For quite some time, I’ve found myself attracted to the black sheep of franchises.  Dark Souls II’s controversial experimentation with the Souls formula caught my attention before I’d even played the first game.  DmC: Devil May Cry’s attempted reinvention ended up being my introductory point to the series.  Now, Hitman: Absolution is the latest game I’ve looked at that has garnered a lot of attention – both positive and negative – for being different from what came before and after.  In Absolution’s case, this differentiating factor is a greater emphasis on storytelling and linear design than is typically synonymous with the Hitman series.  But how well did this change work for me, and was it enough to make me a Hitman convert?  The answer, as always, is complicated.