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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Having only played one previous Hitman game I

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

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 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.

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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 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

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.

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

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

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