Ever since the days of Wolfenstein 3D, I've been a huge fan of the FPS genre. I've ventured into other fortes, like racing, 3rd person games and even flight sims, but shooters are just my thing.
Enter 'Sniper: Ghost Warrior' on the XBox 360. A few months ago I caught wind of this 'budget' title from City Interactive, and the screenshots and gameplay videos grabbed my attention at once. Most FPS games require you to go in guns blazing, but the thought of a current generation sniping game sounded fresh and interesting.
I headed out to Gamestop last night and picked up my copy, which at $39.99 didn't exactly break the bank.
Graphically, the game is gorgeous. The tropical jungle setting is lush and crisp. There are some jaggies once in a while, but nothing to break the immersion.
The controls feel great. If you've played another FPS recently, you'll get the control scheme immediately. It's virtually identical to Call of Duty, down to clicking the right stick for a melee attack. Movement is very precise and responsive.
Sound design is excellent as well. From the enemies chattering away as you sneak past them to the 'ping' of a silenced shot to the chatter of an M4A1, it all just sounds right.
The levels are fairly linear, with some flexibility to choose your own path.
A lot of people online have been whining about how the enemies seem to magically be able to find you when you're hidden. What people have not been talking about however is the stealth indicator in the game that shows you how well you're hidden. Using that as a reference, moving low and slow, and staying under the cover of foliage, you will stay concealed unless you literally bump up against an enemy. I haven't had any problems there.
One of Sniper:Ghost Warrior's trademarks is the bullet-cam. When you line up the perfect headshot and squeeze the trigger, you're treated to a Hollywood-style slow motion tracking shot of the bullet leaving your rifle, traversing the gap, and ultimately impacting your target with a nice bloody result. No matter how many times you see it, it's still a rush when the bullet cam kicks in.
There are a few small hiccups that detract from the game, but only slightly. Namely, the grappling hook, used in a few places to move to higher or lower ground. The controls are awkward and I ended up getting killed a few times as I seemed to get stuck trying to move down the rope and had to finesse the sticks to get the job done.
Fortunately, these incidents are few and far between.
Overall, for a shooter that doesn't come from an A-list studio, I think City Interactive did a hell of a job producing a solid, rewarding, and damned fun to play FPS.
At $39.99, it's a solid buy.
