Every week we will be bringing you a game trailer (see the bottom of this post) that has wowed us the most. This can be for any game or genre and this week we have IO Interactive’s Hitman Absolution. Agent 47 seems to be getting a new lease of life if this trailer is anything to go by, with great set pieces, environmental hazards and an escape that would be fit in a Hollywood movie.

The trailer is taken from IO’s presentation at E3 and takes place in an old library decrepit library. Agent 47 is on the run from the police and must escape. He then sets out to dispatch each enemy one-by-one using stealth(e.g choke hold, neck breaking) and even a few environmental kills. Each level will now be more interactive according to IO and in the trailer Agent 47 throws one enemy through a hole in the floor and bludgeons another with a bust off a wall. Our bald anti-hero can now shimmy across ledges, hand and is generally a bit more athletic.

After stealthily dealing with a several opponents Agent 47 then comes across a group of policeman and takes on straggler hostage. A stand-off occurs and he backs off out the door, eventually running to the roof. Here’s where things get different as a helicopter then tales the assassin across several roofs until his escape into a nearby building.

It hasn’t all been rosy for IO though, several fans have lashed out against some of the changes that have made Absolution a lot easier. Agent 47 can now see through walls with a tap of a button with the new ‘Instinct’ vision. Enemies are highlighted in an orange colour and IO are currently debating whether to colour points of interest at the moment. It is a nice touch for newbies, but it does not fit within Agent 47′s world. At least in Arkham Asylum/City it makes sense for Batman to have his detective mode, but our hitman is set in the present with realism being core to the game.

The new game  is certainly going in a new direction with the final shootout too. While it is impressive and does have a AAA Hollywood feel, it is a big change from Hitman’s  roots, which encouraged stealthy gameplay and finishing levels completely unseen. If IO can script instances like the final shootout into the story and not rely on them they could have something special on the way. I just hope they don’t over rely on this trick making more of an action game than anything else.

The Hitman series has needed some new ideas for a while now and while I feel these could be good new additions it is changing what the franchise stands for. There has been a clear push to get new players on board, with ideas taken from Splinter Cell Conviction and Batman Arkham Asylum/City, but whether this will alienate fans is yet to be seen. Even if Absolution is not true to its roots, it still looks fantastic and this trailer is well worth checking out!

 

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