47, that number is synonymous with style, skill and sometimes, even brutality. Hitman 3 is a masterpiece of the gaming industry. Ignoring all the server and trophy issues which will be fixed, the world of assassination is finally coming to an end.
The episodic format is still alive and kicking, split into six beautiful locations, there is a stark contrast in quality of the way each location works, which I'll go in to more detail in a bit. The georgous surroundings make for an interesting back drop to 47's main purpose. From Dubai's grandiose, gold ladden walls and spectacles of art to the rocky terrains of Mendoza, Argentina, the world has never looked so great. Especially on the PS5.
The locations are each distinct in kills, as you'd imagine, the gloomy surroundings of Dartmoor's Mansion is perfect for the type of kills you can perform, gatecrashing a funeral before it even happens and solving a murder mystery, are just two opportunities to off the typically grumpy English manner of the family matriarch. China feels almost cyberpunkish in the way Chongqing is shown, in a backdrop of almost a distopian world created purely by the ICA's involvement. Every location doesn't just feel like a kind of copy and paste in which random characters are plonked in to. The characters are unique for their surroindings.
Each story is very well contained in their own little parts of thw globe, whilst at the same time, being brilliantly linked through the exposition of the Constant's need to bring down the ICA. The writing is spot on and sinks the player not only in to the bigger picture, but also each targets personal stories, inwhich we also get their backstories told through little conversations between NPCs and intel being left around. Much the sane formulae you'd say, you'd be right, but it's still expertly done.
Earlier I mentioned that some parts are weaker than others. The game is fantastic at the start, Dubai and Dartmoor, give you freedom to explore away from the new Mission stories and just either create havok in a different way or just use parts of stories to blend together a new set of challenges. It's a great start. Berlin is also a great map that allows for some player freedom to use parts of an story but not having to follow the whole line kf inquiry all over again.
Where it starts to fall apart a little is China. On one hand you have freedom to explore through the slums and have a little more freedom to explore Hush's world on the other the ICA facility of Imogen Royce, almost constricts you to linear pathways, which can be tedious. Mendoza is the opposite of all the previous locations, in order to get mastery, if you don't use tactical saves, you have to play the wine tour about 12times, and the character leading it, is super boring. There's a little more freedom to deal with Yates a little more the way you want to, but even some of the challenges for him can wind up being tedius at times. Making Mendoza the beautifully crafted yet rather somehow tedious mission of them all. Unfortunately, in the way some games go, I can't say alot about the Mountains without destroying the storyline a little, but it is still really well done, and it's a challenging stealth mission.
Gameplay is what you'd expect from an Hitman game, Master is truly where the true test is at. Dartmoor can be fun on Master difficulty, although I found a problem with the leadboards, I can only think because my game froze, I lost my time on the leaserboards, but still got the silent assassin, suit only all the same.
It's a wonderfully crafted game with a little bit more to it with the legacy DLC, as Hitman 2 recieved post launch. Worth the purchase for any fan of the Hitman games.
5.0