Hitman Absolution Headlines August PlayStation Plus Lineup

It's the first Tuesday of the month, which means it's once again time to break down the PlayStation Plus main offerings for the next 30-ish days. It's an odd mix this month, featuring a murder-tastic action game, an endless runner, pinball brought to us from a galaxy far, far away, and a portable brawler featuring creatures of the night.

First we'll take a look at the Plus core games for August, then we'll dip into the offerings specific to this week. First up is the PlayStation 3 game, Hitman: Absolution.

Agent 47 once again steps out of the shadows in Hitman Absolution, shortly followed by murdering a dude with a pair of scissors, then retreating to the shadows once more. In Absolution, players get to tackle a whole new single player campaign featuring oodles of dirty criminals and clueless henchmen, all just waiting to get offed in the most creative ways imaginable. The world's pretty open, meaning you can choose your own path to victory by either going in full guns blazing or, say, sneaking in through the kitchen disguised as a chef. Whatever your play style, however, the goal is always the same: Kill some dudes.

Starting with this afternoon's PlayStation Network update, 47's latest mission can be yours as part of the Plus package at no additional charge, complete with the Deus Ex disguise DLC, the Zenith handgun and an additional discount on the digital version of Sleeping Dogs, in case you missed out on it as a freebie through plus a couple of months ago.

Three other games will be added throughout the month, including the highly addictive endless runner, Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. Zen Pinball 2: Star Wars Pinball will also be available for both the PS3 and the Vita, giving players access to a trio of tables taken directly from the Star Wars universe including offerings inspired by Episode V, the animated series, The Clone Wars, and everybody's favorite bounty hunter, Boba Fett.

The Vita is getting additional love this month from the likes of Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower, a PSP fighter that's compatible with Sony's new handheld gaming machine. There's also the Vita version of Machinarium, a beautiful and mind-bending adventure game.

Along with a copy of Hitman, today's PlayStation Plus update will also offer discounts on various other games. Escape Vektor for the Vita will be marked down by 20 percent ($2.99) while Wicked Monster Blast! HD for the PS3 will be discounted 80 percent ($1). The newly released cross-buy game, Superfrog HD will also see a day one discount for Plus, dropping two dollars and on sale for $7.99.

Finally, pretty much everything Rayman will see a discount this week. For a full list of those sale prices, drop by the PlayStation Blog.

Ryan Winslett

Staff Writer for CinemaBlend.