Real Hitman

[psivamp]

I played and enjoyed - to varying degrees - all of IO Interactive's Hitman titles. They all have their issues and bugs, but on the whole they were fairly enjoyable. However, the initial premise made me want to play an entirely different type of game. I wanted to scout locations ahead of time, possibly more than one for a single target and carry out the hit at a place of my choosing in my own way.

Also, I would have liked to play a game where the AI doesn't act completely retarded but suddenly know with unerring accuracy where I am because I walked within five feet of someone who has no reason to suspect I did anything.

I realize that if anyone actually made this game, the media would have a field day with it. Basically, I want an assassination simulator not a game. Maybe this makes me completely loony or maybe I just want the intellectual challenge of pulling off a perfect hit.

Thoughts, suggestions for games I should try, accusations of being an absolute nutter?

 

[Stormcloud23]

sounds cool man... Don't really know if there are games like that but there definitely should be.

 

[Marter]

Assassin's Creed kind of lets you do this. You scout locations and can actually plan the route you want to take. You can't do it whenever you choose though. There are also no guns.

I like the idea of a real Hitman game. Sounds like it'd be a lot of fun.

 

[psivamp]

Assassin's Creed kind of lets you do this. You scout locations and can actually plan the route you want to take. You can't do it whenever you choose though. There are also no guns.

I like the idea of a real Hitman game. Sounds like it'd be a lot of fun.

Assassin's Creed does to a limited extent, you're pretty pigeon-holed most of the time, though. I played both of them, enjoyed both.

Thinking more of a modern day setting, same type of deal as Hitman where you get a dossier, but along with it you get an itinerary and a choice of locations and possibly a route they'll drive.

Edit: I do admit that I would probably try for long distance shots with a Cheytac Intervention for most hits if I could. Plug in range and wind values into the targeting computer to give me how far to adjust my sights and send a nice smooth .408 caliber round into a target's forehead.

Side note on urban use of sniper rifles: It's always so hard to shoot from back in the room like you're supposed to in games.

 

[Marter]

Assassin's Creed kind of lets you do this. You scout locations and can actually plan the route you want to take. You can't do it whenever you choose though. There are also no guns.

I like the idea of a real Hitman game. Sounds like it'd be a lot of fun.

Assassin's Creed does to a limited extent, you're pretty pigeon-holed most of the time, though. I played both of them, enjoyed both.

Thinking more of a modern day setting, same type of deal as Hitman where you get a dossier, but along with it you get an itinerary and a choice of locations and possibly a route they'll drive.

That would be really fun. I see your point about the media though. If that game got released, any time a murder for hire situation occurred, this game would be blamed.

 

[The Madman]

So you want to mix Hitman with the original Rainbow Six... alright, I can see that!

You might try the Thief games if you enjoy planning your missions. Mind you it's more stealth based rather than Hitmans 'steal a uniform' style, but in Thief 2 there are a couple missions where you're given the layout of the building and just set loose. "Here's your goals, here's a map, have fun!". It's brilliantly done!

Robbing the city bank in Thief 2 remains one of the most intense things I've ever done in a game. Memorizing the guard patrol route so you can sneak between them, all while avoiding the camera and various deadly trap set down to prevent just your sort of intrusion. True, it's stealing for the most part, not assassinating, but the joy is there.

Now I kinda wanna replay Hitman, Rainbow Six, and Thief 2! There goes my free time for the rest of the week!

 

[Doctor VonSexMachine]

No I would totally love that. Having to gather intel about your hit beforehand to even know where your target's going to be and when. What kind of security there's going to be. What will be the restricted areas. Possibly stealing uniforms/IDs/keycards prior to the planned time of the hit. Setting an optimal time and location for yourself to strike according to all of the previous data points...

I would buy and play the hell out of it.

I really like the uniform stealing idea. It would add a whole new dimension of game play. If I just want to go around stealth killing people as I see fit, I'll play me some fallout3.

 

[psivamp]

Shameless [bump].

So you want to mix Hitman with the original Rainbow Six... alright, I can see that!

Never played the original Rainbow Six, I seem to recall a little hype about shooting through walls -- something fairly unheard of back in the day (despite your average house being about as resistant to bullets as you or I).

You might try the Thief games if you enjoy planning your missions. Mind you it's more stealth based rather than Hitmans 'steal a uniform' style, but in Thief 2 there are a couple missions where you're given the layout of the building and just set loose. "Here's your goals, here's a map, have fun!". It's brilliantly done!

