Wait a second. Nobody is acting like the previous Hitman games were problem-free. The problem with Absolution is that it pretty much removes everything that those previous games did right, namely the sandbox level design, functional disguise system, ranking systems that made sense (mostly), and a sense of freedom and choice that has since apparently fallen out of favor with these developers.
It's not that we're heaping undeserved praise on all aspects of the previous games, but rather we're accusing this game of pretty much abandoning everything that people enjoyed from the previous games. It now seems to resemble a more linear, stealth-action game in the vain of Splinter Cell: Conviction.
Right, Absolution has no sandbox levels, the disguise system doesn't work (meaning what exactly? You dress up like an NPC and access previously restricted areas just the same), the ranking system must reward you for killing people and there's about one way to kill the target.
So, how does Absolution remove everything that made Hitman special? If anything, it fixes some stuff, streamlines other stuff and became story-driven.
Seriously.
Sure because games had something special that set them apart from most games. This new game totally misses.
Sure, it had uniquely wonky controls, dumb and blind AI and ridiculous "accidents", such as throwing someone into the fucking jacuzzi and killing them. The jolst from being thrown must snapped their necks or some shit.
Somehow, this new Hitman game isn't about stealth, isn't about killing targets and is what you would expect the next Gears of War clone to play like.
Blood Money is about the only Hitman game where the execution
can be as good as the premise. And even then, a lot of stuff was flawed. Revisionist history will tell you that Blood Money is some sort of stealth game pinnacle though. Reality is that it was an above average stealth game.
You want an example of a
great stealth game? Chaos Theory. Not Blood Money. Not a game where the controls are so wonky and the AI can be so blind and dumb.
But clearly I'm in the minority and people who like this game must be complete idiots.
