"Hitman Absolution delivers on all fronts and there is plenty for a hardcore 47 fan."
Story itself moves at a fast pace and has a James Bond movie feel to it, especially similar to License to Kill, but in this one 007 is replaced with 47 and your only ally is Birdie, who is voiced by Steven Bauer. Since I'm a Scarface fan, I was like "wow."
Gameplay is quite the same to older Hitman games, go on a level, stalk your target and plan the kill. This time you have aid from Instinct, what highlights objects, people and their movements, but for a Hitman lover it might be a drawback. I didn't use it much, but there is a sweet part to it, you can select targets with it and 47 executes his targets swiftly. When your disguised, for example as an police officer and a another officer sees you, use Instinct to blend in. Instinct depletes when used and can be gained by completing objectives and keeping it clean.
One of the best aspects for Absolution is the score and challenge system. Game keeps score of your play style and through that you get a rating. Challenges help you identify the ways of dispatching your targets and there are plenty of side challenges on each stage. If you want the highest scores like me, go for Purist difficulty, you won't have HUD than, no info, Instinct features are removed, only for blending and Point shooting.
But where Hitman truly shines is the brand new Contracts mode, if the story seems too sneaky at times, than you can switch to that and oh boy, it's very addicting.
You select the equipment, disguise, than you choose a stage and walk you around the world freely, picking out your targets. Once you have 1-3 targets marked, then move on the kill. Example: I killed a dancing man in a stip bar with a beer bottle while wearing a wrestler disguise. It can be very creative and it becomes a lot fun when you compete for the best score and get lots of cash for it.
Contracts mode feels like Hitman: Blood Money, you choose a contract, look at your weapons, use hard earned money to customize them, etc. I'm even playing it when Im writing this review.
In conclusion Hitman: Absolution looks absolutely gorgeous, Glacier 2 engine proves itself by putting so many people in one spot, at the mean time keeping frame rates smooth. At one point I had a feeling I'm playing a Nicolas Winding Refn movie because of it's visual style. This one is worth the purchase and I felt bad I didn't get the Sniper Challenge with it. Game might become too sneaking around only, but Contracts mode makes up for it.