This is hitman. There are so many paths to assassinate your target and if you were to step back and look, you would see all the hard work that has gone into designing the levels. Hitman's only downside is the disguise system, police officers should not know everyone in the whole police force and because of this it gets a 9.5. I love hitman and if you decide to play this stealthily, you will find it quite a challenge and most games today lack challenges.… Expand

Hitman is dead, Police suspect Blood Money isn't involved. Remember that beleoved Hitman series? Well it's been killed! This game is the worst Hitman in the series by a long way. They've taken all the Hitman out of Hitman. Well i'm off to play Hitman Blood Money....you know the proper Hitman game.

Firstly i would like to point out that i started playing Hitman games with silent assassin on the PS2, later I had contracts and finally blood money on the PC, i love the game series. So i had to get the latest version for my Xbox.

Well it pains me to say it but this is just not the game it was, 6 years later and this game is NOT as good as the previous ones. Its a watered down version in the same way the all the Tom Clancy games got watered down. Gone are the strong elements of tactics and planning, gone is the reward for exploration and experimentation, in their place there is the illusion of these things. This game attempts to add tense action sequences but it does so with scripted, triggered action points, by funnelling you down one route or situation instead of allowing the previous sandbox anything goes game-play to shine through. The beauty of a Hitman game was that two players could take completley different routes to the objectives, the action and tension they encountered was completley a consequence of their play style and timing. In this game the experience is contrived, forced and scripted to the point that everyone will get the same experience bar a few areas where the leash is loosened enough for you to get a brief taste of what made the game great. To often are you forced into situations that are not becoming of a game series that once carried silent assassin as a game title, well there's nothing silent about being forced into being chased by a helicopter and countless police men through numerous early stages. By attempting to turn the tables on agent 47 and make him vulnerable in this new narrative we are robbed of what made the series great; selecting your gear, scouting the location out and making your way to your target.

Gone is the load-out, your weapons are pre-selected for you, so no more sniper briefcase but dont worry because someone will have left a high-powered sniper rifle in the room overlooking your target and the window is open, the weapon will also be according to its description in the menus agent 47's choice sniper rifle, how convenient...and lame. Also on the subject of lame is the new disguise system; now you might thing the best way to blend in with some police men is perhaps to grab one of their uniforms, act normal, keep a relative distance so they dont see you up close etc. Well actually if you put a police uniform on every time you are in eye sight of a police man at any distance you arouse suspicion and attract unwanted attention, the same goes for any disguise, dress up as a bodyguard and all the bodyguards immediately seem to be onto you, however if you just dress as someone else they let you pass unnoticed...so the point in dressing up is what exactly? Case to point: I put on a police uniform to access and area guarded by police men, nothing but suspicion is aroused, i come back dressed as a drug dealer and i'm fine to walk through unnoticed. These scenarios happen throughout the game yet you can negate it somewhat by using an intuition bar that when used de-pleats but allows you to....wait for it.....cover your face as you walk past in a rather awkward and obvious attempt to hide your identity. Yeah, that's right, and if the bar or your 'intuition' de-pleats? yeah you can no longer put your hand over your face.

Also hiding works as stupidly, climb through a window next to a guard in a restricted area and he will turn, question you, become suspicious, but if you quickly read a near by pamphlet hey everything is fine, no problems! Stop reading the pamphlet though and the guy will draw on you and shoot in seconds.

The A.I then as you may have guessed is lame, predictable boring patrol patterns, nothing dynamic, higher difficulties mealy mean they notice you faster and shoot more accurately for the most part.

Agent 47 used to feel like a real pro, you had the element of surprise and could use it how you wanted, with the load out you wanted, on the path you chose. Now you get the weapons you given along with anything you can scavenge, you get limited paths and worse of all levels are no longer large sandboxes but separately loaded sections where if you return to a previous area anyone you killed or subdued is back alive.

Despite all this there are still some nice elements to the game, there are some small sections where the game plays like its predecessors and its here where it creates its own dynamic drama and tension just like the old games did. Its a sad modern trend in gaming that sees strategic, stealth games getting watered down into stealth/action games. Hitman as a game has always had the tools for action, the moments where we messed up would bring the fight, or where you had to quickly dispatch two approaching guards, we dont need scripted action in a sandbox, just give us the tools and freedom and we'll make our own, just like the old days. Please IO keep the formula to what it was, its not Hitman any more. 7 from a series fan.… Expand

To those that give this game a bad review, I just wanna say... you don't know what good games are! This game is just amazing! Great graphics, great music, and a great storyline. Just an amazing game.

If you want to play a Hitman game then keep playing Hitman Blood Money or Hitman Contracts. As a fan i really wanted to like this game but so much of it annoyed me i just couldn't enjoy it.. 6 and a half year wait for this, i've never been so dissapointed in a game like this before!

Ahh...remember all the wonderful things in Hitman games..? The Vast, open, multi-faceted, multi-tiered, funhouses of planning, deception and creativity? Well IO Interactive took all of that, threw it into 47's sniper case and set fire to it. From the ashes they cobbled together 'Absolution' . Something which the developers should be praying for. Levels are linear and streamlined, rigidly objective (go to point B, collect 4 fuses, exit door) based affairs. Even the more sandboxy levels are watered down and/or butchered into non-returnable sections. Take the 3rd level set in a hotel. On the ground floor there is only one way up to the target on the eighth (or 2 if you count catching the same lift slightly lower down). Once in the lift the ground floor and everything you did is erased, sucked into a black hole that you may never return to. The cutscene then removes any choice dictating that you shouldn't go directly to the 8th floor but get off at the 7th and find another way up. Once you do that the 7th floor disappears into the same blackhole as the ground floor. The horrible checkpoint system respawns enemies, actively discourages exploration and punishes experimentation.
The 'disguise' system is broken to the point where they now serve as nothing more than a 'stealth power-up' allowing you a second or two chance to bail into cover before you're rumbled rendering them all but useless. All of which render the game into a more generic cover-based stealth game, where throwing objects to distract guards is now your greatest asset. You get no loadout choice, and the game seems painfully short on inspirational, memorable ideas.
If you enjoy the more by-the-numbers stealth games that have you commando rolling between cover you may find much to satisfy you in HItman Absolution, but let's be clear: . It may look like it, sound like it and offer a few nostalgic nods in it's direction, but this is not a Hitman game.
Agent 47 has lost his way. Which may be considered ironic considering how linear his world has become.… Expand

Update: My first review was just with a couple of hours of gameplay, now after finishing the game I can tell you that there are 3 or 2 missions segments that are old classic hitman style, the others however suck, and suck bad, let e put it like this, if I could get my money back I would

I created an account just to review this game. I'm sorely disappointed. It's not a terrible game. It just isn't "Hitman." Blood Money was very open and allowed you a lot of flexibility in not only how you killed your targets, but in what order. The game dropped you into a level, told you who to take out and you figured out ways to do it. Disguises made you invisible. It wasn't extremely realistic, but it was fun. After six years I still play that game a few times a month.

This game is nothing like that. Remember the Dance With the Devil level in Blood Money where you had to go to two parties (Heaven and Hell) in that huge building? In Blood Money you could go to either party first or go back and forth between them. You took out targets in whichever order you liked. Dressing as one of the guards allowed you to come and go. Not in this game. If that level were in this game, you would first be given an objective to make it to the garage. Once you go there, there's no leaving. The imaginary door/wall appears and you're stuck. Then it would tell you to go to the "heaven" party. You'd take out your target and then it would tell you to get back on the elevator. You'd go down to the "Hell" party and from there it would tell you to take out your next target. Then it would tell you to leave. By the way, disguises won't help. For some reason every person in the game knows who should be dressed like them. It makes sense with a close knit group like a group of plumbers on a later mission, but makes no sense that every cop in Chicago would know one another. Logic would say that you should just pick a costume that no one around you has on, but that's not an option. There is always a mix of people walking around. So that forces you to use "Instinct Mode." That's 47's magic power to hold his hand over his face and lower his head so that no one recognizes him. Apparently it is very tiring so he can only do it for 30 seconds before you run out of "instinct." (How is that even possible?) You'll find yourself in cover most of the time. You can't pick your weapons, you can't modify your weapons and just about everything you do makes noise. I shot someone with a silenced Silverballer and a guy about 50 feet away radioed "We have a report of gunfire." I stabbed someone and the guy in the other room heard it. Most of the levels seemed designed as if they want you to have a firefight. Even when you take everyone out a message pops up "Backup has arrived." It's frustrating because there isn't even a save feature like before. If you die before you find one of maybe two or three checkpoints then you have to start all over. I used to love just walking around a level in disguise and trying to find new ways to take people out. That's gone. Be somewhere that the game doesn't want you and you'll be spotted. Once the alert is up, that's it. Restart. It's less Hitman and more Kane and Lynch 2.… Expand

This is NOT a Hitman game. The levels are small an not really sand box ,the AI is bad, the story is bad. If you want a bargain then head on over to Ebay to grab my copy.Ebay is full of second hand copies already an its the first day of launch,what does that tell you?

As a long time fan of the Hitman series this new outing is very disappointing. Graphics: This game looks good and you can tell they have worked on the visuals. Overall the game looks very good and the whole game runs smoothly. Sound: The game sounds great from the sounds of the weapons to the music. The only annoying things is some of the voice actors voices got on my nerves but I think that has to do more with their personalities than anything. Gameplay: The most important element of any game and this is what disappoints me most about Hitman Absolution. The first thing that annoys me is that for this doesn't feel like a Hitman game. The most obvious criticism is that too many of the levels are linear, which goes against what the Hitman series is about. There are sandbox style levels but for me they felt too small and restricted in comparison to previous Hitman games. There is a checkpoint system within the game that does't need to be there. The most annoying thing about the checkpoint system is that as soon as you pass a checkpoint you usually can't return to the area you have previously visited. The suspicion metre in this game is extremely annoying. It's amazing how many Chicago cops know each other. This disguise system makes it extremely difficult to pass anybody that is wearing the same uniform as you and especially if they are guarding an elevator. You can use instinct mode to evade suspicion but if you are playing in the hardest setting which I did then it only last for a while. The melee combat is extremely frustrating, every time you want to attack someone you have to enter an annoying quick time event which gets boring very quickly. This game has moments of brilliance and at times I realised why I fell in love with the game but overall I just felt disappointment . You can tell the developers wanted to broaden their audience for the new Hitman but in doing that they have compromised on what made Hitman great. Overall impressions:

I've had some fun with Hitman Absolution but overall I'm very disappointed in the latest outing. If this was a brand new game and had no association with the Hitman Franchise then I might have enjoyed it more but it was not to be. Some people will enjoy this game but for me I am extremely disappointed and Im hoping any future Hitman game is a lot better.… Expand

