Sniper: Ghost Warrior

Poor AI and insane difficulty get between you and the sniping in Sniper: Ghost Warrior.

The Good

• Challenging sniping mechanics  
• Some satisfying moments, especially when watching the bullet cam  
• Attractive tropical visuals and atmospheric sound effects  
• Multiplayer holds some promise, once you get over the learning curve.

The Bad

• Sniping mechanics are overly twitchy  
• Absurd difficulty in spots  
• Poor stealth mechanics  
• Spotty enemy AI that ranges from mindless to so magical it can spot you instantly.

Snipers are some of the deadliest and most frustrating soldiers to deal with in shooters, so it's very appealing to be the one behind the scope in Sniper: Ghost Warrior. The trouble is that a lot of design miscues by developer City Interactive make it almost as aggravating to play a sniper here as it is to try to avoid the insta-kill headshots that snipers deal out as bad guys in other first-person shooters. Maddening difficulty, irritating enemy AI that hides its stupidity by being prescient, and terrible stealth mechanics make the game as annoying as a mosquito in your bedroom. Only sharp jungle visuals, cool slow-mo camera effects that let you get up close and personal with bloody headshots, and a somewhat promising multiplayer save the game from being a total disaster.

Making a perfect headshot results in a really cool, really bloody slow-mo effect…

The story behind the Sniper: Ghost Warrior campaign deals with some kind of revolt in a banana republic. Details are sparse, with you being filled in on a need-to-know basis through brief orders from HQ during missions, but it seems like the bad guys have taken over this tropical paradise and the Yanks are on the way to restore order. Faster than you can say "Hey, that's just like what Reagan did with Grenada!" you've got your boots on the ground as a Ghost Warrior, an elite covert operative with a sniper rifle and a plan. Well, you've got to assume there's a plan behind all of it. You're given clear orders in the levels and sent off to kill various baddies, rescue captives, mark targets, secure data, and clear out bases. You're also ordered to cover assault operations marked off by onscreen dots and a gauge that tracks distance from goals, but you're never given the whole picture aside from random tidbits about drugs and a nuclear program.
Individual mission objectives are quite varied. While the majority of the game focuses on traditional sniper duties, like shooting sentries in the head via your telescopic sights, some levels mix in stealth and others deal with straight-out shooter carnage that is all about going to town with the budda-budda-budda stuff. At times, you bounce around to different parts of battlefields, seeing how fights play out from different angles. One moment, you're on a tower taking out enemy snipers to protect an incoming assault team. The next, you're part of that assault team, shooting up all and sundry. Levels feature lush jungles, ancient ruins, sandy beaches, and tin shacks, making your sniping exploits look a bit like clips from somebody's slides during an off-the-beaten-path vacation in Cuba. That's not to say that Sniper: Ghost Warrior is on Crysis' level (there are some real rough edges, like extremely blocky shadows), although the game looks more than respectable, even featuring a slow-mo bullet cam whenever you make a headshot or kill two enemies with one pull of the trigger. An array of jungle noises and Spanish enemy chatter further build a Caribbean atmosphere, although the audio is marred by chintzy weapon sounds.

…that tracks the bullet from the barrel of your rifle to the bad guy's face. It's just a shame that this is the most satisfying part of the entire game.

While the different styles of gameplay and scenic locales keep things fresh, nothing is pulled off particularly well. Regular sniper chores are the most enjoyable part of the game because they're straightforward and offer that peculiar shooter satisfaction that comes from turning an enemy's head into a red geyser from a mile away. If you dial up the difficulty, you have to deal with wind, heart rate, breathing, and gravity whenever you hold down the right mouse button to squint into your sight, too. It's all a bit extreme, though. Environmental effects are ramped up way too high. The sight jerks all over the place with your breathing, even when you're holding down the shift key to focus in on a target. Sneaking around is even more annoying than shooting. The game tracks how hidden you are from prying eyes with a meter that clears when you're skulking through the jungle and climbs into the red when you're spotted by an enemy. It's a solid idea but poorly implemented. Cover isn't tracked well either. Sometimes you're spotted when you're buried in jungle; sometimes you're invisible behind a couple of weeds or a thin tree that even Paris Hilton couldn't hide behind. Even worse, you're often totally blind behind a bunch of big green leaves although enemies can see you perfectly and fill you full of holes.
And then there are moments when Sniper: Ghost Warrior descends into utter stupidity. Much of the game is plagued by terrible enemy AI, which is most notable in the shoot-'em-up sections. Sentries freeze in place, get stuck running into walls and rocks, and sometimes pause for a good three Mississippis before shooting even when they have you dead to rights. But, then, when they are smart, they're too smart. If one enemy is alerted, then sometimes everybody knows exactly where you are instantly. Allied AI is also bad, with squadmates that are absolutely worthless. They do little but stand out in the open firing shots that never seem to hit anything. Difficulty is all over the place. In numerous levels, you run into brick walls, thanks to insanely hard sequences where you have to kill a bunch of targets in no more than a handful of seconds (at one point while on a raft bouncing all over the place in choppy water) or one target with a perfect shot instantly. One level even ends with a ridiculous section where you have to run for a chopper while invisible enemies take shots at you; then, when you get through this deadly gauntlet, about a dozen enemies appear out of the brush out of nowhere to mow you down.

