I have played this game for 4 hours. I am completely bored out of my brain and very surprised. I have been spotted through walls twice now. Brick Walls. The frame rates are so up and down (im using a 680 + i7+16gb ram). The story is dull and constructed using nothing but boring hollywood cliches. The first 'kill', which could have been so fun is just a cut-scene. YOU CANNOT LOOK THROUGH KEYHOLES ANYMORE. Why IO? Are you mad? NO SAVES = NO EXPERIMENTATION WITHOUT TOTAL RESTART. The gameplay is utterly frustrating and contradicts itself. your disguises are now NOT disguises
unless you hold control - but you can only hold control for about 30 seconds before it runs out and the only way to recharge it is to kill people, but guess what - you lose points for killing people! - so you are both encouraged AND discouraged from Killing simultaneously!!! it makes no sense. Should be called Hitman: Absolutely Ruined. DO not believe the ''official' reviews - most of whom will have been paid and treated to previews in order to get a gain a good review. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.… Expand

Don't bother buying this game! You won't be able to play it!
People (including me) can't pass the intro screen.
It's so buggy that I'm not even able to play the game.
Not buying another game from Square Enix anytime soon!

I was really looking forward to this title... Sadly, i got disapointed. This is just not Hitman. First of, the graphics are outstanding abd the atmosphere is great too. But thats about it, as far as good points go. Negative aspects imo are:
Totally dumbed down game, shifting the playstyle towards the Splinter-Cell franchise.

No Map -> no mission planning or planning of tactics.
No Sandbox-Levels -> Very linear gameplay
No Weapon Selection or Equipment Selection prior to a mission -> WTF? Why do i even unlock the stuff in the first place? Why preorder? So i only can use the stuff in this contracts mode.... this is a bad joke!
Totally dumb and silly story -> Wtf the Hitman suddenly becomes a like-able, daddy-like character? Sorry, this is the worst Hitman ive seen. Whoever came up with this stuff ruined just an other great Franchise.… Expand

As a long time fan of the hitman series, Absolution feels like a kick in the teeth. Gone are the sprawling sandbox style killing grounds of Blood Money - they have been replaced with tiny linear corridors where your goal very rarely even involves taking out a target. The story is embarrassingly bad and full of more holes than a wheel of swiss cheese, yet IO seems intent on forcing you to absorb it. Each of Absolutions mission objectives is focused on advancing to the next pre-rendered cutscene. I could also mention the **** quick time event driven combat, the broken disguise system where enemies will recognize you from 15 meters away even if you're wearing a mask and have your back turned to them, and the total lack of weapon / equipment selection prior to a mission. If you liked Blood money, stay far away from this It'll break your heart.… Expand

I found in the review of v00d00m4n exactly what i wanted to say. If you were a fan of blood money, don't buy it there is nothing left for you here!

This is honestly the biggest disappointment in my entire 25 year experience of gaming. Hitman was never good because of flashy kills, big drama or fancy graphics. What made this game stand out was the sandbox-like environment where you have to use analytical thinking and make the circumstances work for you. What I had the unpleasure to experience with Absolution was quite different.

A hitman game where you spend 80% of the time not assassinating people, and 15% of the time watching the people you're supposed to assassinate get killed in cutscenes. Nice linear piece of crap. The creativity aspect of other hitman games is mostly gone. Contracts mode is the only redeeming factor. It's interesting that the best part of the game is the part where IO isn't trying to tell a crappy story and we are free to actually be a hitman.… Expand

Hitman: Absolution is one of the biggest gaming disappointments this year. All I wanted was a sequel for Blood Money and instead got a failed experiment of mixing Hitman and Splinter Cell: Conviction. The open-world choices of Hitman games going back a decade are now replaced with a mediocre story and a game on rails. I wish I didn't get this on Steam so I could return it.

This game is a big step backwards from Blood Money. It's over simplified and waaaay too story driven. The open ended gameplay is gone and the whole experience is like riding on a rail. Big mistake, avoid!!!

I'm a big fan of the series. I am 5 missions in and it absolution has been a bit disappointing. I really don't care about the story, only about the hits. And the hits have been pretty bad until now. There really has been only 1 mission out of 5 that you actually get to do a hit. First mission you play for like 45 minutes so you can get to the target and a cutscene cuts in (excuse the pun) and you watch while he actually kills the target. That pretty much has been the most anti-climatic mission end in the whole series, and possibly in gaming lol.

Since the disguise system is abysmal, the levels are pretty linear, the game feels more like a stealth puzzle rather than a sandbox hitman game. You just can't improvise and do a hit that it is your own... not that the levels are actual hits mind you. First lvl cutscene hits, second lvl is the only true hit, third level you play to get to a shaft, fourth level is about running on rails from the cops, and so on and so forth.

Next no weapons selection before the level which makes sense since the levels are so linear it wouldn't make sense to let you bring something that will break said linearity.

In essence, you do no true hits, highly linear, bad disguese system, bad save system. All in all it is a pretty frustrating puzzle game where you have to replay long stretches for the smallest mistake.… Expand

The series is pretty much dead at this point. The Agent 47 character has been ruined. The gameplay has been ruined. Its very daunting. They would have done perfectly only making Blood Money 2. It wasn't that hard. And they blew it.

The absence of a quick-save or even a proper working logical checkpoint system makes the game HUGELY frustrating... unplayable in my opinion, unless you like to redo LONG parts of the game over and over. Ridiculous. Such a shame.

The game is brand new and presents good graphics though, it is not as good as Bloodmoney. Also it has too many bugs. The gameplay lacks lots of details. For example, when you select your weapons or items they just appear in 47's hands without drawing them. This is definitely not acceptable for a game with such reputation.
I would describe it as a very disappointing game, especially for fans.

They have effectively changed everything that was good about it and turned it into a simplistic action-shooter for the Call of Duty generation who have ejected any semblance of intelligence in game design in exchange for constant, mindless, shooting action. Here is a run-down of
how old Hitman did things and the new Hitman counterparts:

OLD HITMAN
Vast open maps to explore with multiple ways to make your way to the destination. A genuine feeling of being given a sandbox full of environmental oddities and independent AIs, with numerous ways to pick your way through them.

HITMAN: ABSOLUTION
Constantly being thrown from one linear corridor to another with (if you… Expand

It is beautiful to look at...but that is where it's beauty ends. A travesty of a game that is just a mash up of every other quick time event,stealth game out there. Might as well have called it Splinter 47: Assassins Conviction.

IO have seemingly thrown away everything that made the Hitman franchise so wonderfully unique. Terrible

Poor design decisions makes the latest installment of the Hitman series a huge disappointment. Gameplay has been dumbed down like we have seen in countless other modern installments of popular franchises and we seldom see any improvement from the original games that made the series. The first thing I noticed is the game crashes on average about once every 5 minutes on my GTX670, which is certainly not a good introduction to a full price release. Controlling Agent 47 when locked behind cover is a chore, as you cannot move him when your camera is at a certain angle, feeling like you are snagged on something. For a stealth game such as Hitman, the checkpoint system is nothing short of disgusting. Reloading a checkpoint causes all of the enemies that you have previously dispatched, including the ones prior to the checkpoint to respawn, resulting in the need to sometimes start the level all over again. The AI is absolutely terrible, after reloading a checkpoint and everything respawning, I was caught in a gun fight with a few guys in front of me. The AI behind me, clearly hearing the gunshots, become totally confused and make no attempt to surround me whatsoever, instead just standing at their posts. Visuals are fairly nice, though commenting on graphics has no place in a review, the gameplay comes first. If you are new stealth junkie to the series, go and play dishonored, if you are a fan of the Hitman series like myself, avert your eyes and forget that this ever happened.… Expand

The changes in comparison to previous games of the title are vast and **** We've got a simple stealth game. There is no pretty simulation of locations like hospitals, hotels, parts of cities and people's behaviour in them anymore. We won't excuse such **** up. It's a serious step of a degradation of game industry/ People who decide to make it should be sacked and do not work in game industry anymore. I won't by any game of Square Enix untill there would be public excuses, public sacks, and a normal version of hitman.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. If you are a CoD fan then you should give this game a try - because it is designed for you. The game will hold your hands through from the beginning to the end and it is designed for a literally dumb audience. With the press of a button you can use wallhack and see where all the gaurds are about to go, and you instantly have hints within the corridoor shooter levels where literally everything is scripted. If you expect a true Hitman title then you will most likely be dissapointed, though.