Splintercell Absolution, oh i mean Hitman Absolution, or is it Splintercell Conviction with Agent 47 in it, i dont know im confused with this game. 6yrs in the making and i was excited and expecting Blood Money 2....but what i got was Splintercell Conviction with a hint of Hitman and a hint of Kane & Lynch. (80% of Absolution is Splintercell). You will find yourself walking down narrow paths making your way from door to door...and thats pretty much it for the most part. When i fired it up i had to make my way to a door without being seen, once i made it i was like ok now what? Make your way to another door without being seen...ok im here now what? Make your way to yet ANOTHER door without being seen. This is basically all it is,crouching down and sneeking past people trying to get from one door to another without killing anyone, they should of called it 'Hitman Door Solution'. When your not making your way to another door the game offers fans of the franchise a couple of tiny sandbox levels to play in, trouble is none of them are very good and they are small and linear. I got to the King of China town levels (you visit here twice once during the day and another during the night) and i had killed my target by blowing up his car with some conveniently placed explosives someone just left lying around (who leaves random explosives laying around in a crowded China town, or anywhere else for that matter?) my target was dead in around 30 seconds and then i was asked to make my way to yet another door to finish the level. Back to the conveniently placed explosives thing...unlike previous Hitmans you dont get to select your weapons before the level starts, this time you have to pick up enemys weapons as you go a long. This is stupid because when it comes time to blow someone up or snipe someone it means some explosives or a sniper rifle will be laying around in the level exactly where your supposed to use it. Its like "Ok heres the bit where you snipe someone heres the sniper rifle placed right by the window" As i said earlier, who leaves these things lying around? The new disguise system is really annoying and broken. This time if you get too close to others wearing the same disguise as you you are pretty much instantly caught, they recognise you are not part of their gang if you get too close. If thats not bad enough they can even see through masks! I stole a baddies clothes which come fully equipped with a Friday the 13th style Jason hocky mask thinking as my face was competely covered nobody would recognise me...turns out i was wrong and got a shed load of bullets pumped in to me from about 10 baddies. Sometimes when you steal someones clothes its not even the clothes they were wearing, its like "Hey he had a brown jacket on when i stole it, so why has his jacket turned red now im wearing it?". Also disguises dont always carry over to the MANY cutscenes. If your dressed as a yellow bird when a cutscene triggers Agent 47 wont be dressed as a yellow bird in the cutscene, he will be wearing his trade mark suit in it, this doesnt always happen though which makes it even more stupid. Back to the famous doors Hitman Door Solution seems to love.Once you have walked through many doors you CANNOT go back through them. For instance i started a level with 3 narrow paths to choose from...i wanted to go to the right to investigate but thought id quickly see what was left first...so i went left round a corner an came to a door...i went through the door then tried to go back to take the right path i originally planned to take but it wont let you go back! This happens alot throught the game. It doesnt encourage exploration like previous Hitmas, it just forces you down narrow paths to trigger the story (stories crap too!) So i found myself nervous about going through any doors before id explored the level incase it was a door i couldnt go back through....trouble is which of these doors is a non returning door...you just dont know untill you go through it. So any Hitman fans out there interested in this game....i really wouldnt bother, only 25% of the game caters to us Hitman fans then that 25% really isnt very good. If you like Splintercell Conviction or doors then give it a whirl. As an Action game id rate it 6/10....as a Hitman game id rate it a 1/10. Looks like ill be playing Hitman Blood Money for another 6yrs.… Expand

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.

Hitman Absolution is an fantastic stealth game, the AI is great, there are lots of different routes you can take, and plenty of ways to kill your target, the story is good and the voice acting is great, but is it a true Hitman game? It seems like ou spend most the time moving from A - B in the story mode rather than actually planning and executing your kills, it's often not until halfway through a level you will even be assigned a target(s) to kill, however I can forgive this due to the massive amount of challenges to do on each level, and the contracts mode.
Contracts mode feels like a more classic Hitman experience, and I can't wait to play the challenging hits people put together.
Conclusion - The game is a challenge, but also great fun for anyone who is a fan of stealth, some fans of the series may be put of by some of the design changes made to the game, but I recommend you at least give it a go.… Expand

First things first: This is not Call of Duty - if you are a gamer expecting to go in guns blazing and not be stopped in your tracks think again - you will not enjoy this game, secondly it is not Blood Money which arguably was the best Hitman to date in my opinion. Absolution is a worthy entry which will reward people who THINK. As stated by others the camouflage system is flawed and should have been given more attention - if a patch could fix this it would elevate this game to a 9.… 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, this time they ripped off LEON THE KILLER movie. 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.… Expand

Look, i'm not going to lie, okay? this game isn't perfect but it's one of the best games this gen imo and i'm not exaggerating, it's sad that most prefer to play generic first person shooter instead of actual good games like this, this game deserves a 9 but i gave it a perfect score to counter all those 0's coming from trolls that haven't even played the game.

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.

Hitman: Absolution is not a bad game. It's okay - but most certainly not a Hitman game. IO has made three major mistakes. The first being the narrative that has taken over the gameplay. Hitman was always a typical example of gameplay-over-story. Well, here it's the other way around. The (bad and cliché) story dictates every step, that means you're running from the police most of the time. This fact makes the game very linear in comparison to the rest of the series. Also, you cannot choose your starting equipment. The second mistake is giving up on the huge "playground" levels that Blood Money had. Now the levels are split into different areas between a loading screen, that also covers up your errors. You could shoot everyone with a pumpgun, throw around grenades - but as soon as you're going up the stairs through a loading screen, nobody above seems to have heard anything. Consequence of your action (and with it planning) is dead. The small map parts only really have the choice left or right. Or through an air vent. That's pretty much it. No clever plotting anymore. The third mistake is the new disguise system, which just doesn't make any sense and has too many holes to achieve the realism it was built for. It's basically broken. What's left is a lot of sneaking around and shooting. It's like Arkham City meets Splinter Cell. Have fun with it. I'm quite frustrated.… Expand

This just can't be called a Hitman game. I like how some disguises will get you caught by others wearing the same thing, but when you dress as a chicago police officer and get recognized by another chicago police officer... that's insane. Or when wearing a MASK, still recognized... that's insane. As a result, this game is really just sneak, sneak, sneak. One thing I like about the old hitman games was the ability to choose what you bring to each level. That's gone. You don't even get to carry the iconic silverballers a lot of the time. No "different" environments like past hitman games, it's all the same area, and the levels seem to just force you down a path, instead of letting you explore. This game got tedious and repetitive FAST.… Expand

An awful addition to what was an ever improving series of games, for those new to the series it has some appeal, but for anyone whose played the previous games it is but a shallow linear shadow of it's past. First person - gone, the scoring seems flawed and fails to grant any flexibility, and as for getting the damn thing to run on PC with a spec far above "minimum" - AAGH!. Such a dissapointment . i actually have returned "HM":A and asked for money back, the second time ive ever done that for a game in 18 years.… Expand

THIS IS NOT A HITMAN GAME BE WARNED!
I already traded this garbage in for 25$ and feel kinda bad for them like i completelly ripped them off but not bad enought to keep this S%#$ of a game.
like many people i was eagerly awaiting the new hitman game since my favorite game of all time BLOOD MONEY,i was deceived by IO they showed streets of hope and with a straigth face said that was just the peak of the iceberg for the assassinations to come i became giddy with anticipation,how misplaced my faith would be as that turned out to be easily the biggest "sandbox" level in the game made out of 2 checkpoints, all in all the game has 20 missions divided into 53 checkpoints(i think) and only about 12 checkpoints are assasination missions wich are either extremely tiny or verry linear in execution in my opinion only about 6 checkpoints could be more legit hitman levels even if they are extremely tiny.The rest.... well lets just say i wouldnt call it hitman per say more like H I D E M A N: d o o r s o l u t i o n since thats what you do in most missions OPEN DOORS with splinter cell gameplay. Doorman takes everything great and unique from hitman and turns it into dumbed down linear call of duty type garbage.Most levels all you do is go from door to door "evading" police with prescrypted chopper chases,Huge explosions,burning buildings, etc basically your average call of duty type sh@!.
All in the name of what ?? appealing to the lowest common denominator?? $$$?? it may be because of those reasons but its also because of its HORRIBLE STUPID STORY! like WOW how bad at storytelling can you get?? plus since you are on the "Run" from the police thats the excuse the developers TERRIBLE story uses to keep sending you from door to door to door to door to door to door to door to door to door to door then pathetically small "assaination" mission. then rinse and repeat...so much wasted potential,stupid kane and lynch developers were jelaous that theyre own series wasent as loved by hardcore fans like hitman that not even a dogs crap gave a sh@# about that horrible series that they decided to say a big FU%& YOU to the former IO hitman developers who have since left the company... i cant imagine why.

To anyone out there if you are on the fence about this game go with your Gut instict not your love for hitman like i did and for a more legit review look at PC GAMERS review of the game its SPOT ON.
the last thing you want to do is give these kane and lynch a%$holes a reason to keep making this sh@# by buying it,if you have to buy it used.The thing i regret the most is buying the game new since i gave those idiots my money what a fool i am.
Well thats it thanks to anyone who waste their time reading this with horrible grammar and everything,me?? im back to playing blood money.… Expand

Hitman Absolution is the captivating experience that I've been waiting a long time for, a cross between gritty authentic stealth and wonderfully crafted action. I can understand some Hitman fans moaning about the latest installment as I'm not looking forward to the new DMC for the same reasons, however unlike DMC I only played the very first Hitman so to me innovation is welcome. There are flaws, the save system and shoddy AI being the worst of them. But on higher difficulties the AI get better, while the sensory perception and the Splinter Cell enemy marking system work great which helps makes this game appeal to a wider audience. If the haters try it, 80% I reckon on Hard mode would love it! Lastly some industry reviewers need to get a reality check, one in particular rated this 6.9 while rating Res6 8.8 and Black Ops 2 9.4? The gaming media need an urgent clean up, as it's poor that some media pick on IO while kissing the butts of bigger companies! Shame on you.… Expand

I gave this a 9 because it is a great game, not a 10 because hey' no game is perfect (apart from zelda oot, resident evil 1.2&3 final fantasy 8 and MGS 1.2.3&4) Anyway, Hitman absolution is a great game by today's standards.
The levels are NOT one big open world like it has been in the past is what people are saying and by some respect they are right in saying this.
HOWEVER, the levels are still quite big with many things to see, find, and do in them. The difference is that you start a level and exit elsewhere you don't exit in the same place after killing the main target. Hitman has always been single levels and a main objective where as this may not have a main objective on SOME levels however you have to get from one place to another without being seen, this can be fun, but when you try for the extras it is challenging and when you try for a silent assassin rank on purist mode it can be **** annoying.
if people are on the first part on level 3 (apartment block area) then thats the reason for the bad score, the mission was very bland however the game grows on you believe me i have been a hitman fan for about 10 years nows (since 2 silent assassin) Blood money was a great game and the graphics were poor and buggy even though I love the game.
For example remember when you used to fibre wire some unlucky guys neck? Yep? Well remember when they used to spin flop to the floor? Oh you do! Well this game has no bugs.

This may not sound like it should be better because of that I'm saying its more "realistic" for a Hitman game.

I think square enix deserve credit for this game what with the garbage they have released since let's face it ff10 when the company was know as squaresoft and eidos made hitman themselves.

Trust me if you are a fan of the games you will love it, there will be a part of you for about 3-4 hours that will feel pity for yourself and you will reminisce about how it used to let you just get on with it without the extra features you have now.
Then you will get over it and enjoy the game.
There are challenges which make the game more fun to try and beat your friends score and the contracts mode I am yet to play.

Honestly blood money only needed an up to date engine but this has a cool story, graphics are good and it is fun to play and a game that is replayable. Square be proud of this and I look forward to seeing another hitman but please oh god please sooner then 7 years time.

I would have picked this game up over resident evil 6 (read the start of my review) black ops 2, dishonoured, doom 3 bfg, boring lands 2 sorry borderlands 2, and even halo 4 which I am a retard because I bought the special edition thinking it would have some good stuff inside and not just a lame avatar outfit and the edition cost me £70 :O

Square please concentrate on making more hitman games and not stuff like final fantasy 13 part give us your money again please and Kane and Lynch 2 dull days.

Fans of hitman I am sorry for sidetracking but don't be fooled, meta critic is a free review site and anyone can rule how a games score is affected. Ever liked the hitman games? Then buy this one too!

