Jump to content
passwords have all been force reset. please recover password to reset ×
MFGamers

Hitman 3 (World of Assassination)


one-armed dwarf
 Share

Recommended Posts

I guess I'll try and kick off a thread for this. I got this yesterday and played through most of the Berlin mission. I'm basically at the end of it but trying to hold off on progressing too fast and want to savour things a bit. These games are so good at designing levels which are rewarding to explore, I always enjoy the feeling of taking a really long time to work my way to a specific area and then finding a really inconspiocus short cut I could have taken, the multibranched progression through each stage and the way it twists and winds into itself makes it fun to literally just walk around looking at shit. Even while not necessarily making much progress on your targets. I play with almost all the HUD elements turn off except the one which lets me see targets are red guys. Not to make the game obtuse or difficult but to get more of the pleasure of just wandering around looking for ways in, or eavesdropping convos. You do sort of need the instinct vision tho as some targets are not very obvious to look at, especially in Berlin

 

I'm not playing Hitman for the story so I was happy to jump right into the first mission that interested me, I tried a bit of Dubai but it looks more like an introductory mission with some story handholding. Not that that's bad, they do it in the other games too. Berlin is very classic Hitman tho. It even has a flavour of Hitman Absolution to it with the way it sets things up, but I think it's better than Absolution

 

The premise of it is 

Spoiler

the hunter becomes the hunted, 5 ICA operatives are in the surrounding area (a forest, nightclub and a building site) and you've got to avoid them and isolate them. 

Older Hitman games have played with this concept a bit (Silent Assassin, Blood Money) but it takes center stage here

 

It's quite a pretty game, it doesn't look hugely different to the last two but they made some lighting adjustments like screen space reflections. Not ray tracing, but I don't think it really needs it. The older levels get updated with it as well. I posted some screens in the screenshot thread but they came out a little too dark and don't get the visuals across very well. I imagine it looks great on Series X/PS5.

 

There's also some great line reads in this. 

Spoiler

You can disguise yourself as a drug dealer in the night club and 47 is the most unconvincing drug dealer ever and they lean way into it lol. Most people will see through your bullshit right away but you can go up to a guy called Florida Man and ask him 'do you like drugs?' or 'wanna get stoned like me?'.

 

It's the epitome of this meme

MOREY%20%E2%80%9CHow%20do%20you%20do%20f

 

 

I'll probably just dip into levels from all three games now that they're all on the one package and 60GB. I still have to do Japan in 1 and every mission in 2. For now I'll stick with the new stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

GI.Biz: Hitman 3 recoups project cost in under a week

 

Quote

Hitman 3 is already profitable, IO Interactive has announced.

The stealth game launched last week and immediately shot to the top of the UK charts, and it has recouped its development costs in under seven days.

"We have been really happy with the Hitman 3 journey," says IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak.

"It has been a labor of love between our fans and everyone at the studio. As the developer and publisher, we are immensely proud that we can say Hitman 3 is already profitable. We have recouped the total project costs in less than a week. That puts us in a really good place and allows us to confidently move forward with our ambitious plans for future projects."

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Escalations are contracts which have 3-5 levels, where the objectives stack and get more complicated each time you complete one level. They're not time-exclusive normally.

These promotional contracts (MinnMax, Kinda Funny) are a new thing I think, I don't remember them doing it in the previous games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Loaded this up yesterday and started where I left off in the Mumbai level of Hitman 2. 
 

Absolutely loved this level from start to finish, three targets and a crazy amount of variety in environments, bloody huge as well. Loved going around the slum areas wading through a sea of people and clambering into various apartments, a stark difference to the the luxury and opulence of the Tower and Sundeck towards the end with the photo shoot. 
 

Took me about 3 hours but managed to get my standard SA rank. For some reason I didn’t have my fibre wire in my inventory before I started the level so I just had to snap all their necks. The Slum queen I waited for her to go into a little garden area, snuck round the back and whacked her, the Maelstrom was harder as he always walked around areas in the Slums where there were tons of people, managed to find a window just right without too many people around, subdued him, snapped his neck and hid the body in the sewer.

