The Nintendo Switch has been on the market for nearly eight years, launching 3rd March 2017 and has to date sold 146 million units, making it the third best selling console after the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 systems.
We know that Nintendo is to reveal the successor to the Nintendo Switch by the end of the fiscal year, which ends 31st March 2025 though exactly when it will launch is not something that’s guaranteed to be revealed, neither is a lineup. This may just be the first of multiple showcases.
With all this being said and the fact the Nintendo Switch is in the winding up stages of being the sole console Nintendo and third party developers and publishers focus on, we will be looking at some of the great games to play on this hybrid system.
HITMAN: BLOOD MONEY
To this date, Hitman: Blood Money remains my favourite game in the Hitman series.
Originally released on 26th May 2006 for Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC, Hitman: Blood Money was the first game I ever owned for my Xbox 360 which was a birthday present to give context. There is perhaps some nostalgia behind this game for me.
If you have ever played a Hitman game before, you’ll know immediately how Hitman: Blood Money plays. Unlike future games in the series beginning with the successor, Hitman: Absolution, which are all set in large open world environments, Hitman: Blood Money sticks to the small levels though still allows for multiple ways to take out your targets.
The controls haven’t aged well and it’s one area I wish IO Interactive had put some effort into improving for the Nintendo Switch port of the game, especially as other areas from future games were introduced into this version. The biggest introduction is that of instinct mode, which “highlights targets, guards and mission critical points of interest for stealthy kills and quick getaways”. Also introduced is “An all-new Minimap offers situational awareness in real-time, while added alerts warn players when 47 is trespassing or arousing suspicion”.
Visually, again Hitman: Blood Money hasn’t aged well and not just because it’s an Xbox 360 game, but even by the standards of Hitman: Absolution which also released on the same hardware, you can see how much the developers learned about the hardware in the years between both games releasing.
As the Nintendo Switch is a more modern platform, you’d have hoped that though not expecting anything too much better than Hitman: Absolution, it should have been the target for improvement in looks. Unfortunately, Hitman: Blood Money looks like it did when first released.
Hitman: Blood Money is however, still my favourite game in the Hitman series to date though it would be great if we saw future instalments make their way over to the Nintendo Switch successor, though Hitman: Absolution could easily run on the Nintendo Switch.
