Hitman: Absolution

So here's the thing. A lot of people have similar complaints including: the game is too short, agent 47 is too flat and the gameplay is repetitive. All those things are vastly misunderstood.

The gameplay is actually not a one trick pony. The player himself chooses his own style. This can be "Rambo" style where you can shoot everyone on sight or you can see the level like a real world chess play. Let me explain. All the non-playable-characters (NPC's) move around the level (chess board) in a certain pattern unless you interact with the environment. This can be through interacting with NPC's and/or with items and traps. You can also try not to discover these patterns and just use stealthy approaches. Or, you can combine ALL of these play styles and switch between them whenever you want or see fit. And let's not forget about the signature kills that are little puzzles by themselves. That actually debunks the argument of the gameplay being repetitive. It's actually quite varied.

Depending on your play style the game can be short or quite long. If you're a perfectionist and restart at checkpoints every time you got spotted then you got your hands full. If you're some impatient monkey only playing Rambo style you will finish this game relatively fast. Don't punish the developers for this only because you decided to take the easy way for a game that's not solely intended for shooting everything on sight.

Yes, agent 47 is flat. But in a good way. He's a hitman and not some emotionally disturbed tearjerker. His seriousness gives him character and it provides for humoristic scenes like the tin foil hat scene or the elevator scene with the sushi guy. Of course, if you only go Rambo you will miss A LOT of these scenes since most levels can be completed in a variety of ways. Check the challenges tab in the game menu for tips on that. This game does have a story and it helps with Agent 47's character. The other characters put down a good performance.

However, there are some bugs in this game and I wish there were some boss fights or whatnot. I was disappointed about the nun assassins (if you've seen the trailer) because they aren't that interesting. Also, I found the scoring/point system somewhat distracting. Still, I would recommend this game because I found it very enjoyable.