Hitman Freelancer maps discussion

[Challenge.Hunter]

This thread is something of a commentary to the following video:
https://youtu.be/-rzQzNnKbbI?si=OWF97vn8b-ksn9Ot&t=17

While I still have some way to reach level 100 (level 82 atm), I did play all 21 maps already. And I think the ranking of maps in Freelancer needs some more elaboration. Yes, Colorado is bad, but as long as You pick it just for Level 1 and 2 Syndicates, with 2 targets max, it is doable rather quickly. Paris, Marrakesh and Hokkaido can be a real pain in the ass if the game gives You a horrible starting point, which these maps have (tower for Paris, schoolyard for Marrakesh and morgue for Hokkaido). Haven Island still has random NPC with triple sight range and see-through walls. And Miami is simply too big for Showdowns, making it harder to track down Your targets.

That, and there are also some bs mechanics and design choices. Like on Mendoza - If You are dressed as a Gaucho or a Mercenary, then why the xxxx are random winery workers enforcers to You? Same in New York - why are IT departments enforcers to high-level security? I have never seen something like that. Imagine if in the US Capitol a lone fresh cleaning lady was an enforcer to every single Senator or Director. Who programmed it like this? Maybe it's the same idiot who made NPCs always know where a silenced sniper shot came from...

Still, in my humble opinion, the absolute worst map in Freelancer is Ambrose Island. Imagine Colorado, but all NPCs are squeezed into just the firing range area. This is what this map is, in three separate areas. It's practically impossible to beat this map SA - trust me, I tried multiple times. So, as soon as I get 50 kills on this map, I will never choose it again.

As for the best, I would pick either Dubai or Berlin. Both have strong uniforms, both are not too big so as not to waste too much time searching, and both are doable SA on Showdowns if You are careful enough.

Your opinions?

[supersand]

Best maps (Non Syndicate):

New York - Free merces, easy to knock out gaurds, easy to SA, sedating or even lethal posioning the bottom room and alerting NPCs to it is OP, easiest to do without a lockpick or any supplies in general

Dubai - Easy SA, lots of mobility, silenced guns, has two bananas

Whittleton - Free rare emetic and lethal poison, lots of guns to grab, can sedate a house

Miami - Wide open, free emetic syringes, lots of propane / extingushers, good disguises

Haven - Wide open, free remote explosive, can use water for accident kills, has a banana

Dartmoor - Fairly empty map, parkour makes getting around easy

Chongqing - The camera controls are free by shooting a fire extingusher, open map

Hokkaido - Closed quarters, but lots of chances to isolate targets

Santa Fortuna - Wide open, can avoid most of the crowds, free merces from the letter

Paris - Similar to Dartmoor but more crowded

Ambrose - Wide open, lots of chances for accident kills, fairly empty if you know where to go, has durians you can use

Mumbai - This is Miami on hard mode with more crowds

Bangkok - Can have some very difficult targets in the front area, cams are hard to destroy

Sapienza - Wide open, can be a little too big, cams a little tricky to reach, some targets might be difficult

Colorado - Can be very difficult if combat breaks out. You might have to drag multiple bodies to a bush to SASO this map.

Sgail - Its just a hard map. The free silenced pistol and the free burial dagger and katana help rank this higher. If not going for SASO you can wither the guards by constantly resetting an electric trap at least.

Mendoza - Another difficult map. Has a common rank sniper.

Berlin - The verticality of this map makes getting between targets take awhile, it can be a little tough. No notable items.

Marrakesh - Its a chaotic map with little chances to isolate targets and is pretty hostile. Can lure guards similar to Sgail. Free remote explosive.


Best maps (Syndicate):

Dubai - Lookouts aren't too cheap here and can be easily dispatched, targets are easy to lure

Whittleton - You can easily avoid all the lookouts if you are careful with your gunfire, and sedating the house is extremely helpful for syndicates

Miami - Easy to avoid lookouts, targets are easy to isolate, you might be able to do combat without alerting a lookout due to all the doors

Haven - Not very many cheap lookouts just be careful of the double vision range

Dartmoor - Easy to avoid or take out lookouts and targets, can do combat without great risk of alerting a lookout due to all the doors

Santa Fortuna - If you avoid crowded areas lookouts are rarely an issue

Paris - Same as Dartmoor but a bit harder and combat is more noticable

Chongqing - You can't use the fire extingusher trick to take out cams now due to lookouts, but otherwise a good map for syndicates

Mendoza - Lookouts can be lured into bushes to be taken out, as well as targets

Sapienza - This map has some pretty unfair lookouts and can have some tough targets

