tvtropes.org

World of Assassination Trilogy - TV Tropes

  • ️Sat Oct 01 2022

The World of Assassination Trilogy has some levels that inspire a lot of player dislike, here they are:

For the levels in Hitman: Codename 47, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin,Hitman: Contracts, Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution, go here instead.

Hitman (2016) 

  • Main Missions:
    • "World of Tomorrow", while still excellently designed in other areas, has one major design flaw that makes it a pain to replay; the mandatory destruction of the ETHER Virus in order to exit the level. While it can be done quickly, it forces the player to either go to the heavily-guarded biolab situated underneath Villa Caruso to deal with it, or start disguised there at the beginning of the mission, making the virus objective feel linear to complete. It was not uncommon to see the most popular Contracts set in Sapienza being "World of Tomorrow minus the virus objective". The developers even acknowledge that this was a player frustration in May 2019's IOI Monthly video, where they use it as an example of Railroading and how they wanted the "Golden Handshake" mission to avoid this issue when players collect the data needed to exit that level.
    • "Club 27" is a deceptively easy level. Like with Freedom Fighters below, its Silent Assassin, Suit Only challenge is notoriously tricky, but much of that trickiness is down to how the level itself has been designed for the main mission. It has several empty rooms, the hotel is full of security guards, and there are a lot of enforcers per-disguise, making player traversal around the hotel annoying. The security room, however, is the straw that breaks the camels' back here. If you get recorded by security cameras, the security footage is placed in one of the hardest areas of the level to access. It requires a keycard or keycard hacker to enter, is trespassing in everything but hotel guard outfits, has at least three guards inside (one of which is always an enforcer), and the security footage is at the other end of the room (and two extra camera's pointed at the security box), requiring precise timing to interact and/or destroy it. Worse still, none of the later level iterations in 2 or 3 really changed the level, and it took until Freelancer mode to add an alternate exit (which is exclusive to Freelancer).
    • "Freedom Fighters". This level was not (and in certain parts of the fanbase, still isn't) liked on release. Its set in a wide open compound where nearly everyone is armed, has four separated targets for 47 to eliminate, and has a forced exit that's hard to reach. Its Silent Assassin, Suit Only challenge (detailed on the games' page under That One Sidequest) is what many think of when it comes to this levels' difficulty. The later games in the trilogy did add stealth grass to make traversal quite a lot easier, and the forced bunker exit was removed after one playthrough in the GOTY Edition in 2017, which satiated a lot of the complaints.
    • Patient Zero is notoriously difficult as you have two minutes before Owen Cage reaches an unprotected member of the staff that catches the Nabazov Virus, which spreads fast. It's very easy to have to depopulate half the level to finish. Its secondary target, Klaus Liebleid, never leaves the operating theatre, which is full of doctors and has wide windows that can compromise 47.
  • The Sarajevo Six:
    • "The Mercenary" is easily the hardest side mission in the game. Patrick, alongside his four bodyguards, see through every disguise on the map and will follow him. They will also chase down 47 if they see him, making it a chore to subdue any of them before taking out Patrick. He shares similar issues to that of The Bookkeeper Elusive Target (listed below), in that he is tricky to isolate and make traps for, making for a frustrating experience.
    • Killing The Controller is, surprisingly, not the issue, as he's also the client who is waiting for 47 to kill him. However, 47 must also reach the computer in the hospital director's office without being spotted — at all. Arousing even the slightest bit of suspicion will result in an instant mission failure, and saving back in 2016 was disabled. While there are ways to make the level easier (the surgeon starting point and using the unlockable disposable scrambler item to access the office), its later re-release in Hitman 3 now allows being recorded by security cameras (so long as you're allowed to be in the area you were recorded in), and later added the ability to save, making the mission much easier to deal with than in 2016.
  • Elusive Targets:
    • "The Fixer" is perhaps the most loathed Elusive Target mission in 2016 by players. The goal? The player must shadow a courier to a handoff, then knock him out to obtain a small bag of diamonds intended as payment, and after that, kill the target; Xander Haeverfock. However, there are multiple issues with this contract that make it very hard to play:
      • First, The initial portion is a forced Stalking Mission, making the contract extremely linear by design, as it's mandatory to nab the diamonds from the courier, requiring the player to tail him (and the Courier will make his path longer if he suspects he has a tail). Players frequently get caught out by knocking out the courier too early, not realising that you can only knock them out after they've made the transaction from one of three merchants on the map, not before. Doing so otherwise will insta-fail the mission, as it assumes you're trying to cheese it. Even if you wait out the hand-off near the school, you're still waiting around doing diddly-squat for 5-10 minutes.
      • Second, killing Xander is an exercise in frustration. By the time the player has grabbed the diamonds, Xander will already be in the Consulate, which is heavily-guarded, and has multiple enforcers that block ideal paths to help navigate around the building. Xander follows Claus Strandberg around indefinitely, and never isolates himself. Worse still, he will not investigate any distractions while Claus is conscious, as he acts like a super-enforcer guard, so killing Xander is needlessly tricky.
      • And finally, the severe lack of information told to the player. While you are briefed on where to find Xander and the Courier, there are no warnings in regards to the merchants (who appear on the map outside this mission, so players assume they're not mission-critical and can be knocked out), and the game doesn't adequetly explain the failure conditions, so if a player followed a tutorial online, and try to grab the diamonds from the merchants ahead of time, the mission will also fail.
