Long time Hitman fans were justifiably nervous about the direction of this series after its infamous "Nun Commando" trailer.  For those of you who missed it, it featured a set of sexy nuns, stripping out of their habits to reveal hooker attire, and then attempting to blow up Agent 47's hotel room...

There were few people I knew who were more excited for Hitman: Absolution than myself. As the only title in the stealth genre that I've supported, it's been a fun ride. With memories that stretch all the way back from the first title, it's been a series that's always sat warmly in my heart.

The Hitman series is back after a long hiatus with Hitman: Absolution for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The last Hitman game, Hitman: Blood Money, came out in 2006 and since then there's been a dearth of thoughtful sneaky killing games .

Emphasizes problem-solving and stealth over fighting.

Several missions feel limited and uninspired; Instinct mechanic hurts the series' feel.

Like the previous titles, the game consists of missions that require you to assassinate predetermined targets. To help you accomplish your objectives, you're given a range of weaponry, intel, and abilities, and it's up to you to put all three to good use.

Fantastic visuals; great stealth assassinations; user-created missions

Early climax; frustratingly steep learning curve

IO Interactive sure is lucky that Richard ended up liking Absolution in spite of some of those major problems. If I'd spent a decade training a legion of hardcore assassination simulator fans, the absolute last thing I'd want to do is piss them off.

Still Hitman; gorgeous levels; very replayable

Glitchy AI; appalling story; bad stealth

was released more than six years ago, but I feel that it aged better than many games of its time, and this only made fans of this assassination series by IO Interactive more antsy as the developers spent years away from the franchise that made them famous.

Story takes a centre stage in Absolution where the focus is to carry out the dying wishes of Diana, your handler from previous games. A girl that was in her charge now falls to you to watch out for her and find out exactly what the agency (your former employer) wants with her.

Hitman Absolution has been highly anticipated by the somewhat underserved fans of stealth gaming. Ben Allan delves into one of the final large releases of 2012.

Great presentation and terrific production values across the board; Larger stages with plenty of room for player choice are a blast to play (and replay).

Poor checkpoint system; Only passable gunplay; Far too many unnecessary, unmemorable and often tiny filler stages

A series entry that puts pure stealth above silent slaying; afflicted by segmented levels and weak cinematic aspirations, but buoyed by an impressive Contracts mode.

With the return of Hitman after a 6 year hiatus, hardcore fans were psyched with a release of a seemingly flawless product, but questions remained as it neared release date. People now began to realize some major cons in the game, as I did with my further gameplay.