I never really gave the Sniper series that much attention. I always thought you were confined to small spots where you can only snipe. Turns out Sniper 3 Ghost warrior has a lot more going on than I gave it credit for.
When I started the demo I was in a cave which acted as my base in which I could select which weapons, attachments and equipment to take into battle. After I did that, I walked to a laptop and selected my mission out of a handful of choices. I was set to kill a leader of a terrorist organization. Now that I selected my mission I had to actually go there. Sniper 3’s world is open and seemed fairly big from what little I saw of it. I got out of the cave and immediately noticed the game looked really pretty. There were nice textures and impressive lighting. I know it sounds generic but the game looks really nice. I slid off the cliff and jumped into my car to get to my destination.
Now might be a good time to talk about the gameplay. You can play one of three different styles. First off there is Sniper style in which you shoot enemies from a distance with your Sniper. Sniping is not like it is in something like Call of Duty. You need to keep track of wind direction, distance and many other factors. That doesn’t mean that you need to read a one hundred page manual but its technical depth hits that sweet spot to still be fun. Next up is Ghost style. This is basically the stealth mode. You sneak around in the level bypassing enemies or silently killing them. This is your typical Solid Snake style. Lastly, there is the Warrior mode which makes the game more like other military First Person Shooter. You go in guns blazing. Health only comes in health packs so you can’t just hide and wait till you recover. Once you health packs are depleted you will have to survive with what you have. Ghost warrior is not an easy game. The game also had a clamber mechanic which when it works, works well but it doesn’t work on everything. I often found myself sliding or falling off cliffs because I jumped at the wrong place. There is a style for everyone.
When I arrived at my destination I wanted to avoid combat at any cost. Problem was that the AI is not your average idiot. They seem to try to flank you in ways that look like an actual force would flank you and they are very fast to notice you. My efforts to go unnoticed and not kill anyone soon went out of the window. I kept trying to avoid enemies and tried to find an alternate route to enter the building that before I knew it my time with the demo was over.
Sniper 3: Ghost warrior was a lot of fun. The fact that you can go in guns blazing means a lot more people will be able to enjoy it and for those of you looking for a challenging stealth game, this might deliver.