      • Not surprisingly, this level had the lowest success rate of any Elusive Targets' run in 2016; 23%, solely because of the secondary objective confusing players◊. IOI have gone on record saying that part of the reason why this mission hasn't re-ran as much as later Elusive Targets, even as part of Hitman 3's Elusive Target Arcade, is due to the low success rate and how players find the contract frustrating, which is evidenced by the fact that the contract only re-ran in Hitman 3 because HitmanForum members voted to via a dedicated thread asking for suggestions of who to run. And even the players who like this contract admit it's poorly made for the Elusive Targets system, with fans suggesting IO to rework it, by disabling some, or all, the complications to make the mission less punishing fpr players.
    • "The Bookkeeper" for Colorado. Pertti is surrounded by four bodyguards at all times, one of which can see through every disguise on the map, with the kicker being that his route is completely randomized, making it impossible to predict his exact route, as his next stop is random each cycle. Essentially, if you've set up a trap, then his random route may make him not visit that spot for a long time, forcing multiple restarts. Subduing any of his bodyguards will result in Pertti attempting to evacuate, and if his car is destroyed to prevent this, he will either be taken to the basement (which Berg also hides in) or the north-eastern room of the house (which contains two additional soldiers), and he will remain at the last place he visited after the lockdown cools off.
    • "The Ex-Dictator", the first Elusive Target mission to have two targets, and that's arguably the least problematic part of the contract. Both targets mostly stay around the well-guarded second floor lounge, and The All-Seeing A.I. is in full effect here - there's very little room to kill or hide the targets, and a vast majority of the guards, waiters and bellhops are enforcers. Richard occasionally isolates himself where he can easily be killed, but Inez is always accompanied by her bodyguard when moving between the lounge and the hotel's west garden. Killing either target before they enter the hotel breaks both their routes and their bodyguards, as Richard no longer isolates himself and smokes inside the bar.
    • "The Warlord" has several design problems that makes the level very tricky:
      • First, Nne Obara has unique military guards in her suite that see through any pretenders, making getting around the penthouse annoying unless you're dressed as one of the regular staff, while the leader of the military (who meets up with her) cannot be impersonated, which feels like a missed opportunity.
      • Second, the USB Stick the client needs is not on the target, and it's not nearby either; it's in the security office inside a safe being protected by two soldiers. As described in the Bangkok entry above, the security office is among the hardest places to reach on the map, as it requires a keycard to access, and then either a key or lockpick to get at a safe that has the USB stick inside it, but not before the player distracts everyone in the room with a large noise to draw them out long enough to open it to grab the USB and escape.
      • And finally, if you decide to grab the USB stick first (itself problematic as if you complete that objective, you're essentially committing to a solo attempt at taking Nne Obara's life as you're barred from restarting), the military leader has a routine to check on the safe every few minutes, and while this can take a while to happen, they will call a Target Lockdown when he notices it's missing, making it potentially harder to kill The Warlord.
    • "The Pharmacist" has the apparent setup of being on a timer, something the game does make you aware of in the briefing, but that's actually not functional in-game, as Nila will never leave, meaning Diana's updates for 47 of Nila's actions is a bit pointless, and the briefing wholly misleading, as it can make players panic if they're not aware that they're not actually under any timer. After meeting with Dalia, Nila will stay on the top floor, alternating between two rooms indefinitely, making them almost impossible to take out silently.
    • "The Twin" involves identifying and taking out Dylan while not harming Gonzales. Both wander in public areas filled with civilians and almost never split from each other or their bodyguards. There's a Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo that can be used to poison Dylan, but it requires quick timing and observation. Subduing Gonzales in any way will fail the mission, so the player must know Sapienza well enough to get a 5-star ranking. While the Camera item in Hitman 3 makes this mission easier, keeping track of the twins is still tricky as they constantly switch places when walking.
    • "The Sensation" is having a party in one of the gardens that's otherwise surrounded by security. And while you're allowed at the party itself, isolating him, or even poisoning his drink can take quite a long time to happen. The original run of the mission also featured a laptop to turn off the music to cause a distraction, but that's been removed in later repeats.
    • "The Food Critic"'s Wen Ts'ai is a Stationary Boss sitting in a public area and is surrounded by guards, meaning most kill methods are out the window. His one routine where he moves from his chair is a small detour to the kitchens (which itself takes ages to get going), that leads to a scripted way of killing him (by poisoning the cake in the kitchen).
    • "The Bad Boy"'s Bartholomew Argus has much the same issues as Wen Ts'ai; a Stationary Boss sitting in full view of guards and the public (in this case, playing "K&L" in the Gelato cafe), and only has one routine that deviates from this (attending the fan meeting with Bosco, which lets you poison him), which too takes a long time to happen. The kicker is that his car can be exploded to get his attention, unlocking a secondary routine, but the car itself cannot be used to kill him, which is a strange design choice.
    • "The Angel of Death" has Etta Davis start isolated on a rooftop. However, the outside of the building is surrounded by guards, and the player has only a minute before Davis meets with the military. Afterwards, Davis wanders around the crowded marketplace with four soldiers, only heading to the more isolated shisha den during a target lockdown.

