Alas here we are, at the end of our road. For a while now I have been maintaining my very first series of interconnected blogs wherein I covered all the individual levels from 'Hitman 1 & 2: No Subtitle' and celebrate what I love about each and every one. Ultimately, this has been an exercise in gleaning a little bit of knowledge about game design from the masterful folks over at IOI, and to that end I feel quite successful. Looking back, I feel there are places where I could have been a little more critical, but I think I covered most of what mattered when it came to these game's levels. Now, however, we are at the end of the line. So let's jump right into it.
From the information gleaned around Whittleton Creek, 47 was able to learn that Janus and the Constant were due to meet face-to-face for some event known as The Ark Society. Diana recognizes the name as referring to a cabal of super-rich elitist doomsday preppers but doesn't know of the location herself. Luckily, Lucas Grey's personal hacker Olivia is around to direct the team to bug Janus' coffin. Whilst Providence bring Janus' body to the meeting, thinking him to be the inside man working against the foundation, (like Diana told them) 47 and Lucas Grey track the body all the way to... an undisclosed island somewhere in the pacific? (Lame!) However there is a complication.
Seeing as how Providence now believe that the former Constant, Janus, was working against them all along, the Partners suspect that anyone close to Janus could be a potential risk. And who could have possibly been closer to Janus than the man he hired as his replacement, the current Constant? As a precaution, the Partners pressure the Constant into injecting himself with a poison nanochip that can be set off at any moment. This is discovered by the team just before they arrive on the Isle of Sgàil, where the Ark Society is being held. Their man on the inside (Wait, they have a man on the inside? Then why the heck did we have to go through the last mission if you had someone close to the Constant the entire time?) informs them that there are two killswitches for the Constant's bomb, and unbeknownst to him, they have been granted to the possession of two young Providence agents at The Ark Society. The newly appointed chairwomen; Sophia and Zoe Washington.
At this point the parameters of the mission shift. (and it's not just because IOI couldn't envision a Hitman level without the objective to kill someone.) Grabbing the Constant is no longer their primary concern knowing that he can killed remotely, now they had to prioritize taking down the Washington twins too. Lucky, these twins just happen to be terrible people. Raised to be irreverent socialites, Zoe and Sophia have dedicated much of their lives to being thrill seeking treasure hunters who traipse around the world with their band of trigger-happy mercenaries in search of riches (Which they already posses by-the-by) whilst caring little for the cultural/human cost of their thoughtless blundering. As Diana says "Collateral damage they may be, but safe to say, they have it coming."
Once again, IOI have tasked themselves with creating a level that is laser focused to conjuring the air of finale about, in it's every bone; and to that end the Isle of Sgàil is very successful. Borrowing from Situs Inversus' Hokkaido, The Ark Society takes place at the dead of night on an island amidst turbulent seas. You can practically feel the chill of the air as your speedboat jets in under the light of the moon. The most significant difference between Hokkaido and Sgàil, that I notice, is the different thematic approach from a technological standpoint. Hokkaido's map was a state-of-the-art medical facility built in the isolated mountains tops whilst Sgàil is an old Scottish sea-fort that has been renovated into the most exclusive masquerade ball on the planet. IOI went from high tech to low tech with this level.
IOI clearly took some inspiration from other properties when it came to designing this level, most prominently being 'Eyes wide shut' (although, don't expect an orgy.) Every guest and member to The Ark Society is required to wear a mask and suit concealing their identity and preventing rumors from starting (Although they'll apparently make an exception for 47 if he happens to rock up dressed as a flamingo.) There is also an incredibly well hidden Tomb Raider Easter egg that, if I was to go into it here, would turn this entire blog into a walkthrough.
Traversing the map is particularly fun for this level, as it is designed to be very methodical and straightforward from the ground up. (Although there are shortcuts, obviously.) As a guest, you are permitted to walk around the keep of the castle (Which is now a lighted drinks area) as well as the ceremonial burning money pit in the courtyard. (These are very pretentious rich people.) However, Zoe and Sophia spend their time amidst the higher tier levels of the Ark Society, so players are encouraged to work their way up the promotional ladder the old fashioned way, by knocking out your superiors and stealing their clothes. (That's how promotions work, right? I've never got one.) Logically, this will mean that players will progress through the level in a quite linear manner, very different to other Hitman levels and a welcome change of pace for folk like me. (Plus, you can go your own way too if that's your thing.)
