Hitman 2 Turns Heads, Snaps Necks

After a bumpy patch with former owner Square-Enix, a fully independent IO Interactive has returned with a follow-up to the 2016 soft reboot of Hitman. This sequel features six brand-new maps that are absolutely brimming with both bespoke events and enchanting systemic interactions.

Ryan McCaffrey reviewed Hitman 2 at our sister site IGN, and he awarded it a Good score of 7.7/10. While he doesn’t think much of the high-level plot presentation, and the lack of mechanical innovation is mildly disappointing, the team at IO has delivered a slew of excellent new content for fans to immerse themselves in.

The PS4 version of the game has the largest number of reviews, and the 41 counted on Metacritic amounts to an average of 82/100. IGN ends up being on the lower end here, but outlets like USGamer and Shacknews awarded the game high marks, and those reviews make a good argument for the game’s strengths. The clockwork world is more complex, the in-mission writing is on point, and the ability to revisit spit-shined maps from the last game is undeniably cool.

We’ve spent some time with Hitman 2 on the PS4 Pro, and found the experience to be pleasant overall. While the gunplay still leaves a lot to be desired, the UI improvements this time around make for a quicker on-ramp. It’s much clearer now what will and won’t blow your cover, so new players will be empowered to explore.

Digital Foundry has gone through the game with a fine-toothed comb, and found that the changes made to IO’s own Glacier 2 engine have resulted in some meaningful advancements. Reflections are massively improved, a stylish bloom effect has been added, and the crowd density is truly impressive. And the fact that you can enjoy many of these improvements applied to the older levels makes this release all the more enticing to enthusiasts.

The stock PS4 sticks to 1080p, but the vanilla Xbox One is running at 900p – a 30 percent decrease in pixel count from the previous installment. On the upside, there is visual parity in every other respect, and they both stick to the 30fps cap in nearly every situation.

The game runs at 1440p on the PS4 Pro, and the capped 30fps mode is solid. You can unlock the frame rate, but you’ll find that it mostly hovers in the high 30s to low 50s. However, the Xbox One X version offers two options: 2160p with an unstable 30fps target or an uncapped 1440p. In the uncapped mode, the X handily beats the Pro, but the instability at full 4K is disappointing. As DF’s John Linneman points out, a proper dynamic resolution implementation would go a long way toward smoothing out the issue.

At launch, the PC version is a bit of a letdown. Let’s be clear: It looks great, but the paltry customization options and the lack of DX12 are a huge bummer. And HDR? It’s supposedly supported, but the folks at Digital Foundry couldn’t make it work. Combine that with a number of accusations of instability from the community, and PC players might want to wait for a few patches.

[Image credit: IO Interactive]

Continue reading

Minecraft With Ray Tracing Now Available for All Windows 10 Players

You don't usually think of Minecraft as a realistic game, but the developers have been hard at work adding RTX ray tracing to the game for the last eight months. It's finally out of beta today, and it really works with the blocky look of Minecraft.

EA Will ‘Allow’ BioWare to Pull Dragon Age 4’s Unnecessary Multiplayer

EA will allow developers not to ship multiplayer in Dragon Age 4 after Anthem tanked and Jedi: Fallen Order soared. How kind of them.

AMD Has Fixed Its USB Connectivity Issues, Updates Arrive in Early April

AMD has found the problem leading to intermittent UEFI dropouts on Ryzen systems. Look for a fix in early April.

An Earth-Like Axial Tilt Might Be Necessary for Complex Life to Arise

The study suggests that a tilted axis leads to more oxygen production, and that means more complex life.