Oh and lastly my leader board score for Chinatown is rank 47 in the world lol what are the chances....50/50 actually now that I think about it.....… Expand

I find it pathetic that some folks still can't take off thier nostalgia goggles for seconds to review this game fairly instead of hating on it and giving it a low score because certain moment in the story that i won't spoil here annoyed them, it's sad to see games like this, Darksider 2 and Assassin's Creed III get bashed while generic military first person shooters get praised by the same people, this game isn't perfect but it's one of the best games to release this gen imo, great story, great graphics, absolutely no bugs/glitches, just perfect.… Expand

Ok, despite the generally popular reviews this game is getting, one point needs to be made abundantly clear.

THIS IS NOT HITMAN. Hitman is unique and was a thinking man's game. For the most accurate and truthful review, read PC gamer UK's review. It doesn't matter its for PC, all platforms got the same letdown of a game.

Just to clarify, i have played and completed every hitman game since the first one was released. And i dont mean i bought them all in a compilation, i mean i played each one at the time it was released and so have a good handle on how the series has developed over the years. That was until it died today. :(

This is a dull and repetitive stealth game, while you can kill people in varied and cool ways and there are some unique features like wearing limited disguises. Thats it. A lot of work has gone into it but its not particularly great. There are serious flaws, like the checkpoint system, and the gear system is largely pointless making pre-order bonuses a joke. There is no feeling of freedom and strategy like in the other games. Its just a linear story driven stealth game. Instead of having whole levels to do what you want and watch people and their behaviour before making your plan, now everywhere is pretty much restricted, and the disguise system is lame now. So basically you just sneak everywhere to reach your objective. As i said, a generic stealth game to please the masses. LAME

I MEAN FOR GOD'S SAKE THE ENEMIES RESPAWN IF YOU RELOAD A CHECKPOINT! Ridiculous.

Shame on you IO and shame on you Enix. Shame on all the spineless reviewers that gave this game over 75% too. And even that is being generous!… Expand

The game itself is solid, but this is not the Hitman game you are looking for. Fans of the series will be put off from the abandonment of key elements of the series.

This game is horrible. No more huge open sandbox. Disguises dont work. Stupid plot. Wallhack mode. Everything which made hitman good has been killed so that little kiddies can play this game. Well done, another once brilliant game destroyed.

I created an account just to review this game. Did you love Splinter Cell? Well then this is the game for you!

Did you love Hitman Blood Money? Did you spend hours playing it, and eagerly await a sequel?
Well then to you, IO throws up their middle finger with a laughing **** you!". Now I know what you're thinking. This is the internet. People are always nasty and negative. I shouldn't take this too seriously. But let me make this very clear to you. You should NOT spend your money on this game. I tried really hard to like this game. I honestly did. But the whole time I played, I felt this sick feeling of disappointment in my stomach. I so very much wanted this game to be good. But it's not.

You know everything that made Blood Money fun? Yeah, it's gone. Completely taken out. Sandbox levels? Gone. Setting clever traps and watching them work? Gone. Wearing disguises to get into restricted areas? There, but so terribly broken that it's useless. Fun? Definitely gone.

The whole game is getting from point A to point B, all the while hiding behind corners and low walls, and trying to sneak by the enemy without being spotted. The whole thing. Gone are the days of choosing your weapons, being dropped in a big map, being told who your targets are, and the game saying "Have fun!". Now, you sneak to the next door. And then to the next door. And then the next door. And then maybe you get to kill someone. Then you sneak to the next door.

I give this game a 1 instead of a zero on graphics alone. I almost gave it a 2, but I have to offset these RIDICULOUS 9s and 10s. Even if you did enjoy the game, it's CERTAINLY not 9 or 10 material. Those people obviously have never played a Hitman game before.

I'm bringing it in to Gamestop for their $30 within 30 days thing. And I'm getting a deal on that. Anyone who would spend a dime on this game is an idiot.… Expand

Hitman: Absolution isn't perfect but it's one of the best games to release this, it's kinda sad that most "gamers" prefer to play generic, bland and crappy military first person shooter instead of really good games like this, this game deserves a 8.5 but i gave it a perfect score to counter all those 0's coming from trolls that haven't even played the game.

Trades off giant free-roam levels for smaller, richer, more liner multi-segmented levels. There is still a fair amount of choice. Gun-play is tighter with shoulder switching, but discontinues the series's realism allowing 47 to holster long barreled weapons. The new point shooting mechanic is good looking and fairly effective but strangely doesn't allow 47 to use when aiming down the sights. Similarly frustrating, 47 can't vault over cover unless he takes cover first.

The contracts mode allows players to customize objectives by recording those objectives during play , publishing, and then challenging other players to beat their score.

I've been playing the game on hard, and it is a very good challenge so far (6 levels in). The disguise system is harder, and forces the player to look for places to blend in or simply avoid those you are disguised as.

The enemy AI is really fun to see in action (i.e. Wife hears noise, tells husband to check it out)

Although I miss some aspects from the old Hitman titles, I feel like this game is still true to the series and is very enjoyable, it would be excellent if it just had 1 more layer of polish for 47's gun-play and cover system.… Expand

47 is MIA. This isn't Hitman. IO has succeeded in making a linear, get-to-the-door simulator, but everything that made Blood Money awesome has been replaced with QTE's and over-the-top set pieces. No Weapon selection going into missions, no escape from mandatory cut-scenes where your target gets away, no way 47 can hide a Kazo TRG in his suit. Most missions do not feature a Target that you can kill, and the ones that do are much more flat than even the worst Blood Money Missions. If you are a fan of the series, then you'll have to find a new video game franchise to like, because Hitman will never be the same if this game is a sign of things to come.… Expand

I pre-ordered Abomination as soon as i was able. I have never regretted buying a game, until now..
They raped all the good aspects of Blood Money until a mediocre piece of was left.

If you like interactive-story-telling this might be the game for you (Buy Telltale's The walking Dead instead). If you like sandbox games and making your own fun, leave this game at the store and RUN! DON'T LOOK BACK.

The only satisfaction you will get from this game, is if you kill yourself with it.… Expand

It's an ok game that's not the equal of Blood Money.The broken disguise system is the most infuriating part of this game.Don a police or cooks uniform,for example, and be recognised by every cop and cook in the game...That's just ridiculous.I found myself unusually bored during play and despised the A-B areas with a passion.I had to stop every couple of hours just to motivate myself to keep going until the end.Contracts mode is good though and deserves multiple playthroughs,but I just couldn't be bothered.A very disappointing title.… Expand

Perfect Hitman game. You'd be silly to think otherwise, it's a masterpiece from start to finish and with contracts mode added there is always even more replay ability over the constantly changing world around you.

like with any game, there's good and there's bad, the shooting could be a bit more refined... that's about my only gripe, bottom line if u play this the way its intended... a stealth sneak by unseen and get out with no trace u were there, then the game its nearly perfect but if u go for more action its still a very good game, the best Hitman game to date by a large margin.

Honestly the game was not what i was expecting. I loved contracts and blood money but this is not anything like the games i grew to love. They really took a step back when making this game, they could have done way better. I ran into bugs constantly like flashlights shining through walls or guards running into me and saying the whole time show yourself. 60 bucks ill spent in my opinion.

Hitman Absolution was made by the people who make Kane & Lynch and NOT the people who made the Hitman games. The people who made Hitman left IO Interactive in 2008. Once you know the makers of Kane & Lynch made this game you realise what went so badly wrong and why it is such a huge f**k up of a game! The creators of Kane & Lynch are obsessed with trying to write a cool edgy Hollywood movie but they suck at it so badly. Look how poop both Kane & Lynch games were, they are basically 1% of a Grand Theft Auto game but yet still the same price tag, run shoot wave of enemys, run a bit further and shoot some more waves of enemys, repeat for 4 hours untill over with a crap story bolted on to it. They failed with Kane & Lynch twice so should of taken that as a huge hint that maybe their not so good as this game making lark as they thought and that fans dont want a linear poop story driven game, but no, they went for third time lucky, but this time they tried their luck with one of the greatest game franchises ever,Hitman! They either completely failed to understand what made Hitman games so great or just didnt care and were focused on their weird obesession of trying to create a Hollywood action movie type game, as Absolution has had everything that made Hitman great taken out of it to make way for another poop Kane & Lynch type story. There are only really 2 sanbox levels out of 20, i would of said 3 but you visit China Town twice. Then these 2 sanbox levels are very small and split up with checkpoints and can be completed very very quickly (Im talking a matter of seconds here) Sure you can replay them but the levels are so heavily scripted and dull you just wont want to bother like you did previous Hitman games. IO Interactive really need to wake up and stop with all these Hollywood movie story driven games and give us back the big open sandbox playgrounds of Hitmans gone by. Far Cry 3 is a massive success and looking to be Game of the year, why? because its a huge sandbox where people are dropped in and left to go about it as they please, this is exactly what previous Hitmans were and what made the so great. If you want to write a Hollywood movie IO then you should go to Hollywood and make a film or write a book , not destroy a much loved franchise. Remember IO, you wont fool people twice! If people get even a slight whiff that the next Hitman game will be linear or smaller or have checkpoints they wont be buying it. Only reason i bought this game was beacuse im a die hard Hitman fan, i had my worries way before launch after i heard Absolution would be story driven with smaller sandboxs, yet i bought it because im a huge fan and wanted to see for myself. I wish i hadnt gone anywhere near it and deffinitley wont be rushing out to buy or preordering the next Hitman after this terrible addition to the franchise.… Expand

Having loved the previous Hitman games, I was frankly completely disappointed by Absolution. Gone are the awesome sandbox levels of Blood Money and Silent Assasin, repleaced by narrow levels a la Splinter Cell, and action movie cut scenes/set pieces, a la Uncharted. The heart of the game has been ripped out.

Visually, the game is very pretty, but I'm disgusted that what I got is so different from what I was expecting.… Expand

As an old Hitman Vet, I have to say that this is the worst game in the franchise. Redicilous, childish story, not any freeroaming, extremely streamlined maps (gaurds, dumpsters etc is placed at very convinient places). This is not the hitman I used to love. Its a mix between hitman, splinter cell, and various other games.

I'm a die hard Hitman fan and I've been playing Codename 47 since it first came out. For those who think Absolution is a step back from Blood Money, it is in some regards, just like Silent Assassin was a step back from Codename 47. In the first episode, you could actually choose your equipment before going on a mission, and that was removed in SA for a more story driven experience. But in the end, Absolution still captures the spirit of Hitman very well. There are a lot of "get from point A to point B" in this game, but it's fun, especially when trying to achieve a Silent Assassin rating. It gives paces to the game, but if you still want to kill people on the way, feel free to do so. The sandbox levels are superb and have a lot of ways to complete the objectives. The challenges are great too: they're a great incentive to replaying the levels in different ways. The witness system also works really well, and was definitely missing from previous installments. If you screw up, you can salvage the situation with dealing with witnesses swiftly before they alert other NPCs (and there's an achievement for doing so). It's probably the reason why there is no save system per se in the game, which I couldn't care less considering I was playing on Pro in previous games, so no saves anyway. Hand-to-hand is a nice addition for salvaging a situation per example, or just snapping your target's neck. You can't just pick up and carry every object or weapon at the same time now, which makes a lot more sense than in previous games, although tucking in a sniper rifle in a janitor suit is a little silly. A lot of people have problems with the disguise system, and I don't understand what the big issue is here. Sure, it's a little annoying that all cops in a level can see through you when not blending in. However, it was unrealistic that nobody would find odd a 7-feet-tall-bald-giant-bodybuilder-janitor that you looked like in previous games. Hopefully they'll find a better balance in the next game, but it's not really a big problem here. If you do what you gotta do, you don't have to worry about that much. The shooting mechanics and cover system are great too. Although you shouldn't really do that for a pure Hitman experience, who never went through a level in Blood Money to kill everyone in the level, and I mean everyone, just for kicks? Well, with the cover system you can now do that in a more efficient manner and have a lot of fun achieving a Mass Murderer rating. Contracts mode is very nice, it's a core gameplay feature and it's a shame (a REAL SHAME) that you need an internet connection to play it. There are little issues with DRM on consoles so I really don't understand the decision here. Besides, the Contracts server was down the other day... so basically half the game is useless because some guy flipped the wrong power switch. What if they decide to shut down the servers in 4 or 5 years? This is a terrible decision and just because of that I will change my final score from a good 9 to a 7.… Expand

Hitman: Absolution is a slow, methodical stealth game that out does it's predecessors. Killing his long time handler and fan-favorite of the series, Diana Burnwood, Agent 47's journey becomes personal, as it leads him on the trail of a girl named Victoria. Hitman : Absolution has most interesting plot in the series since Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, and is worth revisiting.

