The Therapist Gamer

Hitman

Hitman is amazing.  I'll do my best to illustrate why it's so much better than other popular games, and why it's under-rated:

​

Say your objective is to kill an ambassador in an embassy in Morocco.  In a typical game you bust in there, shoot the guards, shoot the ambassador, and zoom away in your getaway car.

​

In Hitman, you can try the same thing but it's much more true-to-life.  In real life, you probably couldn't even get into the embassy.  If you did and you pulled out a gun, you'd probably be killed.  If you were able to kill the ambassador, you'd still probably be killed during your escape.  Even if you managed to escape, security cameras and eye witnesses would enable the authorities to track you down and arrest you.  So you can try the traditional approach in Hitman, but it isn't very fun and you'll be shamed in the mission summary screen.  

​

So here's another approach.  It's much more complex, so hold on.  You need a uniform and security clearance card to get into the embassy.  You lure a soldier into an isolated room by flooding a sink near his patrol route - when he comes in to see what's going on, you sneak up behind him, choke him out, take his uniform and security pass, and stuff him in a closet.  Now you look like a soldier and have a key card.  Since you're a soldier you can take your gun through embassy security.  Inside the embassy you notice there's a ton of security and they'll definitely kill you if you use your gun - plus, guns aren't allowed at all on the floor with the ambassador.  While you figure out what to do you stumble upon the security surveillance room and, timing your moves just right to avoid suspicion, delete the security camera footage and disable future recordings.  As fortune would have it, you overhear the secretary mention that the ambassador is stressed from his work and a masseuse has just arrived to ease his stress.  So you track down the masseuse, who's in a guarded room.  Timing your moves carefully, you choke out the guard while the masseuse's back is turned, then choke him out as well - hiding both of the bodies afterwards, of course.  Dressed as the masseuse you check-in with the secretary and she sends you up to a private room with the ambassador.  His security leaves for the massage, and while he's lying face down on a table and no one else in around you - you finally see the button prompt that you've earned - "snap neck."  No one will be in the room for awhile so you retrace your steps, put on the soldier uniform, and escape the area. 

On the mission summary screen you'll get bonus points for "no one suspicious," "no non-targets killed," "security footage deleted," and so on.  If you do everything without arousing any suspicion of any sort, you'll get the elusive "Silent Assassin" rating.  This is best obtained by making all of the deaths look like accidents.  Snapping a neck is a bit incriminating, but what if he were to, say, be the unfortunate victim of a chandelier falling?  What if there just so happened to be a gas leak next to a gas lantern that he turns on?  The possibilities are nearly endless.

​

I think one reason Hitman isn't more popular is that, to get the most our of the game, you have to be a bit patient.  You have to study your environment and wait for opportune moments.  These aren't necessarily mainstream traits.  But just about nothing beats the sense of satisfaction from setting up the perfect playthrough of a level.

​

Admittedly the gameplay premise is a bit dark - you're a hitman, after all.  However, the game is very self-aware and uses comedy to lighten the mood.  For example, right before you can kill the ambassador he's talking about how stressful it is to have "thousands of people wanting to kill you" - it's like the game is goading you into it and poking fun at the absurdity of the situation.  There's also a certain amount of silliness with the idea that you can gain access to places simply because of the clothes you're wearing (though I'd argue this is a real phenomenon), and the game points out this silliness in subtle ways like people making over-the-top remarks to you about your clothes.  For example, if you're dressed as a cameraman random people will say things like "Hey!  Camera guy!" and "Shoot anything good today?" when you walk past them.  No one in real life would talk that way to you, but it makes me laugh to hear that kind of stuff in Hitman because the game itself it highlighting the fact that it knows it's just a silly game - it's not actually training people to be hitmen.  Almost no one has or will commit murder, but just about everyone has watched an episode of Forensic Files (or whatever) and thought about how a person could kill someone else and get away with it - the Hitman series just takes that late-night conversation with friends and turns it into a video game.

​

Hitman uses a special kind of stealth I refer to as "hidden in plain sight."  It's different from the stealth in games like Metal Gear or Assassins Creed because only rarely are you literally trying to avoid other people from seeing you - you're fine if they see you but you don't want them to be suspicious of you.  What this means is that you can be "sneaking" around a top-secret weapons lab, but if everyone else thinks you're supposed to be there then there's no issue.  A lot of the gameplay involves trying to work out how to kill your targets, but it also involves trying to figure out the rules of each environment.  For example, at a huge fashion show there are going to be guests that aren't allowed backstage, but a makeup person would be allowed backstage.  A makeup person wouldn't be allowed in the mansion owner's bedroom,  but maybe a servant would.  You've got to pay attention and figure out who is allowed where, and then work out how to gain access yourself.  You might figure out a way to get the target to stand under a rickety chandelier, but you've got the get a handyman outfit to be allowed in the attic so you can get the chandelier to drop.

​

Even with the perfect uniform people can still identify you.  For example, the butler will know if you're actually a servant and he'll identify you if he gets a good look at you.  Security team members will often know you're not one of them, but they'll need to get a good look at you to make sure.  Cooks will know you're not actually the chef.  Uniforms tend to be "powerful" when they allow you lots of access but virtually no one would know if you're actually allowed to be there.  A good example is an exterminator outfit - no one will have met the exterminator, but if you've got all the right clothes and supplies then you can generally go anywhere you want.

​

The PS4 Hitman was release in five episodes, each with one very large stage, multiple targets, and a variety of ways to assassinate them.  Probably the only flaw with this game is that it's too short - I got the "complete season" but it's weird that it's only five levels.  However, I will say that you could easily get a few hours of gameplay out of each level.  The last Hitman game (Hitman: Absolution) had a series of stages mixed in with traditional stealth gameplay whereas this Hitman returns to the series' roots and simply presents you with a series of levels.  I think it's a great return to form and any fan of the Hitman games should definately play it.  Games like Assassin's Creed have strayed far from their roots, and Metal Gear is no more, so Hitman is pretty much the king of assassination games for the time being.