I've put off writing this for a couple weeks now, but I'm highly concerned for one of my favorite game series.
Hitman
I think I'm the only one on this blog that's played any of the games so I'll give you all a snippet of the game and how it plays.
Basically you're a clone assassin. You're raised to be totally ruthless and have zero care about anything, but the job. Agent 47 is a killer and he's the best. While this sounds extremely cliche the games pull it off very well. While 47 is totally ruthless he's very "likeable" in a Riddick antihero kind of way. His style and absolute dedication to his work make him someone that's very interesting to play and watch. I know I've told Amateria numerous times that there's nobody I'd rather have out to kill me than 47. He's scary as hell, but he's absolutely my favorite game character ever.
All of the previous 4 games have played similarly and that's why it's developed such a cult following. The game lets you play however the hell you want and rewards you for your work. I personally always went for "Silent Assassin" ratings at the end of each mission. That means no bodies were found, no alarms were sounded and you never blew your cover. You got in, did the mission and left. It's very difficult to pull off and requires total dedication to the game. You have to learn the entire level and read all the info you have on your target so you know their habits and what they look like. The game requires patience and it's attention to detail is staggering.
In one of my favorite missions ever I was tasked with killing an opera singer. I could have just hid in his closet and snuffed him out in his dressing room and left. Instead I hid in his closet and while he stepped out of his dressing room I swapped his prop gun with a real one. His costar shot and killed him on stage. Then I blew up the supports of a giant chandelier to kill the opera singer's gay lover. It was awesome. Please keep in mind that I had to put in a lot of work to get to the dressing room unnoticed. Where are you going to get an outfit that doesn't raise suspicion? Where are you going to get the real gun? How the hell do you get there?
Ever since the second Hitman game I've fallen in love with 47. Not just his particular brand and style, but also because the developers really seem to have a dedication to the kill themselves. Do it how you want and be as creative as you want.
I'm writing this post because I'm very afraid that with the newly announced "Hitman: Absolution" they are going to kill my beloved 47. Here's the announcement trailer and to be fair I think it's awesome.
47 killing dudes and if you're a fan of the series you'll see many many hints at what the game will be like. Also, if you're an astute fan you'll realize who the woman in the shower is.
While the trailer is cool it shows the exact opposite of how the games have been built. All out action and hand to hand combat. The trailer shows what looks to be "improvisation killing" (my term) like drowning people or pulling cords out of walls to strangle people. Using what you can find his has always been the case with Hitman, but THIS IS NOT MY 47! This is too actiony! This is too SPLINTER CELL: CONVICTION!
The old games let you use anything you could find. Kitchen knives were actually my favorite weapon. With all the tools I had to kill I preferred finding a kitchen and using a butcher knife. I know that sounds sick, but it was my modus operandi. I got that into these games.
I saw some gameplay footage come out of E3 which is even more disturbing. It seriously looks like the new Splinter Cell being played with an Agent 47 skin overlayed onto Sam Fisher. Hell it even looks like Batman: Arkham Asylum! Seriously, here's the gameplay footage.
I've read reports that the new imposter 47 is going to have an "Instinct Mode" not at all unlike Batman's Detective Mode where he can see guards and even the paths that they walk! Unreal!
Compare the new videos I showed you with an old trailer for Hitman: Blood Money. Sure there's a little shooting, but the trailer shows tons more about who 47 is and is a much stronger trailer in my opinion.
I guess I'm just an old school gamer who likes a challenge that's worried about one of my favorite series going down the drain with Sam Fisher.
Two other sad notes. The new game WILL NOT use either my boy Jesper Kyd for music OR the original voice actor, David Bateson.
Is no series immune to this?
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Yeah, it's a rough trend. Splinter Cell: Conviction didn't even bother me, I just wish it wasn't a Splinter Cell game. You couldn't play it like any of the other ones, which depending on your perspective, could be a good or a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteAppeal is a tricky beast. I've never been drawn into the Hitman games as a player, but I have as an audience member. I lack the patience or outside the box thinking to make the Hitman games worth my time, but watching you play them was an absolute blast. It looks to me that the designers are taking a solid look at their game, decided what was most important to them from the previous series, then made that a focus on future development. I disagree with that approach. I prefer the "zelda style" method of development. Change things around, but not so much that your original style or gameplay is lost in the transition. This creates a much smoother evolution of titles, and avoids losing fans along the way.
In any case, I'm sorry to see them ruin something you loved. When people ask me what Hitman is like, I always tell them the story of how you put a bomb into a poisoned cake.
I agree with Amateria about Splinter Cell: Conviction. I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great game, but I don't think it was Splinter Cell. It should have been 24: The Game or Bourne...or just a new series altogether! Of course, the risk of doing that is that people might not buy your game as opposed to seeing "Splinter Cell" written on the box and judging by that alone that it will be worth their time.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, why NOT innovate your series like Ubisoft did with SC: Conviction? When developers don't innovate, we get series like Madden and Call of Duty, and correct me if I'm wrong, but we're all kinda tired of seeing a new Call of Duty every year that's basically identical to the previous version.
Anyway, I've always wanted to try out Hitman. I almost bought "Blood Money" once. Is it any good?
I'm all for innovating and refining, but drastic game design changes is a big deal to me. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
ReplyDeleteThe game admittedly could've used a better save system and aiming needed some help. The core gameplay was excellent and doesn't need to be changed.
I guess that it bothers me because this type of innovating seems more to appeal to a broader or new audience which is fine and all, but as Amateria said, you're going to alienate your fans.
Splinter Cell: Conviction was indeed a good game, but was so far from the originals that you couldn't play it like the old ones even if you wanted to. You didn't even have fucking night vision!
Hopefully the new Hitman will at least give me the ability to play it old school.
Also, Blood Money is really good. I think that you're a lot like me in gaming style and could really enjoy it. It's a very solid game and the thrill of it comes from pulling of a kill really well. Put in the time and you'll love it!
Piggybacking on what you said about innovating and CoD it's important to remember that there have only been four Hitman games ever, starting in 2000. There have been 4 CoD games over 4 years.
ReplyDeleteHalo is a great shooter (at times) with many iterations, but you never got that wore out of it because the releases are 3 years apart and there was tons of time for the promo machine to do it's work.
Hitman wasn't churning them out one after the other so the breaks between them along with the refinements in gameplay made them great.
If there was a new Hitman every year it would've been a problem.
Splinter Cell had to be totally rebuilt after the team saw what the original Assassin's Creed played like. I just don't want that same treatment to Hitman is all.
I don't mean to bash the game at all, but I think Hitman has a dated sense of gameplay. I don't mean that it isn't relevant, but more that it isn't mainstream. There was a time that Hitman's style was cutting edge, and edgy in content. By the current standard of the industry (and more than just shooters) Hitman is very slow, methodical, and pretty par for the course in content. We have guns with chainsaws now, and people ripping others in half, and headshots! Boom!
ReplyDeleteI would put Metal Gear Solid in the same boat. Their use of cutscenes that was at one time incredibly innovative, is now old, tired, and almost looked down upon. They never really grew up with the rest of the industry.
I think there is a place for those games, but it will always be in the niche audience. I think that's why this reboot is surprising to me. Hitman always seemed to walk at a beat of a different drum (a slow, steady, scary-as-all-sin-get-you-in-the-dark, sort of drum) and didn't need to change much at all.
Hopefully we get a good result like Splinter Cell.