- LUST
VS
The fourth sin for both games (they both literally are the fourth that becomes available), Lust is kind of the middle-of-the-road sin, for several reasons. Lust is a sin that is usually associated with desire, typically towards another person. It is most often seen as a form of sexual desire, although that’s not what it is limited to. This particular sin can be problematic to express in a video game, as changes to current cultural standards can make even the suggestion of lust from one person towards another as seeming unacceptable. For Hitman, the character of Agent 47 has his lack of any romantic or sexual desires as one of his defining characteristics, making this a very challenging sin to display in a Hitman game. For Dead Rising 3, the sinner is Dylan Fuentes, a sex addict who has used the zombie outbreak to take hostages for his twisted games.
For Hitman 3, where 47 is looking sharp in a red suit covered in Valentine’s Day hearts, I have mixed feelings about Lust. On the one hand, the changes to the map and the atmosphere are pretty great, but only in the main area where the targets are located. The rest of the time you are scouring the map for keys that will unlock clues as to the identity of the main target, who you are not even supposed to kill, but rather bring to the voice of Lust, who is not embodied by an animal statue this time, but a person with a snake motif. Once finished, killing the secondary targets - the competition - is entirely optional, and since this “escalation” had only a single round, you can complete the mission with no kills if so desired. There is no clear picture at all exactly how Lust plays into 47’s mind, or his past, as it does not imply him lusting for the targets, nor does the possibility of his clients’ lusts really play into his past work. Perhaps it influences the players’s bloodlust, if they choose to kill the competition, but beyond that, this one seems to convey the sin of Lust only superficially at best.
For Dead Rising 3, Nick enters a sex toy shop where he finds a man and woman tied to chairs in the back room studio and two zombies in cages suspended overhead. He then becomes locked in the room as Dylan Fuentes reveals himself, dressed in a pink cowboy hat and boots, a gimp suit and mask, and carrying a customized weapon that is a flamethrower and ice cannon in one, designed to look like male genitalia and which he holds against his groin as he fires it to complete the image; the Lust Cannon. Dylan demands that Nick amuse him with sexual acts performed on either him or the two captives or else he will kill him. Dylan’s sexual appetites seem to have no boundaries as his appearance, actions, words, and the setting indicate that he is essentially omnisexual; even the presence of the zombies indicate that he’s probably a necrophiliac. The fight itself isn’t unique, although Nick can dance on a pole during the fight to momentarily distract Dylan. Dylan eventually dies, but the reason why is not clear. Most reports indicate he breathes in too many fumes from his Lust Cannon and suffocates, but this isn’t made clear and he could have just as easily simply died from his injuries.
Who did it better? It’s a draw.
Neither one of these games conveys the sin very well, with Hitman 3 leaving the way 47 is supposed to relate to it very vague, and Dead Rising 3 gets straight to the violence of the battle with Dylan without really focusing on or providing an explanation for why he’s become so psychopathic for his desires. The lack of overall unique gameplay for either game makes both events unremarkable, although the fun of guessing who the admirer is gives the Hitman experience enough fun to at least enjoy doing it, and Dylan’s humorous death and decent enough of a battle can make it memorable for Dead Rising, along with his over-the-top appearance.
Overall, neither game gives the sin of Lust a chance to shine very much beyond the initial impression, and I really can’t decide between either one on who gave a better presentation of it. So for this sin, it’s a tie.