Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 / Version Played: PS3
QV Software / City Interactive / PS3/360/PC / March 19th
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is the follow up game to the original 2011 game. The game starts with player taking control of Private Security Consultant Captain Cole Anderson, on the Philippines, with CIA Special Agent Diaz making their way to an old Russian radar post to destroy it while working on a tip that some Mercenaries had assembled there to broker a deal for a Bio-Agent WMD. While Diaz destroys it, he overhears enemy radio chatter about the capture of a spy working for the PSC by the mercenaries. The whole story follows a pretty linear path and doesn’t really offer up any surprises.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is visually better than the original and this is one of it’s strongest points. The game is built on the CryEngine 3 engine and if you are expecting a game that looks like Crysis 3 then you are going to be sorely disappointed. I encountered a lot of weird glitches whilst playing through the story. There were times when plants and guns showed up out of nowhere and other times when my guns would disappear when going through the water. It all just felt a bit lacking in comparison to what we all know that CryEngine 3 is capable of. The sound in the game does well to set the atmosphere.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is divide into three acts set in different locations, for a total of ten chapters. Most of the missions begin with a stealth section where the player must pursue a bandmate and kill a few enemies along the way. The true premise of the game then kicks in. Cole finds a hill or a tall building where the game enters a fixed sniping section which requires the player to clear the line. One of the main problems I found with the game is that checkpoints are rare. This is a game where you’re patiently taking enemies down one by one so it was very frustrating to die then have to restart a huge section again.
The mechanics of the game are far better than the original title. The shooting mechanic is far more realistic as bullets are affected by wind and distance. The game has a cool “Bullet Cam” feature that brings up a slow-motion cinematic scene of your kill. The feeling of the sniper really empowered me as a player and felt like my shots had real impact and power behind them. The AI is also extremely better, showing a more realistic, humanly behaviour. It forces you to sneak and stay hidden for as long as possible. The introduction of a measured level of threat is also a big improvement in letting you know whether you’ve got the AI attention.
The game also features and online mode. The single mode is team death match. There are two maps and a collection of six guns which are chosen before you start the round. The multiplayer in Sniper 2 is a unique experience in the sense that everyone is just camping and waiting for someone to pop out. You have to be extremely patient to get enjoyment out of the multiplayer as your kill opportunities are going to be limited.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is better than its predecessor in every way. As a budget title, some people will find it enjoyable. It all depends on how much you enjoy sniping in other FPS’s and if you can see yourself doing that for an entire campaign. Multiplayer could’ve been fleshed out a little bit more but we can’t help but feel that the team ran out of ideas on how to expand the gameplay without making it feel disjointed from the singleplayer experience.
