Hitman: Absolution (PC, Xbox 360) Review

Like all the previous Hitman games in the series, there are multiple ways to reach your objective, and many optional extras.  You can play the game as an action shooter and always have guns blazing, or you can go completely silent and try to do everything unnoticed.  There is a point system for each section of the missions that rewards you for finding hidden items, completing objectives and performing kills that look like an accident, but points are detracted if you take out a non-marked NPC.

There is a lot of satisfaction when completing missions “as a ghost”.  If you slip by unnoticed, blend in, and make all of your hits look incidental then you extract the most points.  In one mission where you have to protect Birdie, you have to take out three Agents in crowded Chinatown.  If you stalk them and observe what they’re doing then you can let “nature take it’s course”.  Sabotage a fuel pump while one takes a cigarette break, rig a trap, and frame an Agent looking for information.  No one ever knew you were there.

Blending in can be one of the more frustrating parts of the game, but very satisfying when it works.  Even though you wear a disguise and implement your Instinct to fool others, many times people see through your ruse.  In this case they will start to follow you, and it’s best to walk into a private spot, fake surrender, and take them out.  While this protects Agent 47, you lose points for taking out a non-target character, but you can gain some back by hiding the bodies.

Because there are so many ways to finish a mission, you really need to play each one several times to find out the “right” way that provides the most points.  The first playthrough is like running reconnaissance as you gather information on your marks and build a strategy.

New to the series is a multi-player mode, which is unlocked once you complete a mission.  This “Contracts” mode cranks up the longevity of the game far beyond the twenty or so hours it takes to complete the main story.  In this mode you can create your own hits within the game’s levels and challenge your friends to complete your contracts faster than you.