Upcoming issue of PC Gamer claims new Hitman "is a mess"

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Plague_Injected

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http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/...is-a-mess-gets-torn-apart-in-pc-gamer-review/

The review pans the game for its art style and overuse of bloom, poor story, small levels, pointless objectives (e.g. open a door), no saves, bad AI.

The review also points out that the game actively encourages you to kill guards and sentries unlike previous Hitman games, which emphasized stealth over all else. Not that it matters—as many of the assassinations you perform are pre-determined cutscenes in which Agent 47 fails to kill his target, rendering all of your work pointless.

Finally, the review notes that the PC port of the game was done so poorly that the game even tells you to "gently" press your mouse button, as if it were the same as an X360 controller. In addition, the performance of the game was sub-par on PC Gamer's machines, running at a sluggish 15~ FPS.

For all their efforts, the game receives a score of 62 out of 100 with a verdict that reads "A passable stealth game, but one that betrays almost everything that, until now, has made Hitman great."
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It's just one review, but it does look rather troubling. I was starting to look forward to this game, too.
 
That sounds terrible. Though, PC Gamer did give Dragon Age 2 a 95% if I recall...
 
I got it for free, so I'll definitely be playing it when it comes out. I really do hope this review is just rubbish and the game is good. I really loved Blood Money, although it really wasn't that hard(except professional, but that was just stupid hard)
 
They gave fucking far cry 2 a 94% and hellgate london a 89%, who the hell trusts this magazine?
 
relapse808 said:
They gave fucking far cry 2 a 94% and hellgate london a 89%, who the hell trusts this magazine?
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The only reason I ever read it is because it has decent info on the games. But I personally prefer PC Games(German magazine) but I don't think I can sub to them :(
 
relapse808 said:
They gave fucking far cry 2 a 94% and hellgate london a 89%, who the hell trusts this magazine?
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I like they're website, they have some good writers there. As for reviews...Yeah. I'll decide for myself next week. I'm getting it for free anyway.
 
The preview in the most recent issue that came in the mail a week or two ago?... wasn't anywhere remotely this negative.

I'm just not worried about it. I know there's some difference between it and Blood Money but I "get" that and overall I've gotten the idea that we're still getting a Hitman game when all's said and done. (From a lot of sources.)

Let me do a little note matching here:


The review pans the game for its art style and overuse of bloom, poor story, small levels, pointless objectives (e.g. open a door), no saves, bad AI.
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The preview said the levels were HUGE once you got past the early parts of the game (glorified prologue.) Did mention lack of saves...not sure what that means...auto save checkpoint only?

Didn't really mention AI.



The review also points out that the game actively encourages you to kill guards and sentries unlike previous Hitman games, which emphasized stealth over all else. Not that it matters—as many of the assassinations you perform are pre-determined cutscenes in which Agent 47 fails to kill his target, rendering all of your work pointless.
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Annoyances at cutscenes were mentioned in the preview but they mentioned it as something that happens only at the beginning of the game.

This is a disappointing concept and I'm going to be livid if it keeps showing up during the course of the game.


Finally, the review notes that the PC port of the game was done so poorly that the game even tells you to "gently" press your mouse button, as if it were the same as an X360 controller. In addition, the performance of the game was sub-par on PC Gamer's machines, running at a sluggish 15~ FPS.
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A bad port, too, huh?


For all their efforts, the game receives a score of 62 out of 100 with a verdict that reads "A passable stealth game, but one that betrays almost everything that, until now, has made Hitman great."
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That's troubling.

Damn you IO, you dump Kyd and make us wait 6 years and I'm seeing the likes of this? Come on!



Now I know about PCG's review flaws...Far Cry 2, Dragon Age 2, etc. I'm with you all on that.

And yet...yeah, I'm taking note of this. It's raised a yellow caution flag of concern for me.

NO way did I expect to see ANY kind of feedback like this for this game.
 
I think that user reviews by your PEERS (however you want to define your peers) is the best way to decide whether you will like a game or not, that and just watching some Youtube videos and listen to what other people are saying is a good way to decide whether you want to buy a game or not. With as many releases as we get across all platforms and some of us being multi-platform gamers, it's more important than ever to get value for your gaming dollar.

