6. Artificial Difficulty
While the Normal mode of the game is definitely a lot easier and shorter than the previous games (clocking in at around 8 hours), the higher difficulty settings will guarantee that you'll spent a good 3 or 4 times as long getting through it. One would think this would be challenge enough, but IO have included some very odd ways to make even the Normal mode seem artificially harder. Take the mission early on in the game in which Agent 47 has to navigate his way through a train station; you make it to the control room where you have to mess about with a switch, and of course, you're going to want to subdue the operator in the room. Given that you're likely wearing a cop uniform at this stage, it makes sense to, you know, change out of the uniform into what the operator is wearing, as you'll blend in a lot more once you have to go outside. But alas, the "Disguise" option is miraculously taken away from you, either a glitch or a lame way to make the game more difficult by denying you costume options at a particularly opportune (or rather, inopportune) moment. Whatever the reason, it shows a distinct lack of care and imagination on the part of the developers.