 

For the final target, I managed to subdue the pop star that’s walking around the slums by pushing him in the sewer, took his outfit and went straight into the front door of the Tower to meet Dawood, after he led me up to a partially built floor of the building I subdued the two guards on the stairs, threw a brick at the bodyguard and then him, then snapped his neck. 
 

Visually it looks much better than when I played it on my Pro, the lighting in particular seems much improved and it runs silky smooth, even better than it used to on my PC. 
 

Crazy story revelations after this as well, I don’t remember much of the story from H1 but it was pretty throwaway, seems much more involved in H2 though, loving it. 

 

Spoiler

771ADBB8-64C9-4913-9F25-E56BCB392CF2.jpeg

 

9E0A4729-CB3A-41EE-8F77-BB77B183F8D4.jpeg

94C788D8-3D60-48E9-A0AD-EFBADB159DE7.jpeg

AB1F4F6E-0AE2-41F1-A136-929D0C74DCCE.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice one @Sly Reflex I thought it was either you or Mark lol. No worries haha, I definitely think it’s a game you’d dig. 
 

Finished H2 off last night. Took me about an hour to do the Vermont stage and then about 3 hours banging my head against the wall on the Ark Society stage. 
 

Vermont might be one of my favourite Hitman maps ever, a little quaint suburban neighbourhood with lots of hidden secrets and people hiding in plain sight, a perfect slice of Americana. Just had such a jolly vibe to it and was nice to explore a map that feels ordinary and normal, somewhere that isn’t this grandiose ornate spectacle. I love the ornate spectacles don’t get me wrong but there’s something about Vermont and to a lesser extent Mumbai that feel more like real and genuine places over some of the exclusive VIP palaces and sprawling drug factories.

 

Didn’t have too much difficulty with this mission. Managed to easily locate both targets and separate them from their bodyguards along their routes, meaning a quick silent kill with my Silverballer pistol for one and a thrown silent knife to the head for the other to get the SA rank. 

 

The Ark Society map is back in the realm of the spectacular. A Bond-like Island Castle filled with lavish luxury and overindulgence along with its exclusive clientele. With the lighting, reflections and fog effects it was one of the best looking maps I’ve seen in the game.

 

The mission itself didn’t really go well. I located both targets relatively quickly and managed to get a good disguise in the Guard outfit but spent ages banging my head against the wall trying to separate the two targets from their bodyguards. There was just so many people about round every corner that finding a quiet room to subdue the bodyguard and kill the target just seemed impossible for ages, I completely gave up on my approach of one and went looking in a completely different part of the castle for another opportunity to kill them. Luckily I stumbled across a conversation earlier where one of the targets revealed she was going to be in a burning effigy for some ceremony. I found the effigy and had an explore, finding a way to increase the gas levels, then I did a lot more exploring and eventually found the Master of Ceremonies and his outfit. 
 

I followed through with the ceremony and burned one of the targets alive inside the large metal effigy. Next up was the other and I unfortunately hadn’t stumbled across any conversations for her where I could see a route to killing her so it was back to following her along her route, eventually picking up the right disguises so I could follow her everywhere along her path then having the patience and timing to separate her bodyguard from her and subdue him. Once that was done I could finally kill her, taking an item from her that would assist me in extracting the final target. Luckily he was very close to my position and after a brief chat I coerced him into leading me to the Boat to exit the stage. Right pain in the arse at times but I got there in the end, needless to say I didn’t enjoy this stage anywhere near as much as Vermont and Mumbai, but it still had its moments. 
 

The ending was very abrupt though, as I thought I had two more missions left, turns out these two maps are story expansions so I’ll finish both of those before moving on to H3. As mentioned previously, never expected the story to interest me as much as it has and it sets up H3 perfectly.

