OS Cover Image

OS Cover Image

Sunday, 3 February 2013

Hitman: HD Trilogy Review

The first big video game of 2013 hits- is it worth your cash?
It feels almost an age since I reviewed FarCry 3, the last big game of 2012, and so it's with trepidation that I approached the newly-released Hitman: HD Trilogy for a verdict. Combining Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money, this package offers a heck of a lot of content and replay value for your £20. The question, though, is all of this stuff worth your time in the wake of 2012's sensational Absolution (10/10)?

For this unique kind of game review, it's always best to examine the individual offerings before coming to a cumulative verdict, so that's what I'll do here. In all honesty, Silent Assassin doesn't set a strong early precedent, as it's the weaker component of the overall package by a fair margin. Sure, the narrative is very compelling, with plenty of intriguing plot twists that develop over the course of the ten-odd hours of gameplay, but this early on in the series, the AI was stunted and rather hopelessly suspicious of every costume that Agent 47 takes. The visuals naturally aren't perfect given that a decade has passed since Hitman 2's original release, even despite the HD resolution, but things improve after this point in the package.

Indeed, everything improves dramatically once we're past that slightly weak 'first' instalment of the trilogy. Hitman: Contracts boasts a renewed focus on apathetic targets, a film noir-esque narrative full of flashbacks to the greatest moments of the (suspiciously absent) original Hitman game and best of all an improved AI system. The graphics look a lot better considering they ran on PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, and the soundtrack is at times absolutely beautiful. You can genuinely see the first foundations for Absolution building here, and it's a refreshing shift in gameplay that makes this a helluva better experience.

Rounding out the package is Blood Money. Xbox 360 gamers may already own this one if they were there with the console's launch line-up, but for PS3 fans this is a totally new purchase, and again one that really shows off the first steps made towards the fantastic Absolution. This time, the storyline reflects the terrorist nature of our modern day world, and the corruption that takes place within it, truly bringing Agent 47 into the twenty-first century for the first time despite all his games being set in that period. It's probably tied with Contracts as the best element of the package.

All of that not enough for you? Well, then, take a deep breath, as even the Sniper Challenge downloadable game featured in the pre-order tease campaign towards Absolution is included as a download feature. While it's a fairly minor offering, Sniper Challenge is great fun, pure Hitman on the whole that sweetens the package. Ultimately, Hitman: HD Trilogy may a little too 'hardcore' for the less-nostalgic gamers out there brought up on a regime of Call Of Duty, but for those of us who loved the subtle stealth intricacies of Absolution, there aren't many other packages that offer the same supreme value as this one. Love Hitman? Welcome to the perfect opening present for 2013.
9/10

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