Absolution shines in graphics, improved stealth system, animations, lightning sound, and a few other features. But it falls short in many other areas and it literally throws much of what makes a hitman game a hitman game - out of the window - while it embrace and directly copy and paste features and even partly formulas from batman AA, splinter cell conviction, and even Red Dead Redemption
with its 'draw gun' minigame and other games. The storyline is uninteresting, uninspired, contains a lot of childish and rather idiotic characters telling a lot of cliché lines. (exmple: Dexter Blake, the great villian, had a masterplan to sell genetically superior kid assasins for 10m bucks each.)
The levels in the game is often very small and streamlined and you often have to sneak in pre-defined, corridoor-like paths. Weapon, dumpsters, gaurds, cover - all of it is place at convinient places. More focus on stealth and kills, and almost no focus on strategy and creativity. The type of gameplay has more in common with Splinter Cell Conviction than Hitman. Disguise system is broken. Gaurds can see through walls at times. Your cover gets blown all the time because everyone - and I mean everyone - for some reason raises suspicion against you. You can't choose what type of equipment and weapons you want to use. You can't pick locks anymore. You can't look through keyholes. You can't open or close doors. You can't save the game manually. Sniper rifles and other weapons are magically drawn out from thin air. Weapons and dumpsters are placed at very obvious places. Gameplay is extremely linear and offers almost no challange. In terms of innovation this game does not impress me. They've copied and pasted features from other games, such as xrayvision (Batman Arkham Asylum), draw-grun function (RDR) and many aspects from Splinter Cell. They abandone the unique hitman formula and made it to another generic game. This game shines in the visuals, but lacks in many other ways, and its pathetic to see how much it lacks in innovation compared to previous titles.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The first hour of Absolution was like "Finally! After six years of waiting 47's back and I'm crawling through the linear tutorial mission as always! Wow, the guards AI is fine!" etc. I was waiting for the real game to start. For now, I've edended up in orphanage and I got to turn on four electrical switches. This is the goal of the level, switches. Ghost-like, urban legend killer is now forced to pull switches or open doors on a ratcage-like levels, that makes absolutely no sense! There is no freeform gameplay anymore, you are, literally, forced to do the thing that developers tells you to do. At the Purist difficulty, there's even more of absurdity: you got ONLY ONE way through mission that really works. There's no Hitman anymore. I just wish the Real 47 will come and kill that bald bandaged clown disguising as him in Absolution. The most awful fact is that you can see all the buried potential of the game. Levels are cutted to parts with doors with NO loading, which signs that the game once WAS open-ended Hitman that we once liked. As the Hitman game, this piece of poo gets 0 from me. As the Deus Ex HR with bald guy instead of Adam Jensen it gets 6 points. P.S.: Actually IOI already released Jensen suit as DLC, what an irony.… Expand

Very nice Splinter-cell game. Two Thumbs Up. Very bad Hitman Game. Two Thumbs Down. Really, if 47 had the gadgets Fisher had this would be a kickin Splinter-Cell game. Unfortunatly 47's gadgets are for stealthy take downs and not much else and facing down a 30 NPCs (cudos to the Glacier 2 engine) when you've been spotted for umpteenth time, and no hit in sight, only cutscenes?

Don't trust the IGNs and Kotakus this time around - the PC version has flaws, my friend.

Here's the problem - the game tries to shoehorn it's story in everywhere, and in so doing, ruins the Hitman genre. You can't choose your kit at the start of a mission - you aren't with the Agency - so your starting gun every mission is always some POS unsilenced pistol. Want a sniper rifle? Hope the level designer left you one - often it's in the perfect sniping spot too, so you don't have to use brain cells finding one yourself. You can't carry weapons over from mission to mission, either. This Killed it for me.

Levels are small, cramped, and linear, often culminating in you opening a Door - it's cutscene promotion. You can spend all day being as stealthy as possible, dealing with a total lack of autosaves, and in the cutscene you SCREW UP THE HIT - The devs want you to play a story, not Hitman. Disguising well runs off "Instinct". You get more instinct by killing people. Hitman Absolution puts you in some crappy cycle of killing people you don't have to, and losing points for doing so (they kept that), to get the "Instinct" you need to disguise well. Dumb.

But you need to do this because the guard AI is hyper-suspicious of similarly dressed people now. Often, you'll have the guard disguise and find yourself sneaking and action rolling from cover to corner - in plain view of guards - just so they don't look at you too closely. Walking anywhere near them blows your cover, but they don't care about a similarly dressed person action rolling around lol. There's still a few AI bugs - I've been spotted through walls, thus having to restart the whole level because there's no autosave feature, even on PC. When you do reach one of the few checkpoints in the game, even they are dumbed down - the game forgets who you killed, what you have, guards respawn and bodies disappear - it's the worst checkpoint ever.

The graphics are a nice improvement. Hitman 4: Blood Money was a fantastic game - you did all the planning, all the killing, the level design was huge and open, you picked your guns and thus your strategy, you could autosave before a difficult part (and that cut down a lot of repetition). Whoever designed Absolution decided these were all negatives - a story does the planning; a cutscene does the killing - sometimes, because the story has people survive; the level design is narrow and linear to promote a single, definite path; you don't pick your guns - the designers give you only what you need, often in the place you'd use them anyway (goodbye Silverballers); and whoever designed the save system should be shot repeatedly and thrown off a balcony, because the autosaves are gone and what remains is a broken shell of a checkpoint system as we know it today. Hitman: Absolution is a stealthy shooter with nice graphics. But it's definitely not Hitman - it's been dumbed down so much that what's left is the bald guy and the title. In all honesty, if you liked the "plan your own kill" part of the genre, fire up Blood Money again - it's not so dated that your eyes crawl, and it's the essence of what a good Hitman game is. I just wish someone told the developers of Absolution.… Expand

I had to create an account at Metacritic to explain why I feel I just wasted 40

Very, very, very dissapointing.

Immidiately ran into bugs with character model textures often not loading, leaving only floating guns, and onscreen quick time commands dont show up in combat sometimes, with no way to disengage, just leaving you to die from the games' sheer buggyness. Couple these unfair deaths via bugs with the fact you cant quicksave anywhere you like, but instead are limited to checkpoints and it makes for quite an infuriating experience indeed.

I just don't like ANYTHING new they have brought to this game... the instinct meter is a rediculous idea, in normal and easy mode it over simplifies the game to basically holding Ctrl to not be spotted, making any advanced efforts to sneak feel quite pointless, and in harder modes your survival relies too heavily on it. As it diminishes far too quickly, and there is no way to regain it in harder modes; the game becomes trial and error, knowing where/when to use your instinct by trying it out, dieing, then trying again. (I class being spotted as dieing essentially, as would any hitman enthusiast) Now you'd think that the gameplay being simplified to trial and error of where/when to hold the Ctrl key sounds bad? Well it gets worse! Due to the absolutely pointless omission of quicksave, youll be restarting from the same checkpoint over and over, hearing the same long winded conversation over and over. Absolutely boring, and timewasting. I have to work and sleep, I can't waste all my time waiting for some god forsaken AI conversation on a game to end, lest of all on a game that really doesnt compel me to keep playing.

And like everyone else and their dog has said, even negating the terrible instinct meter thing, the levels have become very linear, the majority being down to sneak around walls in a room where enemies just stand in the middle, and when they turn away, do a swat twist to the next cover.

So let down by this game... words just cant describe my dissapointment. I give the game a 3 because it starts out promising, but then comepletely blows it soon after. I also encourage the idea of the contracts mode, although I have not tried it, as it's nice to see they attempted a competitive aspect to the game. And it at least shows they did SOMETHING good with the time spent developing the game.… Collapse

This game lacks the magic of the previous Hitman games. It's plagues with problems that any rudimentary check would have found. As is typical, another franchise gets completely dumbed down so that it can be shipped to a wider audience, compromising it's original flavour.

