I do not know at what moment of mental derangement it occurred to me to ask Hitman 3 to be much more than the previous two. Nor why did I do the same in the jump from the first to the second, but it is something that has accompanied me throughout the game shouting ” but what do you say, abnormal, if this is beautiful as it is “. And it’s true, it really is a joy .
It may be that the idea of the numbers behind the name is to blame when, in reality, the trilogy is a whole that has plenty of numbers . That it has sought to evolve the minimum to be able to remain playable in its entirety. One of the cases of the classic ” if it already works, don’t touch it ” in which Hitman 3 is just one more sample of how successful and understandable that approach is.
A long and satisfying road
What began as an episodic adventure of good intentions and better wickers, is already an absolute monster with dozens of hours behind it. How we receive these different scenarios converted into chapters, here at once, is the only thing that separates Hitman 3 from what we experienced in 2016 with the first Hitman.
Since then its evolution has been brief, no longer for lack of desire or ambition, but for the idea of maintaining the same line and incorporating timid variations or improvements in previous games. Viewing objectives from a mirror or using a mobile phone are easy actions to integrate from the current game to the previous one , but revolutionizing a mechanic is another story.
If Hitman 3 is not a significant evolutionary leap compared to what was experienced in the previous two, it is precisely for that reason, because today more than ever you want to start playing the first and reach the last one at once, whether in a one-day marathon – rather two- or scrutinizing each of the levels so that the three games last you a month in the sun and in the shade.
More important if possible is the fact that you do not need that jump. While there are tweaks such as expanding more missions with additional objectives that go beyond just killing So and So, the basic idea and structure of the game is completely linear.
Much of what was five years ago can be repeated now, and this is so because that was a great game then just as this turns out to be now. Hitman 3 , and the entire trilogy, is a masterclass in level design and love for a franchise.
One of the few examples of a character, story and saga with tradition, who know how to recycle, reinvent themselves and come out with that tremendously complicated somersault. My sincere congratulations and loudest applause to IO Interactive for what they have achieved over all these years.
Stealth well done
Following in the same vein that this text began with, the best I can do is replicate Agent 47 as master of disguise and, with the work already done, take off my mask: the stealth games / sections make me ball. Staying looking at the screen while waiting for a soldier who is walking from Cuenca to be able to move on to the next one is something that bores me sovereignly.
It may be more to blame for poor design in certain games that use stealth, but I rarely enjoy being the imperceptible shadow that it should be. Especially when I have a loaded gun that burns my hands. And precisely because it has so little wick with respect to that type of ideas, when a game arrives that does it sovereignly well, it wins me instantly.
Call it Metal Gear Solid V, call it Dishonored 2, call it Hitman 3 .
The guard who comes from Cuenca is still there in one way or another, but instead of having to stand around the corner of a long corridor waiting, the freedom of action to go unnoticed in front of their eyes – or grab him by the neck with the rope. a piano- is what makes the difference .
In Hitman 3 you are never waiting because you are always on the lookout for something else. The setting, the absolute protagonist of each of the levels, is the key to a game in which observation is always more important than action.
The good assassin is the one who, before taking any step, has explored to find out what his objectives are doing, what disguise you can take advantage of to go through each area, what weapons are available, what accidents you can cause, what routes the characters follow, what routes the characters follow when something causes them to change their route and, above all, how to take advantage of that puzzle to the graphic adventure that each room hides.
What, in short, is “ using chicken with a pulley ” that can make it easier for you to turn an entire room into a gas chamber that poisons its occupants so that you can walk around like someone who doesn’t want it. Those eureka moments in which the game applauds you by making the bodies of your targets crash against the ground while you walk away turning your back on what happened.
Its scenarios, the main protagonist
Each stage is an exquisitely assembled clock gear so that action and reaction are in perfect harmony. Being well aware of everything that can go wrong in an open-world game, his dominance over what happens surprises in small levels and overwhelms the largest and most populated ones .
