Table of Contents
- the world of an assassin
- a king of disguises
- A different experience for the new generation
- Lots of content beyond the story
- Conclusion
In the now distant year 2000, video games began to move towards a new structure. More and more emphasis was placed on the freedom that games could bring and, although on the consoles of the time, games were in a kind of middle ground between these evolutions and the 2D model adopted in the past, it was on computers that the different experiences were located.
Between the first steps of online multiplayer and the great strategy simulators, a franchise would also have its birth on PCs: Hitman, the series in which you control an assassin for hire and must travel through the most varied locations in the world without being discovered to eliminate your targets. 21 years later, this series features over 8 games, all known for elevating freedom and immersion. A special highlight goes to the trilogy started in 2016, known as “Murder World”. And now, coming to the new consoles, the conclusion of this great arc, Hitman 3, impresses.
the world of an assassin
Hitman 3 begins by making it clear that the consequences of its 2018 predecessor are strong in the world of Agent 47. Now the assassin is part of a clandestine operation trying to defeat the Providence, a group of the world's great tycoons who control the course of society. In terms of story, the game is basically that, taking you to the most varied locations to assassinate your targets and be able to destroy this group. However, it's how the story ties into the extremely open-ended gameplay that gives vent to one of the game's first trump cards.
When selecting one of the game's locations in its story mode for the first time, your options are pretty limited on what to do. You will necessarily start from a certain location and have a very limited amount of weapons to choose from. From there, the player finds himself in the situation of exploring and understanding the level, until he ends up facing some interesting dialogue taking place, and a warning in the game interface explains that, if he wants, from this interaction he can follow. The "story mission".
This mission is indicated every time the player makes a location for the first time, since from objective indicators it will "introduce" him to some of the characteristics of each location. An example is in the game's fourth location, which takes place in a secret base in Chongqing, na China. From the story mission, which is a tour given to Agent 47 disguised as an inspector, the player can discover functions such as elevators that don't work, furnace rooms that can incinerate people, and location of hidden cameras. It's also worth noting that there are generally three missions of this style in each location, leading up to and introducing different sides and particularities of each stage.
Story quests also help you accumulate location experience scores faster, increasing level knowledge of the level and thus unlocking new starting points, new weapon options, and even locations where allies can send item packs.
The game becomes more and more interesting each time a location is replayed, as, with more awareness of the areas, rooms and people that are in the place, it gets better and better to explore. In a long time, I confess that I haven't played any game that encourages its replayability in such an organic and functional way.
a king of disguises
A big part of being a killer like the Agent 47 is its enormous adaptability to the most varied situations, and Hitman 3 It shows this brilliantly. Two specific missions stand out in this: that of Berlin and the of Dartmoor.
Em Berlin, a rival force settles into an underground nightclub, and the Agent 47 must kill 5 members of the 10 present in order to make them escape the place. The party, with 3 floors, maintenance areas, coexistence, bars and dance hall, is full of people who have nothing to do with the situation, which can turn anything bad into a catastrophic event.
Walking through the party, the Agent 47 has the option to disable guards or people who are just dancing, assume their clothes and behave as they would. Meanwhile, the player observes the routines of each of the rival group members, and understands and plans how to kill them. One of them is between the dance hall and a rest room for the guards, which has a small bathroom. Upon entering this bathroom, the killer has the option of turning on the faucet until it floods the room, drawing the attention of his target. Hiding in the small closet on the toilet, just wait for your target to enter and discreetly murder him, hiding the body in the closet.
Another target is constantly at the bar on the second floor. The player can toss a coin or a soda can to knock the target out of his position, and assassinate him discreetly, or he can go a great distance and shoot him with a silent weapon, although this draws a lot of attention. Looking up, though, a suspicious structure hangs right over where the target is.
