Man FUCK this thread. I've got Hitman Absolution running in the background RIGHT NOW.
Maybe it's different if you bought it? What the fuck were you expecting man? The game is absolutely GRANDIOSE and there are TONS of ways to complete a mission. The Challenges system is AMAZING and gives LOTS of incentive to play through time and time and time again to discover new ways to off targets, some of the Challenges are in fact mutually exclusive such as Suit Only where you don't disguise yourself the entire round and then Chameleon where you change into every available disguise in the scenario/round.
What difficulty are you playing on? I'm playing on Hard and the game is VERY difficult to beat, especially without being spotted or killing people. There are two more difficulties ABOVE hard. I couldn't imagine completing some of the Challenges on the hardest difficulty levels.
The Hitpoints bar is amazing, 47 falls within 5-8 rounds hitting him, and if you become engaged in a melee brawl with someone you can be knocked out/killed/mission ends within 3-4 punches.
I'm not fond of the instinct system because it feels like Mana and I just don't like the thought of that. I try to not use it for the most part.
The disguise system is VERY well thought out and basically goes like this - different disguises have access to different areas without raising suspicion/alarm. Some diguises permit you to be visibly armed (axes, pistols, shotguns whatever) while others (say a gardener or an electrician) are civilian diguises and don't permit this, so if people see you packing they will automatically become suspicious. What you're undoubtedly referencing about it being "useless" or "lame" or whatever is that if you take the clothing of someone and put it on you will STILL raise suspicion if you are facing, and get too close to someone with that same clothing. The idea is that all the gardeners or electricians or custodians or guards or whatever would be familiar with all the members of their staff, but not the other classes of disguise so for instance all the gardeners know all the other gardeners but not the guards, so being disguised as a gardener would cause Jose to be like "wtf? there's no big tall bald headed white guys on our staff" and get suspicious, which makes PERFECT sense.
Throwing objects pisses me off a bit, the system could use a patching because you try to throw thangs and wind up hitting people that you're close to instead, assaulting them. This causes me to replay missions because I try to complete them (typically) without harming people.
This game is fucking ON POINT dude. I don't know *what* you're talking about. The combat system is dope, the cover system is OKAY, I think more areas of the game world should count as cover locations. You should be able to press your back against pretty much any wall and strafe along it to use it as cover but even then MOST walls work as they should.
The voice acting and the graphics are fucking incredible and the game renders HUGE crowds without stuttering AT ALL. I have caught myself several times putting 47 in a corner and just looking at his FUCKING HEAD because it's rendered in a way I've never seen a game be before. The pores on his skin, the veins in his head, the stubble from his shaved head, the look in his eyes, the tag on the back of his head, the shine of light reflections glistening off of his shiny dome, it all looks amazing.
This game is fucking magnificent. I didn't buy it so it makes it easier for me to say that than if I spent $50-60 bucks on it but I *would* recommend purchasing this game without a doubt. This is a *good* game. Pretty much every review site says exactly that.
The most ludicrous part of your whole write up by far though is about how you're "forced" to complete rounds in one way. That is SIMPLY and unequivocally untrue man. EVERY round has a least 3-10 ways of completing it with 2-4 approaches and that's a really irresponsible thing for you to say in my opinion. At the end of each round you're given a list of objects, disguises, weapons, items, challenges etc. for that round and are presented with the stuff you found and challenges completed and I'm on mission 4 and so far there have been like 20-25 of them every time, including zone-specific stuff like irons and keycards in the hotel or fuel cans and sushi and poison and coke in Chinatown.
The Chinatown mission ALONE (first mission after the prologue) presents like 10 different ways to kill the target. I blew up his car to draw his guards away from the center pagoda then walked up and shot him right in the face twice, holstered my shit, ran around with the screaming idiots in the crowd, changed into a street-chef's uniform and walked to the exit. I completed that same mission at LEAST 3 other ways, none of them involving shooting the target with a pistol.
This is a good game.
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