Absolution is uncomfortable and weird but not in a good way

[PatteDeFruit]

I feel ya dude, but i think that you’re kinda harsh with that game tho

Sure it has lots of things that are out of the box or annoying compared to classic games (like the linear levels), but it has still an interesting environment, gameplay and graphics with a heavy production including lots of high skilled actors for a story that went a lot deeper than the usual contracts and 47’s personal stories.

That big step in the narrative has brought us into something different but still interesting to watch, despite being borderline to some players from time to time, like the stunning armed saints or the level of violence in some moments.

Still, Absolution has tried to bring the Hitman franchise into something deeper and more expanded with a huge production and resources, despite having failed to convince with its restricted gameplay and caricatural story and characters.

For those interested, a full review of the game was made a while ago, feel free to check it out: [Fan Review]Dear Hitman Absolution Developers...[CLOSED]

Cheers

[Screaming_Meat]

@PatteDeFruit

Sure it has lots of things that are out of the box or annoying compared to classic games (like the linear levels), but it has still an interesting environment, gameplay and graphics…

the op is more about absolution’s dodgy and confused ‘politics’ (for want of a better word) rather than how the game plays.

still, i kind of agree with all but a few of the pro’s in your review, though i mostly regard absolution as a necessary stepping stone to the far better woa trilogy; it brought into the series (better) controls, crowds, challenges and the contracts modes, which were all undeniably awesome additions.

@PatteDeFruit

…and graphics with a heavy production including lots of high skilled actors for a story that went a lot deeper than the usual contracts and 47’s personal stories.

now, while i agree that the graphics were great, they came at the expense of deeper level design and, as far as i’m concerned, hitman is its level design.

console power is the likely culprit; they couldn’t handle that level of graphics and more intricate levels (a la blood money) at the same time, so io, unfortunately for me, chose the former.

absolution’s levels, in combination with the rejigged disguise system (which i really tried to convince myself was good at the time), turned hitman away from the unique puzzle/social-stealth space it had occupied, towards straight up stealth gameplay.

further, the trite story unduly influenced what levels and settings we got (a bar fight? a shooting range? a fucking tailors?!), as opposed to how i assume woa (and possibly previous entries) level design production starts with the simple question: “what would make a cool hitman level?”

in more melodramatic terms, absolution sold its soul for better graphics and a more intrusive, subpar story. in my opinion, that wasn’t a good deal.

@PatteDeFruit

That big step in the narrative has brought us into something different but still interesting to watch…

yeah, i don’t agree. it was painful for me. i’ve never been interested in 47 as a character or his overarching narrative; i’ve found it’s the targets that have always had the interesting stories.

[v1deost]

i found it disturbing when 47 is killing Wade, Wade says, “I got wood, man. why do I have wood?” was that creepy line even necessary?

[Accidental_Kills98]

I will do you one better and say why do we even need Wade in the story at all?

They didn’t even need to be mercenaries, they could have just been Dexter Arms security guards with Blake controlling them and the story wouldn’t change other than getting rid of a terrible character.

[v1deost]

in the NoClip documentary on hitman, they said they had to change Absolution last minute because every kill was in a cutscene only, it was never up to the player until they received feedback to make it otherwise.

thinking about it, this could have been a contributing factor to the poorly written and too many targets in this game. but yeah, Wade was unnecessary.

[Accidental_Kills98]

That makes sense, Wade’s sole non-confrontation kill is both laughably pathetic in gameplay terms and not reflected in the cutscene he never looks like a man who copped a blast furnace to the face.

[MrOchoa]

“oh man the fans gonna love to watch all those cutscenes”

[Accidental_Kills98]

Absolution should have been a Spirits Within-like CGI movie that way us Hitman fans could ignore it. Just like how Final Fantasy fans ignore Spirits Within.

[Screaming_Meat]

@v1deost

i found it disturbing when 47 is killing Wade, Wade says, “I got wood, man. why do I have wood?” was that creepy line even necessary?

oh god. i forgot about that.

@Accidental_Kills98

I will do you one better and say why do we even need Wade in the story at all?

i think he’s meant to be half-arsedly positioned as 47’s ‘shadow’, if you get me? he’s incredibly sadistic and famously makes a violent mess of assignments in contrast to 47’s detached professionalism and surgical precision.

obviously, they didn’t do a particularly good job.

[Accidental_Kills98]

@Screaming_Meat

i think he’s meant to be half-arsedly positioned as 47’s ‘shadow’, if you get me? he’s incredibly sadistic and famously makes a violent mess of assignments compared to 47’s professionalism and surgical precision.

Half-assed? I think Wade is a tenth-assed if he is supposed to be a 47 parallel. Also, brief aside, 47 can be really sadistic. There is no humane way to push a man into a printing press or drowning them in their own vomit.

@Screaming_Meat

obviously, they didn’t do a particularly good job.

That “particularly” would imply they verge somewhere around good’s general vicinity, in fact it implies that it is hanging around with “middling” and “sub-par”.

