Long story short, after being blown away last year by the best stealth game I've ever played (talking about MGSV, of course) I was left with an appetite for the genre and was really looking forward to the new HITMAN, despite having no previous experience with the franchise. Mostly, this bit of gameplay sold me on the game being a worthy follow-up [to MGSV]: [YOUTUBE]cA2VVo9ShwA[/YOUTUBE] Pretty neat, uh? Well, I'm afraid everything that has come to light about the game since has been everything but "neat." First was the weird way in which Io were describing the state the game was gonna launch in, making it sound awfully similar to Early Access, only to recently come forward and explain the game was gonna be episodic in nature (Red flag #1). I don't know how I feel about a game whose focus isn't delivering a primarily narrative experience suddenly taking up the episodic model, but it sure as fuck doesn't inspire me with confidence. I don't understand why they are so hellbent on releasing the game on March, one way or another, when most people would rather they take the time to complete it and deliver the full thing in one go. Makes me think Io is being rushed by Squeenix, and this could translate into sacrificing quality in favor of meeting a deadline, which would be as concerning as it sounds. Alas, we can't know for sure what's their thinking behind this move, and it doesn't have to mean the game will be bad. What it does mean is that the game will be divided by the [open-world] locations wherein the missions of each episode will take place, said episodes coming out in a monthly basis beginning in March and culminating in June—presumably by then we would have the game in it's entirety. Ok, whatever. I decided this isn't a deal-breaker, since the one good thing about the game being chopped into episodes is that I can just pay 15 bucks for the first one and if I don't like the experience that's all I've lost, instead of the 60 bucks the full game would have costed otherwise. But then came Red Flag #2: The beta. I didn't play it myself, because it required you pre-order the game to opt in and I rarely ever pre-order games, but I've seen enough footage to make an impression, and I did not like what I saw one bit. I'm now seriously concerned. Just look at this: [YOUTUBE]HorFo-Ptalw[/YOUTUBE] This is bad. This is embarrassing. The AI is downright moronic. I've seen wax dolls that move more fluidly than some of the character models here. The huge eyesore onscreen text announcing when NPCs are getting "suspicious" or when you are "exposed" is one of the most appalling UI decisions I've seen in a stealth game. The lip-sync is botched to hell. "Butbutbutbut it's a beta! It isn't finished yet!" some would say, however I would be remiss not to note this "beta" came out a little under 3 weeks before the main game. 3 weeks is not nearly enough time to iron out everything that's alarming about the beta. The game shouldn't feel this under-cooked so close to release. I wanted to play this as soon as it came out, but now I'm starting to reconsider. What do you think? Are you a fan of the franchise? Have you been looking forward to this game? Do you think you'll buy it? Did you played the beta yourself? Do you think I'm overreacting? Do let me know.
It's the training levels, yeah, they make things clear. Since you never played Hitman before, let me tell you this: it is easy to finish the levels, but perfecting them is difficult. Very difficult. And if you play one the higher difficulty levels, I think they might be the most difficult stealth games there are. No hud, no help, no special abilities, no nothing accompanied by increased amounts of enemies who are very alert and accurate. It's basically the "fuck you and your entire lineage" mode. That said, I never really got into the Hitman series, even though I've dabbled in it as far back as the very first game. I dunno why I never stuck with them, because I always found them very entertaining
I'm not even sure I'll play it this time around anymore lol. At least, not in this state. That AI is unforgivable. I'll wait for the reviews. I really hope your are right about the onscreen text just showing up for the tutorial level.
Nah, the text will most likely still be there unless you play on the higher difficulty levels. It's been a thing for a while, but it's usually not that painfully big--I agree that's a questionable design decision. What I meant is how the game holds your hand and makes the various assassination ways very obvious. In the levels outside the tutorials, you usually have to search the entire level to find the best (or funniest.) way to do something and the first few times you do a level, it shouldn't be difficult at all to figure out a totally new way to assassinate the target. You've got to either read a guide or play through a single level a couple of times before you can say that you really finished it. The ultimate goal in a level is basically to get the "Silent Assassin" rank. Getting Silent Assassin in the more recent games basically means that you need to get through the whole level without anybody suspecting you or spotting you, you're not allowed to kill anybody but your target and the target must be killed in a way that doesn't imply that foul play was the cause of death--which usually means an "accidental" kill, like putting fugu fish poison into the targets drugs so it looks like he was killed by an overdose. Really, Hitman isn't a clear cut stealth game but more like an actual Hitman simulator. I do really recommend them, though. Why not pick up the previous game, Hitman: Absolution? I was a little disappointed by it simply because it was more story driven instead of having those clear cut levels that were just all about finding ways to get to the target--a formula Hitman 2016 seems to be returning too--but it's still very good.
^^^Agh, you just made me want the game again, dumb AI and all. *Sigh* I guess I'll have to trust Squeenix, reluctant as I may be. In any case, there is nothing good modding can't fix, so there is that. I'll get back to you with my experience with the first episode or whatever we are calling them.