The moment is yet to come when something does not go as it should or there is no appropriate reaction. Although it is true that if you shoot yourself in a nightclub, the public should leave there like a soul that the devil carries, that they crouch while waiting for the storm to pass is the only possible reaction to a ” game over ” that it would be more counterproductive and unsatisfactory than the freedom that it boasts with these concessions .
But beyond that, each of the small or long plots and possibilities that each level offers is worth living and enjoying. I am not into stealth games and neither am I into hunting achievements, but this is one of those titles that inevitably lends itself to it .
In general, the idea is to take advantage of the first games to see the stories that each scenario offers, a simple way to follow its narrative to become a fake guinea pig to get closer to your objective, or to do the same by disguising yourself as a detective to solve a crime.
Far from aiming at a global objective, killing X, with those stories that you come across on your walk through the area, and that you can decide to follow or ignore -freedom above all else, even to eliminate any hint of clue about what to do next- , the idea of these stories is to introduce you to the stage and its possibilities by taking small, more affordable steps .
A lesson that tastes great when, with the upper hand and some additional bonus such as a hidden weapon somewhere on the map, or a start in the middle instead of from the outside, you scroll to the challenges tab and You try to beat the ones that the game offers. When ” killing X ” turns into ” killing X with a rubber duck ” is when Hitman 3 and his delicate gear prove their worth.
A little leap for a greater good
The inclusion of the phone as part of the arsenal of 47, an excuse to include a limited photography mode and add a little more chicha to actions that could well have remained in a ” press X to interact “, is the great asset of a game that grows also timidly with the arrival of permanent shortcuts . The ladder that you could not access in the first round will always be there in the following after having unlocked it.
Otherwise, the changes are relatively limited and Hitman 3 is as big and as good as its scenarios. There are some who know a bit of a missed opportunity because, to give a couple of examples, the party in a Berlin nightclub is far from being as stunning as the fashion runway that opened the first Hitman , and what should be an overcrowded megacity China pales in comparison to what was seen in Bombay in Hitman 2.
Not everything can be perfect and there are always a couple of scenarios that leave a worse taste in your mouth than the rest, but beyond the attractiveness of the mounted theater, what ends up weighing more is what is behind the curtain, and there is still no have option to complaint.
Exquisite as it is playable and visually, it also ends up being so in terms of its plot, a Mission Impossible story that, precisely because we have a dozen of those behind us, becomes more predictable than we would like.
Luckily the surprises are still there, in the form here of a lofty final chapter that breaks the idea of an open stage to move you to a corridor in a straight line that, far from breaking with its philosophy, makes it even more remarkable. Too bad we can’t talk more about what is essentially a very pleasant surprise , especially when the initial dislocation is followed by a string of equally exciting challenges.
I can’t think of a better ending to a long road that has kept us in suspense until the end, not because of what could happen with 47 in its history, but also because of the fate of the trilogy and that of an IO Interactive that started his journey with Square Enix and has ended up self-publishing his latest chapter. Thank the universe for happy endings.
What began its legacy as a double A saga is already an emblem of the video game industry at the height of the greats. Maybe with previous titles the idea of costumes and murders had its grace, but no one is fooled, what the Hitman trilogy has achieved is to put the franchise in its place.
And that is, both for Hitman 3 and for the previous two, a place in Olympus for those games that have no rival. There are other games that may look like Super Mario, but the original is unique in its own right .
With Hitman it is exactly the same. Sure there are other stealth games where you have to assassinate different targets, but there aren’t any like this one. It may not be perfect, but no one else has been able to offer what he does.
Hitman 3
| Platforms | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch and PC (analyzed version) |
|---|---|
| Multiplayer | Not |
| Developer | IO Interactive |
| Company | IO Interactive |
| Launch | January 20, 2021 |
| Price | 59.90 euros |
The best
- Another fantastic succession of levels and kills
- Its introductory plots are increasingly convoluted and surprising
- A real gem for completists
Worst
- Not all levels shine to the same level
- It would not have hurt to have some additional novelty