The game screws most of what used to give me pleasure in the Hitman games to focus on a story that is embarrassingly bad. I just hated it. After 3 hours playing in hard and trying to do it "as it has to be done", i just decided to run to the end killing everyone in my way, just to end it. And i know i'm not the only one. I played the 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 Hitman, have it in CDs, have it on steam too, have the DVD of the movie that i also saw in a cinema. I pre-purchased Hitman absolution the day i could and i played the sniper challenge to get all i could in it and 3 millions points : I AM A HITMAN FAN AND I AM ANGRY !!!
I actually played more to the sniper challenge (13 hours) than to the real game (12 hours).
I can detail but v00d00m4n did it very well, 100% of what he says is correct.
I will add that i feel abused : that is not what the sniper challenge was promising us. The sniper challenge was showing diferent ways to kill some targets, to hide them, to unlock weapons for the actual game (so in the inventory right? Nope, there is Absolutely no inventory in hitman 5...).
And it was obviously a reference to the first Hitman 1 mission which was a snipe mission, telling us that there would be some snipe missions in hitman 5. Nope.
I give 2 for the sniper challenge, the nice graphisms (even if they could have been darker), and the knife throwing system (even if it really make the game easier, it make sense).
And because i don't like to be that negative, i will now write what would have been nice :
- the story : it has never been important in the Hitman serie. But since it was the main concern of the developers, it should have been better. We have to protect a girl that as been created like us. It is a bad plot (indeed "inspired" from leon the killer movie), but let say we keep it. I would have like to see good reasons to do that : a nice cinematic showing 47 and her taking good time together watching a movie, playing a game or something. A cinematic that shows what she can do, at the very begining : that would explain better why 47 want to keep an eye on her, as a student killer or as a threat for him. The best would have been to be able to play her like we can play catwoman in batman, supposing she would have had other "powers" than 47 (women disguises for a start).
HITMAN SHOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE A PROFESSIONNAL KILLER AND NOT A STUPID NOOB
Spoiler : in the game story, they are actually 2 times at least when the bad guy can kill hitman after a stupid cinematic where hitman is awefully bad. And he just doesn't... When running out of a place, hitman uses the elevator. And if the elevator doesn't work, he repairs it with pieces strangely sprayed all over the building. PLEASE TAKE THE STAIRS!!!!
- the gameplay : the disguise system is 90% of time a handicap compared to keep your own clothes. The idea was not that bad : if a small town cop sees a cop that he doesn't know, he will be suspicious. That make sense in some cases, but do all the CHICAGO policemens know each other? And the plummers? The AI should have been programmed mission by mission, differently, and with a briefing : "be careful 47, this is a small town where most people know each other"; or "Note that a lot of people come for a short time in that hotel, you should be able to walk free in most of it's parts"
And there could have been a way to talk, to try to lie to people before they start shooting at you. At least a 3 sentences choice, find the one the guy can believe in and let you go (or leave witout harm). And not for every NPC but some of them. And in real life, some people stop asking questions with a litle tip. That could have been easy to put in the game, if we had got some money like in Blood Money. That would have been an easy but expensive way to go in a place. Again, not for every NPC, just some of them. And who can be bought and who will do his job whatever the price is something that the 47 instinct could have told. "This guy looks like a dealer, i can probably buy him."
- there should have been an inventory like in blood money rewarding you : good work = money = the gun uppgrade you want. Being a professionnal killer without a silent gun sucks. - the close fighting should have been thought differently. this aze space system sucks. I would have liked different attacks to choose : fist in the face, kick in the legs and so on. This is not a priority, but it sucks to be a professionnal killer that can't fight properly. - the linear action sucks and should have been avoided at any cost, even with a focus on the story. I could have liked a Mass Effect like system where my actions would have impacted the story. I would have liked to be able to guide Victoria in a way or the other : get a normal life or become like 47.
- there HAD TO BE a snipe mission in addition to the sniper challenge. And no, i won't buy a DLC for that.
Not enough space here. Just don't expect more from hitman absolution than a bad sneak/shoot.… Expand

I'm going to be very unfair here but this game made me very angry very quickly. First, 47 actually has MAGIC POWERS now, he can see enemies through walls, remove their suspicion levels and do other tricks, and it actually requires MANA (cleverly dubbed "Instinct") to do it. Agent 47 is Corvo now. But that's not the main problem. The main problem is that checkpoints don't work at all since a lot of the stuff that you've done is simply reset. How are you supposed to construct a precise plan when every single mistake means that you have to restart the entire goddamn level or start killing left and right, which, as you might notice, is the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do in Hitman. It seems that you simply can't play this game without improvising and that's something that 47 should never ever have to do. If you have any love for our bald assassin, skip this game.… Expand

I have to say for players like me who consider the hitman series one of THE outstanding pieces of digital art produced in the last decade (shoulder to shoulder with games like planescape:torment, fallout and similar giants) Hitman:Absolution is nothing less then a grave insult. Taking all the elements that made Hitman its own unique style of murder adventure - all essential features, like free roaming in extensive levels, multiple VIABLE paths to dispose of ur victims without being noticed, hiding in plain sight have either been done away with or nerfed into oblivion
as somone who preordered the game months ago and has been fired up for it for more then a year I have to express my deep disapointment and can only warn u to not buy it and save ur money for a more worthy title… Expand

I waited for this game for years, being not aware of the fact the original development team is gone. Almost all of the features that made the original series so interesting, are gone in Absolution. I uninstalled the game after 30 minutes of playing.

When I saw the first trailer, and it showed the cover system, and the helicopter chase I said "Oh, well this certainly looks likes **** and isn't what Hitman is about" Then I was assured it wasn't the case, but it was, and I knew it. Let me make this clear for future purchases you might be buying: When devs show off, or implement a certain game mechanic, they intend for it to be used, and therefore the game is based around it. Gameplay is the core of any game (not that anime novel), everything else is secondary, so when you see something and go "WELL GOSH YOU DONT HAVE TO USE TO IT OMG CALM DOWN"; dont kid yourself.

A lot of people who like this game didn't have the pleasure of playing the first ones, and I'll let that explain the ratings.… Expand

1.This not a open ended or open world game any more.
2.there is no map.
3.disguise does not properly work any more without bloody instinct.
4.You cant see through key hole.
5. everything re spawns after loading a save point and therefore you cant experiment.
6.And the list goes on.. Graphics alone cant save this game.They have totally destroyed a fine game.

Hitman Absolution
It is safe to say I have played all of the hitman games by now. I will say for a fact this is not a hitman game. There are tons of elements that Hitman: Blood Money introduced that were stripped in absolution and that made the hitman franchise "fun". Its fair to say everyone was expecting a Blood Money 2, but not everyone was willing to compromise for anything less. There are gamers out there who because they are influenced or drawn by the media will select absolution because of the Hollywood style action or the mainstream hype that brought them to the game. And then there are gamers who played the series and have fundamental passion for playing over and over again the addictive and challenging sandboxes. The problem with Absolution: There are no sandboxes. In fact, all the maps are linear. Each map forces the player to move forward in one direction without having the chance of going back and re-experience the same level. Each map is a build up of smaller maps which are all joined together by checkpoints. So by having checkpoints, the developers have destroyed the one peice of formula that made hitman a sucess. A Sandbox. (start taking notes square enix)The developers have also made the gameplay into a "duck and covering" system, where the player is forced to hide and go seek wall after wall, hiding in terror instead of hiding with Absolution. By doing this the player is unable to get any proper "hits," has to use non-refillable instinct in order for a disguise to work, and above all loses points for attempting to kill anyone other than the target. Square Enix has demolished anything that was memorable or likeable about the hitman series and has suggested it all be shoved down a gumball machine for the player to experience. It is too bad that Eidos found its best interest for SE to take over, but im sure this game will please very much the mainstream audience as it was designed to do.… Expand

What a disappointing game. Disguises won't work only when you use your 'instinct'. How do you get instinct? By killing and hiding bodies. Contradiction in terms... There might be multiple ways of finishing levels but you can't experiment as there is no save option. When you fail, you will have to restart all over again including all the cut-scenes etc. Why did they have to destroy this franchise?