Magazines and sites exist to generate advertising revenue, and it's a "scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" relationship between sites/mags and gaming companies, hence all the inflated scores over the past decade (and some would say even further back than that).

Caveat Emptor.

For the record, I was hoping this Hitman game wouldn't suck, I would be happy to play a modern Hitman with our current technology as long as it took advantage of it.
 
When one person says something that is one thing but when a whole bunch of people start saying same or similar things then you can expect it to be true. Wait and see what other reviewers are saying before giving judgement. That is my opinion.
 
Skott said:
When one person says something that is one thing but when a whole bunch of people start saying same or similar things then you can expect it to be true. Wait and see what other reviewers are saying before giving judgement. That is my opinion.
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Agreed!




Fail said:
I think that user reviews by your PEERS (however you want to define your peers) is the best way to decide whether you will like a game or not, that and just watching some Youtube videos and listen to what other people are saying is a good way to decide whether you want to buy a game or not. With as many releases as we get across all platforms and some of us being multi-platform gamers, it's more important than ever to get value for your gaming dollar.
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Absolutely.



Magazines and sites exist to generate advertising revenue, and it's a "scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" relationship between sites/mags and gaming companies, hence all the inflated scores over the past decade (and some would say even further back than that).

Caveat Emptor.
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Agreed, now here's the cynical take on that using that same logic.

After 6 years of waiting, hype, etc. wouldn't it be more beneficial to have a review that "scratches backs" better than the likes of this?

The fact that this review is this harsh, given all this, makes one take pause I would think given the paradigm you just described.

What's it mean?



For the record, I was hoping this Hitman game wouldn't suck, I would be happy to play a modern Hitman with our current technology as long as it took advantage of it.
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I'm hoping/betting overall it won't suck but this hurts my confidence:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1039319846#post1039319846

There's the actual review for everyone to read. There's some things being described in there that none of us would tolerate in any game.

I'm a HUGE Hitman fanboy and I can't even begin to try and put a positive spin on some of that.
 
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The other thread doesn't have the actual review! Thanks Laffles!
 
Not what I wanted to hear only 8 days out after anticipating this for so damn long now, oh well at least I have Dishonored to fall back on and still haven't played Thief 2 yet with the new high res mod that came out a few weeks back. It almost feels as if I'm becoming desensitized to the disappointing releases and never ending console fodder coming out, becoming overly attached to an IP, regardless of its cult status is just setting you up for heartbreak it seems no franchise is immune to this plague.
 
Ticker305 said:
Not what I wanted to hear only 8 days out after anticipating this for so damn long now, oh well at least I have Dishonored to fall back on and still haven't played Thief 2 yet with the new high res mod that came out a few weeks back. It almost feels as if I'm becoming desensitized to the disappointing releases and never ending console fodder coming out, becoming overly attached to an IP, regardless of its cult status is just setting you up for heartbreak it seems no franchise is immune to this plague.
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http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1039319580&postcount=1

Here's the actual review. I'm a HUGE Hitman fanboy and even I can't try and lob some positive spin on some of what's being described there. :(:mad:

Some time ago, people were griping that this game was going to be a Splinter Cell Conviction clone. That would be a HUGE improvement over what I'm reading in that review. SCC kicks ass. It's underrated. But I digress.
 
Q-BZ said:
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1039319580&postcount=1

Here's the actual review. I'm a HUGE Hitman fanboy and even I can't try and lob some positive spin on some of what's being described there. :(:mad:

Some time ago, people were griping that this game was going to be a Splinter Cell Conviction clone. That would be a HUGE improvement over what I'm reading in that review. SCC kicks ass. It's underrated. But I digress.
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Not even going to read the whole thing. Don't want to go in worrying too much or trying to look for their issues. I really need to play more of Conviction. The way the game controlled felt off when I first played it but it did seem fun.
 
the problem with a game like this getting bad early buzz is that the holiday season is filled with a lot of huge AAA releases in a short period of time...with Assassin's Creed 3 coming out for PC on the same day as Hitman: Absolution this review just makes me hold off on buying the game until later in the year...previously Hitman was a Day 1 buy...now I'll wait for more reviews and enjoy AC3
 
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LeninGHOLA said:
That sounds terrible. Though, PC Gamer did give Dragon Age 2 a 95% if I recall...
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Dang it, this is what I was going to post :p After giving that mess of a game such a high score, it's hard to trust anything that comes from there.

