A mobile port of a masterpiece, executed perfectly | Review - Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal

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✨Overview

I already played Hitman: Blood Money countless times since its release last 2006. From it’s previous-gen PS2 release at the time, up to the Xbox 360 and PC versions on Steam. It’s probably one of my favorite games of all time and arguably the best Hitman game of the old era. As far as fun is concerned, it can even go toe-to-toe with the recent Modern Hitman Trilogy in terms of gameplay mechanics and freedom to do your own thing, there are even elements that are still better here than in the newer games. Now to my surprise, they have actually ported this entire game to Android, and I was back again for another ride. This isn’t just another Hitman Sniper spin-off app, or a bastardization of the Hitman franchise. It’s actually a fully fledged Hitman game, with proper visuals, intuitive touch-screen plus controller support, and one time purchase to get all content. 🟩Pros

+Authentic Hitman experience +Variety of tools and approaches to eliminate targets +Very rewarding and compelling progression system +Intuitive touch controls plus physical controller support +Optimized performance and cloud saves

🟥Cons

-Interacting with multiple in-game items bunched together using the "Tap Screen" prompt mechanic can be frustrating -It’s not a new title, the game is almost 20 years old, high chance you have played this already ⭐️Score: 9/10

📖Story and Premise

Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal stays true to its roots, maintaining the gripping narrative that has been a hallmark of the Hitman series. The game follows the iconic assassin, Agent 47, as he embarks on a series of missions to eliminate high-profile targets across the globe. The premise of Hitman: Blood Money revolves around a journalist named Rick Henderson who is investigating the ICA and Agent 47. The game is presented as a series of flashbacks, with the player taking on the role of Agent 47 as he recalls and reenacts past missions. As with other Hitman games, it isn’t all about assassination missions, part of what makes the series compelling is Agent 47’s personal story as well. Still, when diving in without having played the other games, it distinguishes itself as a decent standalone experience. 🎨Graphics and Art Style

One of the major concerns when adapting a game like Hitman: Blood Money for mobile platforms is the graphical fidelity. However, Reprisal successfully maintains a commendable level of visual quality. It is even on par with the “next-gen” graphics at the time of Xbox 360, instead of the PS2 visuals. The art style remains consistent with the Hitman series, blending realism with a touch of noir aesthetics. Lighting and shadow effects especially with the “Graphics Mode” contribute to the immersive experience, enhancing the overall visual appeal. The soundtrack still has that iconic "Ave Maria" masterpiece that stuck to the series ever since, even being featured in the Hitman Hollywood film. 🎮Gameplay

The core gameplay mechanics remain 1:1 the same with the original, emphasizing stealth, strategy, and meticulous planning. Turning this game into a shooter is not encouraged, but the developers have done a commendable job in implementing aim-assist regardless. Players are presented with a variety of tools and approaches to eliminate targets, encouraging creativity in execution. The Hitman series has always been praised for its sandbox-style levels, and Reprisal just maintains this aspect, allowing players to explore and experiment in open-ended environments. That’s why I see it as the best classic game in the series, because it’s perhaps what laid the foundation for the excellent modern Hitman Trilogy we have today. The game's structure encourages replayability, with multiple ways to approach each mission and hidden points of interest to discover. Whether players prefer a silent and methodical approach or a more aggressive playstyle, The levels are truly a blank canvas for players to paint blood on. 🕹Controls

The transition to touch controls is a significant aspect of Reprisal, and it's executed with surprising finesse. Controlling Agent 47 feels intuitive, with a virtual joystick for movement and a well-implemented touch interface for actions such as aiming, shooting, and interacting with the environment. Each action has their own icons and intuitive placement depending on the detected situation. Stand in front of a door and a proper to “Tap to Open” comes up, the “attack” icon/button changes depending on the weapon you’ve equipped. They gave an extra effort in implementing these things, instead of just slapping a virtual joystick and calling it a day (Looking at you, Resident Evil: Village on iOS).

Still, it might take a time to get used to, especially if you're so used to controlling Agent 47 using controllers and mouse/keyboards. Fortunately, the touch screen button placements are all customizable. My only gripe is that many interactions are dependent on the "Tap screen" prompt mechanic, and this can get messy when there are so many interactibles in close proximity with each other, and you can't quite select what you want and have to move in small steps. ⏫Progression

Reprisal mirrors the progression system of its predecessor, rewarding players for completing missions with money (or should I say Blood Money), money that can be used to unlock new weapons, gadgets, and upgrades. Honestly, this is the peak of Hitman series in terms of progression, and in my opinion, still beats the modern games that rely on milestones and challenges to unlock weapons and gizmos. The news reports that highlights your performance in each mission at the end is also a nice touch that has never been done again. 📊Technical Performance

The game performed smoothly like butter on my Snapdragon 888 device, hovering at around 40 FPS when using the default “Performance” graphics setting. It never felt sluggish or had any stutters. In fact, it felt even smoother than the 40FPS that I was seeing in my monitoring tool, which means the frametimes are stable. When using the “Graphics” setting which is the highest, my performance dropped to around 30 FPS. Honestly, all it does is make the game slightly more bloomier, so I reverted back to the default setting. ⚖️Conclusion

Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal excels in maintaining the narrative depth, visual quality, and core gameplay mechanics that defined the Hitman series. The transition to touch controls is seamless and thoughtfully made, offering an intuitive and responsive experience for mobile gamers. For those mobile players dreaming of playing the new Hitman games on their phones, this is the next best thing to that and arguably an even better experience, provided that you haven’t played this old gem yet. You just have to swallow the upfront cost in exchange for a decent premium title, without any ads or in-game purchases.

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