New York - The free merces and free sedation of the guard population is tempting, but the closed quarters lookouts can end it real fast and they are often layered over each other

Ambrose - Very hard to take out lookouts. They can be hard to avoid

Bangkok - If combat breaks out on this map at all its probably over (Due to target escape / lookouts)

Colorado - Same as above (Due to great risk of death as well as targets escaping)

Sgail - Lookouts like to layer again and the crowded areas makes taking them out difficult. A good map to lure syndicate members with the phone at least

Hokkaido - The closed quarters of this map make lookouts a much bigger threat, you might get cornered by a suspect with an enforcer tag pathing into you. Combat will surely alert a lookout

Berlin - Getting stuck on the stairs while being enforced is really bad, the map is a bit chaotic, its hard to see lookouts properly

Mumbai - Theres just too many crowds, throw in the extra enforcers and lookouts and its very hard

Marrakesh - Same as above

[n00bdragon]

Lv 100 Freelancer, 6 prestige levels, player level 2675 here. Just to give an idea of where I'm coming from here.

Originally posted by Challenge.Hunter:

Imagine if in the US Capitol a lone fresh cleaning lady was an enforcer to every single Senator or Director.

This is actually entirely believable. The cleaning staff at the Capitol definitely knows the faces and probably the names of every Senator and many of their aides.

Originally posted by Challenge.Hunter:

Still, in my humble opinion, the absolute worst map in Freelancer is Ambrose Island. Imagine Colorado, but all NPCs are squeezed into just the firing range area. This is what this map is, in three separate maps. It's practically impossible to beat this map SA - trust me, I tried multiple times. So, as soon as I get 50 kills on this map, I will never choose it again.
...
Your opinions?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but Ambrose Island is just fine for me. Solid mid-tier map. It sucks when you get a target in the kitchen/satellite tower area of the militia camp , but other than that it's quite nice. The pirate area is loaded with accident kills and well-spaced guards and the whole village area is perfect. A little caution must be taken when getting to the propane flask or the supplier, but it's nothing big. SA or SANF are extremely achievable here (and SASO is just fine if you don't pull a target in the merc camp, but admittedly this is a big risk and I won't generally choose it).

Originally posted by Challenge.Hunter:

morgue for Hokkaido

Actually, this is one of the best spawn points in the game when not alerted and not a showdown. Bring a scrambler with you and you're mere seconds away from an all-access keycard and, an elite guard disguise, and the camera recorder.

My thoughts on various maps:
Paris - I don't really much care for this map in Freelancer. It's just kinda boring. I feel like the exterior areas aren't used enough and the map gets buggy if you spook the crowd around the fashion show. The river barge spawn is annoying mostly because of how long it takes to get anywhere useful from there, but at least you get an elite guard outfit relatively quickly.

Sapienza - I rate this somewhere around the same as Ambrose Island actually. For freelancer it feels VERY similar. There's three different maps (the town/church, the mansion, and the biolab/ruins). The town/church is a public area where you can have a good time. The mansion is a fun area with lots of ways in and out and things to use. The biolab/ruins just sucks and is impossible to SASO without lure/choking literally half a dozen people most of the time.

Marrakesh - One of my least favorite maps. Third worst map in the game. I avoid syndicates with Marrakesh in them. The consulate sucks. The school sucks. There's only 1 or 2 ways into each one and it's just awful. The high stress spawn point on this map actually isn't the school spawn. It's the bazaar rooftop spawn. That one can actually mess up your run really really fast. The only real reason to pick a campaign with this map is it's one of the few places to get a Fusil G1-4 for free. The others are Colorado (which is worse), Mumbai (which requires going to the top floor of Rangan tower), and Sgail (which you are probably already carting off a lot of other more valuable things from there in the same syndicate, if it's available).

Bangkok - Second worst map in the game. I won't pick syndicates with Bangkok unless I really need at least 3+ other maps in the syndicate. Jordan Cross's entire tower stinks. The recording studio is a PITA to get into or do anything in and the one security recorder is the worst in the trilogy. Just a windowless locked room with three guards who never leave, two of which who don't even change position.

Colorado - What more needs to be said? It's the worst map. Is it doable? Yes. But why would you pick it? It offers nothing. There's no good free equipment. It's not easy to do. Objectives are hard to accomplish here and everything is just bad. I will not pick syndicates with Colorado for any reason.

