HITMAN : ABSOLUTION REVIEW

Walkthrough

There are 20 chapters in Hitman Absolution's campaign. Note for theAbsolution trophy (where you complete the game on Hard, Expert or Purist), you need to start a New Game on those difficulties (and not a "New Game Plus").

• A Personal Contract
• The King of Chinatown
• Terminus
• Run For Your Life
• Hunter and Hunted
• Rosewood
• Welcome to Hope
• Birdies Gift
• Shaving Lenny
• End of the Road
• Dexter Industries
• Death Factory
• Fight Night
• Attack of the Saints
• Skurkys Law
• Operation Sledgehammer
• One of a Kind
• Blackwater Park
• Countdown
• Absolution

How You Are Scored

Scoring in Hitman Absolution is determined by your actions, and modified by the challenges completed for that chapter (note that this makes the values of your score change as more challenges are completed).

Positive Actions

• Objective(s) completed. The more objectives a chapter's area has, the greater the score.

• Target(s) neutralized. More targets, greater score. Also breaking news:2+2=4 

• Evidence collected. This nullifies the discovery penalty.

• Body hidden. This nullifies the difference between non-target pacification and stealth kill bonus.

• Stealth kill accomplished.

• Head shot accomplished with firearm or thrown piercing weapon.

• Signature kill accomplished. Signature kills are fiber wire kills and certain other challenge or accident kills.

Negative Actions

• Being spotted. The first time 47 is spotted, the score is docked. This nullifies the evidence collected bonus.

• Pacify or subdue a non-target hostile. Nullify this penalty by hiding the body.

• Killing an unarmed person (civilian). There is no means to recover from this penalty.

Score Multiplier

Your score can be multiplied by completing challenges. For challenges in a level, you can complete the challenge, then immediately pause and restart from the last checkpoint (for short stages like King of Chinatown, Birdies Gift, and Welcome to Hope, that restarts the whole mission).

Red Hot Forking Action Warning

Note that if you take a disguise, the Suit Only challenge is instantly negated until you restart the entire mission (or quit and level select back to the last area you completed).

By repeating this process before you complete the level completely, you will insure that you have the largest point multiplier possible before completing the mission in earnest for leaderboard scores.

Checkpoints

Mother-effing Checkpoints - How Do They Work?

Checkpoints in Hitman Absolution only record objectives completed, the items (and ammo) currently carried by 47, his disguise, and his starting location.

Nothing else is saved, due to the plasticity in the A.I. routes (targets speed up / slow down their paths as 47 is far / near a spot where they perform a specific task).

Use checkpoints to your advantage for completing challenges. Sneak to a checkpoint and "start" the mission closer to a target (for example, Death Factory's Testing Facility) or a spot where you can complete several challenges quickly without having to travel all the way across the map.

Note that checkpoints do not work if enemies are fully alerted to 47's presence.

Restart Checkpoint vs. Restart Mission

For the most part, player activated checkpoints are handy if you are running through the game and want to explore and test each level's limits before completing it on Hard, Expert or Purist.

The most hardcore Hitman players will have no need for checkpoints, as they've conditioned themselves to do the perfect run.

However, for the Absolution achievement, you may find that player activated checkpoints for Hard difficulty to be the way to go if you don't want to keep dying and retrying a particularly tough mission.

About This Game

Hitman: Absolution follows Agent 47, a cold-blooded assassin, who takes on his most dangerous contract to date. Betrayed by those he once trusted -- and now hunted by the police -- he suddenly finds himself at the center of a dark conspiracy and must embark on a personal journey through a corrupt and twisted world. Boasting a cinematic story, distinctive art direction and highly original game design, Hitman: Absolution combines much-loved classic gameplay with features never seen before in the Hitman franchise.

Release Date: November 20, 2012

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

Genre: Action

Publishers: Square Enix, Eidos Interactive