Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Review

There are few games that can take the elements of sniper warfare and make it into something unique and entertaining. This Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 review will take a lookt at Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 and what it has to offer to this specific first person shooter genre.

The World of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3

Sniper games have been popular for decades, and with time comes a certain degree of expectation for these games and their graphics, storylines, and overall gameplay. This section will look at the world of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 to better determine whether or not this game is worth any form of investment.

Atmosphere and Location

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is the first game in this line that features an “open world” environment that is meant to create a more expansive atmosphere for players to experience. Missions can be found throughout separatist controlled Georgia in Eastern Europe that can be sought out and completed at any time. Each mission has a selection of different ways that it can be approached and completed depending on your play style.

Unlike many open world style of games, Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 does not offer any form of marking on your map to help you locate objectives. It is up to you to follow clues and utilize drones to scout the area and figure out where you need to go next.

The environment itself is wide open, yet it lacks any real definition or varied color palette which makes the experience far less than immersive. It is almost as if the developers spent too much time trying not to be linear that they forgot to actually develop their new open world.

The generally blocky transition from landscape to landscape almost makes the game feel as if you are being led along a path and the developers were kind enough to take out annoying load screens. Beyond that, there is not too much to redeem the game’s lackluster atmosphere.

Main Characters

The primary character of this first person tactical shooter is Marine Captain Jonathan “Jon” North who must work toward breaking down the Separatist control of modern Georgia. In the beginning of the game, Jon goes on a mission with his brother, Robert, to the Russian-Ukranian border to prevent a terrorist cell from getting their hands on some Soviet-era weapons.

During the conflict, the brothers are ambushed and forced to play a game of Russian roulette. Afterwards, Jon is knocked out cold and Robert is kidnapped. Fast forward two years, and Jon is accepting his new mission in the Georgian wilds to try and uncover what happened to his still missing brother.

Jon is joined by ex-special forces sniper and Georgian Loyalist Lydia (with whom he has a past), JSOC Frank Simms, and Raquel, an Israeli Mossad agent whose mission is to capture a Russian scientist by the name of Sergei Flostov who is currently being held by the Separatists.

This is your motley crew of military elite soldiers who have, for better or worse, banded together to fight against the Separatist movement. Each has his or her own motives that spurs them to help (or hinder) one another on this stealth mission.

Storyline

The basic plot is the joint effort of Jon and his companions to take down the Georgian Separatist movement along with each members’ unique reason for being in the area to begin with. For Jon, this is finding evidence on what happened to his brother who went missing in the area two years prior.

This primary storyline is strong enough to hold its own, although it is far from a novel or even unique take on the sniper first person tactical shooter genre. There is plenty to be said for the satisfying way that you can sneak up on enemies hundreds of yards out and silence them with an accurately placed sniper shot. But this same feel can be found in nearly any game in this genre.

Behind the scenes of the seeming straightforward takedown of a corrupt regime, Jon learns that Flostov, the Russian scientist Raqeul is searching for, has been forced by the international crime conspiracy group 23 Society to brainwash soldiers and genetically modify them into “super soldiers” capable of near-inhuman abilities and feats of strength.

It turns out that Robert is one of these super soldiers, and when Jon is finally reunited with his brother, Robert takes it upon himself to manually stop a nuclear meltdown and dies from radiation poisoning. After all is said and done, Jon is extracted from the area and has a new mission: destroy 23 Society.

The overall plot has its moments of interest and intrigue, but there is little to set it apart from a feeling of playing the same old game yet again. If you have played a sniper game that involves part military mission and part supernatural situation, you have probably played Sniper Ghost Warrior 3.

DLC and Expansion Packs

With the release of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, CI Games also announced their Season Pass which gives players access to two single player campaigns separate from the main story: “The Escape of Lydia” and “The Sabotage.” The Season Pass also comes with two new multiplayer maps, an all-terrain vehicle, and two exclusive weapons: the McMillan TAC-338A sniper rifle and the compound bow.

“The Escape of Lydia” puts you in the shoes of Georgian Loyalist and sniper Lydia. This content is a prequel to Sniper Ghost Warrior 3’s main plot, and gives a deeper insight into the machinations of that main plot.

“The Sabotage” lets you experience Robert Noth’s story in a large single player expansion. In essence, this DLC campaign lets you experience the main story of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 from the inside, starting with the rise of the Separatists and leading up to Robert’s heroic end.

Verdict

While the action sequences and combat of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 make this game a good addition to the first persona tactical shooter genre, the game does not add anything new the genre. This is a game that feels and plays like almost every other sniper or stealth game in its class, and for that reason does not have too much to offer to the gaming world at large. The top rating for Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is relatively low. If you having anything you would like to see mentioned in our Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 review, please mention it in the comments.

6.5

Summary

Pros

• Missions are often spacious and promote choice and variety
• Patience is a virtue

Cons

• Barren open world is little more than a time sink to get you from point A to B
• Can be boring

Buy Sniper Ghost Warrior 3

6 Game Story/Plot

7 Gameplay and Controls

7 Graphics and Sound

6 Replay Value