As part of the Hitman: Definitive Edition review, I have taken upon myself to kill as fancy in a manner as I can. I’ve pushed a woman over a ledge to her death. I’ve also poisoned a man’s champagne. Oh, I’ve also exploded another man with a gold ball. Well, you get the idea. Hitman: Definitive Edition just released and I have to admit that it felt damn shiok running around killing all my targets.
After separating from Square Enix, IO Interactive teamed up with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. They published the definitive edition which includes all previously released content with additional IO Interactive-themed costumes. I never played Hitman because of its episodic structure. Where got time to wait around for the next episode sia. Give me a full game any day. So Hitman: Definitive Edition was a great boon, having released all the episodes in one package.
Game-play
Hitman: Definitive Edition hasn’t changed that much. The game still maintains the same third-person stealth formula as with previous Hitman games in the series. The controls are smooth and intuitive. Nothing felt out of place or clunky. L1 is your sprint, O let you hug the wall and Δ was your interact button. IO Interactive found the perfect balance of command-to-button ratio and it shows. Agent 47 had never been more pleasing to control as you maneuver around the map. I never felt frustrated until want to throw my control across the room. That one worst case scenario liao.
Speaking of which, the map is much larger compared to other games in the series. I’m talking si bei big. Like, no joke, can get lost-wandering-around lost. As I was walking around in Marrakesh, I was amazed at how wide a space IO Interactive packed into the map. The space allows greater opportunities for players to mess around and discover new methods of assassination. How else could I have stumbled across an injured yoga instructor and assumed his identity before pushing my target off a ledge while she was in a tree pose? Ah, good times.
Instinct mode is no longer an expendable resource unlike Hitman: Absolution. Damn heng that it isn’t expandable sia. I found myself spamming Instinct mode. Even though you may be wearing a disguise, there are some NPCs that recognize that you’re out of place. The only way you can recognize these people is by triggering instinct mode and identifying the white circle above their heads. With instinct mode on, slipping through the map more or less became a cake-walk. If it wasn’t for the fact that the world turns grey and the music dulls, I would have left instinct mode on 24/7 while playing the game. Macam like some superman can identify everything from far away.
Music
The music of Hitman was rather immersive. Every time you commit to an action that could potentially get you caught, the music begins to ramp up. You wonder if you going to kena caught and the music slowly dies down as you blend back into society. My heart cannot tahan everytime I take-down someone.
Each location you visit for your assassinations has its own sounds that drop you into the world. As you wander the bazaars of Marrakesh, store owners come up to you attempting to sell you vases or other trinkets. In fact they do this over and over again like their real-life counterparts. Si bei annoying sia. I was highly tempted to strangle them. But that would have lowered my score so I held off. Limpeh come back find you one day. I warn you first.
Perhaps the only off-putting moment was when I was wandering the GAMA private hospital in Hokkaido, Japan when I heard Chinese music being played. Wrong language sia.
Re-playability
Outside of the core story missions, Hitman: Definitive Edition comes with bonus episodes. If you purchase the game on the PlayStation 4, there are an addition six exclusive missions for you to play as well. Swee, more free stuff to play with is always good mah.
These bonus missions provide new targets for you to assassinate in the maps of the campaign. This puts new spin on the previous experience you had while playing through the campaign. You can use your knowledge of these maps to your advantage, constructing more elaborate plans to take down your target.
However, it would have been great if IO Interactive had provided players with a fresh map for some of these targets. There is only so many times I can run around the GAMA hospital before being bored of seeing the same places over and over again. Going to play until I fall asleep la.
Final Thoughts
Hitman: Definitive Edition is a fun game. Guarantee plus chop. The tools and the opportunity are there for the player to mess around with. If you haven’t already tried the game, now would be a good time to pick up the game. If you already had the game I wouldn’t recommend purchasing this edition. The extra bonus content are merely costumes that Agent 47 can wear which doesn’t merit the extra cost of buying the game again.
Hitman: Definitive Edition is available on Xbox One and PS4.
