Just think about it. Every other game in the franchise has Smith, but Abso doesn’t. Had this ABSOLUTE unit of a man appeared in the game at least once the whole plot would’ve been entirely different. I’m going to present one of the most epic scenarios of how Smith could have changed the entirety of Absolution just by his sheer presence.
Smith being Smith would be probably investigating Blake Dexter at some point due to all the underground experiments in the fields of cloning, human experiments and everything else. But as usual gets caught, probably beaten up by Sanchez too and is now being held by Hope thugs in Terminus. 47 frees him and in return gets information about Sanchez and that he should not be underestimated. 47 then uses his brains, gets a whole ass shotgun just in case and upon hearing whatever Blake had to say about Victoria, barges in through the vents, takes a load on Sanchez’ head nut then another on the Yeehaw man and Layla leaving no witnesses. Having dealt with potential threat of Dexter he swiftly escapes the hotel before the cops arrive. Now Blake’s associates are the only ones who know anything about Victoria besides Birdie and from this point the game can go on without sneaky peakies now that 47s identity hasn’t been compromised.
And that’s all thanks to the best agent in the world, Carlton Smith. How do you think Smith could’ve affected the game if at all?
All jokes asides?
Not that much.
Absolution was made to be a grindhouse game.
(and a bad one. They wanted to be inspired by Tarantino and Max Payne 3. They forgot that both deconstructs/reconstructs the genre. I abhor the way it treats women.)
So best case scenario, the game would have expended into a Cohen Brothers styled black-comedy. Smith arriving too late, trying to make sense of it all. And not managing to. It would have diluted the (bad) style of the game by at least not being gleeful toward itself as it currently is.
But anything further would have been a complete reversing of the creative intent. Especially if it takes control of the narrative. It wouldn’t be saving Absolution. It would kill and replace it.
As the story stands I really don’t see him affecting the story in a major way and if he were in the game he would’ve just been reduce to a simple cameo, if he were to have a significant effect on the story there would have to rewrites to better fit him in the story.
The first one doesn’t have any Smith.
Yes it does don’t you save him from the Japanese place?
Lee Hong Assassination? The Setup?
That’s Hong Kong, not Japan.
You won’t be able to find name Smith in codename 47 anywhere.
The developers gave him this name in H2SA probably after watching the matrix.
Funny thing is, he’s already in it!
Well, sort-of.
He was in one of the game’s trailers. Blake’s Dexter ICA File Trailer to be precise. Does that count?
Pic related.
As Absolution is a super duper serious and gritty game for mature adults, its version of Smith is that of a balding old man who’s so silly and past his prime that the ICA keeps a pic of him in his tanktop and undies…
… until WoA walked that back and made him look younger, closer to what he looked in the OG games, while taking the tanktop from Flatline away and having him in just his boxers again, as is tradition…
Fun fact: That trailer is also where his first name “Carlton” was originally revealed. In the OG games we knew him simply as “Agent Smith” until one a day they decided to randomly reveal his full name during a one second cameo in a random trailer for a game that he’s not even in…
WoA would later include the Carlton name for the character, so add that to the handful of Absolution references present in the trilogy…
Technically speaking, Absolution doesn’t need any… absolution… from not having Smith in it. As it DID already depict that character in some way… just outside the game itself… in its promotional… material… its technically the game that gave us the character’s full name too…
Agent Smith was absolutely in Codename 47. He may not have been named then, but he’s canonically the same guy.
He’s in the Lee Hong Assassination and tells you about the Jade Figure location. Easy to forget as you don’t need to speak with him at all.
He is not Smith. Canonically, every npc is dead if you can kill him/her without consequences for completing a game and can’t be used in next installments. This person can be killed so he is not Smith.
Your argument is completely flawed. As a counterexample, Lei Ling can easily be killed in Codename 47, yet she still appears in H2: Silent Assassin. We have the certainty it is indeed the same person in both games due to 47’s acknowledgement in Shogun Showdown that he previosuly saved her from Lee Hong in Hong Kong.
It doesn’t work that way. If you say that it has flaws you should point at them.
Instead you gave me your retorts but i am ready to debunk them.
- We know that woman name is lei ling in hc47. However she was not introduced in h2sa. She could be su ling, fu ling, cun ling. She was mei ling in contracts for fs. She could be anyone. I highly doubt that Japanese Lord would fuck Chinese whore (kill bill)
- In h2sa the woman tells 47 that his name is TR but 47 didn’t say his name to her in hc47.
- The main argument is h2sa was the second game and hc47 was the first one. The developers could revive anyone in a sequel and they did it in contracts. They could change anyone name as they did to 2 gays in curtains down. HC47 will always be the canon as bible for christians and koran for muslims.
Wasn’t smith supposed to be undercover at the orphanage for some unknown reason and then it got changed? I can’t imagine he was investigating the nuns if 47 trusted them.
He would have clearly made the game better.
PS I don’t believe having him in the promo material counts as having him in the game. If it does then Clera is also in Absolution.
If a valid counterexample proves the argument wrong, then the entire argument is flawed. It’s basic logic. Surely a smartass like you can understand that.
Take another look at the words you have edited in your comment and then ask yourself who is the one throwing “retorts” here. 
Why would any introduction be needed? 47 literally mentions he saved her from Lee Hong in Hong Kong and nobody else canonically fits that description besides Lei Ling.
47 was hallucinating at that time, so nothing happening during the Contracts’ remakes can be considered cannon by any means. A near-death experience is likely to alter someone’s memory and Lei Ling’s name is no exception.
Your… subjective perspective on the matter, to say the least, doesn’t make your argument seem more solid by any means.
Though it remains uncertian how Lei Ling knew his name, it is very likely she could have seen it on the bill 47 recieved from the bar. What is certain, however, is that 47 did use the alias “Rieper” during that mission, as indicated by the conversation with the bartender.
Those 2 targets were planned for the unfinished Blood Money at the time the rushed and initailly unplanned Contracts was released, so such changes being made after the release of Contracts, through the development of Blood Money are not unexpected.
1 you didn’t prove anything
2 censorship
3 he could save someone else, could not he? I don’t think lei ling was the only whore of lee hong
4 I agree. Hitman contracts is not a canon. HC47 is the only source.
5 as well as yours
6 it remains uncertain!!! I like these words. Bravo.
I never questioned 47’ alias. He is rieper. Could he save another whore and said her his name? Does it remain uncertain or certain?
7 i think we should exclude blood money from the lore too as well as contracts.
Oh thats right my bad I’ve been playing H2SA for so long I’m rusty on Contracts/C47. I can’t wait to finally get back to that game
ah okay interesting I didn’t know about that. He is the same character though, as 47 says “you again?” when he saves him in Russia
Hey… wait a minute…
I just realized, aren’t you the same user who posted the craziest theories in the old forum like how Diana Burnwood in C47 was actually a secret alias that Dr. Ort-Meyer used to manipulate 47 into killing the Five Fathers, and that the Diana we see in latter games is NOT the Diana from C47 because there’s no proof connecting her to the green computer handler screen from C47?
If so, welcome back! Loved reading your posts back then. Can you expand on the Diana is Ort-Meyer theory I just mentioned. Would love to hear your arguments for it.
Oh it’s him! His posts on how the C47 levels were out of order taught me to pay more attention to the story when I played a game.