I will admit, however, that the targets themselves are rather weak this time around. That isn't to say that Zoe and Sophia don't demonstrate their given personalities throughout the level, because they do, but rather that their personalities are confusing similar. Neither target feels sufficiently distinct from one another as they are both self important socialites who seek psychological dominion over their peers. It is actually uncanny how similar these twins are. I suppose one difference that could be spoken about is the fact that Zoe appears to be more involved in the running of the Ark Society whilst Sophia seems bored by the whole affair and would prefer to be out relic hunting again, but I'm grasping at straws here, on a personal-level they are identical.
I will commend IOI for bringing a slew of great assassination opportunities for these two anyway. I guess it makes sense, seeing that this level was the grand finale, but the amount of effort thrown into the opportunities still impress me. One of my favourites was the "...Now you don't" one in which you exploit the grandiose pageantry of the Ark Society to teach Zoe a lesson about fire safety. A lot of her assassination revolve around drawing her in with the busywork that maintaining the society demands before killing her off in a big way. Sophia, on the otherhand, has a few more personal assassination opportunities that require isolating her before pulling off something imaginative. (I won't hint at anything in particular, I'll just mention that the penthouse floor has a functional iron maiden in it.)
From a storytelling standpoint, IOI exceed once again as every room seems to be designed to teach us something about the Ark Society. Even going in, you'll likely be unsure as to what a cabal of super-rich influential doomsday preppers would look or function like, but as soon as you enter the Hyperborea room and see their plans to colonize Titan in the event of an emergency, things start to click together in your head. They're just like normal preppers, only richer. Zoe and Sophia's stories are linked so closely with the Ark Society that it is hard to separate the two. IOI made them both into relic hunters and the Society just happens to hold the largest collection of original relics in the world, (Something about a cultural preserving movement.) which is just one of the clever ways that the creators tied these two together.
The Ark Society is also just a really fun level to mess around in. (It takes place in a giant sea-bound castle, of course it is!) You'll find broadswords and battleaxes to have some fun with, as well as working cannons (that all seemed to be ponited in directions that they really shouldn't be aiming in.) and even a full suit of armour (Which, as you can imagine, makes 47 look pretty darn suspicious, should he choose to wear it.) My favourite part, however, is using these incredibly rare relics (Relics that can be compromised if they are so much as touched without gloved hands, according to a couple of workers.) and immediately smashing them over the heads of rich dicks. There is this Khaṭvāṅga that makes for a decent blunt instrument and an ancient Aztec necklace ("It belonged to Montezuma himself!") that doubles as a very effective garrote wire. My favourite tool to play with in this level, however, are the 5, incredibly delicate, Fabergé eggs in the level. (Or 'Filigree' eggs as IOI decided to name them.) There is something incredibly cathartic about picking up a $2 million piece of jewellery and smashing it over someone's head for no reason whatsoever. (Never let me near real-life relics.)
The Isle of Sgàil is both a fun and very climatic level. It may not lay on the difficulty like Hokkaido did, (Unless you've resolved to do it Silent Assassin, Suit only on Master difficulty. In which case; good luck.) but it provides the atmosphere and setting that subconsciously informs you of the high stakes of this finale. I also appreciate the *optional* final objective to threaten the Constant with a killswitch and walk him out of the castle to your escape boat. (It has to be optional or SA/SO runs would actually be impossible.) It's always fun to have a curve ball objective thrown into a Hitman level, and being forced to keep someone alive is about as curvy of a throw as you can get in these games.
So there we have it, every single level in the base game of Hitman 1 and 2, analyzed and discussed ad nauseam. All the other levels from 'Hitman : No Subtitle' were just reimaginings of those levels usually at a different time of day with a new target thrown in. However... Hitman 2 introduced a whole new kind of level with their 'sniper assassin' maps that might be fun to talk about, and they also introduced two new maps which, not only explore brand new locations, but actually continue the main story a little bit further. That's right, we ain't done yet. Next week we'll look at a different type of Hitman map as we brush up on 47's sniper skills.
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