IO Interactive even took the time to include cameos by Kane and Lynch, and they are a perfect fit with the corrupt and seedy population of Hope, South Dakota. The variation in environments is tremendous and you will find yourself in midst of both a marijuana plantation in a Chicago apartment and a corn crop in South Dakota, in a crowded Chinatown during the Chinese New Year's and some sort of research facility dedicated to creating exploding pigs.
If Quentin Tarantino were to put a line of dialogues about dogs doing the dirty in the backyard in one of his films, well then Hitman: Absolution has a couple of dogs making puppies behind a barbershop (that's actually in there). Sure there are some sizeable plot holes to deal with, but if you just focus on the one liners and crude Tarantino-esque world of Hitman: Absolution you are sure to find enjoyment. In fact most of the sideshow freaks outshine the true villains of the story - the agency that Agent 47 felt forced to turn on. The story is a wild ride will have you rubbing elbows with a truly shady set of greedy and deprived characters. But somehow it all works together to create a cohesive and well paced whole that is sure to delight both veterans and newcomers to the series. There are missions where you make use of the crowd, missions were disguises will get you by, missions where there are nice set pieces to put in motion, and missions that require a certain amount of brute force (or at least promote it), and naturally all these things blend and combine to a certain degree within missions. Some levels are purely there for narrative reasons, while others are there to break up the pacing. There are missions that are open in their design, but usually a mission consists of a few strung together sections leading you from one to the next.
Hitman: Absolution is more of an action adventure, and less of a sandbox in some ways, even if there are sandbox elements to everything you do in Absolution.