As quickly as Hitman devs IO Interactive had been revealed to be making a Bond sport, I used to be on board with it. Agent 47 and 007 have a bunch in widespread, at the least by way of the sneaky, shooty, or stabby stuff their jobs entail, so IO’d be placing a recent twist on a type of sport it is already confirmed nice at making. There’s a distinction although, and having killed Le Chiffre in Hitman over the weekend, I really feel like I perceive it higher than earlier than.
IO exec Hakan Abrak has provided his view on how 007: First Light‘s Bond will play in another way to 47 in an interview with IGN, which I am glad to see additionally noticed him emphasise that the studio aren’t achieved with the Hitman collection.
Along with Bond’s humour being extra British and involving much less flamingo disguises than Hitman’s, Abrak described the distinction in how the 2 video games really feel to play like this:
“You may have positively glimpses of IO Interactive, as you’d know from Hitman video games as nicely, however it’s extra entrance foot. It is much less of an analytical thoughts, chess play, the place you sit and meticulously plan. All of the clockwork issues in Hitman the place for those who do that or do that, the place Bond is extra impulsive, extra reckless typically. It is extra like he is simply taking issues and performing and dealing with it extra as they come up.”
That is all nicely and good to say, however the expertise I had half-heartedly roleplaying as Bond whereas taking up Hitman’s Le Chiffre contract has helped persuade me that this new 007 will not simply really feel like 47 in a pleasant wig. I walked into reskinned Paris as the standard bald barcode boy, wearing a pointy tux for max Bond vibes. Reasonably than getting on with the job straight away, as per normal, I made a decision to fiddle in methods I assumed befitted his Bondulence.
I slowly moseyed up the pink carpet, pausing as a way to faux I used to be hobnobbing with varied dignitaries, and stopping by each unattended wine glass as a way to simulate making the most of the free drinks. As soon as I used to be inside, I had three potential alternatives to safe an invite to an excellent secret On line casino Royale-ish poker sport. The primary one I flubbed by dropping ten million government-bankrolled chips in a roulette flutter-off towards a billionaire.
Stunned a bit by that failure, I made a decision to take issues a bit slower with the opposite two potential invite suppliers. One concerned killing a man for an American agent, which is fairly Bondy. The opposite hinged on serving a woman a shaken, not stirred, martini, which is much more Bondy. After spending a while chilling on the bar pretending to talk up a bunch of NPCs who weren’t fussed within the slightest, I made a decision to go along with the latter.
Then, a notification sprung up neatly informing me I would missed the window for all three story alternatives to get into the poker sport.
The contract did not fail, however I nonetheless panicked a bit, questioning if I would miss Le Chiffre completely if I did not act quick. Cue a rush to the highest flooring by shimmying up the drain pipes, the hasty acquisition of a guard uniform, and the absent-minded pilfering of some random scissors. I watched Le Chiffre and his visitors play for a bit, then the intrusive ideas took over and I lobbed the scissors at his head, sending his physique flying up into the air.
Slicing my losses fairly than making an attempt to go for the second goal, I narrowly survived clambering over a balcony whereas surrounded by gunfire, then snuck into an evac chopper licking my wounds.
I bought the kill, however below Hitman guidelines, being impulsive, reckless, and simply making issues up as I went alongside hadn’t precisely rewarded me too handsomely. Positive, it was positively as a result of I used to be enjoying like a bumbling fool, however had I been enjoying First Mild, the place the Bondiness will be not just accepted but embraced, possibly issues would have gone in another way.
