Developer: City Interactive
Publisher: City Interactive
Platform: PC, 360, PS3
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 – Review
Three years after the first installment in the Sniper: Ghost Warrior franchise, City Interactive have released a sequel. Interestingly, the game is priced significantly lower than what we’ve come to expect from new releases. An indication that we should worry about the quality of the final product?
Story
When Sniper: Ghost Warrior was released in 2010, it was poorly received. The game mostly racked up scores under 50% and nobody expected to ever see a sequel being developed. Ghost Warrior 2, then, really defies the odds.
This time around, you play as Cole Anderson, supposedly the deadliest sniper of the Ghost Warrior squad. The story and the characters are so incredibly clichéd that’s they almost becomes original again. All the characters are replaceable and the game fails to bring any sort of character development.
The Story Mode only features three acts, each of which take about 90 minutes to complete. You start of in the Philippines, where you are deployed by the US Army to kill some generic bad guy and to support the other troops that have been flown in. The second act is a flashback to 1993, when Anderson was on a mission in Sarajevo. In a predictable way, you get betrayed and the entire act serves as the raison d’être for the finale in act 3. For the final stage, we are transported to the present again, where we get to blow up a temple in Nepal and you get to settle the scores set up in act 2.
Graphics
The game makes use of the CryEngine 3 which is capable of producing some stellar graphics on the PC . Unfortunately, the game has some lower resolution textures, which cause things to look blurry. Even though the game uses the same engine as Crysis 3, the graphical splendor is never matched.
The CryEngine 3 is unable to deliver the same experience on the consoles. Players have complained of annoying framedrops on the PS3. The 360 has no issues with performance, but the CryEngine cannot match the Unreal Engine 3.5 and other recent games like Gears of War: Judgment look significantly better.
Unlike Sniper Elite V2, this game features no X-Ray cam. This greatly diminishes the satisfaction you get for shooting somebody through the eye socket, not being able to see the bullet bouncing around in the skull. You do get a kill cam for some enemies, but those are all scripted. You don’t get rewarded for pulling of an impressive shot as you do in Sniper Elite.
Sound
The sound effects are probably the most impressive component of the game. The sound your sniper makes is very distinct and realistic for every model. Footsteps and the rustling of the leaves are impressively done.
The game also has some generic and forgettable menu music. Nothing spectacular there.
Gameplay
As the title implies, you play through the game as a sniper and the stealth gameplay is greatly emphasized. You only get a pistol as a secondary weapon so running and gunning is out of the question. This doesn’t mean you’re only looking at your enemies through a scope. In order mix things up a bit, you sometimes get into situations where your sniper rifle gets taken from you and you need to sneak around using only your pistol.
When you’re deployed in for your first mission in the Philippines, you’ll notice that the HUD has some unusual features when compared the other more general shooters. Heart rate, wind direction and lung capacity all play and important role in getting the perfect kill. At least, on the hardcore difficulty. On the casual and normal difficulty settings, you get a little red dot indicating the general trajectory your bullet will take. This makes things much too easy as it basically reduces it to a point and click game. On the consoles however, squeezing your trigger gently has an impact on the recoil, this feature isn’t present on the PC.
The levels themselves are very linear and offer almost no room for creativity on the part of the player. Even though the game has secrets the player can find in every level, moving just 20 meters can prompt the “You are leaving the battlefield” screen. You aren’t encouraged to explore at all, and when you do, the game tends to get very buggy. For instance, in the last mission in Sarajevo, I was under fire and ran for cover. Somehow this caused the game to think I crossed over to a different part of the level, and I started getting multiple waypoint indicators. The HUD was filled with contradictory information and it made the game unplayable.
In addition to not being allowed to pick your own route and approach the enemies from a different angle than what the developers have laid out for you, you aren’t even allowed to choose in order in which you shoot your enemies. Most of the game is spent following the orders your spotter gives you. Shooting targets in a different order usually ends in the AI bugging out or all enemies in the level magically becoming aware of your presence.
Another thing the game doesn’t feature are booby traps. In Sniper Elite V2, you get to lay trip wire or landmines in order to cover your rear. In this game you can’t, which means that when you get spotted, you’re pretty much screwed when you get flanked.
There is a multiplayer mode, but it doesn’t look like City Interactive have put much effort in it. There are only 2 maps available and the gameplay isn’t balanced or paced very well. You just lay around waiting for about 20 minutes until someone appears in your sights. Sprinting around with your pistol seems to be the better solution. It’s doubtful you’ll be able to find the motivation the play this mode for a second time.
Conclusion
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is a deeply flawed game that needed a lot more work before being released. The game feels rushed, has several game breaking bugs and isn’t very interesting in general. Everything Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 does, Sniper Elite V2 does better. I can therefore not recommend this game to anybody that isn’t a total sniper enthusiast.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 - Review,
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