Disclaimer: I had a lot of fun with DA2 however it had some tremendous problems that game should have been docked for.
 
I only trust a few places for game reviews including you guys. Any magazine that gave Far Cry 2 more than a 10% rating is dead to me although some pc gamer articles are decent.
 
Tom Francis is the same guy that gave Diablo 3 a 90/100 and Editor's Choice award....

so yeah...
 
I read and like PC Gamer magazine. I like hanging out on their forum too despite the fact that the website is a complete dumpster fire with constant technical issues. Still a cool place to hang for gamers. I dont pay too much attention to the review scores. My 98% might be somebody else's 78%. I just pay attention to the descriptions of the game as theyre usually pretty detailed and I can get a pretty good sense of what the game is about and if its something I would be interested in or not. More often then not, theyre reviews sum it up pretty good and I have been right when picking a game up based off their reviews.

As for Hitman, I think this sucks. The preview video they released some time ago looked really good and had me really anticipating this one. But if its a console port hack job with all kinds of bugs, its going to be really disappointing.
 
Maximuss said:
hmmm :/

Play 3 Magazine (88/100), Game Informer Magazine (8.75/100)

http://www.gamepur.com/news/9705-hi...-gameinformer-and-play3-magazine-arrived.html



UK Official Playstation Magazine (9/10)

http://www.examiner.com/article/first-review-score-revealed-for-hitman-absolution



UK Official Xbx Magazine (9/10)

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/374395/hitman-absolution-review-oxm-awards-it-910/


Think I'll wait for forum reviews ;)
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Agreed.


Maybe all it boils down to is a meh port? Aw, the hell with it. I bought the damned thing, it's been six years. You all know me well enough by now. I'm a huge Hitman fanboy. I'll give it to you all straight. If something's wrong you'll see weeping, raging, and gnashing of teeth from me. ;)
 
Ticker305 said:
I was just googling for the whole review after posting in the first thread when I stumbled upon this lol x2 Laffles! :D
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The console versions are getting nice scores. This review seems to be (I hope?) a glaring anamoly. Maybe we just have a suspect port situation. *shrugs*
 
MacLeod said:
I read and like PC Gamer magazine. I like hanging out on their forum too despite the fact that the website is a complete dumpster fire with constant technical issues. Still a cool place to hang for gamers. I dont pay too much attention to the review scores. My 98% might be somebody else's 78%. I just pay attention to the descriptions of the game as theyre usually pretty detailed and I can get a pretty good sense of what the game is about and if its something I would be interested in or not. More often then not, theyre reviews sum it up pretty good and I have been right when picking a game up based off their reviews.

As for Hitman, I think this sucks. The preview video they released some time ago looked really good and had me really anticipating this one. But if its a console port hack job with all kinds of bugs, its going to be really disappointing.
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SquareEnix has been pretty good lately with PC versions of games (Deus Ex, Sleeping Dogs) so I really wonder. It's hard to say right now if it really is a bad port or if it's an issue specific to their review rig. It's impossible to gauge port quality with one review simply due to how many variables there are to look at. We'll have to wait for more PC specific reviews or for the game to launch to see how it really is.
 
Q-BZ said:
Agreed.


Maybe all it boils down to is a meh port? Aw, the hell with it. I bought the damned thing, it's been six years. You all know me well enough by now. I'm a huge Hitman fanboy. I'll give it to you all straight. If something's wrong you'll see weeping, raging, and gnashing of teeth from me. ;)
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Yep. I hope there is a pre-load so I can check it out a bit next Tuesday before work and even more after work. No way in hell I'm staying up until midnight, not with getting up at 5am.
 
May be fine once it is patched in a month or two. Have a code from my 7950 purchase to use or sell. Was leaning towards selling anyways...
 
This is really disappointing. I'm a big fan of the hitman series of games.
 
Derangel said:
SquareEnix has been pretty good lately with PC versions of games (Deus Ex, Sleeping Dogs) so I really wonder. It's hard to say right now if it really is a bad port or if it's an issue specific to their review rig. It's impossible to gauge port quality with one review simply due to how many variables there are to look at. We'll have to wait for more PC specific reviews or for the game to launch to see how it really is.
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They didn't do deus ex. But at least they hired someone to do it.
 
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