A Slice of Sniper Ghost Warrior

After having to fiddle about with the demo some, it is finally here, A Slice of Sniper Ghost Warrior!

Sniper Ghost Warrior is a Chrome Engine 4-driven stealth shooter, with a not wholly unexpected emphasis on sniper rifles. Do not the let the title fool you though, this game is not about hunting the paranormal back to their graves. It's about a tropical island filled with evil redarrows that you have to avoid and/or take out tactically, complete with windy weather that affects where your bullets eventually impact with your targeted redarrow, if they even do!

You're probably thinking that 'redarrows' is a very silly name for a faction of armed-to-the-teeth baddies, but unfortunately, there's no better name to give them. The demo was scarce in information regarding who you were fighting and why. So, for the sake of having a name to go by, let's call them redarrows.

This is why we'll call them redarrows. Crumpets indeed, sir Stereotype!

The demo is short, even in terms of demo length. It consists of three missions spread across two different locales, both very well decorated and impressively beautiful in terms of graphics. The impressive visuals have a surprisingly low impact on framerates, even on the highest settings the game will not only look good, if you have a decent enough system it will also flow smoothly. Whether it's because of the game engine itself or because of thorough optimization I do not know, at least it certainly is a lot more hardware friendly than a certain couple of other tropical island shooters (SGW won't leave your hardware crying for mercy, if you catch my drift.)

Sand, palmtrees and primitive huts. The perfect place for our bushy looking protagonist to silently kick some redarrow butt.

Unfortunately, the pretty environment seems to have left a few other areas less loved and cared for, namely collision mapping and lively characters.

The collision has a couple of issues. While pretty stable in its core (no disastrous errors such as falling out into the great void), it seems that the objects decorating the island were very roughly mapped for collision, as your rifle will sometimes stick halfway through the very rock you're climbing on. Speaking of rocks, it is sometimes impossible to crawl your way up some of them, while walking on them presents no issues, save for the fact that you'll most likely be exposed to all those redarrows standing around you.

The redarrows have their own share of issues. They all seem to share the same topic of conversation and as such the passive dialogue outside of cutscenes will be very repetitive and slightly ruins the mood. There's also the visual problem of them looking very lifeless. Sometimes, it seems the pupils in their eyes are very shy of the camera, leaving their eyes completely white and creepy looking. Perhaps they are ghosts after all?

The lip syncing is horrible and the voice actors seem bored and uninterested in what they're saying.

A prime example of the redarrows' ghostlike eyes. Spooky!

The core mechanics of the gameplay lie not within lifeless characters or rifle consuming rocks though. The purpose of the game is sneaking and the occasional shooting, and both these elements actually work pretty decently.

The stealth element is not particularly advanced in any way, but it works. Patience is important and so is a good hiding spot, which the tropical island provides plentiful. Your bushy costume logically works best in the midst of a dense area of vegetation. You'll however find that tip-toeing to the next patch of bushes will sometimes prove lethal, as redarrows immediately spot you from hundreds of metres away. This is mostly an issue on just the first mission of the demo, as the other missions don't treat you with a game over screen once you're spotted. On the other missions, you will instead have to deal with anyone in your immediate vicinity and swiftly proceed to find a good hiding place to force your attention meter down.

Spot the looney! I told you the guy was bushy looking, though with good reason, of course.

The gun mechanics work very well and seem to have been given almost as much love as the environments. When shooting with a sniper rifle, you'll find that factors such as gravity and wind affect the direction of your bullet, more or less forcing you to tactically plan your shot before pulling the trigger. This makes the success of a lethal shot feel a lot more satisfying than the more popular approach of a game relying on twitching/running and gunning. If you score a perfect headshot with your sniper rifle, you will occasionally be treated to a slow motion bullet cam, from the shot being fired to the blood spraying out of your enemy. Although the bullet cam feature lacks slightly in variation, it does provide with a greater sense of satisfaction when getting that perfect hit.

Bloody good! Lining up the shot properly will not only let you kill one redarrow, but several!

Unfortunately, those who expect a game worth the price tag will most likely be disappointed. Although the game sports some very nice visuals and dares to differ from the usual run-and-gun approach, it is not enough to save it from being any more than mediocre at best. It is an indie game with AAA ambitions and visual coating, probably not worth the money until it hits the bargain bin. It is not an awful game, so if it's ever on sale on say Steam or GameStop, I will give the full game a try, but for now, I'd advice everyone considering this title as a next purchase to save their money for something else.

/ Marcus out.