I think I will play the Thief games again, though it's not exactly what I'm talking about. Also, I'm not looking for something that plays like Hitman - it's just the easiest plot device to set up a series of relatively independent assassinations. Ideally, I'd like something that plays almost nothing like Hitman, since Hitman employs the completely idiotic and insanely loyal guard union. It would be refreshing to play a game where you can bribe the security guards or if you're just infiltrating a facility and you kill one the others pretty much just surrender. Don't get me wrong, some security details are fastidious, effective and loyal -- the Secret Service and Royal Guard come to mind -- but night-shift rent-a-cops aren't going to go guns blazing to protect your EMP device/museum/you.

 

[psivamp]

There are also no guns.

there was ONE gun.

Fairly certain that he was just referring to the original.

 

[Darth Caelum]

Hmm. I know of no game that has a combination of that many good games. Unfortunately, i'm dry on this one.
If you do manage to find one tell us about it m'kay?

 

[Monstrion]

S N I P E

Screw media, seriously, bad press is still a press, Mass Effect can vouch for that. Anyway the biggest obstacle is the AI and mind you, our opponents in games are to an AI what a wheel is to a car. Take away preprogrammed behaviour and scripts and tada, you have barely something left. Unless we leap forward in technology and get a Skynet with every happy meal, we will still find ways to exploit the preprogrammed behaviour and therefore it will never feel like the "real" thing.

Planning might be fun, but really, how many games let you perform the deed like you WANT to, not how you CAN. None.

Still, I think Hitman series provides decent experience. I especially enjoyed blood money and remotely detonated mine. Silent assassin my ass .

 

[psivamp]

Screw media, seriously, bad press is still a press, Mass Effect can vouch for that.

I'm just saying that the media calls GTA a "murder simulator," and I actually want one. Mind you that GTA has since been upheld for teaching children about consequences, but I would give the media the demon they see in everything else.

Anyway the biggest obstacle is the AI and mind you, our opponents in games are to an AI what a wheel is to a car. Take away preprogrammed behaviour and scripts and tada, you have barely something left. Unless we leap forward in technology and get a Skynet with every happy meal, we will still find ways to exploit the preprogrammed behaviour and therefore it will never feel like the "real" thing.

Planning might be fun, but really, how many games let you perform the deed like you WANT to, not how you CAN. None.

Still, I think Hitman series provides decent experience. I especially enjoyed blood money and remotely detonated mine. Silent assassin my ass .

I'm not saying they have to be actual humans, preprogram some sense into them. If you're paid ten bucks an hour to watch a place overnight, you're not going to pull a gun when I've just shot your buddy, Jim; you're going to lock yourself in the bathroom and soil yourself hoping I don't want to just kill everyone.

As for the planning, I remember trying to do all sorts of things in ways that Hitman wouldn't let me. It usually ended in full alert or utter failure. I watch Shooter and think, "That would be an amazing way to pull off a kill in a game."

And, more random complaints about video games and Hitman in particular. Why does it cost $1000 for me to get a slightly bigger clip for my gun (and then $1250 for another 2 rounds)? I'd like to see a game with realistically-priced upgrades -- $200 tactical light for a pistol, $50/clip for the Glock 33 round clips, etc. And for a game like this, let me pick up my brass so if I get away with the gun and casings I only have to change out the barrel not the whole slide assembly.

 

[Marter]

There are also no guns.

there was ONE gun.

Was talking about the first one. It seemed there was more planning in that one.

 

[Lullabye]

Unless we leap forward in technology and get a Skynet with every happy meal, we will still find ways to exploit the preprogrammed behaviour and therefore it will never feel like the "real" thing.

kay, with this I must respectufuly disagree. In many games I've played, the computer actively simulated the experience of playing against a person.
Mainly in Fighting games, but also in racing games/simulators. However, what you can do in these games is rather limited so I doubt it would work as well in the kind of game the OP is describing.

 

[atol]

I liked Death to Spies. It's like Hitman, but more realistic and without stupid bugs.
Maybe Sniper Elite, too.

 

[rescuer86]

I wanted to scout locations ahead of time, possibly more than one for a single target and carry out the hit at a place of my choosing in my own way.

Also, I would have liked to play a game where the AI doesn't act completely retarded but suddenly know with unerring accuracy where I am because I walked within five feet of someone who has no reason to suspect I did anything.

I realize that if anyone actually made this game, the media would have a field day with it. Basically, I want an assassination simulator not a game.