Starting off in Diana's large mansion, then to moving your way through the busied streets of Chinatown, the game features numerous locations all different from the last. Multiple paths can be taken in each level, leaving tons of variety in each level to be played an excessive amount. Also, the locales are all breathtaking thanks to IO's new Glacier 2 engine. If you're a avid Hitman fan, Absolution will not leave you disappointed. This game was completely worth the six year hiatus after Blood Money. Pick this one up.… Expand

I prefer Silent Assassin from whole series. Except Codename 47, I played every hitman. I thing every game is excellent. This game is like Hitman in danger, without his suitcase... Deal with this, moaners...

Hitman: Absolution is a great game that is held back by some tedious and boring level design, but it always balances it out with the gameplay we know and love. I

I am registering to metacritic to write a review for this game - just because there are too many weird negative reviews that do no justice what this game is. Have people lost their minds?

The game is excellent. I recently bought and played Dishonored, Max Payne 3, Mass Effect 3, Skyrim and Fallout 3. Max Payne 3 was a boozed-out slugfest, and very formulaic. The game missed the spirit of the earlier Max. But still, not a disaster. But not great. Mass Effect 3 - I had fun playing it. Don't care for the save the galaxy crap, but like a true fan, liked the first few levels, especially the one on the Turian planet, and a few characters. Wasn't 'outraged' by the ending. Skyrim - didn't care for the dragon crap, but had some fun playing the main mission. Fallout 3 - was too grey and monotonous. Dishonored - was the game I liked the most of the lot, but thinking back, there are parts which didn't move me much. What was great about Dishonored were the character models, the artwork and the level design esthetics. I liked the climb-back from Corvo's downfall, where he gets dumped in the Flooded district amidst the Weepers.

Hitman, I would place at the top of this entire pile. As a gamer, you'd always think how unrealistic many of 3D FPS settings always have been. How most worlds we saw shorn of detail, had no objects you could interact with, had all kinds of HUD hand-holding interface elements. In short, the lack of realism that would cruelly distract from the gameplay one enjoys as a gamer, but can yet not convey to the casual onlooker because what confronts him or her is the stark unconvincing unrealism. All that is gone with Hitman. Imagine bustling crowds as far as the eye can see, or imagine rustling corn shoulder-high in a field, or a mid-western US small town junkyard - you'll be there. One can only imagine a Deus Ex set in such a world.

Of course, there are small glitches and distractions. But you have throw yourself into a game and enjoy it first. Your rating score is useless otherwise. That is what most of these low scoring reviews here represent. Bunch of insincere, complaining seekers of nostalgia, if anything else at all.

Hitman is a landmark game that deserves gamers' appreciation. It has its flaws - perhaps the weird save system (can be downright frustrating if you goof up and get yourself killed) and the structuring of the story narrative where control is taken away from the player on occasion. But who gives a damn if the game works? The 'cinematicism' does not, and cannot detract from the game.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm like halfway trough the game now, and I have to say that everything about it is what I was expecting if not even more. Some might say that it is linear, and yes they are right in some aspects but I'f you look trough it there is a bunch of choices on how you are going to get from A to B, for example in the Hotel level there is 3 entrances with their own distinct way to get trough. And thats what I like about Absolution or the hitman series in general. The story is also very good in my honest opinion, maybe a little dumb here and there but it works and you get interested in the characters. Oh and I might add one epic scene from the Hippie level in the chapter "Run for your life", it was so unexpected to see police men starting to dance making the way clear to get out.… Expand

It's not a bad game (a good game I would argue) but it does not feel like a real Hitman game as many people have pointed out. It reminds me more of one of the early Splinter Cell games as you slip pass searching guards. The hits have been made far too easy in my opinion, most missions you can follow the target around until they stop somewhere that no one else is looking then you just fibre wire them and stick them in a conveniently place container. If your a long time fan you will get some enjoyment, just don't go expecting too much.

Looks good though...… Expand

I like this game a lot. Although, they made the game a little more mainstream in regards to gameplay. It's still fun and challenging. I recommended purchasing it and get your friends on it too cause contracts mode is pretty fun. There isn't any game like it right now.

Being part of the Hitman fan base, let's just say I eagerly awaited that Tuesday morning when I could pick up my copy. This is one of the finest, yet one of the most disappointing Hitman games (in certain areas) I've played. I don't usually compare games to a previous one, as each is meant to be different from the last, apart from Halo. Halo never changes. The first point I've got to make, is to not expect a Blood Money replica, where finding random donuts to poison FBI agents in a van that's as hidden as a turd on a white rug. I found when first playing Absolution, that I ironically couldn't find any differences, it was only as I progressed I picked up on the little and big things. Mainly, the ways and means to finish someone isn't the same. Shooting out skylights to turn your victim into a human milkshake, or replacing a replica firearm with a real one to make it look like an accident, or even something as small as dropping weights onto someone's neck, isn't in the game anymore. I know I said I wouldn't compare between games, but these were the key elements to the Hitman franchise, the fun factor in finding the different ways. Yes, don't get me wrong there are still ways and means of taking out your target, but it's either a simple shot to the head, with no consequences [if not seen] or a simple garotting, although there are some small creative ways, but nothing compared to what they used to be. As for as the stealth matter goes, I think Absolution got this perfect. There's nothing more satisfying than hiding in a wardrobe, watching your victim snort a line of poisoned cocaine, then casually leaving the building and blending into the crowd, speaking of which, Absolution pretty much stole that aspect from Assassins Creed, but I'm not complaining. Taking someone out, blending into a subtle atmosphere and making your way, away from the crime almost makes you turn the camera to the front of 47 as you watch yourself walk away, like some sort of blockbuster hit. The one fault I'd find with the stealth is the crouching/hugging the wall approach. Countless times I've been crouched against a box and an NPC has walked past without even noticing me, when clearly staring at me. I've had Police Officers brush past my suit while I'm clasping my Silverballers, without even so much as a blink. The AI, this is a tricky one. Absolution has clearly had lots of work done to it with regards to NPC's, they've doubled in numbers, they do more realistic little jobs, such as fixing cars, eating sushi or even selling fruit on the market, compared to the original "Let's stand at a door with a terrible grin" approach they once had. The NPC's react to any hostile situation and it actually makes you panic, or feel under pressure. When having numerous guards fire at you, the sudden crashing and screaming of the NPC's, followed by a stampede towards to door, makes you think about where you need to run next, either with the crowd or without, choosing with usually ends in a blood bath if you like that. My only issue is the disguises. When dressed as a gardener around Police Officers, they'll pay no attention to you, they'll even wish you a good day, but when dressed as a gardener around gardener's, a simple hat over the face doesn't suffice anymore. I find them to be too suspicious too easily, and although it adds pressure to the game, it ruins the moment when you're walking through a hallway, stalking a target or even getting from A-B and having to duck and dive into each corner and crevice. Blending into the surroundings with the push of a button is all good but as soon as that bar depletes, you're on your own. Overall, I can't bad mouth the AI, they're more realistic than ever and they do make the game feel that bit more special. I'm not really much of a soundtrack person, but when you're standing on a platform in a train station with numerous Police Officers looking for you in the crowd, that high pitches violin and low bass adds a lot of pressure when you're waiting sixty seconds for your escape. Simply walking into a new environment and the sudden instrumental is almost like a warm hug when you walk into a room. You know where you are, you know why you're there, and what you have to do. My last point; the graphics. Absolutely outstanding, well done to IO. The precision in cut scenes, in 47's face, in the little bits of scenery, they're amazing. Explosions, gun fire, glass shattering, blood flow, and skull cracking has all been worked on and you can tell. 47 even gets dirty and cut now! The 'rag doll' system on enemies dropping dead or being dragged along, actually makes you feel the weight as you're pulling them, you feel the thud as they hit the floor from a fatal shot to the chest. It's those small tweaks that have made 47 into a bad ass. My only problem with 47 - He's become more caring. There's actually a scene where he hugs someone! Go back to the cold hearted bastard that we love.… Expand

I'm astounded at how many people are not angrier about how they screwed this one up. I created an account just so I could leave a review of how terrible this game is. I've been a HUGE fan of this series since Silent Assassin, but I Absolutely DESPISE Hitman: Absolution! Thank God I got it at a discount. I wouldn't have paid a cent for it had I known that they bastardized the whole series. There is nothing Hitman about this game or even remotely close to it. Everything that the series previously stood for has been taken out. Absolution is what those bastards at Eidos will need after making this game. I waited two years excitedly (That's how big of a fan I am) for this freaking game, and they pull this crap! Everything about the game is linear. AND BTW SINCE WHEN DID 47 START TALKING SO FREAKING MUCH?!?! Part of his charm was in the mystery and the fact that he so rarely talked in the previous games, and whenever he talked it was a cool one liner.

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH NO STORYLINE??!? We loved it. AND THE NEW DISGUISE SYSTEM??!? DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT. Every aspect of the prior games was like a few hours in heaven. Unlike other gamers I do NOT like the graphics. They glittered it up and used way too much of that blurry garbage. This game is a prime lesson on what happens when too much emphasis is put on looks and not the running mechanics. EVERY level has some type of glitch. I was just playing at the orphanage and one of the characters actually disappeared and I got into a ghostly fist fight and wound up dying because of the glitch. That is unacceptable and it shows that they rushed this game. EIDOS...YOU HAD SIX YEARS TO MAKE THIS GAME GOOD...WHAT WERE YOU MORONS DOING IN THAT TIME? This game is actually against stealth because it is near impossible to sneak around anymore because of the god awful disguise system. I used to have great fun dressing up as the mailman and knocking the maid down the staircase with a golf club in Silent Assassin. Which is another point I need to make...YOU CAN'T EVEN FREELY SWING WEAPONS ANYMORE! The mechanics of this game are paralyzed because you have to first get up close and then the action is performed rather dryly. PART OF THE FUN OF THE OLD GAMES WAS CHASING AFTER THE MAID WITH A GOLF CLUB AND TRYING TO SILENCE HER BEFORE SHE REACHED THE GUARDS. IF I WANTED TO PLAY SPLINTER CELL OR BATMAN OR ANY OF THOSE GAMES I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT THEM. This game is a prime example of what happens when game companies get greedy and just want the money. Evidence of that is how they made super short levels to make the level count look bigger. AND THE CHINATOWN LEVEL...THEY ACTUALLY RECYCLED IT TRYING TO PASS IT OFF AS A NEW LEVEL. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME EIDOS.

