Video Game Review: Hitman: Episode 4

Watch out for DJ 47 on the wheels of steel.

Please note that since each episode of Hitman features the same graphics engine and control setup, those elements will not be repeated in our reviews for the remaining episodes. To read our thoughts on that, refer to our review of Episode 1: Paris.

With Episode 4: Bangkok promising to send Agent 47 to Thailand we were pretty pumped to see how Square-Enix brought one of the world’s most famous cities to life. Unfortunately, rather than dropping you in the city proper, your adventures take place entirely within the Himmapan luxury hotel, creating a setting that feels more like Paris than it probably intended to.

Staying at the Himmapan are a pair of unsavoury characters: Jordan Cross, acclaimed Indie rock singer and son of billionaire Thomas Cross, and Ken Morgan, the family’s attorney. Whatever thread has been holding previous episodes together is ostensibly absent here, as it’s made clear this is a private contract taken out by the family of Hannah Highmoore, the alleged murder victim of Jordan — a crime that was covered up by the unscrupulous Morgan.

In an unusual twist, you’ll encounter Morgan almost immediately as he has yet to check into the hotel, so it’s possible to eliminate him in just a few minutes, though there are, of course, numerous other and more elaborate ways to bring down the scummy attorney if you’re so inclined.

Jordan represents the more interesting mark as he’s staying in a different part of the hotel that is now basically off-limits to anyone outside of the Cross party, which includes hotel staff. It’s always clever to see how the game employs its disguise hierarchy system to make you adjust on the fly. For instance, hotel security can’t get anywhere near the band, but private security and road crew can.

For better or worse, however, it’s still eminently feasible to power your way through the mission because the A.I. can be wildly inconsistent. Sometimes they seem to notice the smallest detail while rooting you out as the would-be assassin, while other times you can practically gun someone down in front of dozens of people and walk past them a couple of minutes later with nary a sideways glance.

As with the other episodes, successfully completing your hits will unlock new disguises and spawn points to create additional options on subsequent attempts at the mission. We’d classify this as the easiest to date, though, and also the shortest thanks to how expeditiously you can eliminate Morgan.

If you’re still following the macro story arc, the short cut scene that follows your departure from Bangkok shifts the focus back toward the original villains that are manipulating current events behind the scenes. Hopefully that leads to some sort of satisfying conclusion as Hitman starts to wind down toward its final episodes.

OVERALL (3.75/5)

Although it’s still not the equal of Sapienza, Episode 4: Bangkok is a step up from Marrakesh, and the snippet of story advancement suggests we’re moving toward closure, which is a good thing.