Hitman Series Review (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Mobile & PC)

Hitman sets the standard with its creative approach to assassinations and feel-good tactical executions, not as a pioneer in its craft, but as a jack-of-all-trades IP with the formidable complexities of an open-ended sandbox with oh-so-many possibilities. It doesn’t spoon feed you, and it certainly doesn’t tell you how to imitate a Bond-like supervillain. Instead, it gives you a brief window to hatch a plan, and a glimpse at who you should be slotting beyond the scope. Unlike most of your assassination-based stealth shooters, though, Hitman doesn’t give you a breadcrumb trail to follow; on the contrary, it makes a habit of peppering its crumbs across vast distances, and telling you that, in order to accomplish your objectives, you’ll either need to think outside of the box, or be the luckiest bald-headed killer in the room. And you know what? I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Generally speaking, Hitman is a on a vastly different spectrum than most stealth games, not because of its sizable catalog and universal acclaim, but because it doesn’t make a habit of catering to an orthodox gameplay experience. More to the point, it doesn’t put you on a linear path and scoot you through the whole process. Rather, it gives you a vague idea of what it is that you’re looking to achieve, and then tells you to chalk up your own masterpieces whilst it spectates from the sidelines. At no point does it have to be cunning or even the slightest bit professional; it just needs to work — even if it means being a literal jack in a box for a surprise birthday party. But, that’s another murder tale for another time.

When it comes to knuckling in on creative possibilities and nonlinear solutions for accomplishing objectives, Hitman practically writes the book, with its dynamic progression and open-ended gameplay providing a unique and immersive experience that feels like a new adventure with each passing contract. Although laced with a similar interface and all of the textbook tropes of a mainline chapter in the rolling series, every mission has been distinctly different from its kin, with original locations, targets, victory conditions, and opportunities to explore and execute your tasks in a manner that suits your gameplay style. And when I say “creative” opportunities, I don’t just mean that it allows you to experiment with a repertoire of weapons and gadgets, but an entire world of imaginative ideas—role-playing, for example, which happens to play an enormous part in the experience.

Hitman is a series that you can more or less breeze through and mop up in a matter of days. But, by doing so, you wouldn’t experience it; you’d be glossing over a good ninety percent of its material. See, while each entry in the saga does give you the option to throw your toys out of the pram and wreak havoc on the general population, at no point does it reward you for taking such a route. No, because if the series made an effort to pat you on the back for doing, well, exactly what you would have done in another third-person shooter, then it just wouldn’t be Hitman. Instead, Hitman celebrates creativity and forward thinking, slick execution and foolhardy preparation. It doesn’t always feel like it’s going according to plan, but that’s half the battle, as is it half the fun, weirdly.

Of course, combing over all of the missions in the series just wouldn’t be a viable option, given that it has, if memory serves me correctly, covered a lot of ground since its inception. But, what I can say is that, for a series that doesn’t deliver much of a plot, it does make an excellent attempt to keep Agent 47 in the spotlight with fresh content, assassinations, settings, and innovative ways to pull the rabbit out of the hat, so to speak. And frankly, that’s something that the Hitman series can continue producing for decades to come. It’s like a sitcom, but with creative deaths and an episodic narrative that has no real purpose other than to immerse you in standalone adventures and present you with the drawing materials to incubate your own panels. Well, sort of.

While it’s no secret that Hitman falls beneath a niche umbrella, it is a franchise that makes a genuine effort to entice unlikely fans into donning the red tie and dual pistols. Again, as it offers an enormous range of pathways and conditions, consequences and risks, it is a series that you can quite easily slip into and make your own, so to speak. Of course, it’s a lot better if you make the effort to play the part. But then, you don’t need to be a cloak-and-dagger mastermind to enjoy the journey, either. However you choose to slice it, it’s a win-win situation; the trigger happy folks have an excuse to wreak havoc, and the stealthy killers have the opportunity to manipulate the board and deliver their own stories.

Verdict

Hitman makes a beeline for the apex of stealth-based monoliths as a prominent franchise that has the power and infrastructure to easily formulate infinite possibilities and creative solutions for its fledgling bald-headed assassins to enact and execute. With a wealth of contracts to carve through and an enormous variety of avenues to venture down and make your own, the series essentially guarantees an all-round dynamic experience with all of the signature qualities of an evergreen saga.

It isn’t going to be everyone’s perfect cup of coffee I’ll admit. That being said, for where Hitman falls short of a compelling storyline and in-depth characters, it definitely makes up for with its carefully crafted level designs and victory conditions, creative assassinations and DIY strategies. Suffice it to say, then, that if you want a stealth series that loosens the grip on the leash just a little, as well as one that offers you the freedom to pick and choose your own battles, paths and exit strategies, then you should definitely consider filling in for Agent 47 and seeing where the road takes you.