IO Interactive’s admirable new Glacier 2 engine, the tech idling away under the hood of Hitman: Absolution, is a powerful bit of kit. Combined with the host of gameplay tweaks IO has massaged into Absolution the potency of Glacier 2 becomes even more evident after revisiting the ever-imaginative but slightly creaky Hitman games of yore.
But what if we could have it the other way around? What if we could have some of the franchise’s greatest moments brought back to life as DLC for Absolution? What classic Hitman levels most deserve a Glacier 2 remake?
For now, the DLC for Hitman: Absolution has been limited to a few costume and weapon packs. In theory, however, new levels could slot straight into Absolution’s Contracts Mode. Not only would we be able to replay some of the series’ greatest hits, we’d be able to create our own in some of the most memorable Hitman levels ever. Here are our picks.
Invitation to a Party is one of Hitman 2’s earlier missions and, as such, it’s unsurprisingly straightforward. Infiltrate the party, kill a Russian General, secure a briefcase and escape with it. As far as environments go, however, a modern refresh of this would likely be amazing. It just hits so many classic espionage tropes. A large, well-guarded Soviet-era building being pounded by harsh, Russian winter conditions. Inside, clusters of well-dressed women and tuxedo-wearing bigshots sip expensive alcohol as a pianist entertains the room with some meandering classical music. Waiters and maids circulate, and a rogue Spetsnaz agent also after what the ambassador has hidden in his safe throws a spanner in the works. It’s practically ripped from a James Bond movie. You’re basically James Bond. Only, like, without hair.
On an unrelated note, could somebody please make a good James Bond game? You know, perhaps exactly like the above?
Honourable Mention
Basement Killing There are several ways to complete this level, from triggering a smoke alarm and disguising yourself as a fire-fighter to dumping your guns down a laundry chute and sneaking downstairs dressed as pizza boy. It’s a fun one.
Another party, but this time in a meat-packing plant deep inside industrial Romania. 47’s client believes his daughter was kidnapped and possibly killed by the “Meat King”, a Scotsman named Campbell Sturrock. Sturrock’s Romanian lawyer Andrei Puschus had the case thrown out of court on a technicality. It’s 47’s job to settle the matter out of court, permanently. You need to sneak into the party, kill them both and discover the girl’s fate. The Meat King’s Party is a great level and classic Hitman fare; the targets are grotesque, the location is a large factory filled with hanging carcasses and leather-clad revellers and pulling off a Silent Assassin rating is extraordinarily satisfying. Better still, it’d make a fantastic level to build your own Contracts on.
Honourable Mention
Traditions of the Trade Remastered from the original Hitman: Codename 47, Traditions of the Trade is an excellent level, based in a hotel and packed with ways to complete it. It also contains one of the coolest moments in the franchise; you can pick up a box of flowers with a shotgun inside from the florist, a nod to the mall scene in Terminator 2 in which the T-800 has a lever-action shotgun hidden in a box of roses.
This quaint, English farm – complete with stables, a hedge maze and a large, stately home – would make for a nice change of pace from Absolution’s gritty Illinois and South Dakota levels. In this mission 47 has been dispatched to Beldingford Manor, both to rescue the abducted Giles Northcott on the eve of a hunting party where he is the game and to kill his kidnappers, Lord Winston Beldingford and his son Alistair. You can do so in a variety of ways, including dumping a can of gasoline down the chimney and into the fireplace, but the best way to do so is by smothering Winston in his bed and poisoning Alistair’s whiskey. There are plenty of guards, guests and domestic staff on the premises too, though, so creating contracts on this map would likely work particularly well.
Honourable Mention
The Seafood Massacre A remake of The Massacre at Cheung Chau Fish Restaurant from Hitman: Codename 47, The Seafood Massacre is a satisfyingly complex mission where you must kill and assume the role of a triad negotiator in order to kill a rival triad negotiator and the corrupt Hong Kong chief of police. Doing so successfully will incite a war.
For a relatively small level there are a large number of ways to complete A New Life, and it’s a favourite amongst diehard Blood Money fans. The target is a man under heavy witness protection in a sleepy suburban street, and you also need to retrieve some microfilm hidden in his wife’s necklace. Do you sneak into the house disguised as an FBI agent? A clown? A garbage man? The pool boy?! Do you rig the BBQ and kill the woman, or wait until she passes out drunk?
Did you pour ether on the girl’s panties to knock out the FBI pervert on the top floor?
A New Life isn’t just one of the best Hitman levels, it’s one of the most memorable levels of any game this generation.
Honourable Mention
Curtains Down One of the targets in this level is an actor rehearsing a sequence on stage where he is to be shot with a prop pistol. Fill in the blanks, so to speak.
This level is practically begging for Absolution’s Contracts Mode, if only for the fact that the Santa Claus stumbling around the map three-sheets-to-the-wind would make a pretty entertaining target. You’d Better Watch Out… is set during a Christmas party at the Rocky Mountain mansion of pornography tycoon Lorne de Havilland and is probably best remembered for featuring the glass-bottomed Jacuzzi you can shoot out from below to kill one of the targets. You’d Better Watch Out… is a complex level and would be amazing to replay after a modern refresh.
Honourable Mention
Amendment XXV Set in the White House, in Amendment XXV 47 must whack both the Vice President and the killer the VP has hired to assassinate the President. Two wrongs make a right, right?
What Hitman mission would you like to see resurrected? Discuss it below!
Luke is Games Editor at IGN AU. You can chat to him about games, cars and why it stings to leave the clown alive in Blood Money on IGN here or find him and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.
Source : ign[dot]com
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