Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Playing through Hitman: Absolution on Purist Mode. Here's how I feel

Hitman Absolution is a bad HITMAN game and an almost equally bad action game. The fundamental problems with the game are twofold:

One, the linear design is heavily at odds with how Hitman’s mechanics work, period. The tried to treat this like Splinter Cell and it just doesn’t work. Sneaking through levels from checkpoint to checkpoint works because the main FOCUS of the game is raw infiltration and ACCOMPLISHMENT OF (usually) NON-LETHAL OBJECTIVES. Sam Fisher is a spy and intelligence gatherer. Killing is (usually) not the focus of what he does, as he is there mainly to steal items and gather info in a clandestine way. Most of the time, you don’t really HAVE to kill anybody, you can just sneak past them. The problem with this, and why it doesn’t work for HITMAN games, is one of character and role: When you avoid enemies in a Splinter Cell game, you feel like a ghost, a silent infiltrator who can get what he needs and get out: When you have to hide in boxes and split jump out of sight, you’re not irritated by this, because these mechanics WORK with your character role. As an infiltrator, the feeling of discomfort and constantly being unwelcome FUELS the player, as it reinforces their established role. Linearity isn’t that big a deal here, as you usually ARE focused on getting from point A to point B. Even then, the games levels are still quite large and open, especially in Chaos Theory.

With HITMAN however, the player is almost always given one task: Kill the target. How you do so is irrelevant, so long as it gets done. Here, the player is given absolute freedom to explore the map and understand the target. This is where the empowerment comes in, and why HITMAN’s mechanics are so at odds with this game. In order to most effectively dispatch your target, you MUST learn about them. Their taboos, fears, loves, desires. Hell, even the kind of cocktail they like is pertinent information (shout-out to you, Hitman 2016!). This means of info gathering is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL in these games, as without it, you are wholly lacking in information. And, as I’m sure Fisher would say: information is power.

In HITMAN, this rule is sovereign, and why its stealth mechanics are so different from the norm. Agent 47 doesn’t hide in a box, he hides IN PLAIN SIGHT. This kind of stealth MUST be used in an open environment, as it is the only way the player can organically learn about disguise hierarchies and enemy patterns. In a linear game, your focus is on getting to the other side. Disguises and exploration aren’t as relevant, as you only need to get to the end of the level regardless of other factors. Be it in 47’s signature sharp dress or a goddamn clown suit, once you’re there, you’re there. Nothing else matters after that, as the level is finished. You can see how this is a problem. By doing this, they effectively neuter all consequence, and thus all value, from the disguise system. Since your actions no longer carry over, there’s really no point to learning patrol routes and enemy weaknesses, as these things vanish as soon as you leave the room. Hence, EVEN IF the disguise system wasn’t hot bullshit and totally broken, it wouldn’t really be that valuable.

The power inherent behind the HITMAN game mechanics is one of lethal voyeurism. You are at your most powerful when your target is the most vulnerable. When they have their full confidence that the bodyguard behind them wont garrote them during their cello renditions. That the bald gaijin chef DOES know his way around a Fugu liver. This is why the series has always been blackly comic, as a core part of the game centers around brazen violation of your target’s privacy and the consequences thereof.

This, at its core, is why HITMAN and Splinter Cell are so different, and why making one like the other DOES NOT WORK: information and vulnerability. As a Third Echelon agent, Sam Fisher has the resources of the US government’s best analysts, hackers, and engineers at his fingertips, operating with the highest level of clearance and sanction. A Third Echelon operation isn’t just done by Fisher, its done by AN ENTIRE TEAM. A Splinter Cell mission will typically have multiple characters communicate with Fisher to give him relevant information. The player feels as if they are a part of a team, even when they are alone in enemy territory.

In HITMAN, on the other hand, you are always completely alone. The few times he meets a fellow assassin, it’s usually a bad time for both of them. Every piece if information is something you must figure out for yourself, by using disguises and hiding in plain sight. By the very nature of your job, you are an intruder in a complex system. To complete your job, you yourself must analyze that system and exploit its weaknesses. The same way a linear system doesn’t work for disguises, so too does it not work here, and for the same reason. There isn’t much joy in dismantling said system if its already been broken up into bite size chunks for you.

