Agent 47 is on a mission to infiltrate your smartphones and make a successful hit on your wallet. For that purpose, Square Enix Montreal has released Hitman Go, a puzzle game based on the Hitman franchise powered by the Unity engine.
Hitman Go is a virtual board game. This minimalistic art style looks utterly gorgeous with each puzzle looking like a carefully modelled diorama. The board game feel continues with the pawn like figures of Agent 47 and the various guards and targets. The UI also continues this minimalism and looks quite nice.
The game board is laid out with a square grid pattern indicating the various paths the active figures (Agent 47 and the guards) in the game can move along. You must make one move per turn and if Agent 47 moves within one turn distance of where a guard is facing, he gets taken out and the level restarts. On the other hand, if one guard or many fall within a move’s distance of Agent 47, he can take them all out. The level ends when Agent 47 makes it to the exit point or kills the target.
The levels in the game are part of bigger playsets, most of which contain 16 levels each, though two sets inspired by missions in previous Hitman games contain only 8 levels. Each level has three objectives one of which is finishing the level. The other two can be collecting a briefcase, finishing the level in limited moves, killing everyone, getting specific types of kills, not killing anyone or not killing any of the Dog type of guards. The levels increase in complexity and each set brings some new gameplay elements to the table, which balance well with the existing ones. You need to collect the stars (represented by the Hitman Symbol) for completing each objective in order to unlock all the playsets.
The game offers you only five hints from the get go, to complete a certain objective. More hints can be purchased through microtransactions. One should be careful when checking the objective list as one can accidentally trigger a hit while trying to look for more details regarding one of the objectives.
The guards in the game have quite a lot of variety to them. There are static bouncers, busy linear patrollers, knife wielders who switch their facing front and back each turn, static bouncers who face two opposite directions, snipers who can cover an entire line unless blocked by another guard, Dogs who can smell Agent 47 from two moves ahead of their position and follow him until distracted or by the trail going cold, flashlight guards who can also cover a square to the right of their facing and marching guards who move around in a loop.
Agent 47 can make use of various devices based on the point he moves to in a turn. He can throw an object to distract guards within a radius of one move. He can quickly travel from one point of the level to other using underground passages. He can snipe a target at a particular location or an environmental object to block off a patrol path using the sniper rifle. He can also wait a turn while the guards make their moves. He can hide in a bush. He can also use a disguise to avoid recognition by one type of guard, but he can’t take out that guard type in disguise. He can also open doors by activating their unlocking switch.
Hitman Go will boggle your mind with its puzzles since each objective usually requires a different approach to your gameplay. The level difficulty scales gradually and you always get the feeling that you are close to solving it. Unfortunately, the game won’t let you undo a wrong move and you must start over again to try beating the level once more. The new gameplay elements fit in seamlessly with the established mechanisms. There is no tutorial and you are left to figure out the game on our own, which feels a lot more rewarding.
The game is quite demanding of your hardware’s CPU and Battery and you would do well to keep a charger handy or to take breaks between levels. The Sound effects are ok, but they can get annoying after a while, especially to others who are in your vicinity. Hitman Go plays the signature Ave Maria every time you are on a level with a target to take out, which is a nice touch.
Hitman Go is a wonderful re-imagination of the original assassin, Agent 47. This new perspective looks simple enough to pick up and lay, yet packs enough nuances to keep you scratching your head for hours.
Reviewed on a Nexus 5 with Android 5.0.1