Hokkaido - Actually one of my favored maps. It has a nice mix of free gear and the elite guard disguise is very easy to get and very powerful. Traversing the map relies on a smaller number of overused routes (as is Hitman 1 tradition), but those routes are quick because of the small map size and not very risky. Alerted Hokkaido stands out for being more favorable than non-alerted because of the extra guard who patrols the spa area, giving you easy access to his outfit and the control room.

Miami - I like it, but not for showdowns (too big). There's less target variety here than I might hope for a map this size (the running girl and the aurora driver at the lounge get to be a targets A LOT). I do like the amount of free gear you can pick up here though. SA/SASO/SANF objectives are a breeze here.

Santa Fortuna - My least favorite H2 map. Anything in the smuggling caves makes me groan. There's weird interactions around the guard compound in town too. Stuff happens to me there all the time that I can never replicate and always frustrates me. I just don't like it.

Mumbai - A favored map. I really like the size and openness of this map. It's big, but it doesn't require the same amount of jogging that say... Miami does. The crowds are fun to play with and around. The biggest downside of this map is how much 47 needs to crawl around in canals/sewers. It covers him in flies and feels really grody.

Whittleton Creek - One of my favorite maps. It's almost perfect in every way. The only thing that's bad about it is showdowns often have a suspect who stays in Cassidy's house and never leaves.

Ambrose Island - I've already talked about this map. It's fine.

Isle of Sgail - Oh, this might be one of my favorite maps. There's SO MUCH STUFF to collect on this map. You can keep hitting this place like a Mario coin block and there's always more stuff to get, much of which can't be gotten anywhere else. The Chapel is a rough starting location for SASO or Use 1 Disguise, but I've managed to make it work. Alerted, this map gets much harder, particularly if you need to erase the evidence.

New York - Everyone's favorite money bag. Honestly, I don't really much care for it, but mostly because I end up running it SO MUCH. Please IOI, just make... some other map as rewarding as this. I'm just really tired of the exact same sequence of looting the vault every. single. time. It's so bad I can tell you the time stamps of when certain guards walk to certain positions: The cop with the fro goes to stand next to the coat check at 1:40. The high security guard downstairs in the room by himself goes to talk to his friends at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00.

Haven Island - My favorite map. I love this map. It's so great. I love how open it is and suit legal for the whole thing. I just wish the storm wasn't going on during showdowns. Otherwise, it's nearly perfect.

Dubai - Good map. It's easy to traverse all the way up and down quickly. Easy access to elite guard outfits and camera recorders makes it a breeze. The one crap target on this map is the cleaning guy who goes into the air conditioning room to sit. There's no boxes to put him or the repair man in there in and no ready nearby accidents.

Dartmoor - A fine map, if a little dingy and dark. Very good SASO map. Very powerful elite guard outfit. A good map all around.

Berlin - Everyone usually loves Berlin. I don't much care for it. Yes, it has a powerful elite guard outfit that is extremely easy to get and the recorder is easy to grab too, but it's not the difficulty that's the problem here. It's actually just too big and too vertical. I have issues telling which floor targets are on using instinct, and I just don't like the dance club in general. It also really bugs me that there's no western entrance to the upper floor of the club. Just little things like that are the reason this maps always cheeses me off. Also, it's not great for showdowns because of some very bad lookout locations and a tendency for suspects to get stuck on things as they move around the map.

Chongqing - A surprisingly solid SASO map for falling squarely in the "three different maps in one" map type. There's not a ton to say about it other than that.

Mendoza - This is my prime choice for showdowns. Suspects tend to be and stay near the party, which lets you get a close look at all of them in relative safety. There's good disguise options, easy recorder access, lots of accidents everywhere, free grapes if you need to slip someone, free lethal poisons (via chemistry set), propane tanks galore. The puking locations for the asado pit aren't good, but other than that it's great.

Summary

Top Maps (I will choose syndicates with these maps, and the more the better):
- New York
- Haven Island
- Mendoza
- Whittleton Creek

Bottom Maps (I will avoid syndicates with these maps and the less the better):
- Marrakesh
- Bangkok
- Colorado

[Challenge.Hunter]

Originally posted by n00bdragon:

Lv 100 Freelancer, 6 prestige levels, player level 2675 here. Just to give an idea of where I'm coming from here.

To some extent I envy You. Cause I am certainly not going through all that trouble. As soon as I reach Mastery level 100, I am pulling the plug.
Not even bothering with playing Freelancer on back-up account.
And maybe that's for the best. I have some books to read and drawings to draw.

[Devang]

Ambrose is bad, yes, as when things go bad, they go BAD. But it has two saving graces. First the Durians. Second is that you can create a second make-shift explosive in the pirate base