note, this is simply a compilation of my hitman 1-3 reviews with an added summary at the top

hitman world of assassination was on my high priority list. id say earned its worth being there, every map has at least some value and fun to it, whether that be replay, roleplay, or spectacle. mission stories are a fun linear way to go about the games but the games really do not hold your hand, you can do whatever you want in them, however you want. i found my immersion breaking a few times throughout my playthrough, though, which upset me because i had assumed it would play more like an immersive sim than it actually does. looking past that to what it does offer is an absolute monolith of quality that simplifies the confusing trilogy releases. however the dlc maps in hitman 2 are not included which is still a bit scummy, perhaps indicative of the scumminess of the previous releases of hitman 1 and 2. if i had to rank the games maps, i'd go h2>h3>h1. definitely give these games a shot, i found the trilogy on sale for 20 bucks which was an absolute steal.

hitman 1 review:

played through World of Assassination

hitman's been something ive been intrigued by for quite a while now, so much so World of Assassination is on my high priority . it sounded really cool, like that game i imagined as a kid but never existed(except it did just not to this scale lol), and as a mobile gamer for most of my childhood. kinda like metal gear in a way, except being an assassin instead of a super spy. this comparison between metal gear comes up again later. ive only played the first one, though, from 1987.

so the gameplay is honestly... it's a bit disappointing honestly. i had this image built up of a super sim where you can do literally anything and itll go. like for instance i imagined i could talk to a service person and ask him to come to my room, then pummel him to death and take his clothes and impersonate him. talking to npcs- wait, for the record i know i could talk to people if i do the "canon" route of completing shit but i didnt wanna do that cuz id then be compelled to do that and i didnt want that when i could choose a morbillion other ways. okay, with that cleared up, continuing. talking to npcs is a feature i figured they'd have the way the game is advertised as a morbillion ways to do shit. like i could get super close with my target and assimilate into his personal room attendant through dialogue alone, and then murder him with no one in sight. that would have been really cool.

so idk, i feel like a lot is missing from the "sim" aspect. if some dude walks into a room and you walk out wearing his clothes(esp if the dude got different hair) and he doesnt come back out, i feel like thge whole map should go into lockdown, if they were seen entering that room. its like... the game just kinda... forgets, like i killed some dudes and left em in the open, they bring out the body bag and all that, but afterwards the deed is forgotten.

if i were running a compound with very important people closeby and found a body, you know what id do? id line up every single person and ask for an alibi! id lock the entire compound down, too. imagine how cool it would be if you had to give an alibi based on your disguise, or you could try and avoid this lineup thingy and if you get found thereafter you're arrested immediately if you dont have an even better alibi. idk, im just spitballing but the world/ simulation leaves a lot to be desired. i i figured it would be much more dynamic. id assume more things get added in h2 and h3, though.

another thing is that most missions give you a silenced pistol and if you're quick enough you can kill the targets without any "fun stuff". i know replayability and sandbox is the name of the game but usually i dont roll that way, so i just do what i see and sometimes the quickest option is a silent shot from da bushes

what is here though is fantastic. it's such a rush sneaking around locations across the globe, disguising yourself, tracking target's patterns and picking off their inner circle before finally you're alone in a room with them, commit the deed, and then exit like nothing happened. it's really fucking badass to exit a scene when everyon'es like "oh my god wtf wtf", especially if you're inches away from being spotted. i killed that jordan cross dude with a pistol in the music booth and left the scene, was really fucking awesome. oh and killing that dude who was there for heart transplant after i knocked out a surgeon in plain daylight, stole his clothes and went around, acting as lead surgeon and then draining his blood out with the machine. oh and that one time where i fucking destroyed that super virus and then afterwards the head scientist lady came down without guards and i fucking murdered her in the hallway and shoved her in a locker, and proceeded to kill the main dude after watching him golf for 30 minutes straight. just a blast to play through.

the story is very reminiscent of metal gear 1987, in the way that it takes itself incredibly seriously but the plot sounds like something a kid would make up when needing to make a super cool assassin story with their toys and stuff. its not the deepest, or the most substantial but its pretty cool and charming in the same way mg1's story was. im excited to see where it goes in h2.


