Any mobile gamer looking to check out the adventures of bald, barcoded assassin Agent 47, star of the Hitman franchise, now has two divergent options to choose from. 2014's Hitman GO, one of the best iPhone games, reimagined the series's stealthy murder sequences as a classy, abstract board game. By comparison, Hitman: Sniper ($4.99) is a lot more conventional, boiling gameplay down to a succession of sniper rifle challenges. But even if the premise is stretched a little too thin, Hitman: Sniper isn't entirely without tricks.
Dead Aim
Missions in Hitman: Sniper play out basically the same each time. You're safely perched on a distant mountain aiming your sniper rifle at a luxurious house full of unsuspecting marks. You then have a handful of minutes to complete a few objectives, including taking out the target.
The unexpected complexity of the mission design does a fantastic job of initially hiding how repetitive the structure ultimately is. The large house is stuffed with different rooms and elements. Guards walk along set paths and respond to disturbances in predictable ways. Constantly revisiting the same location lets you fully learn its intricacies and plan strategies appropriately. The experience is remarkably similar to the feeling of cold, lethal, brilliant domination you get from an actual Hitman game, even though all you are doing is sliding a reticle and tapping a button.
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However, eventually the premise does start to wear thin. No amount of clever challenges can make up for the fact that all you're doing is shooting the same people in the same locations again and again and again. This also makes the increasingly specific tasks, like lining up a precise headshot to shoot a guard into a Jacuzzi, feel like valiant but frustrating padding.
On Target?
In between missions you can use cash and parts you've earned to build and customize new rifles, upgrade stability, ammo, and zoom, and obtain special abilities like the Iron Lung, which lets you stop breathing and freeze time for pinpoint aiming. The rifles themselves look great, too. Reloading one activates a swiping quick time event the really shows off the weapon's curves. Hitman: Sniper is an overall snazzy-looking mobile game. On the iPhone 6 I used for testing, the game's visuals ran smoothly with lots of details even with a bunch of tiny people walking around the multistory house. Maybe this is because the game constantly reuses the same small spaces, but it looks like a slice of a console Hitman game, which is impressive. It's like 2012's Hitman: Sniper Challenge, expect it's not a pre-order bonus.
For my money, though, Hitman: Sniper is still only the second best Hitman mobile game. Hitman GO totally reinterpreted the series while maintaining its core appeal of formulating murder plans. That game's turn-based strategy gameplay worked great on mobile and its austere toy chest art style was modern and striking. The only thing more surprising than its strangeness was its high level of quality. Hitman: Sniper feels more like a beefy mini game that will be a fun distraction to play while waiting for new installments of the upcoming, episodic, next-gen Hitman to come out on PlayStation 4 ($799.95 at Amazon) , Xbox One ($200.00 at eBay) , and PC. Hitman: Sniper is an occasionally great concept diluted into just a good game.
Hitman: Sniper isn't the most radical Hitman mobile game, but it is a cool, calculated shooter.
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