 

Spoiler

B856B267-C385-447C-9D92-F75A81A56E1C.jpeg2CA694DD-5A43-45B7-B1D9-9DF0F16FF8A1.jpeg951D1DAC-7122-4A69-AAF0-12B3139BCD0C.jpeg

 

CFC58B9A-D533-4ED0-BA20-754C4DB28B94.jpeg

FC035025-AD04-4D76-925B-D054698550D4.jpeg

E7DF069B-C489-4E51-9BB3-7F3F6D1A9503.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished off the two story expansion maps from H2 and the first map of H3 since my last post. 

 

The two story expansion maps in New York and the Maldives were great fun, I did enjoy the former a hell of a lot more though. The New York map reminded me of something out of Deus Ex or Payday 2 mixed with a bit of Grand Central station really. It's this huge sprawling bank, dripping with money, fluorescent lights reflecting on the marbled floor, grand pillars and an imposing roofline. Only the one target here - who always seemed to be on the top floor - but there was a secondary objective to pick up three data cores from 3 significant characters. Loved exploring this place so went round every floor and quite a few rooms just getting by bearings and sussing the place out, eventually stumbling in to Fabian Mann on the second floor, coaxing in to a broom closet with a coin and taking the first data core.

 

After this I made a beeline for the target on the top floor - getting the appropriate disguises to ensure I wouldn't rouse suspicion along the way - and following her into her grand office in front of a large clock. Once there I followed her for awhile to scope out her route and noticed there's a room between her office and another room where I can hide, distract her bodyguard and then take her out, so I did just that and dumped her body in the box nearby, easy peasy. After this I did a bit more exploring and then eventually wound up down in the basement with the Vault, knowing I'd just picked up the keycard that would let me in I entered, did a bit of exploring and messing about with the guards here and managed to open up the Vault. Once inside I removed the data core and made my way to the exit, SA rank achieved and in just under 2 hours as well. Similar to Vermont I liked how this was a more ordinary setting, the bank was certainly an imposing building but it was still just a bank at the end of the day and I enjoyed every second of this mission.

 

The Maldives was next up. A really nice interesting location in an obviously beautiful setting but something about it just didn't really wow me that much to be honest, not sure exactly what it was but something about it just didn't really resonate with me the same way New York did, aesthetically and in terms of the mission as well. Three targets here with no other objectives. I liked the setup to this, being disguised as a thief-for-hire and getting your own villa over the sea, felt very Bond. I started off from said villa and went off exploring the other villas first, then the buildings of the resort complex, nothing really too impressive here, with a pool, gym, spa, restaurants and all the usual things you'd expect of a resort like this in real life. What was cool is that there's a note waiting for you from one of your targets when you arrive - I assume if you go through with the storyline you meet up with her later on - which seemed quite a bit different from the norm as you're usually completely anonymous to your targets.

 

I started out by the villas and set about exploring this foyer/reception area first, before grabbing my villa key from the front desk, the target actually came into one of the adjacent villas quite early in the mission but I couldn't find a good angle so ended up following her all the way along her route until I reached the Spa. After a little while banging my head against the wall I worked out that you can distract the masseuse when she goes for a massage and is left along in there without her bodyguard, so I carried out my plan and executed it (and her) with my Silverballer, dumping her body in the sea, target 1 down. The next one was a little trickier as his route seemed a bit more erratic, after following him for ages I managed to learn he gets left alone for a short window on his own little island while he goes for a run, so I coaxed a guard into the bushes on this island, stole his closes and then ended up picking up a log, throwing it at the target then dragging him into the bushes as well. Once here I snapped his neck for the kill. The last target was much more straightforward, he was holed up in a massive villa at the back end of the island and with my guard outfit from the former target I managed to walk in, follow his route and corner him alone in the Bathroom in no time, job done, another SA in the bag. 

