Another day, another Hitman map. This is series in which I go through the level design of the maps in 'Hitman: No Subtitle' and take an amateur look at what works, what doesn't, and perhaps learn a little bit about world design as we go. First comes the stock disclaimer: I will be going into story narrative and gameplay spoilers, so if you don't want to have something spoiled go pick and play the game for yourself (It's worth it.) Today we will approaching a map that I have something of a controversial opinion on. (I should probably preface this blog with the 'This is my opionon' disclaimer, but we all know there's no such thing as subjectivity in this day and age.)
For their fourth map, IOI decided to play hard into fan nostalgia by hearkening back to a Hitman staple, the hotel level. Hotels are very interesting world spaces to explore as they are a collective of lived in spaces all stuck together under one roof. Every individual hotel room should contain a slice-of-life of the occupant, feeding the voyeuristic hunger that us stealth fans seem to foster. Take a look at some of hotel levels in games like Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, Mafia 2 and Splinter Cell: Double Agent and you'll see brief moments of insight into the lives of that world's inhabitants. This is the reason why IOI have come back to Hotel levels time and time again, and why they picked up the concept for designing the Himmapan Hotel for 'Club 27'.
Set in an incredibly gorgeous corner of Bangkok, the Himmapan Hotel is clearly a destination for the elite tourist. It is abundantly apparent for the player to see, from the opulent lobby, the manicured gardens and the giant gold plated elephants flanking the entrance. Everything screams 'expensive' and 'privillaged' before you even get the chance to step in the doors. It's here where I have my first issue with this map, it all seems like a facade. Despite all my talk (For which I parroted IOI's own statements.) about the level of personality that one can find in these Hotel levels, 'Club 27' feels conspicuously devoid of such affects. Once you check into the Hotel and start immediately breaking into the other guest's rooms (Just like I always do.) you'll start to notice just how plain and homogeneous they all actually are. You'll find no strewn suitcases, no personal wall posters or questionable items of clothing, just another immaculate room that might have a single utility tool . (Like scissors.)
When you think about it, this actually makes a huge amount of sense in the fiction of the world. You are never explicitly told how much a stay at the Himmapan costs, but it doesn't take a government audit to tell you that those indoor fountains ain't cheap. This isn't the kind of 'live-in' hotel that people hire out when they have nowhere else to go, this is a tourist stop (And another makes three.) for the rich and affluent to stay at for a week before moving on to the next location of their fabulous holiday. These aren't the kind of people who will decorate their living space to reflect their personalities (Most of them likely don't have enough personality to decorate a wall, anyway.) so it comes across a little odd that IOI focused so much on this aspect in their previews. I suppose I was little disappointed after having my expectations set up, but once I saw the briefing for the level itself I did manage to spark that ol' excitement train up once more.
In 'Club 27', 47 is tasked with taking out the lead singer of the indie rock band: The Class. This man, Jordan Cross, has entered the ICA's crosshairs ever since his former girlfriend; Hannah Highmore, fell to her death from his penthouse. Her family refuse to write it off as a drunken accident and are sure that he was directly involved, the only reason he was never charged is because of the influence thrown around by his billionaire media mogul father, Thomas Cross. Additionally, they want 47 to eliminate Ken Morgan, legal fixer and the Cross family lawyer, for his pivotal role in the cover up. As Diana says in the official briefing; "The system might be powerless but the ICA is anything but."
Jordan is an interesting target, and not just because he dresses like your prototypical silicon valley hipster. (With Jared Leto's face, oddly.) This was the first time that players had the chance to target an individual who had actually been mentioned in previous levels. Being an up-and-coming indie rock star, it makes sense that at some point in your travels around the world you might have heard of him, but to actually realize that in the gameworld created this fantastic connective tissue between the game's levels. I still remember the fervour that spread around the community when he was announced as 'Club 27's target, suddenly everyone was scouring the earlier levels to try to get the bead on future targets. (Little did they know that one of Hitman 2's future targets just straight up appears in Paris.)Fans were also happy with the level itself. After the confusing layout of the previous map, people were hoping for something that was a lot more compact and easy to come to terms with, and nothing says 'easy-to-understand' like a uniform hotel layout. Everything was easy to reach and required little in the way of travel (If you don't mind scaling several sets of stairs, that is.) The mission targets also managed to take up the full level space this time. Ken Morgan filters about the grounds mingling with hotel guests whilst Cross and his considerable army of band mates have taken over an entire wing of the hotel, which is where the infiltration comes into play.
Moving in on your targets in not quite as difficult as some of the previous levels. Jordan Cross' makeshift recording studio in the king suite has little in the way of guard presence; all you really have to worry about is finding the right disguise to get past the couple of bouncers in your way. Morgan is practically a cakewalk. Pulling him into somewhere secluded requires a few simple string pulls and he'll be off to the linen room to make a private call, he'll even send away his personal guard himself.(It's as though he didn't expect to be gutted by a serial killer with a fire axe, or something.) What I'm trying to convey is the fact that Bangkok was not a particularly hard level by any stretch of the imagination. (Unless you decided to complete it 'Silent Assassin/Suit Only', in which case I offer my condolences to your sanity.)
The narrative thread can be rather fun to follow, too. Just like with Silvio in Italy, you have a main target who's story is embroiled with a mystery; those who are interested enough can keep digging in order to find out the truth behind the Highmore girl's death. His other opportunities revolve around exploiting his crippling sense of inadequacy (Stemming from his desire to outgrow the nepotistic coddling of his father) and his desire to strike out on his own. Deliver him a birthday cake that was sent by his father and watch him burst into a rage, orchestrate events so that Jordan bumps into Ken (Whom is there by his father's instruction.) and watch the past play out again. There is even one opportunity thread you can follow wherein you discover his intentions to go solo from the rest the band. His paranoia regarding his father is so inescapable that he is willing to abandon all of his budding success in order to distance himself. Once again IOI did a fantastic job bringing the concept character to life in the game.
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