Hitman: Absolution will see gamers once more pick up Agent 47 signature 'Hardballer' pistols. Picture: Courtesy of IO Interactive Source: Supplied
- Hitman: Absolution inspired by Johnny Cash, David Lynch
- "It's a hyper-realistic game with a noir feel to it."
- "It's about living this fantasy of being unstoppable."
THE hugely popular Hitman series has always satisfied a rather peculiar and gruesome urge, letting gamers step into the shoes of the world's deadliest criminal � a cloned assassin-for-hire known only as Agent 47.
In the Hitman games, players guide the bald, bar-code tattooed killer through a series of sandbox-style missions in which they have to neutralise specific targets using stealth, lethal force and a variety of tools, tricks and disguises.
Of course, if you?re not the type for sneaking about in the shadows, you?re perfectly welcome to pull out 47?s signature ?hardballer? pistols and massacre your way through the missions ? although you?re generally rewarded for taking the more subtle approach.
So why are we so drawn to the grim world of Agent 47? For one, the games themselves are a lot of fun to play ? but Roberto Marchesi, art director of the latest game in the series, says it?s all about letting players indulge in fantasy.
?It?s a game about creativity, it?s a game about freedom of choice, and you are a killing machine,? said Roberto Marchesi to News.com.au at a recent preview of Hitman: Absolution.
?You can do whatever you want, and the game will let you do it. It?s about living this fantasy of being unstoppable.?
One of Hitman: Absolution's missions will see you sneaking through a student party as it's raided by the cops. Picture: Courtesy of IO Interactive Source: Supplied
As the game?s art director, it was Roberto?s job to create the world that Agent 47 will wreak havoc on, and he says he took inspiration from some unexpected places.
?One artist that had a strong influence on the feel of Hitman: Absolution was Johnny Cash. The way he sings, the world he sings about is very much in tune with the world that we?re trying to present in Absolution.
?And David Lynch was a huge influence. His movies are great, his main cast is great, but what is really cool about his movies is all the things around the main cast.?
He says that Lynch?s films were influential in shifting a bit of the focus of Hitman: Absolution away from its star, and turning into an ensemble game.
?The secondary characters, the guys hanging out in the background who have a couple of lines and then they?re out. They are what make Lynch?s movies interesting to me, because you have a huge palette that is very credible.
?For building the human palette of Hitman: Absolution, that was really influential. It?s not just the target and the main cast, but everyone surrounding it.?
Agent 47 employs a range of disguises. Picture: Courtesy of IO Interactive Source: Supplied
A lot has changed in the six years since the last game, Hitman: Blood Money, was released - Absolution features new gameplay features, including a multiplayer mode called ?Contracts?, which blends creation and competition, as well as improvements in performance. But how has the game changed visually?
?We wanted to make a hyper-realistic game with a noir feel to it,? says Mr Marchesi.
?Of course, we?ve got a higher graphical fidelity, a higher poly count, the usual stuff. But crowds have changed too.
?Crowds were a pillar of the gameplay in Blood Money, but this time around we?ve really looked at crowds and improved them.
?You?ll notice how dense it feels when you enter an area with crowds and how they affect you.
And while you may not always notice it, he says that the job of an art director isn?t just to make something interesting to look at, but to use things like lighting to guide a player?s attention.
?Lighting has made huge leaps since the last game. Dynamic lighting is affected by your actions, and the lighting in the game has a very strong communicative element.
?Players will see a very pretty picture when they play the game, but through lighting they?ll also be getting a lot of information, without necessarily being aware of it.
?Visually, games are getting more complex, and this is a two edged sword, because communication wise it becomes harder to tell a player what?s relevant.
?Before, when you played a game, you?d enter a room and the only high resolution object in the room was the one you could interact with. Now the graphics are so detailed, that you don?t always know what is relevant.
?Good art direction is important because it alleviates this by lighting things correctly, colouring them correctly, giving them the right placement so they feel natural and the player understands that he can interact with this thing instead of that.?
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