Hitman: Absolution

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Anyone else having a crack on the Hitman Sniper Challenge?

Very easy to fiddle it (pre-order, wait for sniper challenge email, cancel pre-order) and damn if it isn't bloody good.

 

You're sat on a rooftop and you have to pick off an armaments magnate attending a party on a nearby rooftop. Simple. For best results, you also need to whack his 14 bodyguards. In 15 minutes. Without anyone noticing anything is wrong (.e.g snipe a bodyguard at the edge of the roof so he goes over). It's addictive as Hell, not only are there multiple ways to do it, but the mission ranking system now incorporates a score, so you still receive Silent Assassin down to Mass Murderer (or whatever the lowest ranking is, I wouldn't know) but your score can vary.

 

Plenty of bonus objectives (e.g. get rid of some unsavoury evidence, shoot all the rubber ducks, kill a ninja) to keep your eyes peeled and they offer a score incentive.

 

They've got the shooting right, too, in that there's a delay between firing and the bullet hitting. Possibly too long a delay given the range, but I'm getting all gun nutty and quibbly now. The important thing is, you have to anticipate your moving targets, lead them a little bit and fire at where they're going to be. The feel of the trigger is really nicely handled (on PS3, anyway) where as you take up the slack with R2, time slows a little, enabling more precise shot placement. I'm slightly irritated by the scope view only taking up about half the screen, with the rest taken up by stuff you wouldn't see when looking through a scope, but that's a game design issue I suppose. You don't have to adjust for bullet drop (well done, 47, on getting your range right on your scope settings).

 

Not too keen on the 'Instinct' view that lets you see enemies wherever they are, that's very cheaty and something I hope you can turn off in the full game. I've been sceptical about the other design changes that Io have made, making the game sound much less stealthy and tactical, but hopefully they're honest and you can play classic Hitman style.

 

Oh, and it looks very nice, graphics whores.

 

A level run of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWf3dPKYf1E

 

I worry that the relatively open gameplay we think of as Hitman is not possible alongside a focused action-driven experience.

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First hands-on.