I'm never pre-ordering a game ever again. Don't be fooled by the marketing and all the trailers. Don't fund this developer tendency of over-hyping a game to make a quick buck. The only reason I completed the game, was to appease the feeling of regret it gave me for wasting perfectly good money for this poorly crafted "game".

absolute sign v00d00m4n critic!

"Assassin's Conviction: Saboteur & Lynch - Retardation"
"head of 47 shines like supernova explosion to blind you from truth"
"INSTINCT MANA"
"magic wallhack cheat"
"THIS GAME IS UTTER TRASH"

hope this was 150 letters of flaming. thank you.

most worst game ever played....
i think "hitman 4 blood money" in 2004 was farrr better than this game....
i can't feel that i'm playing as a hitman...
this game changed the hitman like a ****
squre enix fooled us with those high graphical video.....
never going to play game from squre enix from now....

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. WTF !!!

Honestly WTF, the game is not compatible with Windows XP.
3 H to install, 1h 30 to update and then nothing !
I asked Amazon to give me my money back because in the product description the game is compatible with XP...… Expand

Hitman: Abomination

I really wonder if the creators of this game ever played a Hitman game before of if they even really grasp what it was which made them iconic games. It is all well and good a video games developer trying to take something in a different direction but the Hitman games are very unique in many ways but it looks like none of that has really been conserved and what has has been diluted to the point that its almost unrecognisable and barely serves a purpose in this game. Putting previous Hitman games aside, this really is a sub par game and will soon be sold on offer and be thrown in the bargain bin. It really begs the question as to why this game was even made if the only credentials it has is riding on the back of previous titles. The best bit about this game would have to be the sniper challenge, which despite being quite a nice simple little level, actually manages to show off some little quirks, creativity and general personality of a Hitman game.

You can tell a lot of effort has been put into the graphics, nice action sequences and cut scenes, but that is where all quality ends. To compliment the expensive graphics and cut scenes you have a truly terrible story filled with badly voiced characters each and everyone of whom is a brain dead idiot. It is a very different aeshetic from previous games which generally able to add some humour and creativity into the mix; this game is dull, dark , grey, linear and definitely lacks a sense of humour and is an all round ball-ache to play.

Despite being an elite assassin, in this game Agent 47 has turned into a complete amateur who apparently pull off an assassination to save his life.When you're not failing to assassinate people you spend much of the game finding door ways and doing other exiting things like running from the police, who happen to be incredibly abundant with fantastic eyesight. Owing to 47's new found incompetence he does not have a map, however don't worry each area you find your self in is small enough you likely won't need one; in addition there is the new senses mode which will point out every object of interest in the environment for you, so don't worry about finding out how to take out a target. Killing someone in order to take their clothes as a disguise is now a waste of time as each policeman, bouncer, chef, etc in the game appears to know one another intimately and so are able to spot you as an imposter at 100 yeards.Moreover you cannot change your load out and you are very limited in how you murder someone and the ways you can are already pointed out by senses mode. Above all the game has lost its creativity, its quirckiness and personality and become something dull and linear where you spend far too much time getting from A to B.… Expand

Much smaller levels, very few paths to your target, very linear level design, no black market, no syringes or other interesting assassin tools, not many interesting ways to kill your targets, little and more often than not zero history behind your targets or any motivation to kill them besides them wanting to kill you.

Environments and targets have very little variation, most of the environments are in the US, the vast majority of which are in North Dakota and New York. Has an odd underlying crude sexual theme which simply doesn't fit very well with this game. The game's story focus essentially throws out the premise of being a hitman until its very end.

You can still be spotted by people wearing the same outfit as you as though every gardener on the planet knows one another, and being spotted in any difficulty besides easy is almost always certain death.

Contracts mode puts you in the same levels obviously designed with a linear story in mind. The only freedom it allows in the game's constrictive levels here is the contract's name/description, who you're killing, what single weapon you can choose to start with, and what you are wearing.

All in all, a serious disappointment and downgrade from Blood Money.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. My expectations were very high. I admit. I wanted Blood Money with new graphics and new missions. I wanted larger areas, more weapons, more accident setups. Even excuses you can say to guards, depending of your knowledge of the level, mention that the shower is broken upstairs, that's why you are in a restricted area to fix it, social engineering, additional ways to sneak, maybe even hack computers and technology devices, like spies, carry new and ingeniously hidden weapons on your person.

What did I get? A dumb-down arcade version of one of my favorite game. A broken disguise system, a ridiculously unrealistic instinct system, which would get you banned in most online games. I never wanted easy. I wanted to walk around a level, explore it, save a certain points to try things over and over to perfection, than replay the level and attempt to complete it as a silent assassin. I don't want a checkpoint system like ID Software… Expand

This is the worst game i have ever played. By Worst i mean, Worst in HITMAN FRANCHISE. This is not a Stealth Game, it forces players to pay like Calll OOOO DOOOTYY, plus everything about this game generally sucks. Kane & LYnch devs have infiltrated hitman and RUINED IT.

All right, I believe some of the green reviewers are paid, really (all quoted from the same...) :

"This is truly one of the most definitive Hitman experiences out there, there are so many more options compared to the previous games"
- All the spirit of the hitman series is gone. Each map of this game is a path which leads you to a cut-scene full of ridiculous clichés. "there is contraacts mode, which enables you to customize and create your very own hits and share them with the community."
- Are you kidding me?! The contracts mode consists of killing someone in a level already made by the developers and not customizable at all.

"It's hard to go in depth about the AI because of how diverse and complex it is, given the multitude of situations that they react differently in each and every time."
- Wow, I laughed at this one. The AI always react the same way! They can notice you even if you wearing a disguise, 30 m away and shows your back! They added this stupid system where you have to press Ctrl to make the disguise work seriously! And when you're out of "adrenaline" or whatever they call it, you have to kill to be able to disguise yourself again.....

I really feel like we did not play the same game, bud389. I give a 2 because the graphics are fine, that is all.… Expand

