Custom PC - UK (2021-05)

/VERDICT

Despite a weak

final act, Hitman

3 further expands

one of the

best sandbox

experiences

around.

OVERALL SCORE

86 %%

What results is by far the most playful and involved
of Hitman’s Mission Stories, offering a genuinely well-
constructed mystery that plays out like a twisted take on a
Poirot novel. Prowling around the mansion’s many eccentric
rooms, ferreting out clues and interrogating suspects is
buckets of fun. You can even choose how to close the case

• whether to point out the real murderer to Carlisle, or frame
  someone else.
  Meanwhile, the game’s third mission in Berlin is set in
  a pulsing nightclub situated on the industrial fringes of
  Germany’s capital, where Agent 47 finds himself hunted
  by 11 rival assassins. Berlin is both Hitman’s ultimate test
  and the ultimate playground. It ditches the guided mission
  stories entirely, leaving the how and why of approaching
  your targets up to you. In addition, at the outset of the level,
  you don’t know what your targets look like, but they know
  what you look like. Hence, you need to explore the nightclub
  carefully, using your camera to identify targets but without
  being recognised yourself.
  Together, Berlin and Dartmoor represent Hitman at its
  most thrilling extremes. The next level, Chongqing, mixes
  up the formula again. In this rainy, neon-lit Chinese suburb,
  Agent 47 must hack into the data facility of the ICA – the
  organisation for which he’s been working since the original
  game. The primary challenge here is accessing the data
  centre, one of the most secure locations in the whole
  Hitman series. The two assassination targets are almost
  incidental, forming part of the security measures for the data
  centre itself.
  After Chongqing, Hitman 3 returns to classic form in
  Argentina, where he must assassinate two targets at a
  party in a sun-drenched vineyard. Mendoza is the least
  spectacular of Hitman’s six missions, but its subtler nature
  doesn’t equal a lack of quality. Mendoza offers a wealth
  of approaches, including some of the best mission stories

outside Dartmoor. One involves tricking a sniper guarding

the vineyard into doing the dirty work for you, while another

sees 47 make creative use of a winepress. All told, IO

couldn’t have picked a better location to draw a close to

Agent 47’s adventures.

Technically, there’s another mission after Mendoza that

acts as the official finale, but it’s frankly dreadful. In fact, it

isn’t really a mission at all, but a highly linear action sequence

that’s at odds with every other level in the trilogy. Being

generous, IO Interactive likely wanted to allow the player a

chance to let rip with 47’s murder skills after 20 missions

of careful restraint. However, after such a fantastic run of

experiences in the rest of the game, the final mission ends

up deeply anticlimactic, an unwelcome reminder of Hitman:

Absolution’s mediocrity.

It’s a shame that such a wonderful project to watch unfold

ends on a down note, but don’t let that put you off. Hitman 3

remains largely a fantastic send-off for 47. And combined,

the three games represent some of the best sandbox

gaming in the history of the medium.

RICK LANE

HITMAN

+^ Five fantastic

missions

BINMAN

-^ One rubbish
mission