While at E3 this year, I had the pleasure of going behind the scenes with City Interactive to check out Sniper Ghost Warrior 2. Before I get into my impressions of the game I have to say that getting off the show floor into a quieter, more relaxed environment where you can really focus on the game is a real treat. So my thanks to the folks manning the City Interactive suite for their hospitality.
City Interactive is using CryEngine3 to power Sniper Ghost Warrior 2. My very first impression of the visuals were that they were lush and detailed. It doesn’t move as smoothly as other first person shooters I have played but at this point in the game’s development it looks like the basics are in place and a bit of polish is all that is needed to clean up some of the rough edges and textures. Otherwise the game looks pretty decent.
While I did not play the first game, some of the critics considered it extremely linear. Things do not appear all that much different here but that is not necessarily a bad thing. You move from point to point along each objective often following your AI teammate who is your spotter. When you’re not shooting, the action stays tense as the game has you moving from position to position without engaging the enemy. The actual sniping was the best part of the experience (as it should be). With the help of your spotter, factors such as ballistics, wind, range and elevation all come in to play. During the demo I was aided by a red dot in my sight that factored these things for me automatically. It would be really neat to see difficulty levels that would allow you to turn aids like this off for the ultimate experience. For my very first kill I was treated to a stylized bullet cam view of my round hitting its mark. This was a neat effect and will only trigger in the game when the player makes a perfect shot.
Having a NPC alongside my character as a spotter at all times prompted me to ask the question about online play. Specifically I wanted to know if any consideration was put towards cooperative play that would have a spotter and shooter working together. I was told the development team did consider this and it appears the idea sounds more fun “on paper” than it is in actual practice. While the folks were pretty tight lipped about any details of the online play I think it is a pretty safe bet this game is going to have online play seeing as the first game did.
My time with Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 was brief but positive. The first game had a small following in our community. With games like Ghost Recon moving away from their “sneaky man” roots I think there is a niche market for a game like Sniper Ghost Warrior 2. Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 ships this August 21st for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
