![]() Even leaving the game idle for more than a few minutes disconnects you from the game. You effectively eliminate the ability to play portably, and sleep mode doesn’t function properly since it interrupts your connection to the server. Overstating how problematic it is to play Hitman 3 on Switch would be difficult. Just as I would get comfortable, however, I would lose connection to the server, or simply be booted right back to the starting screen. ![]() To be fair, there were stretches of gameplay, 20-30 minutes perhaps, where everything would be running smoothly. Now of course, your mileage may vary when it comes to connection issues, but even when my Switch’s internet test is showing a download of 137.6 Megabits per second and an upload of 36.1 Megabits per second, I was still seeing major problems. Even when playing in handheld a few feet away from my router, there would be more frequent stuttering and regular prompts to switch to offline mode. First, a wired connection is essential at all times. However, the Cloud Edition on Switch is anything but, and the constant performance issues and limitations make it basically impossible to recommend, which isn’t even to mention the visual downgrades. Did you set off the fireworks display to distract guests at a party? Did you discover the recipe for your target’s favorite drink, make it, and then disguise yourself as a bartender to serve it to them? Did you shoot down five drones with a sniper rifle? The scores of challenges fall under categories such as Feats and Assassinations, and they add incredible depth and replay value for those who want to extract every ounce of satisfaction from the game.īy almost any measure, Hitman 3 is nothing short of a masterpiece. It still boggles my mind how many different routes you can choose to fulfill your mission objective, and ultimately stealthily putting down your targets and extricating yourself from the building without being caught or killed seem to only scratch the surface of the Hitman experience. The first of these actually plays out as a murder mystery, in which you interview members of the target’s family to uncover the grisly details of an apparent suicide that took place within the location’s old style mansion.ĭozens of challenges encourage multiple playthroughs of every location. After completing the second mission, “Death in the Family,” I was encouraged to return and take on the three separate story missions that involve disguising Agent 47 as a private investigator, a photographer, and an undertaker. You can spend hours scouting out the buildings, rooms, and outdoor spaces to find hidden weapons and secrets, in addition to separate story missions that allow for fun and creative ways to infiltrate your target’s office or workspace, for example. The sheer freedom you have to complete your overall objective is both liberating and invigorating. The overarching narrative and Agent 47’s motivation for eliminating every target feel very much secondary to the level design and gameplay, but that’s a strength rather than a weakness.Įvery location generally has one or two primary targets that must be strangled, exploded, drowned, stabbed, or crushed (insert a variety of other verbs here). That said, the story cutscenes are provocative, concise, and engaging, and they represent the visual peak of what the Switch version displays. Although there are summaries to help new players catch up with the overall story, I did feel somewhat like a fish out of water trying to understand the plot leading up to the third game. ![]() ![]() Here, six new locations function as veritable playgrounds in which to experiment and role-play to your heart’s content. Hitman 3 represents the final entry in the World of Assassination trilogy, which brought protagonist Agent 47 to a wide variety of real-world destinations such as Paris, Mumbai, and Berlin. While I’m all for expanding the Switch’s library in new and unique ways, the frustration and sacrifices that are made to play Hitman 3 on Switch are, quite simply, doing a disservice to what may be the greatest stealth game ever made. Japan saw Resident Evil 7 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey release on Switch through this service, and last fall saw Remedy Entertainment’s Control mark the first such cloud-enabled title in the West. While the third entry in the rebooted Hitman games isn’t the first in the franchise to grace a Nintendo platform (that honor goes to 2002’s Hitman 2: Silent Assassin on GameCube), it does continue the latest trend of major PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases coming to Switch through the use of cloud servers. ![]()
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