First play through of Hitman Beta

Hitman (episode 1) is due for release next Friday time and Playstation Plus users have the chance to play the beta version which is very impressive and looks almost certain to be a bestseller this spring.

The beta is set as a prequel to the Hitman series, but the main game which is due out March 11th will be set after the “Absolution” game. The best thing about Hitman is there are so many different ways to complete a level, so various playthroughs are needed which is excellent. In the first scenario there are so many different ways to kill your target, you can spike their drink with rat poison, shoot him, throw him over a balcony, blow up his office… Its great. I am a big fan of games I can play over and over again but its always the same, at least with Hitman although the level is the same, you can play it exactly how you like.

Gameplay is pretty smooth and in the beta although some minor glitches it runs very well and even the NPCs walking around notice and talk to you, its almost like you really are walking into a party on a boat. Characters interact with each other, and even bump into each other when some are casually taking a stroll. Controls are really easy for this game, Also when playing the tutorial it pretty much tells you what button does what when your playing through which makes it easy to pick up and remember. On screen prompts are great and tell you your objectives and when anything changes. If you are tresspassing or have been spotted or found out it will tell you.

First Level - Arrival

This isn’t really a “level” but you can play as Agent 47, We start off on a heliport, and make our way into a training facility. The Graphics are absolutley beautiful, The outside environment is feels so real, its like watching real life. We are introduced to Diana (from previous games) From the looks of it, Agent 47 has come to this facility to be tested.

First Mission - Advanced Training 1 - The Assassination of Kalvin Ritter

The aim of this mission is to kill Kalvin Ritter, it is set in the training facility and it states that weapons are indeed blanks and that this is just a training mission. First we have to get access to the Boat, so we need to find a disguise of an Mechanic to gain entrance. Once we obtain our disguise we make our way onto the boat and look for our target (Using R1 brings up “instinct” mode, where we can see through walls at work out where our target is).

Immediatley everyone is suspicuous that a mechanic is aboard the top part of the boat and not in the bottom fixing whatever it is that needs fixing so we need another disguise. I head to the kitchen and take down the poor guy cooking a nice meal. I hide his body in the freezer and steal his identity. I follow Kalvin and head upstairs, I have to blend in for a while and pretend to clean some glasses as i’m dressed a waiter.

Suddenly Kalvin is joined by a client and they leave to talk business in an office on the other side of the Boat. I climb through a windown and when he’s client’s back is turned, I take a silenced pistol and shoot Kalvin the head. My main objective now is to leave the boat, Guards will know I am not a waiter so I have to leave from the bottom of the boat, I make my way downstairs and exit through the back, I break open a door with a crowbar and its end of the mission. Every mission seems to end back at a getaway vehicle.

Mission 2 - Advanced Traning 2

Same level, but now I can choose to kill anyway I want. So I decide to play out a few different ways, First time I decided to kill the client and take his identity, so then I met up with the target and killed him when we were alone. 2nd time I decided to put Rat Poison his drink so when he went to the toilet to be sick I drowned him in the toilet, and on the 3rd go I set explosives in his office and blew him up. I was impressed

Mission 3 - Final Test

This mission is based on a 1970s mission, the objective is to kill a man named Jasper Knight in an airbase. This mission doesn’t have any set way of killing him, so I am going in blind. There are again lots of ways to kill the target. I disguised myself as a Jet Plane specialist and tampered with the ejector seat, I then asked Jasper to test out the seat for a safety protocol and set it off which blasted him into the air and killing him. I was really impressed with the originality of ways to kill the targets in this level.

All in all the 3 levels that are on offer are very fun and challenging if you want to kill your target in a cool way. You can go in guns blazing but you wont last long as being shot twice is enough to end the level. For a beta I didn’t see many bugs or errors apart from sometimes the speech didn’t go with the mouth movement. I am looking forward to when the first episode of Hitman is released.