Crouch. Aim. Hold your breath. Squeeze the trigger. Watch your target collapse into a lifeless clump of bone and flesh.
The deathly satisfying mechanics of sniping may not excite the usual run-and-gun crowd of first-person shooter fans, which is why sharpshooter missions are typically used to spice up a war game, not served as the entrée. But like its predecessor, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 delivers an entire story campaign of high-precision distance killing that’s just competent enough to be mildly fun.
Captain Cole “Sandman” Anderson returns from the first Sniper: Ghost Warrior to practice his lethal art in locations around the world, ranging from jungles and forests to war-torn Sarajevo and the mountaintops of Tibet. A typical mission blends three styles of gameplay. First, you’re led by a spotter through a linear route, halting or running when he does, until you reach a nesting point where he’ll call off targets while you crouch down and pop heads. Second, you’re in a fixed prone location far from the field of action, seeing conflict only through the scope of your rifle, as you eliminate sentries so your squad on the ground can move to its objective. And third, you’ll enter the field on your own to reach objectives, but with more freedom to explore and assassinate at will.
The variety of gameplay keeps Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 moving at a surprisingly brisk pace, but the game is decidedly rough around the edges. Its CryEngine 3–powered visuals are alternately stunning and bland: lush, vibrant jungles give way to low-detail textures in urban environments, while fire and waterfall effects are pixelicious messes. Meanwhile, glitches can cause your spotter to teleport in front of your eyes or keep firing at a body long after its expiration. Dumb enemy A.I. is just begging to be shot, merely crouching when a bullet barely misses them, yet they have the unnerving ability to see you through the thickest vegetative cover. And then there’s the pathetically measly multiplayer — a single team-deathmatch mode and two maps (though free DLC will soon add two more maps and an extra mode). The effort would’ve been better spent on the campaign.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is just entertaining enough to buy when it’s accumulating dust in the bargain bin. But for a richer sniper experience with more gruesome kill shots, last year’s Sniper Elite V2 is a better bet.
PUBLISHER: CI Games • DEVELOPER: CI Games • ESRB: Mature • MULTIPLAYER: 12 on Xbox Live • ACHIEVEMENTS: Grueling • COST: $40 • RELEASE DATE: March 12, 2013
+ Gameplay offers a good mix of mission types given the inherent limitations of sniping.
+ The CryEngine 3–powered environments are beautiful in spots…
– …and shoddy in others; some glitches and poor enemy A.I.; multiplayer was an afterthought.
? Couldn’t multiplayer have shipped with more than two maps?