Disguising itself as a maintenance member, the agent gains access to the area near where the structure is suspended, and with a simple press of a button, drops it on top of the target. He's dead, and the chances of anyone figuring out who was responsible is slim. The Berlin mission always has these tones, with more and more options and use of the player's intelligence and perception for the varied adaptations needed.
Dartmoor, however, it is a more truncated mission, but I dare say that it is one of the best video game levels I've had the pleasure of playing in recent years. Set in a mansion where a very wealthy family lives, the Agent 47In order to gain access to it and be able to reach his target, he must disguise himself as a private detective hired to investigate a suicide.
However, upon arriving there and being introduced to the scenario, he discovers that his target, the great matriarch of the family, is locked in his office and will only open the door when the detective has a conclusion about the suicide. From there, a real movie unfolds, with the player controlling the detective with ulterior motives.
At every moment of this phase, the player is interrogating people, investigating evidence with their cameras, or breaking into locked places to find evidence. It's a completely different pace than the rest of the game, which is why she stands out so much. However, the most important thing about all this is that the player is not forced to follow this line to reach the target: if he wants, he can arrive shooting and killing everyone or try to invade the office without even disguising himself, entering from the outside of the room. mansion. It's spectacular.
A different experience for the new generation
Although available for PS4 and for the Xbox One, and even available in an edition where the game is played via cloud technology on Nintendo Switch, the real highlight of Hitman 3 is in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox series. The version evaluated here is that of Sony's new console, and it was impressive.
Graphically, the game has absurd reflections and lighting, especially in stages such as the tallest building in the world in Dubai. In moments where the character must be climbing the building externally, a lightning show of lighting is seen, reflecting both on the building and on items such as weapons that may be being carried. Even the bald head Agent 47 it has impressive lighting effects, as “funny” as it may seem in a technical analysis.
The density of NPCs is also impressive, with easily more than 300 models at the same time on the screen in stages like the ballad of Berlin, all without any drop in FPS, keeping the game always at the rate of 60. SSD do PlayStation 5 it also delivers a great experience, with phase loads taking no more than 7-8 seconds.
Finally, there is a comment on how the control Dualense behaves during the game. Hitman 3 It's not one of the games that makes the best use of HD Rumble present in the control, being limited to vibrations similar to that of the Dualshock 4 do PlayStation 4, and the adaptive triggers are used in a not very complex way, with only a small amount of pressure on some weapons to pull the trigger. whereas games like Dirt 5 e Astro Playroom show incredible experiences that control can bring, this is a point where Hitman 3 ask for.
Lots of content beyond the story
I finished all stages of the game in about 10 hours, spending 2 hours each on average to do their story missions. However, most of my time with Hitman 3 happened in his other game modes, which range from playing the stages with new targets or with limitations such as not being able to shoot or not being able to disguise himself as a certain type of guard, to even creating my own missions, choosing the point of start within the phase, the target and which weapons the player will have access to during the phase.
IO Interactive also promises monthly updates to the game with new free content. The first, now available, features new assassination contacts. Bringing challenges very different from those found in the main quest and a higher difficulty, Hitman 3 will use these constant updates and the community content itself to be one of the main representatives of “Games as a Service” in this beginning of the new generation. Even though I've been playing for a good amount of time, this new content has pushed me back into the game, so I'd say it's working.
Conclusion
Hitman 3 is an excellent game, which places the player in an immersive world and that increasingly takes on new tones with each play. The wide range of content, the freedom of how to reach the goals, the graphics and excellent optimization make up an incredible package, which will undoubtedly be on the list of the best of the year 2021, at the still far end of the year.
Hitman 3 is available for PS4 for R$319, with a free upgrade to PS5, For Xbox One for R$249, with the possibility of Smart delivery for the version of Xbox series, PC na Epic Store for R$113, and for Nintendo Switch, in a cloud version where each hour played costs 1 dollar. Physical game media are available for PS4 for R$246,39, Xbox One e Xbox Series for R$251,99 and for PS5 for R$246,79.
