Hitman: Absolution

There are some very good narrative ideas in this video, I love some of the key moments for their environments, but as far as the game design is concerned, I sense a franchise suffering from a huge identity crisis. It's literally picked up a few of the best mechanics from other games in the same genre and brought them together without ever trying to explain anything, and that's the hard sell.

The big reason Assassin's Creed gets away with the ridiculous over the top glitches and in game overlays (icons, menus,etc) is precisely that this is a software rendition of a world. The reason Sam Fisher gets away with his special last known position render mode is also his gadgets. Agent 47 is never supposed to have this, he is not a super soldier and he's not helped by a collection of gadgets. I know IO is supposed to be following the trends and keep Hitman relevant, but I don't see that as the solution.

After watching this video, I'm left with a sense of "we can do it too" and not "oh but look how we do it, we've got a twist". In this market, I don't think that's enough.

I saw an interview on IGN from an IO guy (all you swedes are alike so I don't know which one) saying that the Chicago Library was picked for its cinematic nature for the demo, with the majority of the game still being more open ended "sandboxes" (that term is steadily losing all meaning). Still, that still points to IO/Square trying to market the game in a misleading way, to a crowd that might not have the patience for the series' traditional adventure puzzle problem solving gameplay. I saw someone on another forum pose the question "What games are like Hitman and why?", and while a few people mentioned spy games like Velvet Assassin, honestly for me the first thing to come to mind are adventure games like Day of the Tentacle and Gabriel Knight. I can only hope that in some future hitman game I can make a mustache from a cat's fur and a syrup packet, to make myself look like the picture id of a man without a mustache, so I can get a motorcycle and escape the level.

as long as people buy it then they are marketing it the right way. the die hard fans of the series will buy it anyway so there is no need to market to them, you need to pull in new buyers who never bought the game.

the only thing we can do is wait and see what the final game is like. i have bought pretty much every single game IO has released, and always had fun with them (it's strange they went to "Kane and Lynch 2" without ever making a "Kane and Lynch 1", but oh well), so I have faith we won't get fucked in the deal. All IO need to do is make some money and pay dem bills.

Quote from Rick_D

(it's strange they went to "Kane and Lynch 2" without ever making a "Kane and Lynch 1"

What o-o? Just disregarding KL1 or... ?

kl1? i don't remember there ever being a kl1, you must be mistaken.

Kane and Lynch 1 kept making my keyboard become unresponsive, so I had to unplug it and plug it back in to continue. Without a doubt the most annoying issue I've ever experienced with a game. I actually rebound pause from Esc to Mouse 4 (and thank god that I actually could do that, honestly that's something pretty impressive as an option! Half the console ports nowadays don't even bother recognizing extra mouse buttons, let alone rebinding Escape!) and plugged my usb keyboard into the front of my case, and stubbornly finished the game that way.

I think François pretty much nailed it.

I hate to say that, especially since IOI do know their stuff when it comes to the Hitman series, but what I see in this walkthrough is a blatant lack of confidence.

Seems like they made a hitman game based on a hitman movie based on a hitman game .. does this make it a movie licence game of a movie of a game

I dont know why u r so negative that vido is great but u will have classic hitman action most of the time they just want to apply some new mechanics

love the colours

not too keen on new hitman design, and why is the barcode on the back of his head now?

I've always hated the hitman engine, but im very interested in seeing how glacier 2 turns out. How is it to work with mazy?

Looks awesome IMO. I'm really excited about this game, considering that stealth has always been my #1 type of gaming experience. Some of the stuff in the OXM interview put my mind at rest regarding any possible dumbing down of gameplay, especially with the revelation (to me) of the hardcore mode.

Wish the video wasn't so bright, though — made some parts look worse than they should have done. Unless that's how the game actually looks in which case I'll be adjusting the hell out of that.

Was that a bible I saw potentially being used to kill someone?

Quote from Rick_D

love the coloursnot too keen on new hitman design, and why is the barcode on the back of his head now?

Unless there's some incredible in-joke I'm missing here, it was always on the back of his head?

Quote from Thrik

Unless there's some incredible in-joke I'm missing here, it was always on the back of his head?

It used to be lower down, on the back of the neck.

THEY MOVED HIS BARCODE TATOO? OMFG NOT BUYING IT NOW

also:

[Blocked Image: http://images.fragland.net/screenshots/1807/5.jpg]

WHOOPS I GUESS ITS WHERE ITS ALWAYS BEEN