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.

I'm really surprised that I didn't like this more. Hitman 3 is far from a bad game, but I find it to be very disappointing. All the levels either feel too small and restrictive or way too big and a pain to get around. Replaying these levels is just something I don't enjoy doing. Hitman 3 is by far the worst game in the World of Assassination trilogy in my eyes.

It's got everything that makes Hitman 1 and 2 so fantastic, but the level design sucks, so it's not fun to play. Hitman 3 also goes harder on the story, which I liked at first, but I feel that it impacts the gameplay negatively, as it feel like they sometimes prioritize tying the mission into the story over just giving it actually fun objectives. The level in Berlin is so cool, but the targets are soooooo boring. I wish I enjoyed this game more.

To cut a long story short, this game has no major flaws.
There's plenty of mission diversity, never a dull moment, and maximum playability.

The game's story, with this latest opus, is interesting and meaningful.

IO Interactive's in-house engine makes the game magnificent. Despite this, most configurations can still easily run the game.

5/5 for me, the best of all Hitman games combined.