 

Lastly it was finally time to start Hitman 3 and with it the Dubai mission. Wow, this map has got to be one of my all time favourite Hitman maps, it is just sensational on every level, imposing lavish architecture, opulence and wealth dripping out of the gigantic gold pillars, a phenomenal intricate level design which very distinct areas, I just had so much fun exploring this map, it must be said that the graphics take a noticeable bump up from H2, the ray tracing and reflections on the floor and gold pillars are just a real sight to behold, I think the game knows how good it looks at one point as it pulls back the camera to leave a nice panoramic shot of 47 walking through an area with the light reflecting off pools of water and through the grand luxurious windows in the sky, having been to Dubai and been up the top floor of the real life Burj Khalifa it absolutely nailed the vibe completely.

 

Just the two targets here and no special conditions, I was having so much fun exploring all the nooks and crannies of the building that I actually forgot about the targets for awhile but managed to accidently bump into one in the Security Room, I distracted one of the guards here then the target came to investigate and I put a bullet in his head, lovely jubly. It was much more difficult getting to the second target as he was up in his Penthouse the entire time, I got the appropriate disguises so I wouldn't be detected and made my way up there, I followed his route for quite awhile not being able to find an opening at all. I initially tried throwing a coin into another room close to one of his places he sits down and reads a monologue but I couldn't pull it off successfully without someone seeing the body afterwards so it was back to the drawing board. Walked around the Penthouse level for awhile and managed to find a housekeeper who was on his own, in this room was also some rat poison so I then set about trying to poison the targets drink instead. I distracted the other guards and housekeepers and dumped their bodies in a bathroom chest nearby and a Wardrobe in the bedroom itself, which left just him and his bodyguard in the bedroom. I then went up to the glass of whisky I knew he'd drink out of and poisoned it, making him run to the Bathroom where his bodyguard left him on his own, so I drowned him in the toilet, headed for the exit via a parachute and bob's your uncle, another SA rank gained. I don't usually bother with all the challenges, stories etc. in a map and have never replayed one once I've got my SA rank but with Dubai I actually couldn't wait to dive back in to the level and explore, I may go for the Plat as well which means I'll need a Level 20 Mastery on every map. 

 

Pics:

 

 

FB22F522-0D8A-4F1D-9CF8-7226EFD266F6.jpeg

9A9A1981-EA0F-4E08-95B8-19D140C3A43B.jpeg

810C5A82-5A46-423A-AA9A-8157350668B1.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Played quite a bit more of this since my last post. Ended up mastering the Dubai level, and then set about completing and then mastering the subsequent levels (Dartmoor, Berlin). I actually can't stop thinking about it at the moment, it is nothing less than a masterpiece. I'll be surprised if anything coming out the next few months manages to top this for my GOTY. 

 

First off I set about doing something which I've tried before (in Hitman 2016) but never fully committed to and that is Mastering a level, which means reaching Level 20 Mastery, usually I like to SA a level and then move on but I wanted to try and put myself out my comfort zone a bit here. When I originally tried to do this back in Hitman 2016 on the Paris level I replayed the map multiple times trying for an SA rank (as I assumed this would get me the most XP on the Mastery gauge) which was completely the wrong way of going about it. In hindsight I should've been going for the challenges and mission stories in the level and concentrating on them rather than worrying about getting SA every single time. Attempting this in the Dubai level in H3, I turned all the stuff on that I'd usually turn off (story, challenge guidance, global hints etc.) so I could just sit back and enjoy the level, watching how all the various stories and challenges would play out. With all the story/challenge guidance turned on it's very easy to follow the stories in a level and see what you need to do for certain challenges in the menu but I did have to look a few of the more obscure challenges up online along the way. I just had so much fun doing this, seeing all these elaborate stories play out and not realising they were even in the level is just crazy to me, all this stuff that can happen and I was just completely oblivious to it all.

