Hitman 2016

[Art Blade]

I wrote a review on steam some time ago, here it is:

My first Hitman game was BloodMoney which apparently most players considered the best Hitman game. I fell in love with it and played the living daylights out of it. I then bought all of the previous titles and played them through as well. Then came Absolution and I didn't think I'd like it (and apparently most players consider it the worst Hitman game) so I was sad and frustrated.

Then the new Hitman was released but with -- for my taste -- two downsides: always online policy and episodical release of missions. I didn't like the concept of buying a game that I wouldn't be able to play *through* in my own time because it was going to be served bit by bit (rather than one big chunk) so I kept my hands off it.

Then steam released the entire first season in one go plus I spotted it when it was 50% off (just like right now) and I decided to buy it.

Ever since, within just a few weeks, I managed to spend 150+ hours playing it and all I can say is:

IT IS GREAT! Like BloodMoney on steroids! If you loved BloodMoney, then this is the game for you.

[PZ]

Excellent review, and you can't go wrong with a price like that.  However, I will need to find physical media since my connection is so slow. 

[Art Blade]

at least now you'll be able to get one

Good thing: you don't have to stay online all the time.

What is the difference between online and offline?

- Leaderboards: You can't compare your score with the world after finishing a mission.
- Savegames: offline savegames cannot be used when going online; it's "either or"
- Elusive Targets: Not available (only downside: you won't get additional suits to dress agent 47 with, just the default suit. Doesn't really matter, you can still use disguises..)
- no custom-made/self-made contracts as they need to be published. Might prevent you from completing certain challenges that cannot be done during the regular campaign. Shouldn't be a big issue as most of the "good stuff" will be unlocked during normal campaign.

[PZ]

Good to know - thanks 

Once installed, I can usually handle the smaller traffic associated with the game being online.  In fact, i could probably download the game, but I feat that one day my provider will throttle my bandwidth 

[Art Blade]

if you are online, every two weeks or so (not sure for how long from now) a new Elusive Target will be released. That's usually something around 200/300MB download.

[PZ]

That's not too bad - would only take about 30-60 minutes to download.  I balk at the multi-gb downloads 

[Art Blade]

that's not to be worried about, the season one will be shipped with all missions and bonus maps. Bonus maps (a variation of one of the story missions) might be in that range, however.

[Art Blade]

[Art Blade]

[PZ]

Cool 

[Art Blade]

I like the visual impact of these now "old" trailers. The first one is almost completely outside the game, they created it before the release. It looks fantastic, anyway. The second trailer contains parts of the first actual in-game mission trailer (kind of an intro about the mission) and parts of actual gameplay albeit a tad more polished regarding camera and so forth, but it is close to the actual gameplay. The graphics are almost that great, in-game. Depending on your vid card and settings, that is, they are that great.

[PZ]

That's good to know - to me the graphics quality are just about equal to game play. 

[Art Blade]

I just got another silent assassin (SA) rating on the Elusive Target that has gone live today (for six days) again thanks to MrFreeze2244's fantastic video. He's the Hitman god  It was an unusual Elusive Target as it was actually two targets (that's new, at least for me) and from what I've gathered, it was the first ET set in Hokkaido. Also, you needed to kill both targets in a specific manner in order to get the SA rating, by using some poisonous injection.

Like in the vid, I killed the guy in the garden (not in the restaurant which was an option) and then I was a bit nervous when it came to killing the woman as I didn't want to make a wrong move, I waited a second, hesitated, and man I was lucky I did, she turned around and walked away (I would have caused a visible attack and very likely got shot on the spot by the guard in the background which would have been the end of it all -- there are no second chances -- and I really wanted that disguise as a reward, a white Japanese traditional suit) so when she returned, I was calm as a coma and killed her. DONE!
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[PZ]

Nice 

That guy is really good - from the way he talks, he spends a ton of time in the game - he even knows when and where people will be in a given amount of time.

[Art Blade]

I actually have been thinking about him just now.

Generally speaking, it is a matter of how dedicated you are. He definitely spends all his ("spare") time on Hitman. He plays on a PS4 with several accounts which allows him to test (and fail) with his secondary accounts and get it right with the main account. You can tell because sometimes you'll see different user names on the game menu in his vids.

Regarding the "elusive targets," which is supposed to be a "one time only" mission, he found out how to circumnavigate that restriction, allowing him to play through various strategies and even if he fails, he can still start over. That is how he can actually come up with different and working strategies as opposed to what the vast majority of players do: Try their luck (and skills) hoping to accomplish the mission. Few will make it every time, even fewer will get a silent assassin rating all the time.

Starting an elusive target will show a splash screen with this warning:

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So, if the target is killed (which is OK) and you're about to die (which isn't OK at all) then hit ESC (pause menu, which, by itself, doesn't save you from failing) and pull the ethernet cable. It will disrupt the connection to the Hitman servers which in return will cause a splash screen to pop up telling you that you "lost" connection. There is the option to return to the main menu which you select and, oh wonder, when you reconnect your ethernet cable, the elusive target mission will be available again as if you had never touched it. Nice tip. I didn't know that when I played my very first elusive target and I panicked and.. failed. Opportunity lost, never to come back.

The "normal" way is to restart the mission as long as neither the target nor you have died. Once either one is dead, there is no normal way back, only finish or fail.

Well, I made use of that trick once when I was still new to the "business" and still quite nervous  Now I'm relatively cool when playing them and haven't failed ever since. Because of the fragile nature of those missions, I much rather have a professional gamer like MrFreeze2244 test the options and I watch his solution in order to play it like he did than try something stupid and fail.

However, I'm quite proud of one elusive target that I decided to take on all by myself, not having watched any vids before my attempt but knowing I could pull the plug, and I came up with a solution that not only secured me a silent assassin rating but, for my taste, was even simpler (easier) than the solution MrFreeze2244 came up with (I watched his video afterwards to see whether or not he had the same idea) so yes, I can do it on my own but man, I took my sweet time to get that job done