The elegance and rich classy atmosphere of the previous games were ruined by utter sh*t. The jokes of the characters having conversations are just cheap and stupid. I liked it better when they were not speaking English. At least that way I don't keep hearing this same boring old lines.

One lame joke was about suicide by beating himself with a wrench. "Really...bludgeoning yourself to death with a wrench...?" You've gotta be kidding me...we've fallen a long way, folks. All the way down to unrealistic toilet humor. We've fallen a long way from what used to be an intelligent and masterpiece game. If you have any real love for the Hitman series, then you will do yourself a huge favor and not support this blasphemy against the Hitman series. It is truly terrible, and I do NOT say that lightly. If ever a sin existed, it was creating this game like it had nothing to be proud of. Why the hell did they borrow so much from other games. The characters in the game feel stiff and lifeless. And I love how people automatically know how he is a hitman or they say him and say "Why you hiding?". Another thing that pisses me off about this game is how the lame stealth works. I mean really, you can't pacify an enemy when no one is around without the whole area somehow finding out about it. They talked about making this game more realistic, but I feel nothing in terms of this game being more realistic. In fact, I feel like the realism has taken a nosedive. EVERY character reacts the EXACT same way as the previous one when you get caught wearing a disguise, and believe me, YOU WILL GET CAUGHT THOUSANDS OF TIMES IF YOU DO NOT stealth around. Since WHEN did hitman stealth that way. Also, since when the HELL did agent 47 get a six pack and look so muscular....

HE DOESN'T NEED A SIX PACK HE'S A STEALTHY HITMAN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Just more marketing BS. Eidos is trying to please the window lickers instead of the diehard, true fans of Hitman. Worshiping image over substance. Anyway, I should have known better than to buy this game when I heard they were messing with the mechanics and making it more linear. I will never buy another Hitman game again. Not unless they go back to what made hitman great.… Expand

Wow, I was not expecting to be disappointed by this game so much. I loved Blood Money, and I like the idea of an assassination simulator. What you have with Absolution is very different, and it totally misses the mark. Essentially, even in disguise, enemies wearing the same clothes see right through it. This means that even if you are in disguise - you have to hide! Completely negating the point of a disguise. Ultimately it becomes a crawl-a-thon, hiding behind chest-high-walls all the time, and rolling from cover to cover, creating distractions. That's not what the Hitman franchise is known for. Couple this with the fact that there are hardly any actual assassination levels, and only a couple of sandbox areas, and you have a game which is really boring. Most missions and just get from A to B. I don't know what they were thinking.… Expand

I LOVED this game. I held it close to my heard and I adored it like my own child. I spent hours playing through it and achieving silent assassin on pretty much every level through to the cornfield.

At Which Point. my save file because corrupt for no reason. I had not turned it off while saving, I had done nothing to corrupt this. The data on my hard drive is listed as being absolutely fine.

Researching on-line this is a massive bug that a lot of people have gone through if it wasn't for this it would get an 8 or 9 score from me. But to put in the best part of 10 actual hours of play, only to have to restart (which I did... save file corrupt AGAIN after another hour of playing)

If you get this game, you will love it. there are so many different ways of doing things, different paths, weapons, achievements. You will love it right up until it stabs you in the back.… Expand

If you liked Hitman prepare to pick up this game for roughly 5 seconds, scream "What the hell happened!?" Give up and possibly cry. Everything about this frankly upsets me. Loved every single entry in the franchise until square enix brought it, took one look at the game; seemed to say "Huh! That's retarded, no cover shooting!? NO SEXY NUNS!? NO LINEARITY!? **** that!" and made it as if this game were just a best of every boring idea from every modern game that ripped off another game. I hate this game, it hurt me. If you do feel the need to indulge your sick fantasy and play it. BORROW IT FROM A FRIEND. Don't spend money on it. I'd rather see this franchise dead than like this atrocity,… Expand

Epic game this is for me the best hitman game yet the story keeps you hooked from start to finish.The stealth game play is awesome and makes you think really hard on what to do next to accomplish the mission.The rest of the game is just as epic.The controls are smooth and really easy and quick to learn.The graphics is very impressive and the entire game put together is fantastic

This game has divided Hitman fans, some think it's a bold new step for the series while others think it has ruined it. I am a fan of the past games and while I think it is a more than competent game in its own right there are several things that have left me feeling disappointed. On the whole it is a good game, the glacier 2 engine gives the visuals a much needed overhaul, the levels are entertaining and diverse so that each place feels different and interesting to play, and the different levels of difficulty offer an experience for new comers or real Hitman veterans. There is no multiplayer which is a good thing, as this really isn't the type of game that fits multiplayer or needs it. In its place is Contracts mode that allows players to create and play each others custom missions, as a creator you choose who the targets are, how they should be killed, which weapon to use, along with many other parameters. The best thing about it is that the creator must be able to complete the contract them self before it is created. It's very well done and provides a lot of scope for players that want to make challenging contracts for each other. I would have enjoyed the game a whole lot more than I did if it wasn't for the following things: (1). The disguise system is mostly redundant - In previous games you could don a disguise which allowed you access to restricted areas, if you did anything strange or you hung around too long near an enemy they would become suspicious. In Absolution, anyone wearing the same outfit as you is immediately suspicious of you. Now this is understandable if you happen to take out a security guy on a small manned team, they would know you were an impostor. But when you are street vendor or police officer in a crowd of over a hundred people, you think "How the hell do you know I'm not a real cop? Do you know EVERY cop in the city?" On the harder difficulties you might as well not bother at all as the disguise will grant you barely 2 seconds of anonymity before you are clocked, the system also contradicts itself at times to. One level places you in a courtroom mid-trial, you can halt the trial, knock out the judge and wear his clothing then resume the trial. No-one even notices you are a completely different person. (2). The game has a great variety of weapons, but unlike previous Hitman games you cannot choose your load out before a mission. Now this does loosely tie into the story, but it just feels like another method that the game design quashes your creativity in how you approach missions. (3). Methods of killing or subduing NPC's which should be silent or almost soundless will still be heard. This isn't a major problem but you will have some times where you have just shot someone with a silenced pistol or choked them, then random NPC #12 who was in the next room with music blaring supposedly heard what happened. These are picky issues but they really do spoil what could easily have been my favorite Hitman game to date. The game is still enjoyable to play and far above many other games released around the same time, should they patch the disguise system issues I'd easily give this game a 9.… Expand

WE WAITED SIX YEARS FOR THIS? NO MA'AM!!! These AAA titles have been nothing but hyped up garbage so far, and Absolution is no different. After the brilliant Blood Money title, I was so hyped for this game. I mean they had SIX YEARS to make it right? RIGHT? Welp they basically through together a mediocre story, a BROKEN disguise system, and some COD elements and there you have Hitman Absolution. My only favorite part about the game was the mission where you have to take out the Nuns one by one (EPIC). But overall this game is just not worth your time or money. THANK THE VIDEO GAME GODS FOR GAMEFLY!… Expand

Finally, Hitman is back! Now in Absolution, we can see this franchise enjoy all the goodness of the 7th console generation. The environments feel more alive, the graphics are quite impressive and the animations are more fluid, therefore, more comfortable for the controls; specially the shooting, which in the previous games needed to be avoided at all costs because it would most likely cost you your life. 47 looks better than ever. The work regarding his creation is simply fantastic. He looks very sinister and David Bateson did a magnificent voice acting as always. Not only that, we now see a different side of 47: a man who is not only a ruthless killer, but someone who actually has some personal interests and complex moral dilemmas. The gameplay feels more Splinter Cell (Conviction to be more specific) than Hitman, which may disappoint Hitman's most purist fans, but if you liked Splinter Cell: Conviction you will most likely enjoy Hitman: Absolution. One of the reasons the gameplay seems more SC than Hitman is that the disguise system is extremely complicated to use, because getting a disguise causes more harm than good to the point where it becomes pointless since guards will discover you anyway, forcing you to sneak by them. The saving system could have been better since it won't save your progress in certain checkpoints, so you'll have to get to the next mini-cutscene if you want to stop and play later without loosing what you've done, and since advancing may be quite difficult, it becomes frustrating. The story starts great, but as it goes on, you can notice that the writers struggled to keep it moving, so they used the same plot device over and over again getting old quickly. The other flaw in terms of story are some of the main villains, who are too cartoonish to be taken seriously (a group of women dressed in silly fetish outfits headed by a Lil' Kim copycat, a Texan stereotype and Machete on steroids). Not to mention their cringe-worthy dialogue and the fact that they are so fool they can't be feared. They would be Ok for a Robert Rodriguez movie, but in this case, they take you out of the otherwise creepy and dark atmosphere of the game. Jesper Kyd's music is deeply missed since it really got you immersed into 47's universe. Not saying that the music in Absolution is bad, it's just not as good as Kyd's. Overall, I'd say Hitman: Absolution will have fans very divided in terms of gameplay. You'll enjoy it if you like stealth action in general or you won't if you expected the classic Hitman formula.… Expand

Time to wake up, people. Take off those Last Gen Hitman pants off and accept the future. The last entries to the series were good, for the first 3 times you complete it. There was no replayability in the past games other than playing the levels over and over. I'm a huge Hitman fan and i'm happy to see they made changes to the franchise. The gameplay is more organic, responsive and less stiff. The visuals are gorgeous and i can't wait to see the next gen Hitman game use Glacier 2 on the next gen consoles. When it comes to the value and replayability of Hitman: Absolution, fear not. The singleplayer campaign takes you around 15 hours if you explore and think of new ways to dispose of your target. There are 20 levels to do your murdering in and these levels can also be utilized in the new ''Contracts'' mode. (To be honest the first time i booted the game up and saw ''Contracts'' i thought the game came with Hitman: Contracts, which was the third entry to the series) In ''Contracts'' you can make your own hits and put them up for others to play. These contracts can have specific weapons used to dispose of your target and by killing the target with that specific weapon, you get bonus cash as a reward. The game is all around a Hitman game. The people that moan about it ''not'' being a Hitman game because it's not Bloodmoney are a bunch of morons. Times change, game engines change. Hitman: Absolution is not only a stellar Hitman game but also a great stealth/action game.… Expand

Great Game. Some of the Hits were Cutscenes which really pissed me off to say the least. Contracts mode is very cool as it grows with time. The graphics are very good on the PC version. It was a great addition to the Hitman Family and I feel like some people like Matty2012 are just trolls. This game is a HITMAN game and its a fun one.

This game has sparked quite a lot of controversy among the Hitman fans. There is logic behind their negativity, no doubt. But this is still a great game. This is not a TRUE Hitman. Why? The original crew left IO in 2008. This new crew got rid of Jesper Kyd's wonderful musical talent. They even considered not hiring David Bateson to voice 47. This "new crew" obviously had no intentions to stick this game to its roots. Does that back it bad? Not at all.

Let's start with the pros. Visually, Absolution is stunning. Everything is looking fantastic, it really pushes current-gen console graphics to its limit. The cut-scenes also look very decent.

Game play wise, Absolution is a whole lot of fun. There are still multiple ways to take out targets, from brutally throwing a tomahawk into the back of their head or activate an electrical fence for them to talk into and fry to death. This game offers a lot in terms of assassination methods - hence the huge amount of re-playability this has. The cover system is standard, the gun play is fresh and the stealth mechanics all work well apart from disguises.

The disguise system is a good concept but heavily flawed. You can be disguised in a fully covered up scientist suit, and other scientists will notice something fishy from just being able to see your mouth. If other people are suspicious, you will need to use instinct for them to ignore lose suspicion.

