Brandon Glazer

[SPOILER ALERT] Don't read if you don't want to know how this game ends! When this final installment of the Hitman trilogy was announced, I was ecstatic. Personally, I loved the level design and character creation of the first two games. The locations were breathtaking and ambitious. The dialogue and narrative were incredibly well written (The unexpected twist in the Constant's story was a highlight). Apart from being intriguing, the characters were brilliantly interwoven into the overarching storyline of the trilogy. Though the first two games had only six levels each, I forgave that particular downside in lieu of the reasons listed above. With Hitman 3 however, I can no longer forgive that mistake. Though Dubai, Dartmoor, and Mendoza were some great missions (that Argentinian landscape is quite possibly the most beautiful of any Hitman mission ever), the rest were simply decent, or worse. Berlin was far too small compared to the rest of the missions, and for a game that includes only six, that's unacceptable. The objective itself was unimaginative and took me thirty minutes to complete. Simply put, it felt like a filler mission. Chongqing was quite large, but like Berlin, lacked any creativity. But the true disappointment of this entire series was the final mission. I can't stress enough how frustrated I was with IOI after playing through this one... The mission can be summed up pretty quickly: You run through a moving train, killing enemies in the usual way that you do, using the same type of weapons hitman players are accustomed to, before arriving at the front of the train where the big villain of the series is waiting. Over the course of the previous two games, so much work was put into creating this character and getting the player emotionally invested in him, but is there some big fight or grand cinematic moment to end the series on a bang? No. He simply gives up and allows you to kill him however you like. To those who played Blood Money, this scene harkens back to when Joseph "Swing King" Clarence, the target from the TUTORIAL mission, gave up and allowed you to kill him effortlessly. The first two games set up interesting enough characters and a storyline that could have very well culminated in an ending ranking as the best of this franchise. Quite frankly, I almost expected it to be a glorious finish. Sadly, I would easily rank this as the worst conclusion to any Hitman game I've ever played. And I've played them all. IOI, if you've given up on producing the quality of character development and story creation necessary for such a short game, then at least have the dignity to hold off another year or two and make a game that can be played through in more than six hours. Maybe then you might have a decent title on your hands.