I have the same wish. It would take a lot of power and time and money to create such a game. But basically you are saying you would like it if, say you received a dossier on a target, and you got to choose from several locations the target is known to frequent, then scout the location thoroughly before the target arrives. And have some randomness thrown in. Say, the target travels a different route to his office than usual, so you have to figure out a new way to eliminate him. Or maybe I am just projecting.

The thought that the media would have a field day with it; probably, yeah. But it is no different than the media and right wing uptight conservatives call the COD franchise a "mass-murder simulator" (see Penn & Teller:Bulls**t)

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Also, I would have liked to play a game where the AI doesn't act completely retarded but suddenly know with unerring accuracy where I am because I walked within five feet of someone who has no reason to suspect I did anything.
quote]
Iv only played the first 1 so i dont know if this is in the other games, but I hate it when your in a guard disguise and walk past a guard with your gun out, and they know its you. This really anoyed me. surely its more suspicious for a guard to walk around without their weapons.

BTW that would make an awesome game.

 

[mythicdawn12]

As for media, what Hitman did seemed to make it...less violent in a way. All the targets were evil scum. What was there? The pedophile, the murderers, the child traffickers, the other assassins that were targeting a VP. If you made an assassin game where the assassin kills for good, then I think it might soften the blow.

 

[kurupt87]

Also, I would have liked to play a game where the AI doesn't act completely retarded but suddenly know with unerring accuracy where I am because I walked within five feet of someone who has no reason to suspect I did anything.

Iv only played the first 1 so i dont know if this is in the other games, but I hate it when your in a guard disguise and walk past a guard with your gun out, and they know its you. This really anoyed me. surely its more suspicious for a guard to walk around without their weapons.

BTW that would make an awesome game.

If you're talking about Hitman it depends what the normal guard has. If he has a pistol or any other concealable weapon don't have it out. If he has a non concealable having it in your off hand works fine (if memory serves). An exception to this was one mission in contracts when the police are storming a boat with terrorists and a big bomb (nuke?) on board. To fool the cops you have to have their outfit and the right gun in the main hand and move by sneaking. That mission, along with the hotel mission in that game, are my favourite.

OT: I would definately like to see this game. The trouble is that depending on how accurate to life it's made it'd become a how-to guide for people to do it in real life. Now because gaming is such a widespread medium loads of people would now know this, and the bigger the amount of people the more likely there'll be an already unstable nutter who will take what he's learned and apply it to real life.

 

[psivamp]

I liked Death to Spies. It's like Hitman, but more realistic and without stupid bugs.
Maybe Sniper Elite, too.

I'll have to look those up, just tried to install my copy of Hitman: Contracts and got a CRC error.

I have the same wish. It would take a lot of power and time and money to create such a game. But basically you are saying you would like it if, say you received a dossier on a target, and you got to choose from several locations the target is known to frequent, then scout the location thoroughly before the target arrives. And have some randomness thrown in. Say, the target travels a different route to his office than usual, so you have to figure out a new way to eliminate him. Or maybe I am just projecting.

The thought that the media would have a field day with it; probably, yeah. But it is no different than the media and right wing uptight conservatives call the COD franchise a "mass-murder simulator" (see Penn & Teller:Bulls**t)

That's pretty much what I'm looking for; I'm not saying it's the right game for the time or that it would top the charts, or even that I would absolutely love it, I just want it to exist and give it a shot.

Except that when the media stomps on war games, you're killing people in a war. This is little better than just giving you a sicko sandbox where you can kill whoever -- which I might also play a few rounds of depending on how ingenius the game let me be.

Also, I would have liked to play a game where the AI doesn't act completely retarded but suddenly know with unerring accuracy where I am because I walked within five feet of someone who has no reason to suspect I did anything.

Iv only played the first 1 so i dont know if this is in the other games, but I hate it when your in a guard disguise and walk past a guard with your gun out, and they know its you. This really anoyed me. surely its more suspicious for a guard to walk around without their weapons.

BTW that would make an awesome game.

The nitpicking about AI doesn't just apply to Hitman, but any game with alertness levels. It is particularly noticeable in Hitman, although I have to say that the stealth missions in The Saboteur take home the prize for "Worst Costume Party Stealth Ever." I seem to recall one of the Hitman games having a running notoriety system where the sloppier you were in previous missions the more likely it was that people would recognize you. It sounded good on paper, but I think the changes were pretty minor and not well-implemented.

I liked the "last known position" mechanic in Splinter Cell: Conviction. Don't misunderstand, the guards in SCC are a special breed of awful - spewing a constant stream of insults and nonsense (Did anyone else notice that they will still call you Fisher if you're playing the Co-op story line or Denied Ops?).