A well-designed and enjoyable puzzler. However, control issues, repetitive music and a lack of tactical freedom mean it's unlikely you'd choose to play this over real Hitman on your console.

All the content from the iOS game; and no microtransactions; Brilliant puzzle design; Your parents may not disapprove for once

Sometimes the controls don't work; Annoying load screen when you hit restart; You're more or less forced to do it 'the correct way

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

One thing's for sure: The more I've played Hitman's debut "episode" the more I've enjoyed it. Despite the often boneheaded AI and dire loading times, Hitman has definitely combined the best of both worlds.

Dense and detailed; Creativity is well rewarded; Extremely replayable

Dreadful loading times; AI is easily exploited

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

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

When Absolution launched in 2012, it was the most mechanically solid and best-looking Hitman game to date, but it featured an atrocious story and several linear levels that went against the open-ended gameplay the series was known for.

It's only as hand-holding as players want it to be

Weird bugs destroying perfectly-planned progress

While we've generally strayed from reviewing individual episodes of games here at GameZone, Hitman's approach to the episodic format is quite different. Since there is very little story to tell, and rather a whole lot of experimental gameplay that rewards multiple playthroughs, Hitman gets a pass on...

Absolution's DNA is certainly visible almost immediately. Hitman controls just as fluidly as he did in that game, and the overall approach to completing levels remains the same; Giving players a buffet of choices of how to dispose of their target, This is evident right from the Tutorial missions,...

I only got to play Hitman on the PS4; so I'm unsure of how other consoles perform; but the loading times can be rather long; which is especially disappointing when you want to reload a save because you either messed up or want to try a different approach; The story is rather lackluster.

Hitman: Absolution was, for some, a bit hit and miss. Mostly, fans of the series didn't like the way in which the game took a linear approach to the way you assassinated targets, and although you were still able to take people out in any order, the levels felt marginally confined and players also...

With the HITMAN series now out on disk, where you can pickup every episode all at once, we thought we would re-run our review of the entire series. These games were all played in episodic format, but can now be obtained all at once.

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...