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Hitman Go: KYM Game Of The Week
Hitman is now available for iPhone and iPad
Square Enix has brought one of video gaming’s biggest franchises to mobile devices for the first time. The Hitman franchise has gone from strength to strength since its original release in 2000. Four other games have followed Agent 47 on his hits around the world killing targets, swapping clothes and occasionally saving some innocents along the way.
The original games have a complicated control system which transferring to mobile devices would have been impossible without hardware buttons. Therefore Square Enix has taken an entirely different tact with Hitman GO. It’s available on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices now for £2.99 ($4.99) but you’re not going to be running and shooting like normal.
This time around Square Enix has opted for a turn-based puzzle game format. You’re still here to kill the targets and get by unnoticed but it resembles more of a board game than the original series. That’s mainly because the original idea for Hitman GO was a physical board game, but after a while it gently transformed into a mobile game.
Moving a space at a time throughout the environments you make your way toward your target taking out guards or sneaking by using different costumes and a variety of distractions. Some costumes and weapons you’ll recognise from before, some you might not.
To start with the game can feel a little patronising with its simple mechanic of moving a space at a time but after four or five levels the brain strain kicks in. Some levels can be become complicated very quickly, too – especially when the number of moving guards increases or the attack dogs come out.
If it gets too difficult to complete levels there’s always the option to cheat and get some helpful hints courtesy of the bottom right shortcut. You only get 5 of these when you first start out though, so don’t waste them early on; you’re bound to need them when you hit the harder levels.
Each set of levels is called a box, much like separate board games, one of them is exclusively based on fan favourite game Hitman: Blood Money. There’s currently five boxes to work your way through with more coming soon, included in with the original price.
This isn’t the traditional Hitman game you’ve played and loved before. We need to treat this as something completely different, taking down your target requires a different kind of skill in this game – and after a few hours of gameplay, it really does become just as satisfying.
You can download Hitman GO for iOS devices from here for £2.99. An Android version of the game is in the works but there’s no word on a release date just yet.