Snipe your way to victory
Prices vary; PS4, Xbox One, PC
Most shooting games want the player to go all-guns-blazing and while I like it how loud and entertaining it can be, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts is a completely different ballgame. It has a different approach that tests your patience, stealthiness and discipline.
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts starts off with a story linked to the troubling times in the Soviet Union and Siberia. The story is weak and becomes a link as to why you have been given the license to kill. You play as a specialist sniper who is assigned with 25 contracts to complete, spread across five sandbox-style maps.
The five maps in the game are massive and contrasting, to say the least. From a blizzard struck Siberian secret facility to a container ship docked at Port Harbour to a tropical condo tucked away in the middle of a forest, the terrain spread in Contracts is exciting and diverse. This diverse world lets you scale and explore various tactical hideouts and vantage points. However, the downside of such a huge map is getting to the extraction point is tiresome, which are far away from the objective and requires careful route planning. This is fine for the first few hours of the missions but gets exhaustive as you progress. That said, the game does support a fast travel feature but not when you have to be extracted.
What’s a sniper-centric game if the elements are not authentic and I am happy to report the sniping mechanism in the Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts has a sophisticated approach that you’d want from a sniper game. There are various factors that need to be considered before you pull the trigger like the distance to the target, wind direction and speed to create the perfect shot. The slow-motion cinematic effect is pretty good, affirming a successful kill when the shot is lined perfectly.
The game tries to push the boundary further by forcing the player to step out of his comfort zone by retrieving intel, hacking phones and planting bombs. These tense moments with a tricky extraction point add versatility to the gameplay.
The game comes in three difficulty settings and we played it on Sniper Mode (medium difficulty) that offers a good balance of difficult enemies and sniping experience.
However, the occasional frame drop and AI glitches did hinder the fluidity of the game, not to mention the inconsequent upgrading system of weapons and skills that do not enhance the gameplay to desired levels.
All said and done, spending hours playing Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts may feel repetitive but its the variety of ways of how you approach the target makes the game exciting. Contracts demand you to be patient, clinical, silent and skill full to bring out the best marksman in you.
RATING 4/5
WE’RE IMPRESSED Sniping physics and gameplay
WE’D IMPROVE story
LAST WORDS Be it crawling silently into enemy territory or waiting for the right opportunity at a vantage point, the game is authentic to give you the sniper experience.