Well, considering how much I love the first two games in this series, this is quite disappointing in how little content there is in it. After Hitman (2016) sold poorly, you could tell they made some budgetary compromises by almost entirely eliminating the in-game cinematic cutscenes in favor of making larger levels with more scope and a variety of options in how to take down targets.
It must’ve been a hard sacrifice to make for the people who were passionate about the story they were telling in these games, but honestly, the story in these games is not what people come to them for, it’s the wealth of approaches you can take to eliminating different targets. However, it seems they’ve taken the opposite approach in Hitman 3.
Considering how Hitman 2 sold worse than its predecessor, naturally they were going to have to make more compromises, but I wasn’t expecting them to make so many when it came to the actual amount of approaches you could take in each level. In Hitman 1 and 2 there could be anywhere between 6 and 10 mission stories that involved very specific disguises and methods of taking out the targets that made going back and replaying each level incredibly fun. In Hitman 3, the maximum amount of mission stories in each level were 3.
The only exceptions to this I could find in my playthrough were the Mendoza level which had a secret fourth one, and the Berlin level which didn’t have any at all with the exception of an incredibly secret method that I only found out about because there’s a trophy tied to it. This is incredibly frustrating because it felt like Hitman 3 moved away from what people (or at least I) loved about it and prioritized what barely anyone seemed to care about in the first place, which is the story. Don’t get me wrong, the story is fairly engaging overall, and going back to the cutscene style of the first game helped them add more dramatic context to the game to make us care about Agent 47 and his friends. That being said, if this is the supposed last game in this new trilogy (which I’m fairly certain it is given how tightly wrapped up the story is), wouldn’t you rather go out with a bang in terms of scope and level design?
There are definitely strong moments in each level, and what is there is great, I just wanted more of it. What pisses me off is that apparently this game is the best selling of this trilogy, and from what IOI is saying might be the best selling game in the franchise, and if this is the end, then where will all of that money end up? I know they’re working on a 007 project which I think could be very good, or maybe even some DLC off-the-record missions that take place in between the stories of each game. However, that dlc will probably cost way too much just like it did for Hitman 1 and 2, and that 007 project has potential but if 2020 taught me anything, it’s that you should wait for a general consensus on a game before buying it.
Overall, I do still like Hitman 3. Each level was really fun to explore and the final mission, while linear, is very satisfying and a great diversion of your expectations. But with the day one server issues and the overall terrible business practices that both Square Enix and WB games have permanently tied this franchise to, I’m worried about IOI, there future 007 project, and the future of there precious IP. Let’s hope that Bond game doesn’t follow in this series’ always online footsteps.
It must’ve been a hard sacrifice to make for the people who were passionate about the story they were telling in these games, but honestly, the story in these games is not what people come to them for, it’s the wealth of approaches you can take to eliminating different targets. However, it seems they’ve taken the opposite approach in Hitman 3.
Considering how Hitman 2 sold worse than its predecessor, naturally they were going to have to make more compromises, but I wasn’t expecting them to make so many when it came to the actual amount of approaches you could take in each level. In Hitman 1 and 2 there could be anywhere between 6 and 10 mission stories that involved very specific disguises and methods of taking out the targets that made going back and replaying each level incredibly fun. In Hitman 3, the maximum amount of mission stories in each level were 3.
The only exceptions to this I could find in my playthrough were the Mendoza level which had a secret fourth one, and the Berlin level which didn’t have any at all with the exception of an incredibly secret method that I only found out about because there’s a trophy tied to it. This is incredibly frustrating because it felt like Hitman 3 moved away from what people (or at least I) loved about it and prioritized what barely anyone seemed to care about in the first place, which is the story. Don’t get me wrong, the story is fairly engaging overall, and going back to the cutscene style of the first game helped them add more dramatic context to the game to make us care about Agent 47 and his friends. That being said, if this is the supposed last game in this new trilogy (which I’m fairly certain it is given how tightly wrapped up the story is), wouldn’t you rather go out with a bang in terms of scope and level design?
There are definitely strong moments in each level, and what is there is great, I just wanted more of it. What pisses me off is that apparently this game is the best selling of this trilogy, and from what IOI is saying might be the best selling game in the franchise, and if this is the end, then where will all of that money end up? I know they’re working on a 007 project which I think could be very good, or maybe even some DLC off-the-record missions that take place in between the stories of each game. However, that dlc will probably cost way too much just like it did for Hitman 1 and 2, and that 007 project has potential but if 2020 taught me anything, it’s that you should wait for a general consensus on a game before buying it.
Overall, I do still like Hitman 3. Each level was really fun to explore and the final mission, while linear, is very satisfying and a great diversion of your expectations. But with the day one server issues and the overall terrible business practices that both Square Enix and WB games have permanently tied this franchise to, I’m worried about IOI, there future 007 project, and the future of there precious IP. Let’s hope that Bond game doesn’t follow in this series’ always online footsteps.