A close-up look at the last seconds of this poor guy's life.

Many of these flaws are somewhat mitigated in multiplayer, where you don't have to deal with the AI issues or the crazy difficulty. The game's Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and VIP (one player is designated the VIP, which makes him a more valuable target) modes don't offer anything earth-shatteringly different from other shooters, but intricate maps with countless hidey holes and shadowy spots make matches intense. You have to be aware of your surroundings because enemies are tough to see unless you've gained a good high sniping position looking over the entire map. Even these locations don't allow for much camping because they're watched by experienced players and regularly cleared out with grenades. With that said, gameplay is an acquired taste and the learning curve is high. Until you really learn the maps, you spend a lot of time getting gunned down by enemies you never even see. It's too bad there is no cooperative option here because being able to play sniper-and-spotter with a buddy through a campaign against AI enemies would seem to be the best multiplayer option that a game like this could offer.
While Sniper: Ghost Warrior has a few pluses, they're hard to spot buried under the many design flaws that make the game one frustrating rumble in the jungle. It's awfully gratifying to line up a perfect kill and be rewarded with a bullet-time slow-mo sequence that shows what happened to the bad guy's head after you squeezed the trigger. But annoyances like the overly sensitive shooting, punitive stealth sequences, and insane difficulty spikes make the satisfying moments few and far between.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Back in 2001, the world experienced a new type of game. It’s a game that couldn’t be categorized (as there was nothing similar) at the time. It was a game that was a blend of everything that was out now, with one new addition, freedom to do whatever you want, how you want, when you want, that came to be known as Grand Theft Auto III, or GTA 3 for short. GTA III created the “sandbox” genre, such a genre in which the key gameplay is “freedom”. GTA games allowed you to play as an antihero in fictional city based on real life, with unprecedented freedom, humor on mocking the American culture of that specific era, radio station boasting terrific soundtracks, humorous DJs, memorable downright weird companions, lots of weapons; and of course to hi-jack vehicles to get where you want as fast as possible. GTA III spawned 2 main sequels, Vice City and San Andreas. Both improved on what made GTA III tick and expanded in both depth and quality, although the core gameplay and engine remained the same, it was not a “true sequel”.

However, it was not until April 29^th of 2008, we got a true sequel to the GTA III, appropriately titled Grand Theft Auto IV. The game may not look like another revolution of the series like GTA III, but rather an evolution. But as soon as you put your foot down on Liberty City (no relation to the Liberty City of the first game), you’ll know ”things have changed”.

There are just so many stuff you can talk about in GTA IV, you can’t list them all, and simply you can’t. I’ll try my best to be as detailed as possible. Believe me, the world of Liberty City is unlike anything you’ve ever seen in a videogame.

You put on the boots of Niko Bellic, Eastern European former military personnel who wants to escape his horrific past, and what better way to start a new life than America? After all his cousin Roman sent countless letters and emails of how he made it big. Niko upon the request of his cousin arrived in Liberty City, only to find out that his cousin was in serious debt, the sports car he promised was a mere taxi cab and girls he was living around were just posters. Welcome to Liberty City, where dreams are shattered.

The previous games in the entry didn’t feature any original captivating storyline, heck. The storyline of GTA was always been the weak link of the otherwise, a strong franchise; and because of this, many people didn’t even finish the story missions, also add the fact that how awful the shooting mechanics were and how you were punished when you died. Thankfully all those problems are fixed and improved so much that, now it’s literally became the part of the franchise’s story.

The game borrows some of the best elements of third person shooters in the market, specifically Gears of War. The game employs cover system and over the shoulder view while shooting, unlike Gears of War. The game has also a new semi-auto aim function. Holding down the L2/Left Trigger button goes to auto-aim mode, and slowly moving the right analog stick you can target specific parts of the body, like the legs or going for the head. Holding the L2/Left Trigger half-way engages the in manual shooting, good for targeting explosive barrels and tires. Previous GTAs had been criticized for the lack of shooting from car, well that is fixed in this installment as well. While the game is still all about grand theft auto, stealing vehicles this time around is riskier than ever before, as police are almost everywhere and now you need to kick out drivers who are “unwilling” to lend you their vehicle and sometimes requiring you to break the glass of cars which are parked and hot wiring it to start, during which anything can happen. That’s why it’s sometimes best to go by the taxi, new to the franchise. You can whistle for the taxi using the L1/Left Bumper and go anywhere designated in your GPS by you. While you are in the Taxi, you can tell the driver to switch the tunes and look out of the window and enjoy the living breathing world of Liberty City, you can tell him to put the pedal to the medal or you can pay him double the money for quick transport (teleport), it comes especially handy when you want to retry your missions.