Instinct is shown in a bar, and it is limited in supply. You gain instinct with assassinations and completing objectives. Instinct depletes when you use it, it depletes differently depending on which difficulty you are on. The highest difficulty does not even have instinct.

Instinct is generally a bad feature. It is flawed and its purpose is to make 47 put is hands by is face so other people won't notice him. So apparently 47 can only put his hands by his face a limited amount of times? Strange.

Instinct also allow you to see through walls, and enemies will be highlighted in red. Similar to Assassin's Creed's eagle vision. This is useful, and a good part of this feature.

Story-wise, Absoluton isn't solid. But it is good, considering the previous games had no story or little emphasis on one. 47 opens up more as a character, and we can finally warm to him as a human being, rather than as an emotionless clone. He is still as bad ass as ever, and he is definitely up there with my favourite characters in gaming. He still has little to say, but whatever is does speak it sends chill down your spine every time. David Bateson does an amazing job, and I hope he stays as 47's voice for as long as the Hitman series lives for.

The villains are also extremely entertaining and... well... evil. Blake Dexter is the main bad guy, and he is simply FANTASTIC. As a gamer, you really want to kill him. Which is a wonderful feeling. All those associated with Dexter are strong characters too. Travis, is the second villain, the leader of the ICA. He is not a strong character, but he is still evil enough for us to want him 6 feet under. The main flaw with Absolution, however, is the missions. Only a couple of missions have "sandbox" zones in them. The rest of the missions are purely linear, and we are left we no freedom like the other Hitman games gave us. We only get one path through the missions, and it does not feel right for Hitman fans. We are used to the great, big levels where we got to control our own fate within the area. This is a big shame, and like I said earlier, it was clear that IO did not want to stick Hitman to its roots. Maybe they will release some sandbox missions in DLC to cater for their enduring fans.

All I will say is, a second Hitman looks very possible. I hope that they will return the classic sandbox maps. Let me put it this way, if this game had sandbox maps for 90% of it, I would have given it a 10/10.

Absolution is disappointing for Hitman fans, but for new players this will be refreshing. If you have never played Hitman before, I implore you to get your hands on it. If you are a long time Hitman fan, I still recommend this. BUT, don't expect a classic Hitman game. Otherwise, you will be disappointed.… Expand

I had to register in order to write a review appropriate for this game that I've yet to read. Hitman: Absolution offers a linear story that is much more story driven than previous iterations. Whether or not that is a different approach for earlier Hitman games is irrelevant due to the fact that IO interactive knew what they were going after and nailed it. The intensity of 47's role as Victoria's protector makes it all the more engaging in my mind. I find that some of the missions, Hunter and Hunted for example, were far too long to be a single mission but the way they broke them up by parts that all have individual scores makes replaying them sound a lot better. One other legitimate complaint is the disguise system; I know they attempted to create a "third party" factor for optimal incognito but it took it a little far. Dress as a cop, fellow cops call you out almost instantly if you don't instinct prior to being in their line of sight. Dress as a goon or any disguise that is part of a group of people and they'll be suspicious of you and the only way to solve that is by either "hiding" by doing a task that fits that identity or using instinct. While it makes sense, seeing as you should know the people in your clique, it got a little out of hand during some missions. Back to the key points, Contracts mode is a perfect addition to Hitman, much better than a limited multiplayer like other stealth based games attempt. I don't know if it's just me, but I love being able to queue other peoples contracts and figuring out ways to do it better myself. I will admit a true downfall is only being able to purchase upgrades for your safe house is via an offshore account that is funded for completing contracts. That's no issue for me, but for people that lack internet connections would really get old of grinding IO's contracts for money I'd assume. Now I'm currently on mission 15 out of 20 on Purist, and I've not found nearly any glitches or unusual bugs, contrary to people claiming so. The only problem I've had was on mission 14, I had a hard time getting the QTE for subdueing to proc on a goon. Overall this game is phenomenal and I sincerely recommend it.… Expand

R.I.P my beloved Hitman. Other hardcore franchise that became casual. My worst nightmare came true. Where should i start ? Well, EVERYTHING in this game reminds me of SC Conviction. "I need to save my daughter" - says Sam Fisher. "I need to save Victoria" - says Hitman. " I'll hide behind crates and jump over them"' - says Sam Fisher. "I'll do that too!!" - says Hitman. "I'll escape from people of the government while trying to save my daughter that was arrested by strange people" - says Sam. " I'll escape from people of the Agency and Police while trying to save Victoria that was arrested by strange people" - says Hitman. The franchise lost it's personality (so as the main character's charisma). Hitman now is a clone of Bruce Willis, not even resembles the methodical and cold killer that we all love. The graphics are pretty good (the stages SADLY aren't sandbox anymore now) but the gameplay is SC Conviction with disguises. A disguise system that f#cks your ass without vaseline. Everytime you use the disguise to fool someone, it requires a LOT of instinct. Instinct is difficult to gain so... yeah, you play Eidos's way (crawling around and taking down ordinary thugs like a f#cking spy or something) or you don't play at all. There's no more fun in killing people because the game gives you too much hints! I tried to up the difficulty a bit but i got f#cked by the stupid disguise system that destroys any strategy. Oh i forgot one more thing! The "instinct" mode works as the detective vision from Batman Arkham Asylum! That's awesome, right ? We have hot nuns exploding hotels and the Agency putting armed soldiers on the streets, causing panic and taking over the motherf#cking country! WOW! The missions where i can, actually, assassinate people are so few that i don't even remember them! There is also a mission where you are FORCED (that's right man, "on rails" style) to shoot things! Oh guys, I miss so much a FPS option to play with Captain Price and Robin while i'm riding on a horse with bazookas on a Third World War against the Agency and Makarov! Just what i expected from a Hitman game! Time to cry, fans of the old Hitman, he will be remembered. God bless his soul.… Expand

So yeah...as a long time player of hitman...I do understand what the fuss is about. However...as a long time player I immediately put this game on hard. Glad i did since I watched my roommate play on normal and it seemed ridiculously easy. All I gotta say is that you "so called" old school fans need to get your panties out of a bundle and play it on a harder level. Yes it was a disappointment that it wasn't as open as the others but it was pretty much the same formula. I was bothered that they took out the sand box form but most levels have way more than one way to kill your target much like in blood money! Get over yourself and play the new game for what it is. The stealthiness is there if you use it.… Expand

I liked the previous hitman titles a lot more than this. Sure, the graphics are great and the gameplay is pretty good, but honestly there's nothing new about this game. It's kind of like the same old thing with a couple quirks here and there.

This game was great in all aspects. Obviously the plot of Blood Money was so good that was nearly impossible to make it better, but this game it's so good. Don't trust anyone that say he liked the previous ones and give this one a score less than 7... The most of the complains here are just ridiculous or fake.

I am a big Hitman fan, played the first Hitman: Codename 47 when it first came out way back before the rating system and you can killed everybody in the box (just not the civies). Ever since then, I have owned every single Hitman game, including Contracts and this Absolution. It was not until Blood Money where a coherent story line was put into place, you know, in the form of the wheelchair guy telling 47's story to his own death while attending the funeral of a "dead" 47. Absolution ramped up the story telling department, involved more voice-acting for more characters (no more "Alarm, alarm!" or "backup, I need backup"), fancier graphics that would strain your i7 cpu/ Physix core, and a "multi"-single player mode that serves as a bragging right, sort of. I will start on THE BAD. THE BAD: A semi-working challenge and checkpoint system that would choke the living fibrewire out of the perfect hitman. This is especially horrible for those "stacking" challenge where you have to kill this many goons in this certain ways. Some are easy to stack but some are just hard. To make things worse, it is bugged to reset itself halfway through the challenge ALTHOUGH once you complete one challenge to a full bar, it stays completed. Speaking of choke/checkpoint, it resets the AI routine to the beginning of the level and some AI activities have to be triggered by 47's proximity to the AI(s). So, you might find yourself in an infinite waiting loop like me waiting for the AI to finish his phone conversation just to realize that I did not trigger the speech. THE BAD 2: AI detection skill. More like 47 detection skills by AI. Since you no longer look at the lovely map to know the place, you have to rely on either A) killing everybody and burn the blueprint of the level to your mind, or B) acquiring disguise to scout the patrol or the death/accident walk of the target(s). Except you sort of cannot do it like how you have done it so many times in Blood money. If the level is swarming with patrols, you have better to just stick with your suit because you arouse and accumulate suspicion meter every second that any patrol maintain line-of-sight with you. THE WORST part is when the game forced you (not a boss fight chokepoint but a regular design oversight chokepoint like the one in Descent level) to a chokepoint that stands between you and the person that you must drop, and you are torturing yourself with the Professional difficulty. To sum up the BAD, the entire game plays like Splinter Cell (yea, 47 can now run while bending his back and bending his back to stealth mode is not any slower than his walking speed). Also, THERE IS NO LOADOUT FOR 47!!! At least in campaign mode which is definitely a big upset to do funny business by starting with a sniper with case. Now THE GOOD: The new "Multi"-single player mode is basically identical to the gameplay of Hitman-Contracts. If you blame the specific contract is too linear, then blame the creator of the contract because he/she chose the setup (i.e. which level, who is/are the target, disguise or which killing weapon, etc). Personally, I think it is a good way or at least give you a good reason to explore the parts of the level if you have missed it while trying to play a perfact campaign playthrough. Also, this is the only way you can earn "real" blood money to "upgrade" your collected weapons (that's right, even the collected weapons can be improved) and subsequently start a mission/contract with it. So, in every sense, the Contract mode is more faithful to the previous Hitman games than the campaign. THE GOOD 2: Improved graphics and gameplay**. I am thankful enough to own a rig that can throw out a decent FPS and Hitman has set a benchmark like how it did in the first game when it came out (the time when overall graphics was worse than your first xbox games). The rating system was in real time and you would know immediately if you have been seen. I have had good times playing knives only missions and if the AI "works"***, it works (i.e. no more easy funneling/camping in the store/restroom like blood money) minus the detection flaw mentioned above. Oh, you can no longer distrupt any AI routine by walking behind them and making them turn around, you cannot do that anymore to get easy exploit. While we are on subject, the AI is much more harder to exploit than in Blood Money. This is simply because they can see through your disguise like in Hitman: Silent Assassin when you were standing there doing nothing. OVERALL: Hitman: Absolution is fun to play. The campaign itself does not have the same replayability that it does in Hitman: Blood Money but the Contract mode is extremely addictive. Blood Money is a sandbox but Absolution has this leading levels like in the first and the second Hitman games that lead on to the major target level. However, if you are like me, it would take at least 10 hours for the first playthrough in Absolution with the broken "save" system. Thank you for reading.… Expand

