E3 2018: Hands on with Hitman 2

When Hitman released back in March of 2016 and then again, every few months in the same year, it caught a lot of people off guard, how could a game go episodic, especially when it was not a super story driven game. While the game was well received, people had complaints about its release method, but with Hitman 2, they are going for a solo release, but is that enough.

At E3, I was lucky enough to play the game, or at least a specific section of a level and I have to say, if you played the 2016 release, then you will know everything that is on offer here, because it is just more of the same. Interacting with the world, in various outfits will give you plenty of options to use, in order to take down your mark, or at least I hope it does, because when I was playing the game, I had a rep from Warner Bros Games sit with me and tell me what to do, each and every time. If I went to the left and he wanted me to go to the right, he just kept on repeating that I need to go right, it really took a lot of fun from the experience, because with Hitman, exploring ways to take down someone, was half the fun.

Outside of my less than fun experience, the gameplay is as solid as ever, the mission I was on had me attempting to take out two people, but the one I was targeting for the demo was actually in a race car. The venue was the Global Innovation race in Miami and the target was Sierra Knox, daughter of inventor Robert Knox, who was also a target, but not for the demo sadly. As you enter the grounds, Sierra jumps into her race car and takes off, so right away you know this game has upped the ante over the first, because not only is the character inaccessible for most of the time, when they are around, it is only for a super limited time, so your actions have to reflect that.

After following the various instructions of my handler, and I mean in the real world, not the game, I was able to obtain a mechanics outfit, after poisoning another mechanic and hiding his body in a freezer, which I was only able to do, because I stole a waiters outfit from a waiter, after knocking him out with a large fish. Layers, upon layers here, but as soon as I had the outfit, I was able to make my way towards the pits, where I was assigned a task by the pit crew, who mistook me for the replacement mechanic. Soon though, Sierra pitted and I was able to attach a small explosive to the rear of the car, just enough to cause it to flip, but not enough to cause chaos, as soon as it was detonated, it was mission and demo over.

What I liked about the game, is that everything seems to be more improved that the first, the crowds were far denser, the location was massive and not a bunch of smaller locations all stitched together, it felt more real, for lack of a better term. The game played just as the first did, with the controls coming back to me quite easily, though I don’t think the difficulty was ramped up to much, as some guards that should have spotted me, did not in the slightest, even if I was directly in their line of sight.

Hitman 2 seems to be taking what made the 2016 release so great and just increasing it across the board, larger locations, more people and perhaps even cooler, more ways to complete your mission. November is going to be a long wait for more of the action of Agent 47, but I suppose I can always revisit the first should I desire to take down evil people.