Hitman Absolution Review Xbox 360 Review

Hitman Absolution is a game of choice. Each mission gives you just one ultimate goal, to assassinate a target, and you can do this however you want. The amount of freedom the player receives in Hitman Absolution is very impressive. You play as Agent 47 and begin by being assigned to eliminate Diana Burnwood by the Agency. After wounding her, she gives 47 a letter asking him to protect her daughter Victoria, from the Agency. Victoria later reveals to 47 that Diana wanted to keep her away from the doctors, of whom 47 knows all too well. He takes Victoria to an orphanage in order to keep her safe while 47 goes to gather more information about why she is so important to the Agency. When the player finds out why Diana fled with her daughter, it is understandable why she did so. This eventually leads to Hitman taking full revenge on the Agency and the conclusion to the story is unexpected, but satisfying at the same time.

As already mentioned, the freedom of choice you have here is excellent. In each and every environment you have a multitude of options to choose from. Do you go in guns blazing and murder everyone? Are you going to silently knock out guards one by one and use their disguises to blend in with everyone else? Will you create distractions and sneak by? Whatever you choose to do, you will have a great time experimenting with different ways to manoeuvre about the levels within Hitman Absolution. Having said this, there is an issue with one of the options you can choose. The use of disguises is useful but can be pretty useless sometimes as well. It makes sense that the guards close by you will be suspicious of your disguise, but for the people over the other side of the map to be suspicious of you when you walk by them, does not really make a lot of sense. However I can see why they have designed it this way, as it would then be far too easy to just walk through entire levels, but it still seems a bit odd. Nonetheless, using all these elements in the environment to your advantage is satisfying, and makes you think and plan your next move. This is not a game to be rushed. It requires patience and precision. Run and gun gameplay while possible, is not the best option here.

Speaking of environments, the player is taken to a number of different locations during Hitman Absolutions 20 hour or so journey. These include places such as a hotel, a strip club, a weapons testing facility, a gun shop and a personal favourite of mine, a boxing ring. The sound design in all of these places is excellent, from NPC (non playable characters) interactions to gun sounds, in particular Hitmans signature, silver baller pistols. Crowds in certain areas also make these places feel alive, not to mention can be used to hide in. I have mentioned the options you have when playing but there are also different ways you can assassinate your targets which adds even more variety to how you can play. You can poison, drown, set on fire, garrotte and even drop cars on your targets in a number of locations, which keeps things interesting.

Despite the characters being fairly forgettable and a few gameplay elements that seem odd, Hitman Absolution is an excellent third person stealth action game. It is impossible to see all the game has to offer in one play through, so I highly recommend replaying this game, maybe even putting the difficulty level up to give yourself that bit more of a challenge. There is also a contracts mode where you can challenge people worldwide, as well as your friends, to complete assassination missions in a certain way, which encourages you to be creative and is a lot of fun. The sheer amount of choices you can make in this game is astonishing and being resourceful with the environment is really satisfying when it comes off. If you have not already done so, Hitman Absolution is a title that any fan of action games should experience.