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MeekinOnMovies On.....HItman:GO

“Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.”

 - Frank Lloyd Wright


The Hitman Series is a weird one. The first game came out over a decade ago, and there’s been four sequels since, all with interchangeable subtitles like “Absolution”, “Blood Money”, and “Silent Assassin” that conjure up a mind’s eye view of generic power fantasy blech.

In reality Hitman games are pretty heady - or at least want to be. From all kinds of religious subtext and orchestral arrangements, to trippy content and no-win plot scenarios, Hitman’s failing seems to be one of half measure. It can’t be the post-modern, dour, slow-burn thriller like the movie “Drive” is, and it doesn’t want to be the ballsy over-the-top campy game like “Max Payne” either. As a result the games live somewhere in the middle; truly bizarre titles with a variety of interesting - if not completely compelling, narrative ideas.

I bring this all up because despite what you may think, it has quite a bit to do with Hitman: Go, a simple, addicting, challenging, elegant, board game recently released for tablets.
First impressions are interesting. Without a tutorial, welcome message, or blinking cursor, Hitman: Go settles on its splash screen with quiet confidence. Upon hitting “Go” and selecting a board, the design will strike you immediately. 

Imagine if Frank Lloyd Wright designed a board game where everything looks modern, retro, and minimalist all at the same time - it’s like you’re exploring a scale model of a house he was intending to build. It’s wild.

It's this presentation that solidifies the fact the folks making the Hitman games are brilliant cats. This *is* a board game first, and a videogame second, and the details are sublime. 

Guards all appear connected to some underlying mechanical device that moves them across the board on a track. Rocks you pick up for distractions are buttons you stand on to activate. Moving your character results insults in a satisfying click and clunk like you’re moving a high quality chess piece. 

Video game concessions are of course made - guards will turn around on their own with a little black question mark above their head, and hiding in bushes completely hides your character from view - all largely unrealistic things that couldn’t happen in a board game. But at one point toward the end of a tricky level, “The Ave Maria” kicked in and I was hooked by this game's....well...everything. 

But what about the game part? Well, like the best board games, playing is simple in theory, but wonderfully complex in action. Each level presents a board, guards, a set few paths you can traverse, a goal, and often times a bonus objective like a suitcase. 

Getting around guards lethally or non-lethally requires thinking two or three steps ahead, with many levels giving bonus points for minimizing your moves. The key to all this is interrupting the movement patterns of the people in your way. If you can find a way to get a single step ahead of them via backtracking, throwing a rock, or simply taking an alternate path, you’ll often break the level right open and be able to progress to the end - and feel instantly compelled to go back and do it again for an optimal score.

Completing a level feels quite a lot like solving one of those tinker-toy puzzles where you have to twist the interlocking bolts in just the right way to separate them and feel like a super genius. You naturally do it again and again so you can perfect it.

It’s quite soothing, and playing through a level or two of Hitman: Go is a wonderful stress reliever from a long A/V heavy work day, and a nice way to get your brain cranking in the morning on the train commute in without bombarding your eyes with bright colors and fast paced actions. It’s the kind of game that pairs well with a cup of coffee and bemused existential ponderment.

The word that enters my mind when I close my eyes and think of Hitman: Go, is elegance - so much so that I've chosen to write this review in the more elegant of fonts, courier. 

This game's choices in music, art and music direction, and gameplay and menu design show remarkable class and maturity. It’s wonderful that a game on a platform not particularly well known for its mature experiences, has such an unassailable identity - so much so that attempting to describe it feels futile - the experience is in seeing it and playing it and half-smirking the whole way through. 

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be struck by the screenshots and check this game out for yourself and find yourself happily engaged in the first Hitman game that truly feels at home.

4.5 Stars

Comments

  1. I came here out of boredom with the intention to read it and crack bad jokes. I didn't make it through the first paragraph.

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  2. I actually had my eyes closed from the second paragraph on, so it works out.

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  3. This might be the stupidest thing I've ever not read.


    Font change = NO BUYS!

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  4. Smelly dump threads or bust!

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  5. "MeekinonMovies" :: Reviews a video game ::

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  6. Well we DO get his threads...

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  7. "Hitman: Go is a wonderful stress reliever from a long A/V heavy work day"


    You have issues man if that is your stress relief. My stress relief is taking a nice smelly dump.

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  8. Dallas just took a smelly-ass dump with a 4-2 lead against Anaheim with only two minutes left.

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  9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S376iimvXIQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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  10. Mister_E_Studd_Got100ProblemsApril 27, 2014 at 9:06 PM

    I obviously didn't read this, but it seems to be about a video game, and not a movie. Just an observation.


    I read a headline today about some basketball (I think) coach saying some racist shit. I don't see the headline anymore, can anyone tell me what happened?

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  11. Clippers owner doesn't want black people at his games.

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  12. Mister_E_Studd_Got100ProblemsApril 27, 2014 at 9:11 PM

    ..come onnnn,..

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  13. His girlfriend is half black...

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  14. This thread killed Lee Marshall

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  15. Can't you just make it?

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  16. Ok review, but when do we get that Smelliest Dump QOTD?

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  17. Mister_E_Studd_Got100ProblemsApril 27, 2014 at 9:24 PM

    You guys keep asking for this, and I just hope you realize that means we will actually get it one of these days.

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  18. Farva could just post it up anytime he wants.

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  19. Mister_E_Studd_Got100ProblemsApril 27, 2014 at 9:27 PM

    Sure he could but it's not about the thread, it's about baiting Meekin to do it. And he will.

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  20. You didn't even have to try this time.

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  21. LETS CRITICIZE MEEKIN!

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  22. You are a wise man sir. It's also fun just to completely derail bad threads.

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  23. Thanks for the review Meekin. I added this to my Wish List last week, with an aim to purchasing it this week (today is my pay day). Although I am only a casual fan of the Hitman series, I must say that this rather novel departure is drawing me in. A pick-up-and-play turn-based Hitman game? As a fan of turn-based strategy and of bite-sized thrills, this definitely appeals to me.


    Thanks for reviewing this then, and it's encouraging to see that it is good. Then again, I shouldn't have expected differently. IO have a strong track record - speaking as someone who thought that their Mini Ninjas game was a gorgeous little easily missed gem, and that the second Kane & Lynch game, whilst flawed, was one of the most daring, original and genuinely innovative games of the past generation.


    Now start a Smelliest Dump QOTD or GTFO.

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  24. Well I did play a fair amount of this game while pooping.

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