Hitman Absolution is a fun game, but changes to the series' formula don't necessarily make it a better one.
Cons: Higher difficulties are annoying, not fun; Assassination options are often limited; Lame story; Checkpoints are too far apart
A couple of years ago I reviewed a stealth game named Splinter Cell Conviction that dared to shake up its franchise's formula to be faster and more accessible. It ultimately left me a bit mixed, since it was undoubtedly an easier, less thought-demanding game than its predecessors, and yet judged on its own, it was a fairly engaging game. In some ways, the changes even made for a less-frustrating, more casually enjoyable experience. I bring this up, because Hitman Absolution feels like a blow-for-blow parallel to Conviction.
Hitman Absolution attempts to take the same refined, more accessible approach that Splinter Cell Conviction took, to reduce the series' notoriously high difficulty. Agent 47 now can see how quickly someone is noticing him and can view people through walls in slow motion. The latter is called Instinct, and is a limited resource on higher difficulties, because it really makes things easier. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, as the extra information it provides turns a game of trial-and-error into a game of…less trial-and-error.
Controls have also been refined a bit, so that now a cover system is in place, and Agent 47 can quickly move from wall to wall, often negating the need for disguises-on a side note, now that people wearing the same disguise as you can tell you apart, disguises are less useful anyway. Ironically, in making these simple mobility changes, Hitman Absolution feels more like old-school Splinter Cell than modern Splinter Cell (just without the cool gadgets, the hiding in the shadows, or Michael Ironside's awesome voice).
However, this comes with a trade-off: levels are more linear. Normally I wouldn't bring up linearity as a bad thing, since linear levels can still be a blast, particularly since the developers have more control over the experience. However, Hitman Absolution comes from a lineage of sandbox level-based games. The best experiences in Blood Money (the last Hitman game) tended to come from levels that played out like complex interlocked puzzles with multiple solutions.
These levels still exist in Hitman Absolution, mind you, they're just less frequent, and smaller. In these few missions you are given a target(s) and must kill them in any way you see fit. As with before you get plenty of chances to observe their patterns and opportunities for sneaky kills, perhaps even some which look like accidents. As with before you get graded on how professional you are (any witnesses, any unnecessary casualties, etc. dock you points). And as with before, this is a blast, albeit one that will definitely appeal more to hardcore players who take their time and plan their moves carefully.
However, these levels share just as much time with simple, get from point A to point B levels. The extent of choice you get is whether you take path A or path B on the way there. Not that these linear levels are bad, but compared to the usual Hitman fare, they feel limited, not to mention less suited for the game's mechanics. I had fun with these missions, but ultimately I won't go back to them given the choice to play the sandbox missions instead.
Replay value is actually one of the surprising strengths of Hitman Absolution. In past Hitman games there was always some good fun perfecting your run through a level and/or trying to find all of the distinct ways to kill your target; now challenges reward you for doing just that. Besides giving you better scores on different stages, these challenges often give you something to do on each level on your second, third, and fourth run-throughs (if you're so inclined).
On a more mixed note, Contracts mode also attempts to breathe life into these levels again. Contracts mode is the obligatory publisher-mandated multiplayer mode for Hitman Absolution, except for once it fits the style of the campaign. In this mode you can create Contracts by playing a campaign level, marking up to three targets, taking them out in certain disguises, or with certain weapons, and then making a clean exit. Then other players can try out the Contract and see if they can replicate your kill successfully.
It's a great idea in theory, but all it really serves to do is show just how limited the game's mechanics actually are. Outside of the clearly scripted accidental kills for official campaign targets, there isn't much else to do besides trying to pick a secluded spot to kill someone and then using a good weapon to do the job. Since most NPCs don't move around that much, or only move in limited spaces, you can't even try and lure them away to remote locations, limiting your options even further. Contracts mode is a great idea that I'd love to see expanded upon in the future, but for now there isn't enough of it to keep things fresh.
And on the worst note for replay value is difficulty levels. I feel bad saying this, as the Hitman Absolution developers clearly actually tried to change the difficulty levels in meaningful ways; in addition to dealing the usual increased damage, enemies are more aware, and there are more of them on higher difficulties, completely changing how parts of the game proceed. These changes are great, and could make higher difficulty runs feel fresh and exciting. However, they aren't the only changes, and the removal of Instinct and checkpoints kills the experience. Instinct is surprisingly important to the experience given the dense environments you need to read, and checkpoints…well, they're checkpoints, what else can I say? Removing checkpoints doesn't make the challenges themselves any more difficult, it just punishes you harder when you do make an inevitable mistake. And with quicksave gone and the checkpoints already frustratingly far apart, a bad problem becomes even worse.
Almost every change in Hitman Absolution affects the game both positively and negatively. Mechanics are made more accessible: frustration is reduced, but so is challenge and sense of satisfaction. Movement is smoother: more stealth options are available, but new levels focus on this too much in lieu of old-fashioned stealth sandboxes. More production values: environments look great and gritty, but now we get a crappy story shoved down our throats.
Hitman Absolution: a fun game, but not a great one.