Let me just say I love the hitman series. This is not hitman Blood Money 2. It does take parts from the previous hitman games and combine it into one game. For me, i wouldnt want a blood money sequel with improved AI and new storyline. It then would be a COD game where you just change little things in sequels. I believe the story is really good. I find it keeps me into the game more than blood money. The design of the levels are amazing along with the graphics that go along with them. The gameplay is fun. It is not like blood money but it is still good. You need to be sure to look at the notebook and look at the many ways you can kill your targets. Contracts mode is a plus. People are so creative with their assassination missions. I give the game a 8 out of 10 but because it seems like people gave it a 0 out of 10 because the game isnt a blood money sequel, i gave it a 10/10… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have been expecting this game since its announcement. The previous Hitman game in the series, Blood Money is one my favorite games of all time and I consider this series as being a mythical one in the gaming industry. So obviously, I pre-ordered Absolution even though the first footage I saw of the game made me a little skeptically as the only things we were able to see from the game were some intense shooting moments or the Agent 47 killing everybody simply using what he could find on the field (electricity cables, etc.) without having any plan for approaching the target. Fortunately, the game is not like that on the hardest difficulties (let's be honest, a Hitman game is meant to be played as a hardcore stealth game, on the hardest difficulties possible). The possibility to use random objects that you find during the curse of your mission is a really good adding to the game, it gives the Agent 47 an extra bit of intelligence which is never a bad thing, he can now adapt a bit more to his surroundings. I also have to say that the "new" shooting system is way better than in the previous episodes as the feeling of shooting has never been such rewarding for a Hitman game, the ability to switch the camera from the left shoulder to the right one makes it easier and more realistic than before. However, with the more modern shooting system comes a new cover system which doesn't feel really finished. When you get behind cover, the game considers you as being harder to spot than if you are not, meaning that even if a NPC cannot directly see you, he might still be able to spot you if you don't use the cover system which really alters the realism of the game. Why is that a problem you would ask, one just has to use the cover system and he won't get spotted. Well, the thing is that it is a lot harder to move while being under cover than if you just walk normally like we used to do in previous Hitman games. But this is not the biggest concern about the new cover system, the real big problem about it is when you use the "go to the next cover" thing where 47 performs an acrobatic move to next cover : even if an enemy ten inches away from your position sees you doing one of these tricks, he will not be alerted because the game considers this move as being silent, which is really not the case, it should only be a faster way to from a cover to an another without being noticed by far-away guards. Moving on to the story. I feel like the fact that the Agent 47 decides to help the only person that he has ever had confidence in is a pretty good idea. In order to do this, he has to save and protect a young girl called Victoria which is someone responding perfectly to the biological tests that are made to her. These tests are the ones that 47 had to suffer while the doctor Ort-Meyer was training him to become the perfect assassin. That's also why the cold blooded Agent 47 accepts to protect her from the doctors. I fell like this is the only real way that the developers could bring emotions to 47 and I have to admit that it is pretty well done in this episode. The story mode is divided into 20 missions which are themselves divided into several parts. That kind of division of the story line fits perfectly with the story itself where there are some clear separated parts but there are a few flows. You can no longer choose your preferred set-up for the missions as the story basically features 47 on the run and him trying to protect the girl. This is a little disturbing for the Hitman fan that I am but if the story benefits from it, why not giving us an "equipment naked" 47 (even though you almost always end up with a gun coming out of nowhere). The other big problem to me in the story line is that the Agent 47 gets captured twice in very stupid ways which, for a person like him, very intelligent, physically extremely powerful, etc., it feels really absurd. He is meant to be the perfect assassin and because of those moments, he looks vulnerable which is something he has never been before, counting out the end of Blood Money. To make up for that lack of freedom in the missions, IO created a new mode called Contracts where you can create a contract or play others' contracts. This is probably the best thing that Absolution as brought to the series because it offers a really big replay-ability to the game which the other episodes kind of lacked of. But it is less fun than before because you can only equip one weapon at the beginning of the contract. Finally, I would say that the game lacks a lot of animations and realism, 47 makes weapons pop in his hands rather than taking them from his suit, he also now can hide an entire sniper riffle in his vest as well as an assault riffle at the same time. Forget the briefcase, 47 can make weapons become smaller. 47 no longer has an animation when going up and down the stairs. The game is still good, but better for the ones who are new to the series, I don't now how long Absolution will last...… Expand

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

"Absolution" is a great game, but it's certainly not the Hitman game many were expecting. It plays a lot more like the Splinter Cell series. The game is much more polished then previous Hitman games, with almost zero glitches and bugs to be found. It controls wonderfully, too. Even though I much preferred the freedom of the previous entry "Blood Money", I found that I could not go back to it after experiencing the huge technical advancements that "Absolution" has over it. The levels are very well designed (except for a couple) and there are plenty of ways to achieve your goals. The levels are smaller and less interesting than the levels of "Blood Money", but they are still well designed. If you like the idea of a more cinematic experience and welcome some major changes, then you'll certainly have a lot of fun with this game. I know I did.… Expand

Hitman: Absolution is the sequel to Blood Money that fans have been itching for. In terms of game mechanics it

Having only played one previous Hitman game I

Almost perfect game! Exceptional graphics, even on the dated consoles, very good replay value and good story. I've also bought this game for PC, just to support the developers!

hitman absolution was OK. It was my first experience with the series. Unfortunately, it didn't do a whole lot to draw me in. The game play was cool (very similar to Deus Ex: Human Revolution) but without an art style, soundtrack, or environments as intriguing, it just couldn't hold my interest for more than an hour and a half. Things I hated: getting deducted points for killing people and extremely repetative game play. And dumb AI… Expand

all i can say is that the wait was worthed and worthed to full price. why? 30+ hours of single player and you can have 60,100 hours because theres a insane ammount of ways to do your objective you can play each level in hundred different ways and so you can replay and replay and have new experience. the downside is the disguise system isnt what i was used to be, but lets be honest here, on previous titles it almost made you like in god mode, now it works but you've limits, its meant now for last resort and sudden situations where you stumble into an enemy. you can't choose loadouts on SP but you can on contracts mode, wich is the same of SP but you've more freedom. lenghty, fun and sandbox....... you'll find yourself playing it for years!!… Expand

Hitman: Absolution is a great game you can still kill your target in many ways. One thing i like is that the game is more story based with great voice acting and a dark sense of humour. it is still a stealth game like the old hitman games but it does have a Splinter Cell Conviction feel to it, with it point shooting which i don't see the point because i did not use it at all in my game. The graphics are amazing, you can have 100 npcs on screen at once and it looks great.it feels like a step forward in the hitman series BUT it has three big problems. ONE: The new disguise system is a dumb idea. In the old hitman games if you had a disguise by killing someone or finding one you could walk right pass a enemy, now you have to use this thing called instinct where you can see through walls and see where enemy would walk too. you can turn off instinct but you cant change the disguise system back to the old one. TWO: The HORRIBLE checkpoint system which respawns enemies and are few and far between each other. This is my biggest problem i have with the game and I wish I.O interactive would fix with a patch and THREE: Because its a story based game it is a bit more linear. their are some big open levels but not a lot. i like the contracts mode where the player playsthrough the level and complete a contract, by select their targets and the way in which said targets should be killed, and the disguise the players must use when killing their target. when a contract is created, other players can attempt to complete it and rank on the leaderboards based on how good they are. it really fun and challenging but i wish you could make your own levels but its still a fun mode.… Expand

The fifth Hitman, is it the best or the worst. Well Absolution offers new stealth and the graphics are amazing but it doesn't match up to Blood Money. Hitman Absolution however is one of the best 2012 games. Great Graphics, Great Campaign, Great Characters, but there is a problem that really bothered me, the glitches and it was so annoying, I regreted that the developers didn't put in alot of work into the glitches and the game felt a bit rushed. But overall Hitman Absolution gets 7/10.… Expand

Overall this is a pretty decent game. Unfortunately the last game in the series (Blood Money) was as close to perfect as you can get. All they had to do was make a game exactly like Blood Money and this game would have been a 10/10 but unfortunately they decided to completely break the stealth aspect in favor of run and gun style play in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. Make no mistake the stealth is completely broken in this game, it come down to luck much of the time. If you want to run and gun through this then by all means pick it up and you'll love it but if you're looking for a stealth game then do yourself a favor and go buy an old copy of Blood Money and you'll be playing a game that is leaps and bounds better.… Expand

Like the other games, the story is well written, rather than being a reboot for the series, like other games tend to do, it fits in with the previous titles, therefore offering plenty of subtle material for those who have stuck with the game since the first in 2001. Agent 47 has been sent to kill former handler Diana Burn wood, who has taken the agency to its knees. At the point of the assassination attempt, which unfortunately is pure cut-scene, Agent 47 is told of a young girl, who he must save. This one moment turns 47′s world upside down, as he then becomes hunted by those who once he trusted. There are plenty of twists as players progress and the acting along with the writing offer a fairly mature story that doesn… Expand

This game is amazing, the gunplay is fun, shootouts are fun. Love the cover mechanics and the options to make the kill. The story is okay, not the best, but Hitman has never been about the story.

My only gripe with the game is that there are no loadouts, which I understand don't fit with the story. But after you play it through once, they should allow you to choose what arsenal to take into each level like in Blood Money. This just adds to the replay value of the game being able to try it numerous different ways.… Expand

The detection system sucks, you re enemies have ultimate mutant megavision. I strangled a guy in the toilet, no one around, but everyone in the vicinity instantly knew exactly where I was the second he died. It's as if you don't complete things the way the game intends it brands you with a YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG and makes it impossibly hard to finish.

The previous Hitman games kinda gave you a sense of "You are the hitman, take him out as you please"… Expand

I would say this game kept me interested for a few weeks, but it was also sitting beside far cry 3 and xcom.. I would say you should try it. Its a decent game ,but didn't keep my attention for long..good for a few weeks or a month of entertainment

Very Enjoyable game, ignore the reviews about the stealth and old Hitman game play not being present. Playing on the harder difficulties makes the experience more like blood money and the original games. Overall it was an enjoyable and very satisfying experience

This should of been called Splintercell Conviction 2 rather than Hitman Absolution. The game adds many new things (or should i say steals things from Splintercell Conviction, Batman and other games) and then takes away lots of old things that made Hitman so much fun. I found myself bored playing through the small linear Splintercell type levels eager to get to the open sandbox Hitman levels, as these are what i've waited 5 or 6 years for. There is really only 2 sandbox levels that even remotely resemble a Hitman game, then those are much smaller than previous games and very watered down. Because you cannot select your own weapons before each level it takes quite a bit of fun out of the sandbox levels. For instance, when i was playing a level called 'A New Hope' i constantly kept thinking to myself "Man if i could choose my own weapons i could of killed the target in so many more ways" One of the targets enters a small room above a shop, you have the option to switch on the gas cooker and ignite the gas with a bullet causing an explosion, problem is you can only really do this by standing in the room with the target and because the room is so small you have to be carefull not to blow yourself up too. If you had the option to choose your own weapons i could of chosen the silent sniper rifle and case, switched on the gas then gone and walked across the street and stood on a balcony of a car garage, unpacked the rifle when nobody was around, waited for the target to stand near the open window, then shot the gas cooker behind him and blew him up from across the street. If this level was in Hitman Blood Money you would of been able to do this and much more, but in Absolution you can't. Instead you have to kill people the way IO Interactive want you to. There are a still a fair few ways to kill the targets but they are much more choreographed and staged this time around. Many ways to kill targets are recycled through the levels too, you can walk up to an electric genorator, attach the wire to something metal then sit and wait for the target to pee on it, when the targets peeing on it you pull the lever and wach them get an electric shock. Or you can shoot a pallet full of heavy stuff so its drops on the target, everything just feels much more staged and forced. Theres a level set in China town on Chinese New Year, i instantly thought of 'Murder of the Crows' from Hitman Blood Money, accept this level is so small and you can't enter buildiings and don't have any silenced weapons on this level, i found myself longing for more to explore and to be able to take people down with my silenced silver baller guns, or find new paths i never knew existed for years like in Murder of the Crows. Years before the game released there was a lot of talk about the new 'Instinct' feature that was stolen from Batman, i thought it would destroy the game but i've ended up using it quite a bit to see where my targets are, although the problem i have with it is it not only shows you where targets are in the map but it also highlights everything in the world you can kill these targets with, so it kinda spoils it a bit, one of the great things about Hitman Blood Money is that your not told what to do so your still discovering new ways to kill targets years later. (I've been playing Blood Money for 5 or 6 years and found a new way to kill a target the other day) plus in Blood Money you can break the rules and kill people your way and not the way IO Interactive want you too. I recently discovered that Hitman Absolution was made by the makers of the Kane & Lynch franchise as the makers of Hitman left IO Interactive in 2008, this would explain a lot of why the game i'snt much like a Hitman game and is more story over gameplay rather than gameplay over story like previous Hitmans, they missed the point of what makes Hitman great. So all your Splintercell Conviction fans out there will probably love this game, but all you Hitman fans probably won't. Reinventing Hitman was a huge mistake as Hitman was a franchise that didn't need reinventing. Now we have Splintercell Absolution and yet another Splintercell game coming out in early 2013 Splintercell fans have a lot to be happy about, but what do us Hitman fans have?. nothing because there is nothing else like Hitman! This is exactly why Hitman didn't need reinventing.We will have to go back to replaying the old Hitman games… Expand

I might've been one of you who dislikes this game. I'm a big fan of the old series and still think they're a great concept that needs better execution. I was slightly disappointed with the action-oriented, linear route Absolution takes. But I can't dislike this game. I luvs it. It's not Blood Money 2 and once you get around that, it's a great game that tries to do a lot and does most of it right.