[Swangtheugly]

@EvilGeniusRo

Blake

I mean if we have a problem we can squash it now

[Screaming_Meat]

@Accidental_Kills98

Also, brief aside, 47 can be really sadistic. There is no humane way to push a man into a printing press or drowning them in their own vomit.

i don’t think so. if i have to consider 47 as a character, i don’t get the impression he derives pleasure or sexual gratification from his kills or inflicting pain; i think it’s probably more about the artistry.

@Accidental_Kills98

That “particularly” would imply they verge somewhere around good’s general vicinity, in fact it implies that it is hanging around with “middling” and “sub-par”.

that’s what you inferred, i guess.

[Accidental_Kills98]

@Screaming_Meat

i think it’s probably more about the artistry.

I mean even if that isn’t considered a form of sadism that is still pretty fucked up. Not as fucked as getting hard at your own death throes but still.

[Screaming_Meat]

@Accidental_Kills98

I mean even if that isn’t considered a form of sadism that is still pretty fucked up. Not as fucked as getting hard at your own death throes but still.

this all goes back to @MrOchoa and @Mini points regarding 47’s enemies having to be exaggerated to make rooting for him easier. the guy murders people for a living, so we’re always talking degrees of fucked up.

as far as i understand it, sadism is gratification - often sexual in nature - from inflicting pain (or humiliation), so i’m not sure that quite falls under that. i’m not a psychologist, but - in my own layman understanding of things - i’d imagine it’s more in the realm of psychopathy, sociopathy or summink similar. he seems detached from everything, though he clearly has a fucked up sense of humour.

like, if we take instinct literally rather than just as a player aid or game mechanic, it can be construed that 47 sees the world - in a mechanical, twisted cousin of logic - as one big heath robinson/rube goldberg death machine.

at the end of the day though, i don’t think 47 really bears considering too ‘realistically’.

[Accidental_Kills98]

I was just using sadism in the metaphorical sense meaning “really goes out of their way to inflict pain” not the actual DSM definition of sadism. Medically speaking 47 is most likely a psychopath. He doesn’t seem to have a complete lack of empathy, compulsive desire for stimulation or shallow effect most sociopaths have but I am no shrink so don’t take my word for it.

@Screaming_Meat

the guy murders people for a living, so we’re always talking degrees of fucked up.

Yeah but 47 hasn’t murdered nuns so he is still a better person than Wade.

@Screaming_Meat

like, if we take instinct literally rather than just as a player aid or game mechanic, it can be construed that 47 sees the world - in a mechanical, twisted cousin of logic - as one big heath robinson/rube goldberg death machine.

Instinct was just a dev tool the developers left in the game as a mechanic. Also kind of breaks Absolution in terms of normal stealth.

[Screaming_Meat]

@Accidental_Kills98

I was just using sadism in the metaphorical sense…

sure, but one of the characters is a literal sadist.

@Accidental_Kills98

Yeah but 47 hasn’t murdered nuns so he is still a better person than Wade.

exactly.

@Accidental_Kills98

Instinct was just a dev tool the developers left in the game as a mechanic. Also kind of breaks Absolution in terms of normal stealth.

sure, but that’s not really relevant to the point im making.

[Accidental_Kills98]

@Screaming_Meat

exactly.

But at the same time 47 takes an emotionally stunted and physically disabled man out into the desert then makes him dig his own grave then possibly strands him there. So it isn’t like that is any better than killing nuns.

@Screaming_Meat

sure, but that’s not really relevant to the point im making.

I know I just wanted to complain about how bad instinct is in Absolution it simultaneous makes the game easier and harder depending on what you are using it for.

[Screaming_Meat]

@Accidental_Kills98

But at the same time 47 takes a mentally handicapped and physically disabled man out into the desert then makes him dig his own grave then possibly strands him there. So it isn’t like that is any better than killing nuns.

lenny killed a nun though (-1). a nun with actual lines (-1). that makes him worse by at least two points. also, lenny is a pretty offensive caricature, so… (-5000)

@Accidental_Kills98

I know I just wanted to complain about how bad instinct is in Absolution it simultaneous makes the game easier and harder depending on what you are using it for.

go nuts!

i quite like it in woa though, at least after getting my first sa on a level. i really didn’t like the classic game’s hopping in and out of the map all the time, and thought it was a pretty elegant solution. still, i miss looking through keyholes.

[Accidental_Kills98]

@Screaming_Meat

lenny killed a nun though (-1). a nun with actual lines (-1). that makes him worse by at least two points. also, lenny is a pretty offensive caricature, so… (-5000)

Oh yeah I forgot but then again he felt really bad about it and he was pressured into it so I am going to let it slide a little (This must be what it is like to be an American sheriff).

Also if being a stereotype is worth minus five thousand points then Blood Money’s targets are the most evil ever right?

[Screaming_Meat]

@Accidental_Kills98

Also if being a stereotype is worth minus five thousand points then Blood Money ’s targets are the most evil ever right?

nah, i think absolution takes the crown, but as i said in the op, none of the early games fair well in that respect either, including bm.