in a closing note that i kept thinking about over my time with this game, i was talking to my mom recently about games and stuff, the kinda "schedule" i have for myself, like playing p2 or xenoblade at such and such time, and she responded with something that really stuck with me. she was like "oh i thought gaming was all about spontaneity, that seems like a chore." and idk man i see her point. i promised id play mg2 before the week ends but i have no desire honestly after i started the hitman trilogy , often feels like people are stalking my playing tab when in reality no one pays attention to it that closely, and if i forced myself to play it thats kinda is a chore. kinda easy to lose track of the fact its a hobby especially on this site, even further when you write reviews. often found myself trying to think of a review well playing and thats just not something i really want. i should just play what i want in da moment.

overall i really liked this game and was glad i got the trilogy for 20 bucks. ill definitely be checking h2 out asap but idk if the burnout will strike before i can finish h3. i might bump to a 9 idk



hitman 2 review:

played through World of Assassination

the common consensus for the hitman trilogy ive seen is that hitman 2 has the best maps of the 3. while i cannot speak of h3 just yet, they are certainly more fleshed out than h1. idk how but they feel both more linear and more open at the same time.

with h1 there was kinda a linear progression with disguises that stopped as soon as you got the highest ranked guard disguise. in h2 the maps feel plenty more open and i felt myself needing to swap out plenty more disguises throughout. there's also plenty of ways to go about it. take the mumbai targets for instance. all 3 are in different corners of the map, require different disguises to get to, and also in one instance the disguise doesnt work unless youre far enough distance away, since the crows are on the lookout for intruders. finding the maelstrom through clues gained from the other targets as well as infiltrating the crows base was an awesome feat. and it really feels designed for skulking, so many boxes to dump bodies in, tons of distractions too. it was a really cool area. using all that info to find the maelstrom, following him and finally after all your hard work silently disposing of him in a back alley... peak gaming .and then taking out vanya shah i have an even cooler story of trespassing for like 30 minutes, making my way to the back of her warehouse, and taking out a guard and placing him in convenient dumping box, and then climbing up the pipes to trespass again trying to find a higher tier guard and having to sneak around and find a perfect time to strike, and when the deed is done, shimmy down the pipe and listen to the chaos unfold right above me. sneaking into vanya shah's car and then shooting her and walking out the back to take down the final target of the mission, only to engage with that level of depth again. i could go on and on with the other maps, like miami, whittleton creek, columbia, but you get the idea by now.

the peak gaming comes to a head with the final mission of base h2, the ark society. the atmosphere, the setting alone make it peak. an assassin sneaking into a secret society's base on a remote island with stormy seas all around? sign me the hell up. this is doubly true with the stakes in the story making it incredibly satisfying to escort the constant out of the island after neatly taking care of the washington twins. man, walking the constant down to the boat was so fucking cool and tense. backing up, the washington twins were also cool targets to take out. i found myself eliminating the guards they had and becoming their guards and following them around for another cycle before finally getting them in the bushes where no one could see... at least for one. the other i threw a soda can at her head and a brick at the guard's head and then snapped her neck in a room off to the side. stalking your prey is insanely fun in the game.


i guess what im trying to get at here is that is the simulation aspect feels more fully realized through map design alone. it makes you feel like you are The Hitman instead of having a get out of jail free card with a silent pistol. i mean, maybe it was more self imposed but i found myself ditching the use of lethal weapons for subduing instead. it felt cooler to have that extra bit of tension, esp if i couldnt find a place to dump the body at.

the story is the same as the first game, devoid of much substance and depth, but still charming and with a "cool" factor. i do have to compliment the performances of the cast. The Constant was especially great, perfect voice for the "evil mastermind" archetype, and the rest of the cast gave solid performances. unfortunately, the presentation took a hit with the cutscenes being nothing more than glorified slideshows. in many cases i couldnt tell what was going on in the scenes because they were so dark and there was no movement lol. however there's a reason for this decline in presentation due to the company splitting off from square enix, so i forgive it. i also seem to be the only one who cares about the story in these games at all, but even for me they arent the main attraction.


there's also the drama with the way these games were released. looks awful but luckily i didnt have to worry about that model 8 years late to the party heheh

overall a definite upgrade from the first and addressed almost all of my complaints from the first review. i was a dumbass and didnt get the dlc maps at the same time as purchasing WoA but luckily they went on sale today lol. 27 dollars for every map in the game is a complete steal, im so glad i picked this game up. review for the dlc will be up in the next few days likely, who even knows. new york and haven island, here i come!

hitman 2: new york review:


played through World of Assassination

probably top 3 maps so far, i think i prefer mumbai and ark society more due to the scale of those, but id be damned if i didnt have a good time here. it had more of that "different disguises for different places" thing i mentioned and scaling the tower, and then disconnecting the wifi box and knockin out the IT guy, taking his disguise and getting rid of the lady's security one by one before finally taking her out. i went with the getting the drives route, though i'll probably try and infiltrate the vault if i get the itch.

