Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 seems more like Sniper: Most Sorrier 3. I have been looking forward to the arrival of Jon North’s travels in Georgia ever since I developed a sniping blood lust, brought upon by watching Shooter on Netflix. After all it’s an open-world, modern day, first person shooter with a focus on sniping. What is there not to tempt you!?
Unfortunately the description of the game is probably the best part about it. City Interactive Games has let me down. The premise and the AAA budget had so much promise.
Before we get into the actual body of the game, let us first talk about the loading times. After you select continue campaign in the main menu, prepare yourself for a loading time that would rival PS3 Skyrim or Simpson’s Road Rage. Difference is both of those games were worth the wait. How long is the wait, Sam? I hear you cry, well if you think I sat there with a stopwatch to find out, you must think I have nothing better to do with my time, I mean what kind of bloke would waste part of their day off from work doing that!? Anyway, as I was saying it takes 4 minutes and 34 seconds. What’s sadder still is that these loading times occur all the way through the game.
The story is a tale that has been told many times before, a tale of a lost brother, a slightly rogue protagonist and a beautiful blonde who you’ve wronged but still seems to be happy to help you.
The prologue begins and the first thing that strikes you is how much the visuals fail to impress. They portray a detailed and inspiring environment by PS3 standards but how the people look is extremely below par. As they tend to be the feature you focus on, it is instantly disappointing. The characters seem to be out of focus. I seriously believe Abe, Spyro, Crash and Jak all look better on their original consoles than this game’s agents of disbelief. Any immersion that has been created beforehand is dashed away.
The visuals would be forgivable. Let’s face it we have all played a title where the gameplay was so engaging or the story so fantastic that the way it was shown to us didn’t matter that much.
The voice acting is cold with a lack of sincerity that means that you struggle to believe that Jon genuinely cares for his brother at all. Mercifully, there is not an awful lot of speech except for cutscenes and when civilians you encounter relentlessly tell you that they aren’t armed. Their incessant dialogue will make you want to shoot them all the more.
I have unfortunately not even hit on the worst element of the audio. They have to be the sound effects. When you begin to climb a ladder, Jon makes a grunt that sounds like he has just landed on the rungs after falling from a great height, using his stomach as a brake. The sound is used again when he dismounts the ladder. After all we are meant to believe that one of the greatest snipers makes a noise like a middle aged man picking up a dropped pencil, with every piece of physical exercise. I hate to say it but this is just a perfect example of the environmental sounds in the game.
The buggy that you have to help you travel around the map is actually quite pleasing to drive. It’s not very realistic, you reverse at almost the same speed you drive forward but it is pleasing. Often you will feel the want to go off road. Be warned. The buggy cannot seem to cope with a small grass covered hill, but it can completely destroy a small, planted tree when you drive through. If that tree however has already been felled it will pose a massive problem to your vehicle. For its horizontal position will make it the immovable object to your very stoppable force.
The audio all the way through the gameplay is not non-naturalistic like Bulletstorm but simply unrealistic.
Let me be clear. The game has some redeemable elements. The game forces you to plan ahead. Take your time with each encounter and ensure that you minimise alarm. You are equipped with a drone to allow you to spot the enemies and the prime spot to lay and take them out, one by on.
The levels are challenging and fun. They offer satisfying snipes and an element of problem solving that isn’t dissimilar to other stealth games.
The open world element allows for some enjoyable exploration and casual sniping, allows you to test your new sniping work. The only issue is due to how you start missions. Unlike every open world game, I know of, you have to begin all missions at your safe house. This means that the ordinary fluidity of an open world game is sullied a little.
I’m sorry to say it but unfortunately this game is a massive let down, especially when you consider that it was delayed. If you see this game on offer in a few months or years then by all means, grab it, it’ll tide you over between games. Provided that future patches fix the game’s frequent crashing and freezing issues.
