Hitman 3: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be…
Putting It Bluntly Game Reviews with Cory Showtime
ELEVATOR PITCH: “Um…You’re a Hitman. That should be plenty.”
If you’ve never played a hitman game, shame on you. You’ve had 20 years, several different console generations, and probably 3–5 different PCs in that timeframe that you could’ve played any of them on. But these games are kind of a niche market and are an acquired taste. Most casual gamers or players driven by hectic action won’t be able to properly appreciate the meticulous fun that goes into the perfect kill and extraction. I’ve played a lot of stealth-action games in my career as a gamer, and Hitman 3 is the best I’ve seen so far.
I became indoctrinated by the ICA (the mythical organization that employs the bald, stoic Agent 47) way back in 2012. I had heard about these cool games where you play as this bald…hitman guy, but I never picked up the controller to try it out until Hitman: Absolution on the Xbox 360. I can even remember the mission that got me hooked: The King of Chinatown. What hooked me were the challenges, the “predator” view (a system that helps you notice your target, costumes, weapons, etc.), and the nearly endless amount of ways there were to finish a mission. And that’s truly what makes every Hitman game great: the replay value. I probably spent 4–5 hours replaying that mission; the second level in the game. I probably didn’t move onto the rest of the levels for days because I was having so much fun planning and executing all the different ways to…well, execute my target. Whether it was sneaking past guards to get up to an apartment to shoot him with a rifle, disguising myself as a chef and poisoning his food, or even just pushing him into an open manhole; I found myself thoroughly entertained finding all the numerous ways to end this poor fictional Triad boss.
Absolution’s gameplay flow mixed the sneaking, stealth and parkour elements with a streamlined control style they still use on the series today. It also introduced both challenges and a contracts mode: a game mode where players basically create and edit their own missions based on the ones already placed in the game. That took the NEAR-endless replay value of any Hitman game up to ACTUALLY endless. It is possible to play any Hitman game for DAYS without ever actually completing any missions.
Which brings us to our latest game in the series: Hitman 3. Hitman 3 is actually the 8th installment in the Hitman series. And much like any franchise that starts putting numbers in their titles, it gets confusing. Basically the entire franchise underwent a makeover and reboot because their developer’s company did as well. Goodbye Eidos, hello IOI Interactive. And the reboots, Hitman and Hitman 2, were absolutely EXCELLENT. What set these games apart from their predecessors was an improvement on the gameplay design that already worked swimmingly, along with a deep and winding story full of intrigue and espionage. Hitman 3 does all of this and much, MUCH more.
The first mission tasks you with performing a HALO drop onto the roof of the tallest building on Earth in Abu Dhabi, infiltrating a gala, and assassinating 2 fictional members of 2 very real and powerful families that secretly pull all the strings in our society. That was interesting to TYPE, let alone play thru. The story of this game plays out like a movie that you’d gladly pay to see. Its something out of a Tom Clancy novel but you’re seeing everything from the eyes of the guy sent to kill everyone instead of the omnipresent eye of the narrator. And the story is GOOD. Like, really good. Like, I didn’t see the plot twist coming and I DAMN sure didn’t see the twist after THAT coming! No spoilers here, play the game.
What this game does to make it the best of an already great series is that it doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel: it makes a more efficient rim and tire. Everything that made the past games great, this game has. Hell, this game gives you the ability to play ALL THREE GAMES! It also gives you the ability to use items you collected along the way in this latest play thru. I killed a target with a statue I took off the desk of another target in Hitman 1! And had I purchased Hitman 2 on Steam instead of Epic, I’d be able to play all of that game on there as well: sniper mode and all. But I hear IOI Interactive is fast working on a fix to get that content on your platform.
THE VERDICT: 98% Chronic on the Bammer Scale. I have no notes, I have no nitpicks. This game is excellent. Here’s my best possible compliment I can give this game: after playing thru the main storyline, I went online to attempt to link my account data from the past titles, and in the process I lost all of my save file history for Hitman 3. I have to play the whole thing over again. I’m not upset in the least: I’m looking forward to it. Like I said, 98% Chronic and the -2% is probably because I gotta play it again. This game is some of the sweetest Granddaddy Purp you’ll ever have. 2 Thumbs up. Fux with it for sure. Best stealth game there is, hands down.
