Review

Hitman Episode 4: Bangkok

Welcome to Bangkok! I have been saying that (in Damian Marley’s voice) since the release of this episode. This became rather appropriate once I was given my targets for this mission, resulting in me speaking in a Jamaican accent for the entire contract…

…ok, so yeah…I know that the phrase is welcome to Jamrock and that Bangkok is in Thailand, not Jamaica. That said, because of this mission’s setting and the grimy feel of Damian’s song, they actually complement each other in a weird…look, just go with me on this one!

This review is solely based on episode 4 of the current episodic Hitman title. So if you wish to hear more in depth about gameplay or how this installment fits into the series, you can use the link here to take you back to my review of episode 1.

Now, if you’ve read my previous reviews for this episodic game, you’d know how much I’ve been enjoying my experience as Agent 47. Even while picking out the flaws, especially when it came to the bonus episodes. Interesting enough, this episode is similar to the other main entries, for better or worse. In Bangkok, we are given another pair of targets to assassinate. One of them is Ken Morgan, a dirty lawyer working with some of the worst criminals in the world. The other is indie rock star Jordan Cross who was recently acquitted of the death of his girlfriend (thanks to a cover-up facilitated by Morgan). The girl’s family, looking for some payback for Cross’ wrongdoing, contacted the agency and here we are.

Our beautiful playground this time around is a huge hotel sitting right off the coast of the Chao Phraya River. You can stare out into what seems to be a vast city, with the sun reflecting off the water making me wish I could fully explore the area. The hotel itself wasn’t exactly small either; it was also a sight for sore eyes. Similar to the Paris mission, there were people everywhere which added to the immersion. This did make getting around a bit tricky at times though. Daytime missions are always a bit trickier with the sunshine taking away your ability to hide in any dark alleys or shaded areas, so you are forced into being more strategic. Because of this and the amount of security guards roaming about, I’d recommend taking advantage of distractions to pull people away before pursuing a target.

For the most part, this mission plays out just like the others. There are plenty of ways to go about each assassination, more overarching story elements, and various hitman-ish things to do. Unfortunately, what makes Bangkok a little less entertaining than it should have been due to unchallenging gameplay. Sure, there are plenty of bystanders and guards to get around but the AI isn’t very smart on the normal settings. I once walked into a bathroom that someone was already in and nobody said a word to me. Besides being gross for walking in on somebody using a solo bathroom, you would think when only one person walks out that there was something wrong.  I mean, this target was a famous person, hence the security.

On the other hand, playing the game on hard made the guards seem more realistic if not a little too alert. It only took one guard seeing me climb something to put an alert out “to be mindful of a certain bald guy” for the rest of the mission. I am still a bit thrown off at how huge the difficulty gap is from the bonus missions; I’m not sure if the first few episodes were better, if I was still new to the game’s mechanics, or if I was so enamored with the game that I didn’t realize that they too suffered from this problem. I understand there has to be levels for people to graduate to. I also understand that some people are just looking to complete the game, no fuss no muss. But for someone like me, who’s been playing for some time but who doesn’t want to be overwhelmed, there needs to be more of a balance.

I don’t want it to seem as if I am looking for reasons to complain. I really do believe that this is the best Hitman game that IO’s produced. That said, the NPC’s awareness level is starting to get to me. Either I’m bored because things are too easy or I’m slightly agitated due to the all-knowing guards. There is still a massive amount to do while on this contract, but the hours I spent on this mission don’t compare to the previous ones due to how…aware I’ve become of this new (old) problem.