Game Review: Hitman 2

When I reviewed Hitman earlier this year my biggest takeaway from the experience was how detailed and varied the levels were. IOI interactive understood the core appeal of the Hitman formula by providing players with a vast open sandbox to play around and experiment with. While the level design and gameplay variety were a major highlight of the games, I also noted that the weak narrative structure failed to support it in an adequate fashion. With my expectations already being established from the first game, I can confirm that Hitman 2 follows all the same principles; for better or worse.

Before I dive into the core review it’s fair to give some background to the development of Hitman 2. The reception behind Hitman 1 was notably positive at the time of its release, but its biggest criticism lied in its release structure being episodic. Investment in the game dwindled as time went by and Square Enix reported a notable drop in sales and engagement as the game’s release schedule proceeded. Wanting to learn from their mistakes, IOI went into developing Hitman 2 as a game that the player wouldn’t be expected to wait on to get the full experience.  With a renewed drive to deliver a more refined Hitman game, it seemed all the more bittersweet when Square Enix proceeded with a management buyout to IOI halfway through their development of the 2nd installment. This left IOI in a notable situation as their biggest source of funding was gone and IOI had to lay off 40% of their staff to recuperate their costs. This also meant that their initial vision of Hitman 2 had to be scaled back majorly to account for the loss of budget. The reason I’m giving all this context is because you can clearly see how those issues impacted the final product and being aware of the wider impacts this had on development helped me look at the game in a more enlightened perspective. 

Hitman 2 follows straight on from the events of the previous game. Agent 47 and his handler at the ICA; Diana Burnwood have set forth on new mission for a secret organisation called Providence.  Providence have revealed to Diana and the ICA the existence of the Shadow Client, a mysterious figure who has been causing major unrest on a global scale through their wealth of connections. Providence while not exactly on the same terms as the ICA have agreed to an uneasy alliance as their goals mutually benefit one another with the elimination of the Shadow Client and their extended network. In return for Agent 47’s aid in eliminating the Shadow Client and their network, Providence will provide 47 with details of his forgotten past. As all parties seek to benefit their own means, it’s up to 47 to enact their wills carefully across a multitude of locations across the globe, keeping him and Diana one step ahead as they work their way through assassinating all relevant parties linked to the Shadow Client.

It's sad to say that the narrative issues I associated with the prior entry seems even more prevalent in this game. I appreciate the attempt to follow directly on from the conclusion of the previous game’s storyline but the format in how it’s done is just as restrained as last time, even more so in this case I can argue. The cutscenes between levels are not animated anymore, they use graphic novel, slideshow style format to portray as much as the core narrative as they can but it just feels like such a redundant format to tell this story. The story in all honesty felt rushed too as the cohesive structure of it just feels so lost on me. The game obviously wants you to care about the uneasy alliance with Providence that Diana and 47 have taken, but there’s just not enough effort here to convey that.  The problem also is the story is separated substantially from the gameplay up until the final level. The major disconnect throughout the games runtime only further reinforces how little the narrative really plays into this games core appeal. 

It's fortunate that as was the case with the prior game, the gameplay serves as the main form of engagement for the player in Hitman 2. Despite the hurdles IOI faced in this games development it’s hard to see much of that limitation on the grand scale of this game. I think the only negative you can take away from the title’s gameplay is that it doesn’t evolve much despite the fact it’s a sequel. It gives you all the same tools and features to utilise to enact your mission without much new functionality to utilise. I think I’m a bit more forgiving of this due to its development woes and in retrospect the sandbox levels on offer here not only meet the same level of quality as the previous game but actually surpassed them in my opinion. The levels you get to play around in have so much technical and creative depth behind them. There’s a multitude of variations on how you can take down your targets in a substantially more dynamic fashion. The kills range from simple to the absolute craziest situations and the way in which you can set these up all have their own distinct pathways. The kill variations are only one aspect of the gameplay though, each sandbox level you find yourself in has a ton of challenges linked to them which ask you as the player to go prepare and plan out if you really wish to master all that these levels have to offer. It adds so much replayability to the game and it kept me playing each level over and over without any fatigue out of desire to truly overcome the game’s challenges.

The game’s most impressive positive element however is its technical design. To say this game was developed for pre-gen hardware (PS4, Xbox One) there were moments I actually couldn’t believe it. The intrinsic detailing on the scale and navigation on each of the games main locations is beyond spectacular. Mumbai and Miami stand out to me as the games best locations, with a multitude of sequences playing out all across the map in real time. Crowds inhabit all avenues and areas with great density and the AI mapping just fees so smartly put together. This is the best formula for truly engaging sandbox gameplay in my opinion. The sandbox design accommodates the assassination and accompanying challenges in the must flexible ways that you will be hard pressed to find many repetitive elements. It makes up in a lot of ways for the lack of new gameplay ideas because you get an impressive scale behind the level design.

It speaks volumes to me that despite being hindered so much in their development course, IOI managed to deliver Hitman 2 in such a competent format. It doesn’t hit all the marks sadly as its gameplay offerings haven’t evolved much past what you get in Hitman 1 and the story feels way more condensed this time around. Despite that though IOI managed to double down on the best elements of the series which is the sandbox design and the creative kills presented to you. I’m truly impressed by Hitman 2 and if this is what IOI can produce under a major number of restrictions, my anticipation for Hitman 3 knowing they had a lot more budget and advancements is through the roof.