Watch out, because Agent 47 is back. After a good quality multiplatform episode that lifted the veil on a more human aspect of his personality, he’s back on Windows tablets. This is a game of strategy and infiltration where you have to wait for your target without being noticed by the guards. In the style of a board game, the Hitman series succeeds brilliantly on tablets with a subtle and addictive game.

Hitman with a turn-based strategy and great aesthetic

For Hitman GO, Square Enix took the risk of moving away from the usual gameplay of the series. It's proven to be a winning bet, as the direction taken by the developer is much more suited to mobile devices, with more action/infiltration using reflexes in a successful turn-based strategy game.

In each level, you’ll move Agent 47 on a game board trying to reach your goal without being seen. You move one space on each turn as the guards will follow a predefined path (which you should carefully observe). It's a very good game system, which soon resembles a puzzle as the difficulty increases.

From the development point of view, Hitman GO is clean. The developers have opted to give the app a very successful ‘board game’ look. The characters and settings have a beautiful design, with excellent performance on tablets.

An economic model to improve 

In each level, the optional targets (pick up a briefcase, complete with a time limit, or complete without killing) will let you collect more points, which you’ll then use to unlock additional levels. Not all levels will be accessible from the beginning though; you must earn enough points, or empty your pockets. It's an unfortunate model for a paid game, which shows once again that Square Enix still has a lot to learn about how to monetize its mobile games.

If you don’t want to spend more than the price of the game, you need to practice to master the game and achieve points that will help you level up. It’s a pity, even if the game is balanced enough so that you don’t spend hours on the same level.

A very successful mobile adaptation of the Hitman series

Square Enix could have just made a rough adaptation of Hitman for mobile by taking the game's graphics with a lethargic gameplay. Luckily, the developer decided to rethink the game system to make something completely different with a turn-based strategy and puzzle games. It's almost a complete success: its economic model (with levels to unlock or to pay for) hinder the game from achieve true greatness.