Hitman Go (iPad Game)

[Graham Smith]

I ran across this game recently when reading reviews of puzzle games. It's rather difficult to categorize since it's unlike anything else I have seen.

Superficially, it's designed to look like a board game that you play turn by turn against the computer. You control Agent 47, the character from the video games and an upcoming movie, The computer controls all the other "players".

Each player characters is color and appearance coded which dictates a predefined set of moves.

Agent 47 (you) move first then all the characters move according to their rules.

Moves are constrained to an outline on the board, much like you would see a path on any board game. You can move in any direction along the path and sometimes have to move forward and back a couple times to allow the players to get far enough along their path to allow you to safely move.

With the exception of the first 5 boards, which are kind of like tutorials, each board has three goals you have to accomplish to get all of the points for that board. On some boards, you have to kill (knock off the board) all the enemies (other players), others you can't kill anyone, there are briefcases to pickup, guns to use, objects to throw and distract other players, bushes to hide in, trap doors, and a number of other creative items.

There are no instructions. You have to figure out what the players do by moving and watching them. At one point, the game introduces disguises which allow you to move by a player unseen. And there are snipers out there looking to get you if you get in their line of sight.

It is often ridiculously simple but can be frustratingly complex as well - like one board where one goal is to finish in under 36 moves. In a number of boards, the goals are mutually exclusive. IOW, you cannot get all three points in one go, so you have to play the board two or three times to get all the points.

This game is addictive!!!

Edited June 11, 2015 by Graham Smith