HITMAN 3....

Hitman 3 has been a marketing mess in my view from start till now. My previous waffle here and here and here and here!

The news of bugs since launch have persisted and were one of the main reasons I stayed clear of it. The Epic exclusive time didn't help either. The polish on the game that's there shows more clearly the lack of polish in other areas. The always on internet access is still a problem even after so much chopping and changing with it. 

It was all off-putting to me, no wonder I didn't really care about the game. Never mind 'having' to redo all the first and second game content in the third game to 'mark it as complete'. It's a game for completionists after all. Granted there was a one time item conversion/import but useless for me; I still haven't bought the third game. I don't intend to. But I did get to play it 'free' via xbox game-pass for pc. So there was no worry over items for me in the here and now.

Did I encounter bugs. Yes. I've come across weird NPC with physics defying pathing issues. Weird floating npc's. Strange item behaviors such as doors not opening if there's an item that even hints at clipping it. Weird physics when killing an NPC where their body does a death fling or fly's off into space. 

I've come across the non moving NPC's with their arms out as it they were still on a design drawing board. I've loaded save games that reach 75% load and then crash to desktop. I've come across bad laggy gameplay that hangs for 10+ second. Which isn't great when your trying to line up a headshot; I presume that's the game trying to do something online with it's connectivity check. All that said I can tolerate it because in playing it now I didn't take it seriously.

I'm a completionist but the third game to me is a lesser son of greater sires. The first game was great back in the day. The second showed great improvements over the first and so was worth redoing 1st game content in 2; But the third for all the good points it has(and it has a few) just has no motivation for me to 'get into it'; And that's even with 'free' access to it! I think I'll go back to the second game and start doing some stuff I missed!

Playing the third game was interesting. Not like the previous games but just as a casual one run on each map and done kind of way. I played it on Pro as a casual experience and got what felt like a 'casual' experience. Maybe I'm too used to playing Hitman, maybe I should have done it on Master mode, but anyway I found this Pro mode a very forgiving run of Hitman. Too many options and not enough harshness in other elements. Guess they just can't please some people.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

For me it was a guns out do it to get it done and there was practically no pushback from the game, no retribution from alerts, no 'real' difficulty in overcoming. It felt underwhelming when being so blatantly ballsy on maps. So yea, a single run on each map to both collect, see and do as much as possible felt like enough. I usually do such runs to both learn the map and get a feel for things. Learn the stories. Then go back and start the process of unlocking things, doing feats and claiming the suits and silent assassin ratings. But not in this game, not now. Three as I said is a lesser game when compared to the previous 2. At least for me.

Hitman 3, is big, is beautiful and has some interesting new mechanics. Shortcuts being the best and camera being the worst(imho). Shortcuts aid in gameplay return and retention; reward efforts to seed up your play and reduce grind. Camera is useless and does not do anything a screwdriver couldn't have done previously. It's and addition rather than an necessity. There are maybe two occasions where it 'is' needed as there is no other choice. Nice try IOI to make 47 a mission impossible agent but it doesn't work for me in this franchise, in this game. In a lot of area's where the camera could be used I just used a screwdriver etc to unlock stuff. The camera is a novelty, it wasn't special enough.

The story is interesting, it has elements that are good and bad but that's a 'suspension' or disbelief thing. 47 was for the most part 'in character' in my view. I just found him a shade and I mean a sliver of a shade too trusting in some situations. In that regard the Diana stuff is forgivable, it's believable; But on the 'other' side of the story(Grey) I'm not convinced. Maybe it was a bit of a let down that all that preamble and suspicion wasn't justified when I think it should have been and would have made a more interesting story..... Maybe that's just me in the moment overthinking it.

It's the ending that's the epitome of what this game is. Take the good with the bad. 

The last mission is possibly the best forced linear Hitman moments that made me feel like I was 47. I was engrossed in it. Felt emotion in sneaking about and getting to the end. The end being the end for both gamplay and narrative. It's the only map I've repeated/reloaded to clear feats etc.

Fun is fun.

Ultimately as a Hitman completionist(of these new iterations) I'd like to get the game, preferably an all singing, all dancing version on Steam. I think I'll be waiting a good bit longer for a decent knock down price..... On sale. Me thinks they shall milk it for all it's worth, for a lot longer!