Don't be fooled by shiny graphics of Hitman: Abomination (or Assassin's Conviction: Saboteur Lynch Retardation), there is nothing good besides graphics. Gameplay is totally broken dumbed down, its not even hitman anymore, everything we loved it for was removed, only some barely working rudiments was left. It is yet another Conviction, but worse, everything you hated in Conviction, Saboteur, Assassin's Creed and Kane Lynch in terms of Stealth and gunplay is here, concentrated in extreme doses that may kill you. Also lensflare madness, started by Kane Lynch 2 and continued by Syndicate is here, head of 47 shines like supernova explosion to blind you from truth THIS GAME IS UTTER TRASH. It not just abandoned old Hitman gameplay, its simply broken everywhere and doesnt work, and its so primitive and generic. Let me list you few of many game design flaws: 1) Saves doesnt work, once you restart checkpoints every NPC object will be respawned, your stats would be reset to state of beginning of level, so you better to restart level completely and dont die or exit until you finish it. 2) Disguise doesnt work, its connected to stupid INSTINCT MANA that could be gained by killing and hiding bodies, or not gained at all on professional modes. Without using instinct, which magically removes suspicion, your cover will be blown in 5-10 second from 30 meters. So you are forced to use instinct in any mode, but cant on pro modes, and without instinct there you would not be even able to blend into area. It only barely working on easiest mode. 3) Pro modes and especially PURIST broken and rushed addition, game was not designed with these modes in mind, these modes not balanced at all, they simply locking features for retards, without even thinking that game designed that way so it cant be played without INSTINCT, and without thinking to compensate somehow lack of these features. It cant be played on PRO mode if you want to use disguise, blown covers makes game really frustrating, and pushing you to reastart, which will lead you to flaw 1 broken saves. On pro mode you will have only option to use covers Conviction style. 4) 80% of game is linear stealth cover shooter, only about 20% of levels reminds old Hitman games sandbox, but they all made using generic objects and repetitive pattern, lacking about 80% features you had in previous game, so its simply boring, primitive and most likely you will screw up trying to go Silent Assassin way. 5) AI is deaf and blind, totally dumb, glitching a lot. They dont see and dont hear anything except for you in disguise or killing. 6) You cant select inventory for levels and only limited to very few objects you can find on level. Most of unlocks and tools useless and can be only used in contracts mode. 7) Due of nature of stupid prerendered cut-scenes, where 47 appears only in his suit or any pre-defined suit, once cut-scene over you will loose your disguise and default suit will magically appear on you, same happens with guns, you enter the room dressed one way, but after cut scene you dressed another way. Really stupid, even cheapest games from 90th era never had such a flaw, Hitman 1 was better than this. 8) Scoring makes no sense, its not what it used to be in previous game. You are encouraged to do not stealthy things and some stealthy things not awarded at all, other non stealthy things not punished. 9) Level design is very bad, it may look good it terms of art, but its really bad in terms of gameplay logic. Every possible guard have always dumpster nearby to hide their bodies, how handy... for retards, very few, like 3-5 objects that allows you kill somehow are available per level, generic dumpsters, fuseboxes, pits, balconies, there is no unique content that we saw in Blood Money or previous Hitman games, every gameplay object is just a copy-pasted repetitive trash. 10) Whole instinct gameplay is retarded and must be removed from game, but instead it was not even removed from purist mode. 11) UI is huge, ugly and was designed by captain obvious, why in the world you need to have giant icon of equipped weapon or disguise if you can just look at hitman's and see his weapon and suit? 12) You cant peek through keyholes (surely, u now have magic wallhack cheat to replace that) 13) You cant even close doors, they only closed automatically 14) Worst thing most of your assassination targets are killed in FREAKING CUTSCENES, or not, actually most of time you will see cutscene where BEST KILLER IN THE WORLD, FAILING TO KILL HIS TARGET 15) Story may look like good one, but in fact its typical set of hollywood cliches and yet another plagiarism with nonsense ending. 16) Realism was lost completely, no briefcase, weapons spawns of Hitman ass, ammo picked up by legs. There are more issues, i cant compact them in 5000 chars limit. This game is near 5 of 10, but since it called Hitman, and since its not Himan at all, only 0 of 10.
P.S.-MC was bribed to remove my review from top?… Expand

i dont get people with there story its hitman only thing you need to now is your target and how much money you get from killing it.
its not a movie its hitman but the thougt it was a movie i think bad gameplay

I decided it was worth creating a Metacritic account just to add another 0/10 review for this game. I bought Absolution on Steam as soon as it came out, because I had faith that it would be a Hitman game (or at least something close). I wish I could go back in time and warn myself, not so that I could save my money, but just so that I wouldn't be one of the many gamers who actually rewarded the people responsible for this enormous stab in the back. The fact that the developers had the audacity to call this "Hitman" and the fact that so many people seem to love it is about the most depressing and disturbing thing I could have possibly imagined. As a massive fan of all four previous Hitman games, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that Absolution betrays virtually everything that made Hitman so special. Instead of amazingly open-ended self-contained missions, complete freedom of exploration and experimentation, careful planning and execution, and everything else that (until now) has made Hitman so great, we get a linear, typical, mainstream, and utterly forgettable pile of garbage with the worst story of any game I've ever played. Even 47 himself acts nothing like the real 47, even losing his signature look after the first two missions. But the most depressing thing of all is, because so many people seem to love Absolution, I think it's safe to say that Blood Money will be the last Hitman game. I had to give Absolution a 0/10 not because it's the worst game ever made, but simply because it pretends to be a Hitman game. To any true Hitman fan reading this review, please don't make the same mistake I did. Save your money for a real game.… Expand

Its a shame how brutally square enix murdered this once beautiful franchise and wats worse they have overhyped this trash for almost 2 years.Game is absolute trash as die hard fans have been rating on that page.The best thing i did after finishing absolution was to reinstall Blood Money and realize what die hard fans have loved about this hitman franchise for a decade now been ruined by linear gameplay n trashy broken mechanics with sandbox levels gone(i wont go in detail as u knw already i ur an old hitman fan).20th November marks the eulogy of hitman franchise.There goes another iconic character just like Sam Fisher :(… Expand

i think everyone who played the old hitman games could tell very fast that hitman absolution was a new direction. this is bad because i wanted sandbox levels where i have to kill my target anyway possible. i got maybe several parts or sub levels that were sandbox old school hitman style. the rest of the game was mainly get from point A to B. this made me very sad i wanted to open levels not small segments of evading cops or going from one place to another. the old hitman games had way better story and they did not even go into the detail or base every mission around that story. also the new disguise system as everyone is saying should be, in my opinion, removed. it was implemented poorly and i do not get how the game testers were like i am getting spoted while in disguise, while in a crowd, from about 30 feet away... i mean its cool idea but terrible handicap for this game. the worst part is the lack of open hitman style levels, too much broken up levels where your doing nothing. i got bored really fast and did not bother to try to continue throught the game to try to reach that next sandbox level.… Expand

Dull. Requires no lateral or constructive thinking what so ever, unlike some of its predecessors.

These days the intelligence required to play a video game is indirectly proportional to its advertising budget and Absolution makes a good example of this.

Just sad, The storyline straight out of a movie zo bizarre series, about the game mechanics very fair and very unfree across the stage.
The nuns left over, this is not the movie machete, please.
And most importantly, do not miss this game have 47 kills not speak!

Beautiful game destroyed by its UI/HUD. Don't get me wrong. The menu interface is one of the best interfaces I've seen; but the game UI is terrible. It removes all immersion. And I'm too bad to play purist. Why didn't they just make customizable difficulty that would suit everyone instead of making 5 different difficulties that almost doesn't suit anyone?

It is not Hitman. It is Splinter Cell: Absolution. New developers just don't understand the idea of Hitman series. As Splinter Cell: Absolution it is not a bad game, but as Hitman: Absolution it gets 0 from me.

Don't waste your money. Don't waste your money.Don't waste your money.Don't waste your money.Don't waste your money.Don't waste your money.Don't waste your money.

Tedious, Repetitious, monotonous, linear, Non-realistic with a very bogus absurd story...
you weapons just vanish once you start a new mission, Combat and engaging is relatively easier then stealth playing.. the disguise system is useless, and nonsensical, why can't you keep hiding your head if you have no instinct left? Does agent 47 need some sort of a super-power energy to lift his hand? And naming that "thing" as instinct is clearly ridiculous, it's more of an ESP! And the ranking system is fu*ked, i usually get "Professional" in a perfectly stealthy playing, Yet i did get "Shadow" more then once when i killed all enemies and surely engaged in an open combat during the process.. And agent 47 character does help a lot in making the game much more boring, he always has the same expression, lacks charisma, and the creators are clearly trying so hard to make him look like a fearless badass, but all that came was a vague emotionless dull robot.. I don't recommend buying the game, and if you did i recommend you through it through the window and RUN RUN RUN! cuz agent 47 executes everybody, even the redundant useless least-important villains in the game just to make the game longer.… Expand

disguise system is appalling hence the whole game is pointless. if that was to be fixed the game would be mediocre OK. graphics are great but gameplay wise it feels like a step back compared to the previous installment.

I don't think you should consider this a hitman game in anything other than name. I think it plays a lot more like manhunt, if the violence was completely unsatisfying and it had a visit from the chest-high-wall-fairys. Among the worst aspects of this game are:
No ability to save the game. I appreciate this game was probably developed for a console crowd with PC as an afterthought but consoles have had plenty of save game space for years. The "instict mode". I think it is meant to replace the map but doesn't provide any of the functionality of maps in previous games, or for that matter, an actual map like you can get of town centers in real life.
Disguises. I often got caught with disguises in the old games, but in this one I will spend ages smashing bottles to get a victim alone, kill them, and it won't let me take their clothes. If I do get their clothes I have to burn up all my instinct to get anywhere in the disguise. If I do get caught I cannot load I have to start the whole level from the beginning again because saving is so 2000 and late.
Can't choose to start with a sniper rifle or shotgun or M90... or anything but a wire and pistols. Maybe this happens in later levels but I am sure agent 47 could find another gun SOMEWHERE. How about the ones I picked up before the latest cutscene?
Cover based shooting pop up gallery. Ugh.
v00d00m4ns review is a good summary of other failings that while still bad annoy me slightly less than they do him.