 

Makes me sad that I've missed out on all these cool little stories and intricacies that happen in every level and has reminded me of the fun I had back in Blood Money using an online guide to replay a level and attempt to get a perfect accidental kill (the level with the Play where you replace the fake gun with a real one is the one that stands out in my mind). It's just so fucking fun and has a score-attack element to it to where you can chain certain challenges together to try to get one huge amount of XP at the end of that run. There's too many great story/challenge moments to mention but I particularly loved the one where you get the two targets to arrange a meeting with one another and then lockdown the meeting room where you can kill both without any distractions and another where you put an explosive golf ball into one of the targets' golf basket then follow him about causing noise so he gets stressed out and plays golf (to relax) and BOOM. 

 

Then on to Dartmoor. What a level this is! Before I'd even touched this game so many people mentioned this level and they weren't wrong, this is one fucking amazing level. A mix between a modern Sherlock Holmes mystery, Knives Out and Cluedo with a touch of Resident Evil's Spencer Mansion thrown in for good measure, loads of secret rooms, a whodunnit mystery right at the centre and a puzzle to solve for one of the missions main objective, only one target though. You start off on the grounds with this massive imposing stately manor strutting up out of the rolling English hills ahead of you, soon discovering that a private investigator has been called to investigate some kind of goings on inside the manor. I duck over a wall, into the bushes to avoid detection and then take a Gardeners outfit as a disguise, then able to make my way into the mansion, take out a bodyguard and have now got almost free reign to explore the manor at my leisure. I set about attempting to discover all areas of the map which takes me to the Greenhouse, Graveyard and numerous grand stately rooms throughout the manor as well as a ridiculous amount of secret passages hidden behind bookcases.

 

I also discover the central mystery to the whodunnit, a dead older gentlemen in his bedroom, after spending awhile here investigating the target comes strolling in for a tete-a-tete with her dead relative, now is my moment to pounce so I get the Silverballer ready and pop her in the head, subduing her Bodyguard then hiding both in the Wardrobe nearby, very easy. Now time to set about completing the missions other objective by retrieving a certain file, after looking around the mansion quite a lot more I eventually end up in the targets office and find a safe with 4 symbols on top (clock, stag, fire and telescope), I set about looking around the room for these objects and eventually find there is a number etched on the walls behind them, I plug these into the keypad on the safe and voila I retrieve the file. I make my escape via motorbike the same way I entered the mission with my standard SA rank. Due to there only being one target and the level itself not being particularly big this was actually one of the quickest levels I've finished. The events afterwards change things completely, without spoiling anything it is quite a big surprise what goes on and how much things change.

 

Replaying the level afterwards to get to Level 20 afterwards took a bit longer than Dubai as there was only one target so took much longer to get - all the assassination challenges in particular - but they were such a ton of fun to do. My favourite is probably the one where you have to dress as the photographer, then get the camera working again by replacing the fuse, to then call on the Family to gather for their photo. Little do they know that I just opened a garden tap and exposed an electrical cable right under the chair the target sits at, which means when she sits down and I take the photo she is electrocuted in a very amusing fashion. Another great one is subduing the PI that has come to investigate the whodunnit and then investigating the mystery yourself, finding all the clues and talking to all the suspects (family members) involved before eventually talking to the Butler and accusing someone. If you do it successfully the target will actually realise who you are but get the file out of the safe for you anyway for helping her out. 

 

Berlin was next up and has a completely different vibe to it, really did feel like an Absolution mission (in the best way). Due to the story events after Dartmoor you're a bit of a duck out of water so to speak, and on your own. This mission is completely different to any of the others I've played in the recent Hitman games down to the fact there is actually 10 targets you can kill, but only 5 targets you need to kill to complete the mission, as you explore the area the targets only reveal themselves to you as you get close to them. The mission itself takes place in this huge sprawling Industrial Warehouse turned Nightclub, the dull grey industrial estate being transformed into this vibrant urban pulsating rave by tons of Neon lights, graffiti and art installations. There is one big warehouse which has about 5 or 6 levels to it and dotted around are various bars and 'chill out spaces' with a Biker hideout attached to it at the North side and a huge dance floor complete with thousands of revellers in the basement. 