GTA IV is a much more realistic than the previous GTAs, while it still has some arcade flavor to it, but it’s definitely darker than before. The cars physics are much more realistic with real weight to them, the way Niko walks and places one of his feet on a higher level is very realistic, the animation never seams to break, mostly due to the fact that, other than the cut scenes, nothing is pre-canned animation. The game uses a new type of simulated animation technology called Euphoria, which is unexplainable until you see it with your own eyes, because of this; no two animations or “accidents” are the same.

Now integral part of game play is your cell phone, it’s the central hub for communication. Not only you can receive phone calls as before, but you can call your contacts as well, you can for example, ask your girlfriend on a date, call your cousin for a good game of bowling or get drunk (which is really entertaining and fun, especially to drive) or you can call an underground arms dealer for a car loaded with weapons. Its best, though not necessary to keep good relationship with your friends or girlfriend(s), as they often come up with their own perks. Oh yeah, just so you are wondering, it does not include any hot coffee scenes.

The story is far more human this time, unlike previous GTAs, its not but coming to the town and taking over, it’s all about survival. And the way Niko behaves and talks, he will instantly be a very likeable character surrounded by a full cast of interesting characters, like his cousin Roman.

As the game takes place in modern times, so with it comes things which we use everyday, like the internet. Yes, GTA IV has its very own interweb, with surprising debt to it, from blogs, emails to online dating service. There are also usable TVs in the game with good amount of programming, some of them are really funny and amazing, you’d wish they aired it real-life. Like the previous GTAs, the radio stations are back with new DJs. The soundtrack in the radios covers almost all the modern genres, so there is bound to be something you’ll like, although the quality of selection is still not on par with Vice City, it had to be said, then again, its mostly to blame the modern era for its diverse genre. There is also a load of cool min-games, which are almost as good as games on their own right, like bowling, darts, pool. There is even live comedy shows you can attend or watch in the TV.

The graphics is vastly improved with much detailed textures, new realistic lighting that produces great shadows and changes realistically as the day progresses and night falls. When you fly high, the city is indistinguishable from New York City. The character models and animation are as detailed as ever. From an artistic point of view, the developers at Rockstar North did an amazing job to capture the look and feel of New York City. Although the game still have problems streaming content, and pop-ups are still there unfortunately, but it does little to detract from the experience.

The sound is on par with graphics. Backed up by solid soundtrack, the game is also superb in the other areas as well. Just stand your character for a minute, close your eyes, and just with the sound, you can picture what is going around you, provided you have a 5.1 sound system of course.

The game has also immense replayability. So, once you finish the game, you can go for the 100% completion mark, acquiring you to do things like killing all 200 pigeons/ “flying rats”, making all the unique jumps, etc. You can also play the story again, as it never gets old and try to take different paths in the game to see what is the outcome (there is a degree of decision making in the game, like who to kill or not, though not as deep as Mass Effect). Or a very popular practice is to just mindlessly cause chaos with your RPG.

Or you can hop onto the multiplayer. There are loads of modes to choose from and most of them are pretty unique and fun. While the game has some multiplayer issues when launched on the PS3 version, the latest patch as of writing for PS3 (1.02) fixes most of them, and I personally didn’t experience any problems until then. You can also check various stats at Rockstar online stat tracking website, called Rockstar social club, here you can also preview the track marked in the game and buy digital download from Amazon.

Both the PS3 and 360 versions are amazing, this can hardly be said as a lazy port for PS3 (Xbox 360 was the lead platform for the game). Ironically, in some cases the PS3 version tops because of its Initial 8 min installation prior to starting he game for the first time. Because of this, less data have to be streamed from the optical disc, and so when you are driving at high-speed, the pop-up though still there, is not a big issue on the PS3 compared to the 360 version, as on some of the 360s with older Disc Drives, the read speed cannot always keep up. And as a result, you’ll sometimes find a car or a wall suddenly pop in before you can react. However, most new 360 models don’t have much of a difference. Also from Fall, 360 owners can enjoy the benefits of the PS3 owners when it gets the ability to install games to the HDD.

Well there you have it, it’s the longest review I’ve ever done, by a long shot, but this game deserves it. I still left out a lot of details about the game, this game is epic huge. You will soon realize that, all the small things which happen in the world of GTA IV merges, and form a much bigger picture which really pulls you in the game. There is simply no immersive game than GTA IV, but perhaps GTA V will change it all over again.