HITMAN 3 – REVIEW

OUR RATING 8/10

GAME OVERVIEW
Hitman 3 is the conclusion of the World of Assassination saga, which closes the cycle started in 2016 last generation. It started in an episodic way, but now it’s back to being a full-fledged product.

The game’s story follows Agent 47 in his quest for revenge against ICA and the organization called Providence. These organizations, which are inserted in various spheres of society, are cunning and will go to great lengths to complete their goals. In addition to 47, other well-known characters from the franchise make their faces, such as Diana Burnwood and Lucas Gray. They have their brilliance and are not just cutscenes, showing that the franchise can be something even bigger.

The plot of the franchise shows a good evolution in terms of narrative, bringing more layers to the characters. With each completed mission, we have cutscenes that take the climax to a new level, whether to show the next objective or even to add more fuel to the fire. Some missions will remain in your memory, with epic moments and full of twists.

GAMEPLAY
The highlight of this new trilogy was offering freedom to the player, with a sandbox map that opens up a range of possibilities. This was accomplished with mastery in the third game, with even more ways to eliminate your targets and some goals that are more than murdered targets. These objectives create situations of tension in the plot, which take the story to another level. It was a maturity easily perceived in that third game.

Some features like the famous elusive target will be released via free updates. For those who do not know this mode, the player has a special target that can only be accessed once, without saving, a death with only one attempt. The aggravation contracts bring modifiers to make our lives more difficult. The Hitman 3 menu features all the missions in this trilogy, as long as the player has purchased previous games. This is a great facilitator for the franchise fan who wants to search some missions.

Hitman has always been a franchise that prioritizes gameplay, with great possibilities for the player. In Hitman 3  the same type of commands were maintained, something that even the player being a novice can learn with a few minutes, and if he wants to do a workout, he can complete the tutorial that precedes the main phases.

PROs, CONs and OVERALL GAMING EXPERIENCE
One of IO Interactive‘s main promises was the evolution of the Glacier engine used in the Hitman franchise , which underwent a fire test, and had to deal with the generation transition, which lately has been causing a lot of trouble in some games. In addition, Hitman 3  was the first project published by the company, which gained independent status, since before the official distribution was made by Square Enix.

The most noticeable change regarding gameplay is the use of a camera, which can be used to activate photography mode or to hack doors and some computers. An interesting aspect of the game is the inclusion of investigative elements, whose puzzle solving forces the player out of his comfort zone.

In the first few minutes some changes are noticeable, especially in the graphics that are incredible. It was not just the graphics that were boosted, we had a considerable improvement in the movements of Agent 47, which now has more fluid actions, and that do not cause strangeness to the player.

Another interesting point of the Glacier engine is its physics, which has good interactions with objects, that is, the bodies when they are shot do not fall like a stone, which offers a good truth to what is happening on the screen. The wind is also well represented in the engine, with effects that make the character’s clothes move naturally.

The map is vast and well-populated, with a large number of NPCs on the screen, something that has been seen in other games in the franchise, but that has gained a greater proportion in that game.

The graphics, as said before, are at a very high level, with great lighting and shadow effects. Even running on a base console, it seemed that you can still take advantage of Ray Tracing techniques, such was the beauty of some scenarios. One of the coolest effects in the game was the rain, which simulated something very close to reality. The phase design was very well built, with locations full of details. Since Hitman 3 maps are sandboxed, these types of games are generally not as detailed, but here each corner of the map brings a possibility and also something to say.

The sound is sensational, with great effects and even some tracks that pack the game well. Interestingly the only problem that may arise in the game is in the location, which has no audio, or subtitles, something that isquite strange, since the previous games in this trilogy had some location. But that can be fixed with some updating.

Hitman 3 is one of the best games in the franchise, with a gameplay that offers great freedom for the player to complete their goals in any way they wish. The possibilities are even more creative, increasing the replay factor with features that encourage us to complete the same stage several times to be more and more fun.

The story goes deeper into the lore of the franchise, with very interesting secondary characters, who have more layers in their personality. The improvements to the Glacier engine were welcome, with incredible graphics and one of the best optimizations I’ve seen in this generation transition.