Blood on the App Store.
Square-Enix’s Montreal studio has a peculiar task, indeed: Take existing intellectual properties and turn them into new games entirely. To show that they are up to the challenge, Hitman GO is its attempt to turn the classic Hitman franchise into a mobile strategy game.
Brand manager, Genevieve St-Onge, showcased everything the game has to offer iOS owners. Scenes in Hitman GO are presented as diorama-style boards, and characters, including Agent 47, are reduced to plastic-like figurines. As jarring as this may seem for a notably dark and moody franchise, I was impressed with the work put into each scene. I also got to preview a full diorama of the famous Curtains Down opera mission from Hitman: Blood Money, replete with startling detail.
Each stage has fixed nodes Agent 47 can move between simply by swiping along the screen. Goals start simple by having you take out enemies. Initially, only one or two enemies needs to be offed, but the numbers can increase. You can’t approach them head on or they’ll kill you, so you need to examine the nodes and the scenery to figure out ways around them.
Further along, Agent 47 must utilize more tools recognizable to fans of the franchise, including disguises, sniper rifles, and his classic Silverballers pistols. Enemies eventually move along the nodes on the board too, so timing and constant movement become imperative to stay alive and complete mission objectives.
The game, which comes out on April 17th for Apple iOS devices (Android TBA), will be $4.99 with no F2P tomfoolery. All later levels are unlocked based on how many mission objectives are completed, but Genevieve assured me that more impatient players will have the ability to pay an additional $0.99 if they are that desperate.
It will certainly be interesting to see how well Square-Enix Montreal’s venture will do on the mobile market. On one hand, it’s not exactly a Hitman game like fans are accustomed, but on the other, people predisposed to liking this kind of game may not understand its Hitman skin. What I saw certainly piqued my interest, and folks hunting for a new game for their iPads should look into it when it's available later this week.
