood Money or Contracts again instead. Either are significantly better than Absolution.