The Hitman trilogy, all contained in Hitman 3 (the first two games can be bought as DLC to be played inside 3), is a masterpiece. The mechanics, systems and UI have been polished to a sheen. I recently loaded up both Hitman 2016 and 2, and you can see the evolution of everything through Hitman 3: a more elegant and informative UI; more fluid and responsive camera control and aiming; and even better "feel" of gameplay thanks to some added weighty sound effects tied to various actions (for example, when headshotting someone, there is now a heavy sound effect that makes your kill so much more impactful and satisfying). It's also really nice to be able to play the previous games' levels with much better lighting and image quality.
The game offers 20 levels (or "destinations"), plus two tutorial levels, that serve as giant sandboxes for the player to explore and to spy and hunt in. Each level is built for nigh unlimited replayability, which is enticed to the player through challenges of various kinds, as well as persistant unlocks, such as new equipment and costumes. Not only that, but several levels have remixes that offer new missions as well as varying degrees of redesigns. And on top of that, the game has what it calls "escalation missions", which are missions that add new objectives and parameters as you complete them, further adding replayability. Lastly, the game allows players to create their own targets/missions and upload them to the internet so other players can play them!
And the cherry on top of all this? The Hitman trilogy has managed to tell a story that not only was intriguing to follow, but got me emotionally invested as well. This was the surprising part to me. I went into this game expecting a video-game-ass video game (well, which I got as well!) that has a story that only exists to pull the player from level to level, only to be blindsided by a story that got me invested in a completely unexpected way. It even got me invested in Agent 47 as a character; a stoic bald white dude with a fucking bar code on the back of his head, who, in any other game, would be ridiculed as a cliché of western character design. And yet, I cared about this dude.
And fuck me, that's not even all about the story. I don't want to overhype it too much, but there is a fact about this game that needs to be indited, and it is something that I haven't seen brought up since its release two months ago: we can now add Hitman 3 to the exclusive list of games such as Nier Automata that use, at times, its mechanics and systems to enhance, and add weight to, its narrative. Like, I could not fucking believe this when it happened. I was already in love and lust with this game, only for it to sneak up behind me and whisper me gently: "boi, check this shit out. You ready?"
The Hitman trilogy, as a trio of games, is the cream of the crop. It is what every video game should strive to be: give players tools to accomplish objectives, then let them free to plan and tinker their way to victory. It does so splendidly, gives players tons of fun, all the while telling a compelling story.
The absolute only "negative" thing I can say about the games is that the music is nothing worthy of mention. It's not bad, mind you! You don't notice it, which is proof that it's not bad. It gets the job done. But the issue is that the previous games were composed by none other than Jesper Kyd, a master composer in the industry. I can only dream of a scenario where IOI decides to rerelease the Hitman World of Assassination trilogy some time in the future, and hires Kyd again to replace the existing score with his own signature style. I know that's never happening, but one can dream.
I raise my hat to IOI. I know some of them are reading this forum, so if you are reading this: to you I say thank you. You can be proud of what you have all accomplished.
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