Hitman 5 engine 'has potential to rival the best'

IO Interactive take to the forums.

IO Interactive technical artist Daniel Ben-Noon has stated Hitman Absolution's game engine could "rival the best" while writing in a forum thread on www.hitmanforum.com.

Replying to users commenting that AI in the Hitman games hasn't evolved over the course of the last 4 titles, Ben-Noon stated:

"Well, kl2 was the "swan song" of glacier1. For all its flaws and hate the title gets I would still call it the pinnacle of what that engine technology founded in '94 could do. Environment fidelity, imho, way surpassing army of two which was also set in shanghai.

"Without being able to tell you where and how far we will take specific new games, the engine technology that is glacier2 easily has potential to rival the best. So while living up to you guys' expectations is no small task, at least we are making some changes and improvements that can actually take us there."

Hitman Absolution is due for release in 2012. It is being developed for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.