A Clean Hit?

Back in 2000 I was finishing my A Levels, working in Virgin Megastores, and savouring the flavours of Radiohead’s album, Kid A. I did a lot of things back then, but playing PC games wasn’t really one of them. So I was completely ignorant to the work of genius that was released by IO Interactive that year: Hitman: Codename 47.

To this day, I’ve never gotten past the start of it. Certain PC games can be difficult to adjust to if you’re used to playing on a console. But I thank IO Interactive for that beauty because, were it not for Codename 47, this game would never have been made:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIU4bOaWesE[/youtube]

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin holds a very special place in my heart. Everything about it is designed to please. I’m yet to discover a game in the same genre that rivals its gameplay skill, environs, and music. Its score alone has in fact been the centre of much acclamation, with its beautiful yet trendy harmonies that, when experienced through the levels in which they appear, really make for works of art. And Agent 47, the series’ protagonist, is up there in my top five game characters of all time. Even his walk oozes merited confidence.

The two games that followed, Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money respectively, were undoubtedly good games and I really enjoyed them. Compared to most games of their ilk, they stand out a mile. But I found them more accessible for the mainstream, and as such lacked the magic that enchanted me in the first game. In balancing stealth with action, the subtlety and nuance I experienced in Silent Assassin was diluted.

And now I feel Agent 47’s breath on the back of my neck once again, with Hitman: Absolution due for release around June this year. Here’s the trailer:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvqivQhvdqc[/youtube]

Now, I can forgive this trailer for showing Agent 47 as a bald Robbie Williams. What I perhaps can’t forgive is that it shows little of the stealth gameplay that originally defined the series. Absolution is also said to introduce new gameplay features, which could be a good or a bad thing. I suppose my main hope is that the missions still challenge me. I’d hate more than anything to find challenge replaced with lots more ‘splosions. So for now I’m trying to reserve judgement as best I can by keeping both my expectations and my excitement to a minimum.