Finally I have an AMD 8120, Radeon hd7970 and 8GB ram and really don't think much of the graphics either. They bog down far too much in plant areas to set it to ultra and I just don't think they are that good. I would say ME3 has far better graphics with a similar perspective and that runs nicely on max wherever you go in the game, so I think the people saying "nice graphics but..." are being too kind.… Expand

Dear IO interactive,
Please get your heads out of your asses and give us the game you promised. You know, the one where you said "Absolution would be easier to play and more accessible, while still retaining hardcore aspects of the franchise". Seriously, what the **** were you guys thinking? I'd buy DLC for Blood Money any day over this pile of sheet. Thanks for ruining another great franchise. Sincerely,
Pain McPain.

PS. The DLC costume for the Deus Ex character is the most retarded ****ing thing I have ever seen in a game. Way to go.… Expand

How it went from Hitman Blood Money to this is beyond me, this is one of the most disappointing games I have ever played in my life, everything that made the other Hitman games good are not in Absolution, your best bet is to play the old Hitman games and pretend Absolution didn't even happen.

This game is GARBAGE. I played all the other Hitmans but this is junk. Anything you do gets you targeted. Even if you change disguises after you have been noticed it makes no difference they still know its you. Silent sniper rifles attract attention. This is a real let down. No matter what you do it leads to a gun fight. I like playing Hitman and being stealthy and limiting the amount of dead, but no this game MAKES you have to finish in some BS gun fight. I used C4 to kill a target and was on the other side of the map and they still pin pointed me.… Expand

Way too linear. Half of the game's missions are "Go from point A to B", you cant choose your equipment at the start, meaning you'll have to play with the weapons the designers chose to give you, which are pretty much always the same. The disguises are useless unless you use something called instict, which is some sort of mana bar that depletes each time you walk by somebody wearing the same outfit you do. While it does make sense that a waitress in a restaurant knows you dont work there even if you have their outfit, it makes no sense that every single cop can tell you are not one of them unless you use your instinct bar and watch 47 cover his face with his hand while he walks by, then its cool. Instinct also lets you see through walls. I dont know why they had to remove pretty much everything fans liked about Hitman and add stuff that doesnt belong in a Hitman title.… Expand

A disaster... if you are a fan of the previous games, this is completely different.. like a completely different title; this is NOT the Hitman we knew. The Single Player is very short, something obvious as the team spent time creating a multiplayer option - a HUGE fail - neglecting the SP mode actually. I finished the game in about 8 hours and 1/4 of them was loading previous saves to get a better score. You are not even allowed to hit someone unconscious without losing points - the only thing you are allowed to do is sneak, anything else ruins your score... you are an ASSASSIN FFS! Yes, you must be able to kill, hide bodies, and use disguises without this ruining your score completely... YOU ARE an A-S-S-A-S-S-I-N! Guns are useless (I swear I didn't even fire 1 single bullet in the whole game - oh and you can't even customize your guns!) I used the fiberwire (my most used and favorite in previous Hitmans) like 3 times maximum in the whole story, as if you kill someone, you lose... great job (The Fiber Wire is Agent47's trademark tool FFS!) Additionally, the game fails on options such as sneaking - it is really frustrating to be able for someone to see you through walls (major bugs.) Not what i expected, I do NOT recommend it - DONT LET its fancy graphics fool you!… Expand

this is not hitman its mgs, or splinter cell or whatever. mostly thanks for a retarded disguise system u cant play smart anymore ur FORCED to play hide and seek w enormous mob of guards.
and most disappointing is story, mr47 now drama queen (

'Hitman: Absolution' is the 'Deus Ex: Invisible War' of the Hitman series. That seems the best way to put it.

Basically, if you like sandbox gameplay, the many, many clever/quirky ways to mangle your targets, collecting guns from missions, upgrading them.. if you liked the earlier Hitman games, then this is not one of them.

Compared to the earlier games, it just isn't any good, almost something else entirely. You can pass on this one until it is going a fraction of the price in a year or two.
Or pass on it forever.… Expand

This is a "hitman game" where disguises are entirely optional and doesn't really work anyway, where you spend 90% of time NOT killing anybody, and if you touch anyone other than the target you get a big red penalty right on the spot. This is also a "hitman game" where plenty of your supposed contract "targets" either can't be killed or are not killed by you, and agent 47 can somehow conceal a 4 feet sniper rifle while wearing a t-shirt and pull it out of his ass . My favorite part is when you get rewarded "silent assassin" if you put on a silly wrestler costume and beat someone to death in front of hundreds of audience, yes that's right, a "silent assassin" that slowly beats someone to death in front of a crowd while half naked. You're also rewarded to "collect evidences", yes apparently agent 47 the emotionless contract killing machine is afraid of karma and needs to justify his action by playing PI and find discriminating materials of his targets.… Expand

You can beat the game in about 30 minutes if you just run around and shoot everyone. The combat system is annoying and stupid, running into people and performing fighting animations which are really easy to mess up on. The levels are small. The point system is also a mess. It's easy to mess up in this game and have to restart the whole level. The only good things are the sound, graphics, and story.… Expand

Oh and forgot I ABSOLUTELY WANT TO DECIDE WHERE I ENTER FROM AND HOW. and not sprinkling some guards to enter the only way possible and them so dumb not noticing me turning the wheel in the real Hitman games they would have shot me immediately even on easy.

Very very very disappointing. Hitman is now the next game stealth game franchise to be over influenced by the modern gaming audience. I hope the developers understand that to make the game good, they don't have to make it appeal to every single gamer that exists, because that seems what the minds behind Hitman Absolution have attempted, with disastrous results. Regarding the story, this game seems to force you into an at best, satisfactory story, that no one asked for, because that's not what made the Hitman franchise previously great, it was its gameplay, that the dovelopers thought required a major overhaul for some unknown reason. This has caused ALL the gameplay aspects that was loved by the Hitman community to be removed, and morphed into a Splinter Cell Conviction atmosphere. You are at war with yourself while playing this game because of the combination of Splinter Cell gameplay, with Hitman objectives. It's as if this game is promoting you to kill everyone in your way, because there are no consequences for it. It has no effect on the aftermath of the mission nor the game's storyline itself. And if you have the will to attempt the stealthy approach, be prepared for a very frustrating chore, due to the broken disguise system. It's understandable that a handful of mechanics in a small town know each other well to recognise someone new. This would also be fair for difficulty, as they would detect you more rapidly as the difficulty level increases, but as there are a few of them, circumventing them may be a challenge, but not an impossible task. However it's completely unrealistic that every policeman in a major metropolitan city by the thousands, would be able to recognise every single fellow cop from memory, and be able to spot an imposter from 30 metres away. Speaking of realism, the inventory system has been made even more poor and unjustified than that of Blood Money. In Absolution, when you have all filled slots you are carrying: 4 pistols, Fibre Wire, A melee object of varied size, An assault rifle, A bunch of c4, and a sniper rifle. Ironically, the dovelopers have called this change to the inventory system another "realistic addition to the game" along with the disguise system. Another thing that's most about this game is that most of the missions have no targets. This drastically changes the source of the motivation to continue playing this game. In Blood Money, the motivation was to kill the target, which every level had at least one, in innovative and unique ways, all while trying to achieve the challenging, but greatly sattisfying Silent Assassin rating. Whereas in Absolution, the motivation has shifted to pursuing the story, and when the story is not even that satisfying itself, it makes completing the game rather challenging. Fortunately though, the true strive for Silent Assassin still is retained in the new Contracts multiplayer mode. Allowing players to choose targets out of the segments of Absolution's levels grants that strive for the perfect kill that has been lost in the story, and is perhaps Absolution's only redeeming factor. Overall, Hitman Absolution is a mess hidden behind shiny graphics. Since graphicsalone don't make a good game, we can see the mess itself. This game that should not have undergone the complete overhaul it had gone through. Everything that had the potential to make this game great was right in front of the dovelopers, the previous games of the franchise, yet they somehow decided that they should morph Hitman into a Splinter Cell shooter game. Also, if IO Interactive decide to further pursue this series, please don't dig the grave of the Hitman franchise deeper by covering it up with more Splinter Cell like games. However if you plan to reanimate the true core principles of Hitman in an upcoming game, go for it. Just remember the gameplay of Blood Money, and hopefully you'll get it right. This game gets a 4/10 because the story is satisfactory, not completely satisfying, earning it a 1/2. The gameplay, Hitman's most important component has unfortunately undergone a major change for the worse. Everything from the inventory system to the disguise mechanic is completely broken, giving it 0/2. This game excels in the Contracts multiplayer, as it maintains the core principles of a Hitman game, earning it 2/2. Absolution fails to motivate you to continue in the story to the point where it is just a faint question, resulting you to look up spoilers on the Internet, and you will not be surprised, because there is no major plot twist, but it does make you strive to be the best in the multiplayer, earning 1/2. Finally, Hitman Absolution spits on everything that has made the franchise great, and most likely ruins any chance of it being pursued in the future, giving it 0/2. This ultimately results in Hitman Absolution getting a total of 4/10, unfortunately, the honest truth.… Expand