im still a bit bummed there's not dialogue options outside mission stories. or the fact that there's not more emphasis on people noticing their coworkers going missing, if you do it silently there is zero risk, even if you don't hide the body as long as you get out of there there is no risk to you. it just takes me out of the experience when the bank lady saw the IT person, talked to him, and then someone who looks completely different(me) does his job for him. like, at the very least it should raise suspicion and i would need an excuse for where the guy went, yknow? there's a lot of small immersion breaks in these games, and that's still my biggest gripe.


hitman 2: haven island review:

played through World of Assassination

no slouch of a map either, tho i should mention how scummy it was to not add these maps to base world of assassination, like every other map was it's just bad practice that i had to pay for these. i mean, yes, it was worth 7 dollars and id probably have no qualms paying the 10 dollars that it normally costs, but it just seems really shitty that only 2 maps are relegated to dlc.

anyway, good map. also had a blast planning my routes here and taking people out. patience is the name of the game here, i love that slow burn approach to these levels, i can get lost for like an hour+ and i always know ill be in for a good time with each. getting the old dude and stealing the usb stick and then using that to shove the girl into the ocean, and then taking care of the gymbro too. all fun stuff.

im really not ready for my time with these games to end in just 1 more game's worth of content, ive gotten so completely adidcted to WoA over the past week. it's gonna be sad when i complete it. ofc there's always replays, but that's not the same as your first run of a map. idk how im considering doing replays lol since i almost never do that.

i hope the h3 maps finish off with a bang!

hitman 3 review:

played through World of Assassination

here we are, 20 days later....

my final words on the hitman 2 dlc were about how fast i flew through the games so far and id miss it when i finished. so much for that!!!!

as soon as i started hitman 3, i got hit with a huge wave of burnout and to this day im still unsure why it happened. i kept avoiding it, jumping from web games to pepsiman to balatro, geometry dash, metal gear 2, etc etc. it just wasnt clicking. eventually a few days ago after finishing mg2 i decided i needed it off the damn playing tab. after all, i loved the first 2 games, so if i just got over this hump id be done in no time...

well, happy to say that is how it played out. i think the main reason for the burnout was finding the damn case file in dartmoor. that one was pissing me off an insane amount. but after i powered through, theres a lot of bangers. hell, even in dartmoor i had a blast tresspassing and turning the game into more of a stealth game. anyway, berlin and chongqing are the standouts here. berlin was entirely different than what i had expected, and the vibe was unmatched, pure adrenaline finding all those agents, and then in chongqing after infiltrating the ICA base, hearing agents react to what you did there... literally chefs kiss part of that map.

i also have to say, mission stories kinda grew on me here, at least that was the case for chongqing, killing that hush dude in the chair was so much more awesome following the linear path. also also, i adored the final level, which i know is a hot take in the fanbase. given how im not replaying these maps any time soon, i found it to be an awesome conclusion, thinking youre in some deep underground lab only for you to break open the door... and youre on a huge train. given my stealth focused approach in levels prior, i kinda liked the way this leaned into that type of approach as well. sure it might not give replay value but frankly i dont care, the spectacle was fantastic and more than made up for it.

as for the story, ehhh its still the same type of quality. not that deep or substantial but still fun, tho its kinda a bit like ghostrunner 2 where it became a bit hard to follow at the end. diana turns on him suddenly she doesnt turn on him for some reason. the plot in these games has always moved at a breakneck pace but here it's even faster. idk maybe its silly i care for the story so much but yeah it was just a bit confusing near the end. and i found myself caring less and less as i beat each level. the cast performances were great just like the other 2 games. excited for a hitman 4. and also excited for that james bond game. the studio has definitely earned my trust and respect and im glad i got these games off my backlog.

also quick note about freelancer, i played just one map. its fine if i want to scratch that itch i guess. sorry if this review's a bit shorter, found it hard to talk about this game for some reason.


~~~

While technically this is three games, I played it as one so.... Hitman is a series I've had problems with; I didn't like the controls of the PS2 trilogy, trying to run Agent 47 on my laptop was like pulling teeth, and when I bought this game on steam it worked once then never again and I had to refund it. My point is after all that, I still bought and loved this game (on PS4). This has become a comfort game of sorts... (don't read too deeply into that lol). Not all the levels are great, but the best ones are so fantastic!
8/10