Hitman - Episode 2: Sapienza Reviews
Overall I think Hitman: Episode 2 continues to fuel the nostalgia trip of Blood Money with its wonderful variety of locations. Episode 2 pushes IO Interactive's creative boundaries a bit further and spaces out all of the games' action (the complete opposite to the Parisian prelude which hit our screens back in March). Sadly the narrative is non-existent and the animations are still shoddy when compared to other A-grade titles - however, those aren't huge criticisms for a game of this nature. I think Hitman is best enjoyed in one full go later on in the year when the retail version is released. It's proving to be a fun, yet brief adventure. I look forward to seeing what direction the series is taken in for episode 3.
Hitman's second episode continues the good work that started in the first installment. The concerns we raised last time with regard to the AI have mostly been addressed, and possibly over-compensated for, which greatly increases the difficulty of the mission overall, and makes obtaining a Silent Assassin rating almost a forlorn dream, at least without a serious investment of time spent in learning the layout and the patterns of the targets. Of course, this has always been the case with Hitman games, but the jump in difficulty from Paris is quite a large one. The level design is great, with lots of possible approaches to choose from, but somehow it seems to lack focus, being more of an open-world approach to a mission than before. Overall, we can recommend a second dive into Agent 47's murky world.
Developer IO Interactive set out to work on Hitman over a periodic release model in an effort to benefit from crucial feedback from players. However, it seems that the issues from Episode 1 continue to persist in the game’s second episode. That said, Sapienza presents a more interesting and robust sandbox open world experience compared to the Episode 1’s Paris area.
As it stands, Sapienza is a step down from the original release. There's far less story in this second helping to really keep you engaged for the coming episodes. Hopefully, IO will keep delivering the same top-notch gameplay and level design, but add a little more story to the experience to make them truly feel like episodes, because at this point they just feel like levels.
Hitman: Sapienza is a great episode marred by server issues. Not everyone is having them, but if you are, you can't progress or access community or live content.
Several hours and a dozen or so mastery ranks later, there’s still so much to do in Sapienza. The more accomplished I become as an assassin, the more options I’m given to experiment with, unlocking new weapons, costumes, and starting locations. When you factor in IO’s ongoing series of live events and community challenges, Hitman’s replay value grows exponentially and will continue to do so when we touch down in Marrakesh later this year.
The star of the show is Sapienza itself though. It’s a beautiful maze of possibilities, flowing toward the sea with vantage and access points sprinkled throughout. Wherever and whenever you create a disturbance, the ripples spread, causing all of the systems that make the game tick to trigger, and creating thrills and farce as they combine.
Hitman’s second episode adds another sprawling environment in which to enjoy doing bad murders, and sports gameplay options that demonstrate the game's mechanics are on the right track. But although Hitman will likely become a solid addition to its parent series eventually, it’s hard to recommend it at this stage.
While there's room for Hitman to tank in future episodes, so far this new take on the game is a solid success, and I'm greatly looking forward to episode 3