Is Hitman absolution worth 6 bucks? I keep hearing mixed things about it.
I'll definitely say, I've got mixed feelings about it. It's made some pretty drastic changes from previous games. Most obviously:
* More story-driven than, say Blood Money. BM started pretty much every mission off the same way - get a briefing, buy stuff, choose your loadout, then go murder a few dudes. To avoid attaching any spoilers, Absolution has a more... organic... structure. (At least for the first few levels, no clue if that'll change later on!)
* Disguises have been changed. Disguises now only fool NPCs with different clothing - guards will recognize when something's amiss with another guard (you), but won't notice when, say, the chef is acting strangely. This has some odd effects (the guards don't recognize that the one and only chef in the mansion just went bald), but makes perfect sense from a gameplay perspective (hard-to-get disguises, like the one-of-a-kind chef disguise, are more valuable because there are few or no NPCs that can see through your disguise).
* The Intuition system has been added, letting you see guards through walls, predict patrol routes, and other advantages. It's controlled by a meter, which ranges from constantly recharging (easy mode) to recharging only when you complete objectives (most difficulties) to being outright disabled (the top difficulty).
Absolution is much easier to get into than most Hitman games, but some of the new features may turn off long-time fans. Still, I'm enjoying it so far (and I had a great time with Blood Money, for what it's worth).