Don't get Hitman: Absolution

If you are a hitman fan, please don't get this game.

I did, and I now want to sign it off as not part of the series at all.
Here are the reasons:

If you just want a game with some stealthy action shooting and know little about Agent 47, then go right ahead. This is all part of "Modernizing" a hardcore series. Hitman used to be hardcore, and was amazingly good at what it did (See: Hitman: Blood Money). But now they've fucked it up, catering to a generation who doesn't want freedom, but just being told what to do. Man this is a pain the ass.

I'll probably play it through since I bought it now, get some closure and then never mention it again.

UPDATE
Official Response on the Disguise/Detection System:
http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?p=1813599&posted=1#post1813598

 

While I agree that the game has its flaws, I still think there's a lot of cool stuff to see.
The only reason I could see for someone to not get it, is if they're a diehard fan that only wants to see the cookie-cutter Hitman recipe.
The detection system on the harder difficulties is painful and does not allow mistakes, for better or worse.
I won't touch too many points about the specifics throughout the game, haven't finished it yet.

I've personally been finding the fantastical, Jason Bourne/ Rugged Sam Fisher - version of Hitman to be kind of interesting. I also find the story to be a bit more.. alive? I guess. The old games were very much "here's the shop" "here's the brief" "go do your thing" rinse and reset. While this game feels a bit more fluent in its progression - in general a lot more personality.
I also have a hate/love relationship to the checkpoint system, it doesn't allow me to be very experimental on the first run, however it takes me out of the F6/F9 routine of just brute forcing my way through.

I only really made this post since I feel people don't give the game a chance, but just want the traditional hitman game. (It will at least be very much worth picking up during a holiday sale)

 

It doesn't really sound like you appreciate the Hitman Series, but that you lean more towards todays modern shooters who favours linear progression and levels. It's fine if you do that, but for those who appreciate the Hitman series for what it is (A Contract Killer), this is too different to be "good different".

I am all for change, but the changes they've made, makes little sense compared to the 3 games that came before. TF1 and TF2 for example, are different in many ways, but in many good ways. TF2 really expanded on the wacky shooter and became a great success. Now imagine that you take the entire concept around TF2 and changed it into a puzzle game. The changes they've made are so dramatic that it doesn't really stay true to the previous games.

I gave the game a chance, and I wanted to love it. I tried hard to look past the flaws but the game became SO tedious that it was just frustration rather than challenge. One of the elements (disguises) which are a very key element to the whole "Hide in Plain Sight"-mechanic, doesn't even work!

It worked fine during the demo, so why not when the game is released?

 

I'm not saying it's a superior way of making the games, I'm just saying that in terms of story it kinda makes sense he's no longer a contract killer, considering what happened in Blood Money.
I can also imagine the disguise mechanic can be ironed out with a patch, effectively removing the only major flaw from my perspective.

 

The story is more organic, and deep. That is true.
The story was never the problem though, as that kind of change I am completely fine with. It makes sense that he is no longer part of the agency, since he was pretty much "killed" in Blood Money.

In the old games there was Trial and Error executed right. You could get to your target in various ways.
In this new installment there is Trial and Error done wrong. The only way you can get to your target, is if you memorize patterns perfectly and then act accordingly. This is not good game design, it's lazy.

 

To be fair, all the hitman games are about memorizing patterns and staring at a map during half your playtime
I also feel that they give you a fair share of options in terms of getting the target, disregarding the places where it makes sense not to.

 

No I mean. In the other games you could get through to your targets in many ways as in, you didn't have to memorize one single pattern to perfection, which you have to in this game.

 

Is this the polite way of calling someone a CoD-kiddy nowadays?

 

I didn't really call him that, no. I didn't even think of CoD when I wrote it.
Just the nature of many modern games nowadays.

 

An official response rolled out today that they will be looking into the Disguise and Detection System. Put it in my main post.