I mean in a good way. You have missions and tasks you have to complete just like the others. They've added some new things as well, doesn't look like they took a big step away from gameplay.
The other games had a more sandbox feel to them. Large, open and intricate levels where you decided how to kill the target. There were always several ways to do so in each mission ranging from replacing a nonfunctional pistol with a real one in play to poisoning someone's dog and dropping a chandelier on their head. Or, you know, just go in guns-blazing and kill every sucker you see. I recall several missions where there were no less than six ways to kill the targets (and still get the best rating). Disguises worked the way they ought to and you only broke cover if doing something suspicious (I brought this up for a reason).
Absolution is more...streamlined to put it nicely. For one, the levels are no where as large or varied as the previous ones. There is always one or two 'signature' kills in each mission where doing a very specific set of steps leads up to the '
erfect' kill. Since they implemented a score system in this one, you are essentially punished for not doing the hit in that one way. Sure, you can still kill them other ways. Yet you won't get as high of a score at the end of the mission, and the chances of you being spotted (and thus killed nearly instantly) are much higher. I say 'get killed nearly instantly' because although they give you a set of guns to play with (found only in mission, Silverballers notwithstanding), you are not encouraged to use them. Once you are identified as a hostile, every NPC on the level knows and rushes to kill you. Even if you managed to survive and lose suspicion, your score will suffer drastically seeing as any non-target kill takes a chunk off of your current score. so it less and matter of smarts and creativity as dieing over and over again until you learn how the game expects you to play out the mission.
So just stay disguised, you say? If only it was that easy. They added a new bollocks disguise system in this one. The new system has it so that anyone wearing the same outfit as you (such as cop, plumber, waiter, etc..) instantly is suspicious of you. You need to drain your Instinct meter (another knew addition) to displace some of the suspicion and get out of their view ASAP. It is insane to think that everyone in a given group or career path knows everyone else in that same group.
All that said, it is not a
bad game, per se. For someone new to the Hitman series, they won't be missing out on anything. They will just see it as a new, fun game where you are a one hardcore assassin. Which is what the game still is, playing as Agent 47 and completing missions.
Yet someone who has experienced and played the older ones will feel let down due to the more confined areas and narrows choice of killing the target. It feels less like being a kid exploring a candy store (filled with death and guns) in wide-eyed excitement in anticipation of all the options and store in front of them, and more like being placed in a cramped candy store with less options that just simply look prettier and sound nicer. And you'll be punished for not choosing the 'best' available candy.
tl;dr:
Too bad. Be literate.
