Finally, Agent 47 has made his way to current-gen. The last Hitman game, Absolution, released at the end of 2012, and it’s safe to say that most long-time fans of the series were not impressed; Absolution was very different to its predecessor, Blood Money (widely considered the high-point of the series), featuring comparatively linear missions and a more story-central structure. It was highly criticised for restricting players and not feeling like a “true Hitman” game. So, does this new Hitman embrace the changes Absolution introduced, or is it a throwback to the Hitman games of old?

Hitman is very much a return to the style of Blood Money. Featuring a sandbox containing various ways to dispatch your targets, your path is largely left up to you, which is where it differs from Absolution. In 2012’s Absolution, levels were much more linear, and often did not feature a target to kill, instead occasionally asking you to complete other objectives. Unlike most, I enjoyed Absolution, and although Hitman doesn’t share much in common with it, you can definitely see its influences in areas such as the “Instincts” ability, which allows you to see enemies through walls in a similar way to the Assassin’s Creed’s “Eagle Vision” does. I’m not too fond of it, as it makes the game seem like it’s holding your hand a bit too much, and takes away from the traditional high-level of difficulty the Hitman series is known for.

A further example of this hand-holding is the “Opportunities” feature, which gives you waypoints to the various ways in which you can take out your targets. Of course, you can turn this off, making the game a lot more like the series used to be. This brings me on to what has always been the best part of any Hitman game; the choices you have in taking out the spies and double-agents the game asks you to kill. They may only be 4 missions included in this first episode, but so far I’ve spent around 10 hours on the Paris level alone, with every playthrough working out a little differently from the last. In one playthrough, I strutted the catwalk as a supermodel, before poisoning my target, although I could see at least a half-dozen other ways in which I could take out that target in that situation. You’re not held back in anyway, other than through your own choices, and that’s honestly the best thing about Hitman.

There’s just so much to do. The Paris level is absolutely massive; my reaction when I first activated Instincts and saw how far away my second target was from me was to say “wow”, before I immediately began preparing. Of course, to those new to Hitman, this might be a little daunting. There’s just so many things to do, that it can feel overwhelming, but you shouldn’t panic. The game gives you helpful hints along the way, and although they might make older fans of the series scoff at how “easy” Hitman is, it’s definitely useful to newer players.

In terms of how the game works, it’s very impressive. It looks surprisingly great, with only the occasional rough edge cropping up as you play. Another impressive feat is that IO Interactive have managed to get right the one thing that Hitman games tend to struggle with; the AI. That’s not to say it’s entirely perfect, but it certainly works much better than it did in previous Hitman games. This is all down to the new trespass system, which judges where you are and if you’re meant to be there. Sticking on the correct disguise allows you access into certain areas, avoiding detection by the guards. The system seems to adapt as you play, with guards announcing over the radio what disguise you’re wearing if you’re spotted doing something in it.

My biggest criticism of Hitman is that, as a singleplayer game, I don’t expect to be kicked to the main menu every time it disconnects from the servers, which unfortunately seemed to happen every 10-15 minutes when I was playing the game. I understand that this issue has been acknowledged on Twitter by the official Hitman account, and may even have been patched on PS4, but at the time of writing, it has not been patched on Xbox One and the disconnects are still very common. You’d expect that, if you’re going to make a singleplayer game online-only, they’d have stable servers, or at least allow you to load your “online” saves whilst disconnected from the server. Admittedly, this is something that will eventually be fixed, but at the moment it’s really disheartening when you’ve spent 40 minutes setting up the perfect assassination, only for the game to disconnect at the last moment and kick you to the menu.

Honestly, there’s not much else to criticise with Hitman, aside from server problems and the lack of content. It’s a well-made, traditional Hitman game, it takes the series back to its Blood Money glory days, it’s just a shame that there aren’t a few more missions in this first episode. Hopefully, there’ll be more included as we move forward with the content packs, because although the Paris level is massive and hugely re-playable, it’s just a shame that that’s all there really is. Still, this is a solid start to what will hopefully be a great Hitman experience.

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