Hitman 3 Review

By
Katie Collins
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Hitman 3
Image Source: Amazon

Hitman has been a staple of the gaming community since its first release 22 years ago. With the release of the year 2 roadmap for Hitman 3 and the release of Hitman VR, I think it’s the perfect time to talk about the World of Assassination and look at the last instalment in the modern Hitman trilogy. 

Agent 47 and Diana Burnwood face their toughest challenge yet as they begin to unravel the conspiracy behind Providence.

Hitman 3

Graphics/Level Design 

The graphics in this game are simply stunning. All the Hitman games look good but this one specifically has such a shining quality to it. It captures the neon futuristic look of Chongqing, the elegant vastness of an Argentinian Vineyard and even has a level in the clouds in a Dubai skyscraper. The attention to detail is here on this one. You’ll always find different places to explore and little secrets you can find.

One of the best missions in this game by far was the Dartmoor Manor mission. It’s a level that takes place in an English countryside manor. It’s a smaller map but it knows the aesthetic it wanted, and it nailed it. This level is a love letter to all detective stories by throwing you right in the middle of a murder case. The irony of a murderer trying to solve a murder will always be a classic trope.

Hitman 3 Map Design

Most of the maps are great with one exception. That map is the Carpathian Mountain mission. Since it’s the final mission it forces you to use all the skills you learned during the games to reach the final villain. It’s a fitting final level with a couple of major flaws.  

The main drawback comes with its design. It takes place on a linear train which forces you to move forward. While it makes sense thematically the only variation of location is the different train compartments. The previous final maps of the other games were the Isle of Sgail and Hokkaido which both were lots of fun to navigate. This map feels more like a DLC map or a training introduction rather than a farewell to the series. It’s not necessarily a bad map but since Hitman is known for going big, I’d expect the series to go out with a map worth remembering. 

Gameplay

Hitman perfected the gameplay for this series. The series has always allowed you to kill as loudly or as quietly as you want. With various ways of assassination at your fingertips, there are endless methods you can try and experiment with. 

The game mechanics are the epitome of “If it’s not broke don’t fix it”. The three games use the same set of mechanics with minor tweaking. They did add one new change to the mechanics to spice things up. The addition of the camera was a nice little variation on things. With the graphics as stellar as they are you might as well take a picture. 

The biggest change in terms of gameplay came with the ‘Mission Stories’. Mission stories are essentially ways you can eliminate the targets through specific scenarios that happen in the story. In the previous games, you’d have 5 or 6 different mission stories but, in this game, they limited it to three. To counteract the lack of story eliminations they included more content in the ones available. As mentioned previously there’s an entire murder mystery you can play out which I think makes up for the lack of other methods.  

It’s up to yourself which you prefer. Personally, for me, I prefer the variety of a lot of different smaller methods but the story focused ones are definitely worth it.  

Hitman 3 Story

To recap: Agent 47 has teamed up with Lucas Grey to take down the Constant, the man behind their kidnapping as children as well as creating the evil global organization known as Providence. The pair must work their way through the organization and stop the individual members who founded it. Unfortunately, one of 47’s past actions come back to complicate things further.  

Hitman 3 throws the story front and centre. This game gives a feeling of involvement I don’t think the other two had. The big picture is finally revealed to both the players and 47 and that helps a lot in terms of investment in the story. You didn’t play the previous two games to learn about 47’s tragic past, you played because you wanted to feed a man to a hippopotamus. It makes you care about 47, Lucas and Diana. It has one clearly defined goal and makes the narrative stronger.  

I’m not going to spoil the ending, but it was quite controversial among the fans. So, I can see why people disliked it as it ends where it starts. I personally felt the ending was very fitting for 47 as it closed that chapter of his life and leaves his future free for any possibilities (Or any possible sequels or spinoffs.) 

Summary 

To conclude overall Hitman 3 is a brilliant, if a little different, send off to the world of Agent 47. I look forward to seeing where the game goes or any other games the company may make in the future. I know I’ll always be ready for more Hitman content. 

Overall Rating: 9/10 – Outstanding

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What do you think of Hitman 3? Do you think that this was a world-class game to fit a world-class assassin? Let me know down in the comments below.  

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