 

Not knowing where the targets are around the map was definitely different, it definitely has a 'hunted turned hunter' vibe to it where you actually end up hunting down these targets that were meant to be looking for you. The nature of this meant that it is impossible to plan in anyway, I made my way around the club exploring and every now and then I'd get close to a target, follow them for awhile and eventually take them out either by subduing them first and snapping their neck or via Fibre Wire or Silverballers. I initially thought I'd have to kill all of them but once I reached 5 the objective was complete and I could exit the mission area, this did take me a bit longer than the previous mission purely down to the nature of having to kill 5 x the amount of people, once I exited I got my customary SA rank and it returned to get to Level 20 Mastery. 

 

Due to the nature of the mission there were so many challenges and so many options to take down all the various targets. I think my favourite challenge/stories I did was one where I dressed up as the resident DJ in the dance floor area, sabotaged the lighting rig then waited for two targets to begin talking to one another at a catwalk above, once they did I took over as DJ and dropped the beat which then exploded the lighting rig and electrocuted both of them in one go. Another favourite was dressing up as the Club owner downstairs in the basement then meeting with all the targets in the building, them realising who you are and me then having to shoot my way out with a sawn-off shotgun, just such a ton of fun. 

 

The next mission was Chongqing China, I have actually completed this on SA rank and begun getting to level 20 mastery but as I forgot to take the photos off my PS5 I will refrain from talking about it for now until my next update in a few days time. Needless to say, this is another fantastic mission though. 

 

So yeah, an absolute masterpiece this game, just keeps going from strength to strength in terms of level design and the story has gripped me in a way I thought not possible, can't wait to play it again. Replaying and mastering levels has completely opened me eyes up to what I've been missing out on in the previous two games and got me feeling so passionate and excited about going back to it since Blood Money.

 

Pics: 


 

 

2C7ECDBA-BC9D-4472-AFA3-2AD4320F2EDE.jpeg
 

413FBBF2-F510-4E91-9778-54C22984858F.jpeg

 

BA1CA17B-897E-46E6-B763-EC115582E959.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting, I’ve only played Hitman 2. Got it at launch because I loved Giant Bombs coverage of the first but I bounced off it completely. Maybe I need to try it again in a similar way you have with this and actually force myself to master one level and see if it clicks then. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah definitely worth a go @mfnick ? 

 

I’ve enjoyed the series for quite some time now but not since Blood Money has one of the games resonated with me as much as this has.
 

Replaying the maps, doing the challenges and getting the L. 20 Mastery has really elevated it to a whole new level for me, previously I’d just play through a level once, get my SA rank then move on. Feel like I’ve missed out on seeing a lot of cool shit in H1 and H2 now. 
 

After 45 hours (take a few hours off for leaving it on pause every now and then) I finally finished this last night with the Platinum. A really extraordinary game, every level was distinct and felt fresh, it was nice that not every level had to have huge crowds and be massive, feels with this entry that these developers were fully free to make the levels they wanted to make and didn’t have to make these big huge arenas just to please some marketing guy. 
 

