Hitman games often live and die on their replayability, but IO Interactive's latest entry in the series, simply entitled Hitman this time round, absolutely depends on it. This is partly because IO's chosen to take an episodic route for Agent 47's next adventure, providing players with just three core missions in the first 'Intro' episode instead of letting them loose with the entire game upfront.
In a way, this plays to Hitman's strengths, as these three mini sandboxes offer plenty of scope - letting you dispatch your targets in almost every way imaginable. Admittedly, two of these are tutorial missions, and familiar territory for anyone who played the beta, but when you open up the challenge menu and see the sheer number of options available, from assassination methods to intel discoveries and feats you can achieve, you know right away that there's more than enough here to keep you occupied and entertained until the next big mission arrives next month.
For instance, when Agent 47 rocks up in Paris to take out two elite fashion moguls-cum-terrorist leaders at a high society catwalk event, the whole complex is simply brimming with opportunities to help you take them out. Subduing and dressing up as different people once again plays a crucial role in how you move about the place – waiters won't be allowed upstairs to the secret members-only auction taking place on the second floor, for example – but discovering opportunities and eavesdropping titbits of conversation now plays an equally important role in tracking down alternative routes to your various targets.
Having skulked about a bit through the surrounding gardens, I overheard one such phone call taking place between my mark and one of the fashion icons due to go on the catwalk in just a few minutes time. Making sure there weren't any guards around, I quickly subdued dear Helmut, dumped his body in the river and then whisked off to get my make-up done so I could walk unhindered around the entire show – after I'd strutted my stuff on the catwalk, of course, and earned a hefty chunk of experience points in the process.
^ Subduing other NPCs and stealing their clothes is vital for moving undetected around each mission
With Helmut's disguise at my disposal, I could walk straight into my private meeting with my unsuspecting target, and once we'd had a nice chat about who Helmut was supposed to meet with next, I quietly slipped some rat poison I'd found earlier in the kitchen into her drink and stuffed her corpse in the wardrobe before swiftly taking my leave. Had I tried to go up as auction staff, on the other hand, I'd have been patted down by the security guards, which was too risky considering the number of concealed weapons I currently had stuffed up my sleeves.
My second mark was trickier to pin down on his own, as he was constantly being tailed by a wary bodyguard. My Helmut disguise got compromised, so I knocked out a stylist in the make-up room and ended up 'accidentally' dropping a chandelier on his head once he came to a brief halt on his relentless march round the manor house. However, I could have easily waited it out in a bush with a sniper rifle (once I'd found one, of course) or used a spare screwdriver to tamper with a lighting wire and electrocute him instead. Alternatively, I could have drawn his attention by setting off his planned fireworks display too early, spiked his favourite cocktail recipe and drowned him in a nearby toilet, or blown up both targets with remote explosives and caused a mass evacuation.
^ Don't fancy the silent, stealth approach? Try crashing the entire lighting rig at the Paris fashion show
The opportunities are endless, and it just goes to show how much more complex and varied Hitman is than other 'would-be assassin' games like Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Syndicate. To be fair, Syndicate did start to introduce a similar kind of opportunity-led system in a couple of its main assassinations, but Hitman takes it to a whole other level, as it not only gives you a boat load more tools to play with, but its intelligent AI also really makes you work for each and every challenge trophy. As it turns out, being an assassin probably isn't my life's greatest calling, but when the whole experience is complemented by such natural snippets of conversation and authentic character patterns and behaviours, it scratches several of the same itches that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain did late last year, albeit without the great, big open world to explore in between missions.
Once you've completed a few challenges and raised your mastery level, you can also begin each level from different locations within the same complex and don different costumes to give each new attempt a new twist and flavour. You don't just have to play the same main mission over and over again either, as there are also a handful of smaller contracts available which task you with taking out different marks with optional secondary objectives for better rewards.
^ The final training mission has plenty of options available, but the best has to be 'death by faulty ejector seat'
It's an incredibly polished game, although the long loading times on the PS4 version I tested will more than likely elicit a few groans of frustration when it comes to reloading checkpoints and manual save files, particularly if you end up getting compromised or gunned down in action. Likewise, despite the sheer amount of variety on offer here, the inclusion of just one main mission location can't help but feel a little stingy when the two tutorial missions are so much smaller than the Paris mission. Not everyone will want to mine these levels for every last achievement after all, and I ploughed through the whole lot in a little under three hours – and that's with several restarts and playing the first mission twice over.
As a result, Hitman might feel a little lean for those new to the series and anyone looking for something a bit more casual, and I feel like the inclusion of just one more big assassination would have put it in much greater stead to make a truly show-stopping first impression, if only to provide more variety as players dip in and out of each mission.
Still, when the first instalment costs just £12, there's certainly enough here to at least whet your appetite for what's to come over the next few months, although you will have to pay for each additional episode or buy an upgrade pack if you don't opt for the £45 Full Experience version at the beginning. The Full Experience will give you access to a whole year's worth of content, including the Sapienza mission in April, Marrakesh in May and then Thailand, the US and Japan later in the year. A proper disc release with every piece of content will arrive in January 2017.
That said, if you've grown tired of Assassin's Creed and want something a bit more challenging, then Hitman should definitely be in your sights as one of your next game purchases. Only time will tell whether Hitman's got the legs to sustain itself over another five installments, but from what I've seen so far, fans of the series are in for a real treat.
Available formats: PS4, Xbox One, PC