Splinter Cell is at its best when it, too, is more open (Original Trilogy), but it can afford to be linear. Objective focused, raw stealth gameplay works logically and thematically with what the series is, due to the above reason. This also ties in to the problem of player vulnerability. As was stated, Absolution is constantly making the player feel vulnerable, throwing hordes of enemies in tight levels with useless disguises. Again, a move to copy Splinter Cell, and also a bad one. The reason Splinter Cell can do this is because of Fishers resources. Since you feel like you’re part of a strong cohesive team, the best way to challenge the player is to give them a stronger opposing team. More dudes, better guns, night vision, higher coordination. This works well because the game has always been based around sneaking AROUND enemies, not HIDING AMONGST them. Thus, constantly crouching and hiding is something the player WANTS to do, as the fun is based around that.

In HITMAN, the number and equipment of enemies is irrelevant, the true marker of challenge is their patrols and behavior. The key question in a Splinter Cell game is: Where am I least visible; the key question in a HITMAN game is: Where am most permitted? THIS is what the devs don’t understand, and it’s what makes playing as 47 feel like a chore here. In Blood Money, the devs didnt even think players could play Suit only. In Absolution, it’s basically the most useful way. What was once an optional, fun challenge is now a tedious imposition. Therein lies the difference.

The second fundamental problem with this game is one of setting and style. HITMAN games are about class. Your targets are frequently rich, well-connected men with powerful positions and even more powerful personalities. Ex-Pinochet Army drug lords, generals, bankers, fashion moguls, crime lords, and the like. These guys may be assholes, but as characters and targets, they’re elegant and simply cool to observe. Absolution has none of that. A good fraction of the game is spent either just shooting rednecks or hiding from them. While I have no problems with rural characters and places, I do have a problem with their overuse. The game has ALMOST NO DIVERSITY, and that itself really kills it for me. As is often the case, Blood Money did this right. Not only did you kill rednecks on skippers in the Mississippi, you killed bird-costumed assassins in a Mardi Gras parade, cellist cocaine mongers in Chile, unscrupulous diplomats, and so much more. Every mission felt like it brought something cool and fresh to the table. Something that would test 47’s, and thus the player’s skills, while also intriguing them with interesting exotic locations. Hitman Absolution, however takes place almost entirely in either the shittiest, seediest alleys of Chicago, or in backwoods rural America. This, coupled with the lack of actual contract killings and the slow monotonous “sneaking” game play make it almost unbearable.

To put it bluntly, this game is straight up ugly. Many people praise it as being beautiful, but I just can’t see it. Graphically, it is detailed, and on PC the technical effects are solid. But this is something to note down: graphics DO NOT equal beauty. When I play Halo Combat Evolved on the Original Xbox, or any of the Bungie-era Halos, really, I feel captivated by the sheer beauty of the games art direction. The aesthetics of the game are crisp, colorful, and demand respect and attention. Every HITMAN game, even Codename 47, understands this. HITMAN 2016 in particular nails it perfectly. The FIRST LEVEL of that game had me FLOORED, to say nothing of Sapienza and Hokkaido. While it seems unfair to compare Hitman 2016 and this, due to the former’s superior graphics, I can assure you this is not the case. Even on low settings, I would rather look at Hitman 2016 than Absolution on ultra, because of the former’s SUPERIOR ART STYLE AND PALLET. The claustrophobic level design, coupled with the dingy atmosphere, standard early 2010s sepia filter, and gritty, grindhouse aesthetic all work in wonderful harmony to make me almost nauseous playing this. Even looking at the game is as tedious as playing it. All in all, I find the game crippled by these two problems, making it not just a bad Hitman game, but a mediocre third-person game as well.

In short: It’s called Absolution because the game plays like a hair shirt feels.



Submitted July 25, 2018 at 12:03PM by EvaporatedSnake https://ift.tt/2OevZed

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