I'm sure everything I hate about this game has already been mentioned, and nobody will read this anyway, but let me reiterate it yet again. EVERYTHING that was good about Blood Money has been removed (i.e. customizable gear, sandbox style gameplay, funny kill animations... just to name a few). And apparently rolling from behind one couch to another and crawling through air ducts is more realistic than a disguise actually working? Or is it more fun? The answer to those questions is NO, at least for me. I stopped playing when at some point I was wearing some chipmunk suit that covered 47's face, and was still being recognized from across the map. I play without disguises and you end up listening one long, boring NPC conversation after another. I just needed to make sure I add another 0 score for this game, which is why I signed up for this site. It bothered me that people are rating this game positively. I pre-ordered the game because I was in denial that the developers could screw up the franchise too bad after Blood Money, and I wanted to support the developers. Oops! Won't make that mistake again. In fact, anybody involved in this atrocity deserves to be blacklisted from game design, and a job in general, and their kids should starve to death. If I can stop just one person from buying this piece of crap, then I've done something good with my life.… Expand

First of all this is my first Hitman game but it was on sale for 16$ so i can not resist that low price. In the beginning I enjoyed the whole stealth and assassination thing and it was fun, really cool experience. After 10 hours I uninstalled the game. Why? Because every single NPC has an eagle's eye and this is not realistic rather unfair. The checkpoint system in this game is totally irrelevant. The game itself looks good but the gameplay with this disguise system is really poor. (It's hard to avoid bad words...) If this game is on sale you can give it a try but wait at lest 75% off. With "free saving" the game would be less bad (8/10).… Expand

What game I played actually?????? I don't know because I don't think this is a game of Hitman series. It is completely different thing. If you never play the other game of this series may be you can like this game (I am not quit sure about that) but if you play the other game of this series then please don't even think to give it a try. Because I don't want another heart broken fan of this series. Now let me tell something about the game, in the game there is a shiny bald guy, who was once very famous for being not detected under disguise but it this game he is too familiar to everyone that even under mask people are able to detect him from a mile away, That ruined the whole thing. Game story is linear. Its previous sandbox type game play is completely lost. All you can do that is try to sneak in (which is not a practical solution for this game) but most of the time you have to bang you enemy just like typical third person shooter. So the bottom line is its a heart breaking disappointment for the fan of this series.… Expand

For those who want a quick and easy review: a B game, but a D hitman game.

As for the real review, as many others have pointed out this game appears to have mechanics that were borrowed from several other games. This game really does feel more like Splinter Cell: Conviction than anything else, but they also appear to have borrowed from Assassin's Creed as well. Hitman was all about planning the perfect assassinations, or your own unique ones. Being in the right place at the right time, hiding your bodies well, and timing everything so you walk out the door just before everyone realized that something was amiss. In this game, however, it felt as though your goal was just to sneak through the level without being seen, and maybe ill a couple of people along the way. I realize they were going for a more story driven fell, but that doesn't mean that they can to condense the whole game into a bunch of micro levels and use mechanics that felt more like an action shooter than a stealth game. Although the game punishes you for killing people, the level design and the fact that the game rewards you for finding big guns make you feel as though you as supposed to go on a killing spree. The company tried to make another Darksiders, were 5 games were put in a blender and coated with an original story. What happened instead was a beloved series has been tarnished, and most likely ended. I don't foresee a return to what Hitman was following this blunder, and for that I am truly sorry.… Expand

Hitman Absolution is a far cry from past Hitman games. As a long time fan, I feel betrayed by the developers, IO Interactive. Graphics are good, sound is ok, gameplay is horrible, and the story is bland. Do not buy if you are a fan of past games, it will ruin the series. Waste of $50

I think that Absolution is the last game I will buy that's made by IO, I used to be a huge fan, but they've been going downhill since Kane and Lynch.… Expand

Though Hitman: Absolution is a fun and interesting game, it betrays everything that previous titles like Blood Money and Silent Assassin stood for. Agent 47 isn't supposed to sneak behind walls and hide from people, he's supposed to take a disguise and hide in plain sight like a real hitman would. The new disguise system is completely useless. Though the idea of a group of people not recognizing you while your wearing their uniform is smart, I doubt every single Chicago police officer knows each other enough to look at you while your wearing a police disguise, notice they haven't seen you before and ask for your I.D. I thought this was the new amazing graphics and improved gameplay, classic Hitman game that I've been waiting for, I was definitely wrong.… Expand

This game has destroyed all expectations of a possible worthy sequel to Blood Money. The gameplay has little similarities to the previous Hitman games and more similarities to Splinter cell: Conviction. One of the major let downs is how frustrating this games is as the disguise system is absolutely broken which makes using disguises obsolete as NPCs of the same clothing can spot you out from a mile away. This makes obtaining the Silent Assassin rating excruciatingly frustrating as one little mistake can/will destroy all of your hard work. This leads to the checkpoint system, a new addition in Hitman Absolution which replaces the the save system from the previous Hitman games. I don't like this system as it has more cons than pros (just like this game). It's quite pointless actually as it doesn't seem to do much except for saving current completed objectives and allowing you to spawn there when you restart to the checkpoint, BUT when you do restart to the checkpoint all of the enemies that have been taken out will respawn to where they were in the beginning of the mission, thus destroying most of the progress that was made. Although in some cases this can help where some enemies that were there before are no longer present as they were originally somewhere else, allowing you to proceed through the level with less difficulty. The graphics are probably is only pro about this game, also the user interface is more advanced and more pleasing to the eyes, but i didn't care much for this. I didn't really care for the story either as i didn't care for the girl. The only part that got to me was when 47 had to kill Diana where i thought she didn't really have to die. This game was one of the most frustrating games i have ever played and when at times I should have felt rewarded for finally completing a difficult mission I didn't due to knowing even more frustrating moments will come up and i just wanted things to be over and done with. I barely had any fun playing this game due to its broken mechanics which led to much frustration, screaming and swearing constantly after having to restart each mission over 15 times to get a decent end rating.… Expand

For fans of the original series be prepared to be disappointed. The sandbox style mission structure has nearly been removed entirely, in favor of checkpoint style structure that encourages a liner play through. You no longer have the ability to choose a loadout that is best suited to your playing style and now start with whatever weapons the game designers have chosen to give to you. The disguise feature is now a chore as your cover can be blown from 20 meters by someone with the same uniform. I can best describe the game as a love child between splinter cell conviction and kayne and lynch, stealth is not enjoyable on this game and you sometimes find yourself shooting out every guard due to the frustration of the broken game mechanics. With countless 'push x to ....' included this is a mediocre stealth shooter at best. I advise you spend your money on something else, Blood money if you haven't already purchased it.… Expand

