Review for Hitman 3. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Google Stadia, the video game was released on 20/01/2021 The version for Nintendo Switch is scheduled in the 2021.
After the last preview dedicated to the last act of the trilogy starring Agent 47, we're back again to explore the remaining missions of Hitman 3, definitively concluding the events of a plot that began in 2016. Will IO Interactive be able to take care of the third installation of HITMAN without making any mistakes?
Find out the outcome of the Agent 47 saga finale with our Hitman 3 review.
Agent's last act 47
In the preview version we had the opportunity to fully explore the first two scenarios of HITMAN 3: Dubai and Dartmoor, as well as knowing the prelude to the events that trigger the trilogy's ending, now known as HITMAN: World of Assassination. The last two chapters of HITMAN, released respectively in 2016 and 2018, have been able to innovate and correctly reiterate the most relevant canons of HITMAN: stealth and exploration. Although the complex situation linked to the episodic release of the 2016 title, IO Interactive has proved capable of always operating in the right direction, correcting its mistakes in what was "the good compromise" with HITMAN 2 in 2018.
HITMAN 3 instead manages to slightly deviate the formula already seen in the first two chapters for offer a game experience that is much more tied to narrative, thus granting the title of convey the right amount of emotions to the player which was missing in 2016 and 2018 installations.
The last act of Agent 47 picks up exactly from the finale of HITMAN 2 and if you don't remember the events well, the game will offer you (as in the more traditional television series canons) an "in the previous episodes" that will allow you to refresh your memory before leaving for Dubai, the first mission of HITMAN 3.
Exploration to the nth degree
We have already discussed extensively about the first game section, Dubai and the immense Burj Khalifa. We also want to keep that veil of mystery about the investigations you may choose to carry out in Thornbridge Manor, although, we would like to re-emphasize how interesting and fun it was to switch roles with Agent 47 who will have to solve a murder, investigating thoroughly to weigh the judgment on the possible culprit in a family that hides many secrets.
The news for us were the subsequent locations, which, we want to clarify right away, they have all been made with great care and in addition to the technical sector which we will talk about later, we were impressed with the size of the maps that offer the player the ultimate exploration experience on HITMAN without any loading.
As mentioned previously, Hitman 3 makes more use of the plot to explain the reasons that lead us to the various locations of the game. A preference so important that, every level, when you play it for the first time, it will have its own unique entry point before actually reaching the starting point of the chapter. For example, in the first chapter in Dubai, we will not already be inside the building, but on the outside and we will have to make our way by climbing up to a ventilation duct to be able to infiltrate.
The map set in Germany, sees us (for plot reasons that we will not tell you) looking for some targets who want to eliminate Agent 47, all in the vicinity of an extremely crowded club. You navigate on sight in a abandoned building complex now full of play of light, security, crowds of people dancing and our controller that literally vibrated to the beat of the music. As well as in the Dubai mission, IO Interactive has managed to condense a large amount of NPCs without compromising the technical sector of the scenarios and without causing problems of any kind on the performance of the title.
After Germany, Agent 47 moves to Chongqin in China where the verticality of the scenario has been able to surprise us. More buildings that can be entered, the constant rain that generates excellent quality reflections and plays of light with the intense colors of the neon make Chongqin one of the best scenarios of this third and final act of HITMAN.
Agent 47's tour continues in Mendoza, Argentina, in an imposing villa overlooking a large vineyard complete with a massive production factory inside. The developers have managed to make the player's decision to fully explore the scenarios much more rewarding, rewarding him with the possibility of eliminating targets in an "artistic" and unique way. We don't want to give you any kind of plot revelation but, once again we found ourselves facing a small gameplay variation that forced us to think and act in a short time in order to prevent the mission from failing permanently.
All gameplay variations they engage at the right moment without ever being forced and always supported by relevant plot elements which therefore justify the situations in which Agent 47 finds himself. Finally, the last scenario of the trilogy is set in Romania. Since it is the finale of the HITMAN adventures we don't want to tell you anything about it. We will just say that we were surprised by the direction adopted for this last mission, managing to cover the narrative shortcomings of the previous chapters to deliver to the players what for a long time will be the last chapter of Agent 47.
The perfect trilogy?
Perhaps it is really true that three is the perfect number. HITMAN 3 is the chapter that manages to make use of all the positive elements of the first two chapters, giving greater importance to the narrative component that finally becomes the leitmotif for all 6 scenarios of the title. The trilogy, which now goes by the name HITMAN: World of Assassination, will also allow players to access HITMAN and HITMAN 2 campaigns with the same visual quality as HITMAN 3, thus allowing newbies to access the entire trilogy without any lack or discontinuity between the various chapters, as, by linking your IOI profile, you can keep your progress shared across all campaigns.
The offer of HITMAN 3 is enriched - as for the predecessors - gods contracts and escalation challenges that represent the beating heart of the replayability factor of the saga. What facilitates this experience is linked to the design of the new maps that have some doors, stairs or windows with a particular lock, which can only be opened on one side and that unlocks a shortcut in any future game, thus allowing the player to quickly access a particular area to reduce the time and quickly get around the next target.
Technical sector
Our opinion on the technical sector remains almost unchanged compared to what we have seen with the preview version of the past few weeks. IO Interactive has managed to exploit every single resource of its graphics engine giving reflections that delude the player on the presence or absence of the now increasingly popular Ray Tracing also managing to remaster all previous scenarios with the updated engine.
In the version we tested on PC, we did not encounter any kind of bugs or frame-rate drops, everything worked regularly while setting the maximum graphic details, moreover HITMAN 3 immediately recognized the new DualSense of PlayStation 5 without the need for any type of driver or third-party software, while stressing that, playing with the DualSense to HITMAN 3 on PC not you will have the effects of the haptic sensor that will instead be present in the dedicated version on PlayStation 5.
Agent 47 faces his latest act in a series of missions that most define his figure. Between breathtaking scenarios and a technical sector capable of supporting large crowds of NPCs and reflections that lap the quality offered by Ray Tracing, HITMAN 3 manages to very well close the trilogy started in 2016. The well-established gameplay is enriched with small features related to the narrative that entertain and amplify the gameplay possibilities that always remain free and bound only to the player's decisions. Between surprises, action, twists and turns and increasingly creative eliminations, IOI Interactive has been able to put an end (for now) to the events of Agent 47 without making mistakes. A must-have for those who have already played the previous chapters and want to conclude the narrative arc started in 2016 but also an opportunity for newbies to be able to try the HITMAN: World of Assassination trilogy with a single package.
► Hitman 3 is a Stealth-type game developed and published by IO Interactive for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Google Stadia, the game was released on 20/01/2021 The version for Nintendo Switch is scheduled in the 2021.