Will write more in depth about the levels after Dartmoor soon.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So Chongqing was the next map. Cyberpunk and Blade Runner vibes coming out the wazoo, as soon as you step into it with 47 dressed in a raincoat, the rain slowly tumbling down this cramped metropolitan sprawl ahead of you with glaring Neon signs jutting out from the buildings. It really is a sight to behold, right at the start of the mission you make your way down this suspended catwalk through the skyscrapers, eventually getting to the end and seeing the rest of Chongqing ahead of you, complete with Cable Cars slowly trundling down through the huge concrete jungle ahead of you. Two targets here, one located on top of a derelict apartment block - which has been turned into a criminal HQ of sorts - and the other down underground in a Resident Evil-esque secret base. I focus on the target topside for now, making my way around the map and exploring the dank alleyways, empty apartments, noodle shops and rooftop drone fields before eventually stumbling in to the derelict apartment block where there are lots of strange scientific experiments taking place that don't seem wholly above board. I locate the target, take out the guards located in his relaxation room then wait for him to come in, take him out via Fibre Wire and hide his body here. Now the tricky part (or so I thought) of making my way into the underground base, earlier in the mission I overheard a phone conversation where a tour guide (who is meant to show a new facility member around the underground base) revealed the code for a keypad that'll get me into the secret base, so I just went back to this area, put this code into the door and made my way in.

 

This area was completely different from the whole rest of the level, it had a real Bond villains lair feel to it mixed in with an underground Umbrella base from Resident Evil. Incredibly clean, clinical and precise, without a single thing out of place. I made my way into the facility, picking up disguises as I went and USB dongles which would enable me to hack into the doors' opening mechanisms with my camera. I eventually made my way down to the bottom floor where my target was lurking, subduing her bodyguard and then taking her out and hiding her in a nearby wardrobe. After this there was another task I had to complete to hack the 'core' of the facility, once this had been done everything went tits up and I had to escape via the air vents in a scripted sequence, took me ages once I reached the floor above to find the other air vent that would take me out of the facility but eventually managed it and made my way to the exit topside with my standard SA rank. I really loved this mission on my first run and the verticality compared to some of the other maps but as I replayed it I realised I didn't like it as much as the previous maps, I'm not sure why but I just found the stories and challenges a little bit more dull than the murder mystery of Dartmoor and the hunter becomes hunted vibe of Berlin. The only notable ones I found was one where you trap one of the targets in his experimental chair and explode his brain somehow, and the other where you play the two targets off against one another so they eventually meet and have a row, then you can either take them out with a Sniper Rifle or explode the gas bottle sitting next to them, easy peasy.

 

Then on to Mendoza. First impressions were that this map had a Sapienza type vibe to it, it's a big map that presents itself to you pretty much as soon as you step into it, a huge vineyard complex with a multi-levelled visitor centre at the heart of it, rolling hills with wild flowers alongside a massive villa jutting out from the top of a nearby hill. In contrast to Chongqing, this map is bathed in sunlight with the suns rays peeking through the lush wild flowers or vines as you make your way through the outskirts of the map. Once you zero in on the visitor centre itself it very much feels like a Bond Villains lair again, with tons of hidden concrete corridors and rooms that hide the patrons activities nicely whilst displaying this bright modern glass and metal visitors centre to the outside world. Two targets to deal with here, one who seemed to tour the visitors centre and the other who roams throughout all the map but made frequent trips back to his villa. I made my way in via the parking lot, picking up a Gaucho disguise along the way which managed to get me into a lot of areas without rousing suspicion, I kind of stumbled across the villa and made my way in, looked around everywhere and as I was doing so the target turned up, I managed to isolate him and take him out in the office room at the bottom of the building without any trouble. The second target was a little trickier as the visitors centre where she primarily frequented had tons more prying eyes. Once she entered the security room I saw an opportunity to electrocute her with an exposed plug and leaky water cooler, she took the bait as soon as she entered the room and I turned on the power when she attempted to mop up the spillage, job done. I exfiltrated via a nearby contact with my standard SA ranking. 

 

I liked this map on my first run through but unlike Chongqing it actually got better on reruns through it. My favourite story was probably the one where you dress up as the head sommelier of the vineyard and show round one of the targets, whilst touring around there is an opportunity to lock her in a freezer and another opportunity where she leans on a Grape Crusher and you can push her in and see what happens in grotesque fashion. If you follow this storyline all the way to the end you can actually get the two targets in the same room, poison the air conditioning, reroute the air con and take them both out at the same time but this was quite difficult to pull off. Another storyline has you infiltrate the targets' villa, disguise yourself as a guard then await his arrival, only for your contact to stab him and leave you to finish the job. You can also dress up as the male targets' lawyer, get lead into his office, wait for him there to sign some documents and when he goes to do so you can slam his head into a pen and take him out, lovely stuff. I just loved this level, the mix between the insidious underground lair mixed with the façade and beauty of the vineyard and its surroundings. 

