I’ll be honest with you. I had no idea who City Interactive was, and when I saw I had an appointment with this company, I was all, “what the f*ck is this sh*t?” Nevertheless, I am a good person so I made my way over there to check out Sniper: Ghost Warrior.
It’s not that bad, actually. Read on for some hands-on impressions of the game.
Many games include a sniper rifle as a selectable weapon, or will even go so far as to include a special sniping level. Ghost Warrior, however, has decided to put stealthy ranged combat at the top of the to-do list, providing a game that’s all about the sniping. Featuring several types of rifles, as well as a silenced pistol and throwing knives, Sniper: Ghost Warrior is all about war through a scope.
It’s also pretty damn challenging, too. When enemies are alerted to your presence, they never forget, unlike other stealth games where soldiers are afflicted with crippling amnesia. If you’re discovered once, the game becomes and remains far more difficult, to the point where restarting may be necessary. The game required constant monitoring of your detection meter in order to succeed, and I screwed up several times through not concentrating. I must confess, however, that at times it didn’t feel like my fault. Even when enemies are shooting at you, it’s sometimes impossible to actually see them.
The game is rather cool though, even if it’s rather clear that a smaller developer has worked on it. The game does its utmost to make sniping the tense and strategic skill that it is, with wind resistance and heartbeat playing a big part in the accuracy of bullets. Scoring particularly nice kills will result in the camera following the bullet as it slams into the face of an unsuspecting opponent. It’s very satisfying, although there is an option to turn this feature off should it become too repetitive.
The game’s controls are fairly intuitive, with standard FPS controls that ought not to cause anybody any problems. The rifle features two levels of zoom, and you can also score two kills with one bullet if you line up the shot correctly. Multiplayer will be included in the game, featuring sniping battles between players. The general location of enemies will be visible on a map though, in an effort to discourage camping. In a way, this disappoints me, as I’d love for some epic Metal Gear Solid 3 style sniping duels.
Ghost Warrior is pretty tight considering the fact that this is a humble European developer, and while it’s not the prettiest game on the market, it’s a rather decent little shooter from what I played. Might be worth checking out, especially if it hits at a cheaper price point, as I suspect it shall.