For anyone looking for creative, free, imaginative game play... steer clear of this one. All the planning and decision making that made the previous titles so immersive and stimulating are removed. There is no weapon load out choice, disguises no longer have any purpose and the levels are completely linear where the developer has chosen the course of action you must take as if you were on the rails of a very slow moving roller coaster with no ups or downs. Very disappointed as this was a real step back. We really are living in a "dumbed down" period of gaming. Like Dishonored, you are encouraged not to kill people, even though you inevitably have to... you are an assassin after all. Both those titles push you in directions to get punished for being where they push you. Some people seem to like that paradoxical nonsense, but that goes beyond hitting your head against a brick wall when you're allergic to bricks yet are the only thing you can feed on Yeah... I don't get it either. The negative reviews really do represent the game... the positive reviews are for those who enjoy a really shallow, totally directed lacking in content experience.… Expand

A disappointment. The mission layout is changed just to meet the plot. A sandbox system which allows player to observe the environment and NPC interaction for planning, is completely removed. Each mission is just a linear and rather small environment, and in most cases you are forced to make use of stealth and cover, as most NPCs are now armed enemies, which will fire at you upon contact, and your main mission goal is infiltration to some secured place to kill someone. The fun way of using costume and accidents, like those in Blood Money, is completely gone. The costume system is changed to be "realistic", but end up just wasting the costume system, as it is just an annoyance and in fact unrealistic. When you wear the same clothes as some NPCs, they will all suspect you when close by, WTH? All NPCs have a skeptical mind? When they have different clothes with you, they will never suspect you, unless you enter a restricted area. In order to avoid being suspected, you have to use instinct. However, instinct do not recover over time, you need to find some items, or kill someone to recharge it. As a professional assassin like agent 47, why player is forced to kill someone other than target? what a shame? The system is just made forcing player in a dilemma. The game is just made such that the replay value is lower due to limited choices and linear move, and boring scenario.… Expand

Contracts and Blood Money blew my mind so many years ago. So naturally I was looking forward to this game for a long time. Hitman become one of my most loved franchises. I went back and played the first 2 games about a year ago and while the graphics were limited the classic Hitman gameplay was as great as ever.... Then came along Absolution. I played through the entire game searching for a Hitman game. I found the story interesting and could appreciate how they tried to bring a different story to the Hitman series and for the most part it worked. As a 1 hour long movie its worth watching on Youtube. But as a game? What I got was a brutal kick to the face. Disguises don't work, It's impossible to progress without the stupid instincts mode, most of the time you are hiding in cover (since when did Hitman hide in cover?), plus many more gameplay problems. I will sum it up to say that this is the BIGGEST disappointment in my 25 years as a gamer!..... If they are going to bring back Hitman again, firstly Jesper Kyd needs to score it and secondly the design team need to play all the previous Hitman games start to finish multiple times. I fear without those 2 points. Hitman will never recover!… Expand

This is NOT a Hitman game. They have butchered the disguise system so badly that I can't even stand to play the game. The classic Hitman strategy of disguising as a guard to enter the guard territory is ruined. This game has been severely dumbed down and ruined. The only great thing about it is the combat and the game engine over all. The fact that the game engine is so solid just makes me wish this game had lived up to any of its potential.… Expand

It would be good game, if it have:
- open world
- saves
- weapon selection
- saves
- map
- SAVES!

What's wrong with developers, which want to ruin silent killing game and make some one-error-replay-full-mission-game with QTE which you could not break?! Sorry, this game is not worth the money at all (even with 60% discount which i find).

A poor addition to the Hitman franchise. Hitman was a series that didn't need changing, it was as if IO Interactive have never heard of the old saying "If it's not broke don't fix it" Everything that made Hitman so great and unique has been removed and replaced with material copied from other gaming franchises. As a result Hitman Absolution is very similar to Splintercell Conviction rather than a Hitman game. The big open sandbox levels have been replaced with heavily scripted linear levels so it can tell a story. Previous Hitmans were all about gameplay, Absolution is more about a story. The story was like it was written by Steve Stiffler from the American Pie films, very childish sick gross out trying to be edgy but fails. In my opinion games should always be about gameplay, if i want a story i'll watch a DVD or go to the cinema. The less i say about the broken AI the better.… Expand

The Hitman you knew is gone.
Be prepared for an ordinary Cover-based stealth shooter that is very linear and with a silly story. They really cheated me this time, by putting the enticing label of Hitman on there, and giving me this uninspired, linear and braindead stealth-shooter, where you're basically not even doing hitman-work. The freedom of earlier games is completely gone, disguises are tacked on and dont work like they should, gameplay elements seem to work against eachother. Broken checkpoint-saves. You're mostly just going door to door instead of planning and executing awesome assassinations...

The most fun I had in this game was going crazy and just go on killing sprees, the stealth mechanics used are just so old and boring, clearing a mission through stealth and not killing anyone has never been this boring before... much of the time I didnt even have a target.... yawn.

+ Graphics, sound

I was thinking of putting all the annoying game changes and disappointing quirks in Absolution here BUT I'm short on time so I'll cut to the chase and just say WHY this game FAILS.

- It's masking behind the great HITMAN-label and dont deliver.
- THAT and it seems they did'nt even try to make a hitman game. They put 47's face on Sam Fisher basically.

I'm deeply disappointed and I dont understand how they could do this to Hitman fans. We waited so long too.
I'm giving it 3 because of the Sniper Challenge, atleast that was fun while it lasted.

Verdict Rip-off.… Expand

Simply the worst Hitman in the series, it's not even really a Hitman game. All the fun of Hitman, the big open sandbox levels that encourage exploration are gone, weapon select at the start of each level is gone, the cool music from Jesper Kyd is gone. Hitman games were always game play over story, Absolution is story over game play (it's not even a good story). Most of it encourages sneaking about without being seen trying to make it from one door to the next, it's just no fun and nothing like a Hitman game.… Expand

i think, against all opinions, the history is the worst of the hitman series. Isn´t wise let a killer who want´s kill you, alive. But, this happens in the game, again and again.
About the customization, the game is fun.

I'm still playing Hitman Blood Money 7yrs on, every level is such a joy to replay through again and again. Unfortunately the same can't be said about Hitman Absolution. It's not like a Hitman game and the levels are very linear story driven trash that aren't even worth a second play through. AVOID this game, rent it or buy it second hand, don't waste your money. Hitman Blood Money is a masterpiece, Absolution is a total disaster that has killed a once great franchise.… Expand

As I have been playing hitman after hitman since the first one, I can say this for sure, this game its nothing more than a generic stealth game, that most of the time your only goal its find a door, and when you finaly has the chance to perform a kill, its always a simple and not clever kill, its was lost the game essence, turning into a average game with a good story, hiding a boring game with a stupid mechanic of saves, and a lot of pointless goals. It's with a great sadness that I submit this review, from my favorite franchise, the first of the all five games, that I couldn't end, because after each level it was getting more and more boring.… Expand

If you are Hitman serie fan, don't buy this! This is NOT Hitman! Linear gameplay, boring gameplay, no free saves but stupids checkpoints, no planning of tactics, no map.
Avoid!

I liked Hitman Blood Money so much i bought it twice, once on Playstation 2, then again on Xbox 360, still play it today. I bought Hitman Absolution on day of release and traded it in already it was that bad. All they needed to do was take Hitman Blood Money and improve the AI. Instead they took all the fun of Hitman out. Last game i ever buy from IO.

Despite the linear levels and the flawed disguise system, this game fails to encompass the components that made previous Hitman games successful. My biggest complaint is the rating system whereby it is impossible to obtain silent assassin on the majority of the levels since it just involves getting to the next level. Even when a satisfactory rating is obtained, scores can be reset to zero for no reason or overwritten to a negative number on replay. There is no reward system for completing levels such as gaining money to upgrade weapons except for in multiplayer where it costs an unrealistic amount of money to upgrade anything ($700,000 for a silencer upgrade, PLEASE!). Replaying levels is unsatisfying because agent 47 is only able to carry one weapon. In closing, very disappointed and not a well thought out game.… Expand