Game Review: Hitman (2016)

Hitman has always been a franchise which has alluded me growing up. I’ve always been aware of its presence in the gaming landscape but sadly never had the opportunity to sit down and play it up until now. After playing the 2016 release of Hitman and mastering each of its varied and open-ended levels, I have to say I really missed out not getting on board with this franchise a lot sooner.  

IOI interactive are a Danish video game development company who have been with the series since its inception all the way back in 2000. Since then, they have managed to create and release over eight major instalments in the Hitman franchise. It’s fair to say no one knows the core foundations of the series more than the original developers and it’s one of the rare cases where the game has never left their ownership, even for spin-offs. Having not played any of the prior Hitman games it’s hard for me to give much of a personal overview of the series.  From the opinions I’ve read online over time, it seems the series has had a varying level of quality when it comes to its output. Hitman Blood Money is often a game I heard the most praise for as it seemed to give players the varied locales and options on how to approach the target. On the other side Hitman Absolution is one of the more polarising titles in the series, often being cited as a weaker instalment due to its linear level design and unattractive narrative focus. It’s clear from looking at the overall perception of the past titles where IOI interactive were attempting to go with Hitman (2016). 

It’s worth noting that while I played the game’s levels back-to-back through the Hitman 3 cmpatibility option, that upon its initial release the game’s contents were released episodically as free updates. I’m not opposed to releasing content episodically, in some types of games it can work to keep the audience engaged periodically as it allows them to enjoy the game’s content in small chunks rather than dedicating a lot of time to it. I’ve only ever seen this approach taken with narrative driven games like The Walking Dead or Life is Strange so it’s interesting to see IOI attempted it here. Despite the innovative approach however it appears IOI realised it wasn’t working as ideally as they hoped and in turn gave some Hitman fans the impression that the series was being deployed as a live-service instead of a full package.  When Hitman 2 came out they returned to full packaged releases once more. Personally, playing these levels back-to-back has been so much fun and I feel the variety in missions to choose from is a feeling that I personally appreciate more as a game concept as opposed to giving me one level every few months. The risk you often have with periodic releases is you’re asking the player to be invested in the game for an extended duration of time by which they could have moved onto a new game. It’s probably an easier bet to make when your game’s not too big to fail, but I imagine in Hitman’s case, it was; so I can appreciate why they changed back the format soon after.

The narrative of Hitman isn’t its core strength in my opinion. This isn’t to say IOI didn’t try to thread an overall storyline through the game’s several levels but it’s just treated as a secondary aspect to the game’s most alluring aspect in all honesty.  What story is here follows Agent 47, who is a hitman for an organisation called the International Contract Agency (ICA) who is sent on several missions across the globe to assassinate several high-profile targets. These targets are all part of a secret organisation called Providence and as you progress further through the game you uncover the scale of Providences reach and influence on global events. A lot of this international espionage storyline stuff sounds cool but it’s in the format that it’s delivered that it fails to be appealing. As the core gameplay focuses on experimentation and exploration with your environment, you’re not likely to be paying all that much attention to the actual plotline threaded in collectables and intel scattered around each level. There’s an attempt to connect each level together with cutscenes between each one but they rely on you already having a comprehensive grasp of the ongoing narrative and don’t care much on elaborating on what you’re seeing. I can’t say the weak narrative detriments the overall impact of the game because I think we all expected it to be a secondary aspect from the beginning. I think IOI tried their best here to add a story to a game where story just was never really going to work.

It's in the gameplay that this video game has the biggest impression to make. Overall, you are provided six comprehensive levels to play through; including the prologue/tutorial.  These levels all take place in large-scale sandbox environments in which you are provided a target to kill and potentially additional objectives to complete on top of it. I like the general feel of these levels, the game establishes quite early on the overall aim is to provide you the same objectives but in new and interesting locales and with a ton of variation on how to do so. That’s where the game shines the brightest for me, in the idea you are given a blank canvas and it offers you all the tools and brushes to paint your masterpiece however you want. Each level feels distinctly different to one another too, there isn’t any repetition in the way the environments are crafted and presented to you.  Variation is the key aspect of the game, both on the surface and deep within its mechanics. Some of my favourite levels include Paris, Bangkok, Colorado and Hokkaido. These levels are beautifully designed and reflect the true attractiveness of the locales, well all except Marrakesh. Marrakesh for me is the weak link of the levels on offer. It’s got an interesting premise but the level design feels the most restrictive to me and it doesn’t take advantage of the set up nearly as much as the other levels. Despite Marrakesh’s failings though I thoroughly enjoyed the level design of all the remaining environments. Exploring fashion shows in Paris or hotel complexes in Bangkok feels both distinct and varied and you get so many opportunities and options on how you can go out and kill your targets all throughout. 

There’s a great sense of progression with each level too. As you start out each level you are given limited options on your starting location and can only utilise the tools you own. As you progress through the levels though and try new tactics and avenues to assassinate your targets, you level up your mastery of the level and unlock new disguises, starting locations and tools to use within them. This actively encourages engagement within the levels as you are always rewarded for replaying and experimenting each time and no one playthrough ever feels the same. It helps give you a clear sense of mastery not just of the levels but of the overall game, so much so that by the later levels you are being constantly challenged to utilise your tools and experience from prior levels to overcome some truly tricky situations. It’s one of the best aspects of the game for me that it actively develops you as the player and gives you a real drive to keep progressing and trying new options within each level. That replayability never feels boring either as your development and experimentation will always bear new fruit and the game will never force you to stick to one level. Freedom is the core aspect of the game’s output and it’s refined and polished in such an inspired way.

Hitman (2016) was the best way for me to be introduced to this franchise. It sets up the fundamental draw that the series is renowned for and doesn’t even feel difficult or unaccommodating. This is a sort of game that is easy for newcomers to get into yet also challenging for veterans to perfect. It manages a perfect balance in displaying this with both gameplay and environmental design. While it does falter slightly in an uninspired story and one restrictive level these missteps are not enough to stop me from recommending this game to anyone looking for a fun and engaging sandbox experience.