Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 is a military game that will teach noobs how to snipe like a pro and leaves you feeling like a member of the Delta Force once it’s all said and done. However, I kept thinking to myself, “what if this game had come just a little later?” The game has obviously done well enough to spawn a few sequels, but when I began to dig deeper into the gameplay, my first reaction was not negative, but I was disappointed that developers at Ci Games didn’t wait to release this game alongside a system like Project Scorpio that would’ve taken full advantage of this game’s graphical potential, added a multiplayer option and worked out some of the game bugs, but more on that later.

I’ve always been a big fan of open-world environment games. Whether it’s tackling the main quests or freely exploring the lands to find some trouble to get into, you may actually get lost quite easily in this immersive jungle that takes place in Northern Georgia (and no, we aren’t talking about the USA’s Georgia) but the just south of Russia Georgia.

I will mention right away before I get started, that Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 is a game that a lot of Triple-A FPS’ could learn from to make the overall experience better. This game has what all others don’t have and that’s realism. I’m not talking 1:1 realism, but if you’ve ever been quick scoped by a player jumping off a building while doing a 360 in Call of Duty, you know exactly what I’m talking about. There are several variables in the game to consider before squeezing the trigger such as wind speed, wind direction and distance to name a few. Although Sniper isn’t a true simulated shooter, it’s pretty darn close. It doesn’t take much to get a kill. Two shots to the chest of your enemies (with your choice of several assault rifles or pistols) does the trick. When playing a game like Call of Duty, you’ll nearly empty half a magazine to kill your enemy. Nevertheless, this doesn’t come too far as to say this game is perfect by any means and has its fair share of issues, which is what we’re about to get into.

As stated above, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 is actually a pretty awesome game, full of creative missions, cool unlockable content, weapons, gear and more. I have played about 20 hours of the game and so far, most of the missions I’ve played through aren’t repetitive at all, in fact they’re short and sweet which is how most shooter games should be. Each mission is a task, not a daunting one, but once you complete a mission, you feel a sense of completion. In SGW3, you gather intel, investigate the environment and even go as far as using drone to complete your missions. Recon is a major deal and there are no cheap tricks or shortcuts to get through this game, which is what makes it a game for those that want to have a true shooter experience. You’ve got to put in the work.

There is a cool skills tree built into the game that consists of three pillars: Sniper, Ghost and Warrior. From the Sniper’s skills tree, you can focus on just that, sniping. If you want to keep yourself at a distance from any enemies and maintain the element of surprise, you’ll focus on this. So, for all you would-be campers out there, this one’s for you. The second skills tree I used the most is Ghost. I enjoyed being amongst the enemies and them not knowing what hit them. You can also interrogate your enemies for intel and that can prove to be very helpful in your missions if you’re willing to put in the work. Lastly, is Warrior. For those of you old enough to remember the WWE wrestler “Ultimate Warrior” and how he’d dart down to the ring and into action? (If you haven’t had a chance to experience his entrance, I suggest you YouTube it and witness the spectacle.) Anyway, Warrior is exactly like that, except you go in, guns-a-blazing. Nonetheless, if you’re like me, I prefer a good balance of them all so spreading your skills throughout the pillars usually is a good choice if you wish to get a complete experience.

The world in Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 is incredibly massive and if you aren’t into exploration and taking your time, this might not be the game for you. If I could compare its size to any other game, imagine FarCry, just a little smaller. Sadly, much as I tried to avoid being a nag about the game, I couldn’t help but pick out a few things that annoyed me to no end. Things like not all vehicles being accessible. This can be a pain in the ass when you're in the midst a gunfight and upon finding a vehicle you can't get in. As much as I tried to ignore the few hiccups here and there, this game has a ton of glitches. In fact, there were so many glitches that I had to dedicate a section about it.

I still remember when beta released, even then there were major kinks that they needed to address. Tons of feedback was handed out from gamers during its release, not because they didn’t enjoy the game, but because they wanted to see a finished product before its release. That’s the whole point of a beta… More so, this seems to be a common trend lately with some developers across all platforms. In the gaming community, when you release a game, consumers have every right to expect a finished product. For the game to release at full price, with no multiplayer option present and rampant glitches is unacceptable. I can remember back to an interview with Eurogamer, Ci Games released a statement on its absence:

"CI Games, throughout our development of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, we have had two focus’. The first is to provide the best possible single player experience in our most ambitious game in the Sniper Ghost Warrior series to date. This has always been our goal and we are extremely proud of all the work we have done, and that we share with you. The second emphasis from us is to provide regular content updates post-launch, focusing on content that enhances the gaming experience. Therefore, we have chosen to release the multiplayer update (that will be free for our players) after launch (the third quarter of 2017) for precisely the above reasons, that is not to dilute any potential from the single player experience.”

So, what that sounds like to me, is that not only did they know they had an unfinished product, but they released it with the anticipation of fixing it later through updates which is not worth $60 out the door. Let’s just be honest, that’s not good business. I’m sure gamers can all agree, we might be impatient as hell, but if we have to wait and it’s a great game, we will find something to bide the time before its release. It’s hard for me to be a critic of a game that I enjoyed because there’s SO much potential. I’ll even go out on a limb and say that without the glitches, SGW3 would be an easy purchase for a lower purchase point. I’m not trying to take away the hard work all the people at Ci Games have put in, but literally everything had some kind of issue. Something as simple as purchasing ammo and it not even registering was mind boggling, not only that, but there were times when I would shoot and reload, ammo would magically appear and disappear.

The graphics in the game were pretty good, but could have been better. I feel the textures weren’t quite up to par compared to modern shooters, but they hold their own. There were a few times when I would go for a shot and the picture would sort of judder. The vegetation in the environments were pretty good and didn’t feel out of place. When it came to looking through the scope and using my FPS hand to align my target while hearing the clicks felt realistic and cool.

Okay, so there are a few problems, but let’s talk about what saved this game from complete disaster, the missions. There are so many different objectives in the game that are not only fun, but I found it hard at times to put down. The missions are scattered throughout the land of Georgia and tons of collectables to pick up keeping the gameplay fresh and interesting. The game is extremely immersive with tons of chaotic action. The AI in the game was pretty decent and did their part without seeming too cheap, but it has its moments too. The voice acting at times didn’t align with the character’s mouth movements and seemed monotonous at times. There are several times in the game when you’re sent off by NPCs to complete a mission and when you engage in dialog with them, they have no facial expressions or emotion.

It’s hard to really place SGW3 in the category of a “bad” game because it wasn’t. It just wasn’t a completed product and that’s a travesty considering how much potential the game truly had. The biggest issue with me is multiplayer not being available at launch. That’s going to hurt the replay value of this game. What is it going to take in order reel the gaming community back in once it finally drops? Hopefully the patches release soon to save the little grace this game has left.

Tao Dawkins, Noobfeed
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