Hitman 2 

  • Main Missions:
    • Whittleton Creek itself is fine, but the clues you have to discover are always mandatory to find, requiring you to find at least three clues along with eliminating the two targets to finish the mission. Fans believe that, while it is unique and interesting at first, it ruins the mission's pacing on replays of the level. This is a similar complaint to Colorado, where only the underground bunker was available as an escape in the campaign, requiring you to get Sean's Mask to leave the level. Colorado in Hitman 2 no longer forces one exit after a single play-through of the level, and in Whittleton Creek's case, there are easier, smaller clues to find, which don't take long to complete, but are out of the way enough from each other to become annoying to deal with, especially with repeated Save Scumming (or even when you can't save as often, like in Master difficulty).
    • While Haven Island is liked for its level design, the NPC sight-cones being extended is a little controversial, not because it's a bad design choice, but because the game doesn't tell you about it, and the only people to know are those that listened to Word of God back in 2019. Not only that, but in Hitman 3, the level suffered from people seeing through walls, made worse by the sight-cones being double the size.
  • Elusive Targets:
    • "The Revolutionary" is notably the most difficult of the six Elusive Targets. Murillo's spawn point is randomized between three locations (the lounge above the Delgado lockup, a shack south of the bar, or one of the fishing huts), all of which contain several guards who can see through 47's disguises, and are in public view of civilians. While Murillo drinks from a glass of wine after every session, the glass is hard to poison without being spotted, and any other accident kill is made more frustrating by the fact Murillo's bodyguard and cameraman always accompany him.

Hitman 3 

  • Main Missions:
    • Ambrose Island not having any Mission Stories is a common complaint among fans, even with veteran players, as it's frequently used to get a lay of the land to better understand what the level is like, and it's not unusual for experienced players to still get lost on the map. While Berlin has no Mission Stories either, it's still got some tutorial design baked into it (notably the first target you kill, Price, is all-but-handed to you), and so comes off as less impenetrable to players. Also worth mentioning is that 47 actually has no unique dialog for this level, reusing voice clips from throughout the trilogy, and he remains mute in the briefing, which also has not gone unnoticed by fans.
  • Elusive Targets:
    • "The Collector", like with "The Pharmacist" is on a timer, and if Haynes manages to procure the painting you can retrieve for Five Stars, he'll retreat to his van parked at the front of the mansion. The timer is not that strict however, taking at least 15 minutes for Kody to flee, but it has caught players by surprise.
    • "The Ascensionist" has the unique gimmick of having an Elusive Target who sees through all of 47's disguises. Moretta quickly moves to the second floor before wandering around the penthouse suite, surrounded by guards and accompanied by Ogilvy. Subduing Ogilvy makes Moretta flee, meaning that killing her requires planning and avoiding getting caught by her.
    • When "The Rage" first released, his level had a lot of issues with NPC's seeing through walls, an affliction Chongqing otherwise didn't suffer from, making even pacifying Sully an exercise in frustration. While this has since been fixed, the memory of it is still fresh in players' minds.