Concept: Task Agent 47 with pulling off his most complicated assassinations yet inside the series' biggest environments Graphics: IO Interactive has packed more NPCs into locations than ever before, but some frame rate dips and slow-loading textures offset the grandeur Sound: The bulk of the NPC...

Hitman: The Complete First Season is the perfect way to harmlessly tamp down that homicidal rage most of us have after a long day in the salt mines.

Are we really going to review each and every one of the episodic entries in the new Hitman as they launch? Well, we've started so we might as well finish, even if the amount of interesting things we have to say diminishes with every content drop.

Matt is mostly impressed by Hitman's second episode. Mostly...

Great level design; Interesting NPCs; Plenty of room for experimentation

Massive server connection problems; NPC behaviour can be erratic

The new Hitman makes its debut as the first episode of a complete story. It's where you train as Agent 47 during his induction into the International Contract Agency to familiarize yourself with the flow of missions.

Missions are flexible and open to a variety of strategies; Entertaining means of killing targets; Excellent replayability

Inconsistent AI thwarts immersion; Missions rely too strongly on using disguises; Technical shortcomings lend a rushed quality to the experience

As soon Hitman Episode 3: Marrakesh begins, you know that this is going to be very different than the two previous Episodes; Paris was set in a claustrophobic party in a mansion, whereas Sapienza featured an entire seaside town.

Disconnects seem to be a thing of the past; More difficult than previous episodes

Voice-acting breaks immersion; Rehashes a lot from previous episodes

Io has made some pretty incredible Hitman games over the years. As the series has evolved, we've seen a game that has grown increasingly complex, with seemingly countless ways to tackle any given mission.

Looks great on new consoles; Tons of variety in missions; Community created missions; Dense levels filled with hundreds of NPCs

Pricing options are ridiculous; Episodic release makes first feel a little lacking; Short on story

The sky was the limit for Hitman after a superb second episode took Agent 47 from Paris to the streets of Italy. Marrakesh is the new destination this time around simultaneously serving as the midway point in the adventure chronologically and middling in its quality as well.

Powerful ending

A single 2-minute cutscene; Restriction of the Hitman sandbox; Boring environment

Hitman , as the solitary name implies, is a return to what made the series appealing, a restart of sorts (not a reboot) for the sixth game in the franchise that brings back the open approach to thinking up ingenious ways to take down targets.

Agent 47, the well-dressed, bar-coded assassin, first made an appearance on Windows PC back in the year 2000, and the game was called Hitman: Codename 47. What followed was a massive number of sequels: Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002), Hitman: Contracts (2004), Hitman: Blood Money (2006) Hitman:...

It's cool to see just how many ways there are to approach each situation; the game is technically solid; as is the AI

Its core mechanics are repetitive and its premise bland; not yet sure if this episodic route is the way to go