The graphics are pretty, especially for console standards this is quite a looker. If you're bored of brown/grey shooters, Absolution presents you with a refreshing array of environments, both indoors and outdoors taking you from a gothic interpretation of a modern American city to a quaint desert oil town. It's all wonderfully cliched, pulpy and over the top and nicely done. Most of all the story never really gets in the way. Cutscenes don't overstay their welcome and the script never reaches for dramatic heights it can't reach. The level of design and detail in the environment makes it feel like you are visiting proper places and not just levels in a game. There's a lot of ambience altough this sometimes translates into a pretty heavy handed bloom-implementation that makes it seem like 47's skull actually gives off light. In other areas it's used to quite beautiful effect.

Controls also see an upgrade and feel tight and responsive. You're always in control of Hitman's actions and reactions and it all works right. It can even be played as a very competent and entertaining third person shooter if you want, altough you'll miss most of the fun.

It looks great, plays great and it's not a run-of-the-mill commando-shooter. In fact, the game is at it's best when you don't shoot anyone. It becomes a giant moving puzzler. This is finally a proper stealth game, where you can ghost your way through all the levels (often in multiple ways!). There are always multiple approaches and the environments are littered with deadly tools and potential death traps. All you need to do is go in and get creative.

People lament that the old brainyness of Hitman is gone, and that's true in a way. But that was also the old games' point of frustration. If your plan went wrong, all you could do was start again. Absolution achieves something quite remarkable in throwing that old template away. This is the first stealth game I've played where no matter what goes wrong, you can keep playing. Once enemies are aware of you, the cat and mouse that ensues is a lot of fun and there are a million and one ways to lure, subdue and kill your enemies.

The game rewards and actively encourages experimentation and multiple plays with a smart unlockable system. So really, once you get past the fact it's not Blood Money 2, it's a great game. The story attempts to be a Rodriguez style grindhouse affair and doesn't really succeed, but who cares... it entertained me more than the grumpy faced, let's save the universe wannabe grimy and intelligent pulp most games have. It's all trash, Hitman at least admits it. In this world, everybody is a perv..so a hitsquad of latex clad nuns makes perfect sense. The story never gets in the way, it just serves the purpose of taking you from location to location, and Absolution offers great variety here to the point that when you do get to the inevitable industrial area/mine shaft/factory environment all other games have, it's almost a welcome distraction... almost.

It's not perfect. It's cheesy in places, the characters are hard to like. It's also not the game hardcore Hitman fans expect and even I would still love to see a hardcore open-level stealth game like Contract return to consoles. But IO also isn't the biggest studio and they need to turn a profit, so some concession would have to be made. I'd say they made them very elegantly and if you take all the fan-sentiment out of the picture, they delivered a highly enjoyable, smart, colourful and beautiful game. The polished exterior hides a great stealth 'em up that not only accommodates a staggering variety of playstyles, but lets you switch between them on the move.

If you're passing up on this one because some old fans are angry it's not the game they wanted, you may be missing out. In terms of just the amount of fun I've had, this is my best game of 2012… Expand

A good game. I love how you can interact with anything in the environment and either use it as a weapon, a distraction or pretty much anything else you want it to be. It does a get a little bit frustrating crouching around all time because if you get spotted you

The best Hitman title since Silent Assassin. It's always hard to see a great work receive negative comments due to the respondents being of a limited mindset. Hitman Absolution offers a vivid, creative and highly enjoyable experience which I am very glad to have had. Despite a few easily patchable problems with enemies re-spawning where they shouldn't after a stuff up and reload, the game-play is consistently varied and engaging. The title does not compensate for the player's incompetence, and that's exactly why it has received some negativity: people get upset when they can't have their health regenerate or reload their save from a second before they last screwed everything up. Hitman Absolution is a true Hitman game and not a modern-day hand-holding five hour jaunt like most releases of recent years. Absolution is at very least the second best game in the franchise, and anyone who says differently is kidding themselves.… Expand

The game was okay.. I prefer to Blood money more than this though. I don't like how disguises do S*** in the environment. The game was a bit too story based compared to the prequels. No Loadout = No custom weapons = No fun.

When you're making a contract and steam goes down for maintenance, you're kicked from the contract which is S*** as well..

This is a good game, but when compared to precursor hitman games, you tend to dislike this. Story did little for me (other than Victoria kicking ass). Stealth, blending in, versatility kills, and timing of everything was good, but missing that factor to make it great.

I think this is a good game, but not a great Hitman game. It is a solid change of pace from the average first and third person action game, and features well designed levels and solid characters. But the plot is also kind of a problem. While decent, Hitman games are not supposed to be linear like this. What happened to being able to select your loadout before a mission? I understand you cannot because it would disrupt the flow of the plot, but it was still really cool. It is however a bit redeemed by contracts mode, which lets you play user made levels and either follow the preset and recommended loadout, or pick your own. You earn money after each contract, the amount earned is dependent on your performance. The core gameplay is still intact, and even though there are a lot of different ways to kill people, it just doesn't quite capture that infinite amount of possibilities in previous games. A nice plus to the game is definitely the graphics, which are quite frankly stunning, even if the cutscenes may have trouble at times. Overall, Hitman: Absolution will probably let down hardcore fans, but impress n00bs and first timers to the series. On a side note, if you find the game too hard, swallow your pride and play on easy mode, it will make it much more fun. I would purchase Absolution now that it is 25 bucks on xbox, but if you remain skeptical, find a way to rent it or borrow from a friend.… Expand

i was a little surprised as it didn't really live up to all the hype, perhaps it had too much hype? personally i preferred playing through blood money. lastly i believe that there was too much humor or i find a lot of stuff funny? i you want to buy it please wait till it cheapens. also many people believe that they have removed the killing machine from the hitman series and maybe they have... but when will they release another and how will it go from here as hitman is no longer with 'the agency'.… Expand

It's not Blood Money 2 like I wanted it to be, and it is the worst Hitman game in the series. With that being said, it's still a better game than most of crap being released these days. I'm hoping IO makes Blood Money 2, with the next entry. Side note, I really miss the newspaper article thing from Blood Money. That was my favorite.

This is a great game, so well crafted from the story, to the gameplay, to graphics and art style. I've played many of the other Hitman games and in truth this is the game I believe Square Enix always wanted to make in the first place. This game is so good I truly did not want to finish it.

When i heard that a new Hitman game was coming out, i was certainly looking forward to seeing the result after playing blood money. Another chance at playing as the infamous agent 47, silent assassin and contract killer was not to be bypassed. The game was not a disappointing to say the least. To start with, single player. For me, the game lived up to its surprising standards established by the trailers, giving me yet another re playable experience of garroting unsuspecting guards and 'accidentally' executing more than my fair share of targets. The single player is definitely worth playing first to get to grips with what i think is an improved control system, offering more ways to incapacitate or kill people with a wider range of household weaponry than before. As for contracts mode, it was an exiting experience to create my own unique challenges, if with a limited number of environments. If your looking for a fun game to thoughtfully murder people in imaginative ways, then Hitman: Absolution is well worth the money. It definitely deserves 9.0 out of 10.… Expand

I've been a fan of this series since the beginning and I was eager to see the series get updated for modern times. Absolution improves the gameplay in almost every way. The controls are greatly improved. You are faster, more responsive, and aiming isn't a chore. The cover/stealth mechanic works well. Hiding bodies and using disguises no longer feel like a total crap shoot. The new Instinct feature is excellent. Using Instinct to blend in and make your disguise work is a great idea. The game is challenging and lets you approach most of the assassination levels however you like. But then, the story is pure, B-movie trash. I don't want to give anything away, but for one of the greatest assassins in history, Agent 47 ends up looking like a fool quite a few times. This story feels like it was intended for a cheesy shooter and should star a totally different protagonist than 47. It's forgettable, insipid, unintentionally funny, full of stupid characters, and it leads to a handful of dumb, non-assassination, story-filler levels that just aren't fun. Worse yet, because of the story elements, you never get to choose your load-out before each mission. If you want a sniper rifle, you better hope you can find one in the level or you're just going to have to do something else. They save it partly by letting the community make their own missions, but it still feels like they missed a big opportunity.
All in all, I feel the good greatly outweighs the bad. Absolution is fun and challenging. Most of the levels still feel like crazily complex puzzles with numerous solutions and even more numerous ways to fail. But seriously, you will be skipping cutscenes a lot.… Expand

The new Hitman game has been waiting for 6 years and finally released! Fortunately, I was not disappointed (we). Bring your gaming to the old Hitman level, can not easily be put down, so good. Only one bad thing in the game. The enemies are easy to spot because you killed a man For example, get changed clothes and we put in a box and go to the next target, you noticed. I do not understand why. But this is a great game but not a game of the year, I think the fourth is placed before him, Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed 3, and Sleeping Dogs.… Expand

The "Original Assassin" returns amid all the recent stealth games released, and hides them all in a closet. Agent 47s campaign is a Story-driven one. A more personal assignment, he loses his Agency weapons and gadgets, (Which is disappointing) but he makes up for this with improvised weapons and tactics. A master of poison, accidents, misfortune, firearms, CQC and technology 47 has numerous ways to neutralize his targets. The graphics engine is stunning, with lighting previously restricted to high end PCs, brought to consoles. Characters added are...mixed. Only a couple have any real interest, most are stereotypes, or dirty in personality. Speaking of which this game has quite a few sex jokes, scenarios, and out of place moments. 47 has a new ability "Instinct", which is a huge help, but if you're a fan of difficulty don't worry. The harder settings only allow a few seconds of it, with little to no help. They've added a new gameplay mode, "Contracts" which allows people to make their own missions and share them to others. Though this mode uses the story-missions, and is rather limited. This is a more modest Hitman game, with an easier point of entry for players new to the series. Slow gameplay, meticulous study and eavesdropping are core to this game. If that deters you, look elsewhere.… Collapse

Good story but forces you into stealth situations instead of choosing your own way to play if you want a high score. Stealth isn't that great for a stealth game.

I really enjoyed the game... It's the best Hitman! But there are a few bugs. It has a good story, good characters and it's really hard!! It took me so long time to finish this game I feel like a silent killer while playing Hitman