 

Then the final map of the game, Carpathian Mountains. I don't want to reveal anything about this so will put it in spoilers, but needless to say this isn't like any of the other maps in the game (and any other I've played since Absolution).

Spoiler

As soon as you wake up, you realise you're in some secret underground facility somewhere (a little reminiscent of the facility found in Chongqing), as you make your way through some narrow hallways picking up some disguises you eventually come to a door and find out...you're on a fucking train! Just so so cool making your way along this train, inching along the narrow ledges past the windows, venturing on to the roof and sneaking past the guards you encounter along the way. Can almost be like a puzzle almost, trying to get past a number of guards in a room with only one or two solutions to do so, I can see why some might not like this linearity and lack of options but I like how the game changes tact and forces you to solve these little puzzles to eventually work your way further along the train and to your target. I particularly loved one of the disguises you can pick up, it's of a special forces captain, as soon as you've got it equipped you can walk along the next carriage and all the soldiers will salute you and say 'Sir', absolutely hilarious. Once you reach the target at the end 47 breaks this carriage off from all the others, as long as you have the right disguise you can just walk on through all the other office workers and eventually take out the target in a very scripted segment without much thought really. It's a very short, linear map compared to the others with a low mastery level required (Level 5 compared to all the other maps which are level 20) so I just reloaded a save and did a couple of things like throwing drinks cans at some guards, killing the target in a different way and everything here was done before I know it. I know I've said this many times now but this so reminded me of a Bond film, perhaps more than the others, it was very similar to the Train level from the Goldeneye N64 game as well. 

 

In terms of the story, Hitman 2 and this game in particular knock it out of the park. They make you care for 47 a bit instead of him just being this mindless, faceless clone,

Spoiler

they give him some thoughts, memories and feelings of his own through Diana and Lucas Grey. Everything that happens in H2, the DLC maps leads directly in to H3 (particularly the events at The Ark Society) and then by the time you reach Berlin things have been completely turned on their head and the plot has so many twists and turns you don't expect from there on out. Even in the finale you only realise this was the only way Diana could get you this close to the Constant without him realising it and that betraying you was just a ruse to get him to let his guard down. 

 

A gripping story that keeps you guessing the entire time, paired with absolutely superb, sprawling, stunning levels that all differ wildly from one another for you to explore, with so many neat little stories to discover tucked away in each one. Such a fantastic game. 

 

Pics: 

 

 

 

 

C8319B0B-83FC-433B-98AC-3FAE3F5CE5AD.jpeg

1643DE4D-66BC-41CA-8555-19C2002F0FE2.jpeg

CCA1B0BF-0690-4B5A-8872-BB6A02429439.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

PC Gamer: Hitman 3 sold 300% better than Hitman 2
 

Quote

 

Hitman 3 has done gangbusters for IO Interactive, with CEO Hakan Abrak claiming this year's entry was 300% more commercially successful than previous entry Hitman 2.

We called Hitman 3 "IO's most creative and surprising assassination sim yet", and it seems like we weren't alone. In interview with GamesIndustry.biz (above), Abrak explained that Hitman 3 wasn't just the highest-rated critically of the series—it was also the most profitable, despite being the first game entirely self-published by the studio.

 

That's a welcome turn, considering the first game's failure to meet Square Enix' lofty expectationssaw the publisher drop the franchise. In contrast, Hitman 3 made its money back within a week, even as—as Abrak explains in the video—the developer faced "challenges" in adapting to work under Covid 19.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...