Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 Is Winning Me Over With Gorgeous Graphics

This is actually a delayed post. I played Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 last February, but only got to compiled everything earlier today, so here we are. Prepare yourself because this post has lots of screenshots. Lots. Because Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 is, seriously, a very gorgeous game. It's like every screenshot is worth showing. The game may have received negative reviews due to poor gameplay and AI, but boy it looks slick! Here's the first 2 hours of Sniper Ghost Warrior 2.

The game has three main acts, each is which broken down into several missions. Our first mission, Operation Quarterback takes place somewhere in one of the coastal regions of the Philippines. Just like most military first-person shooters, a briefing screen -which is just a loading screen in disguise- opens up our first very level, which I'm pretty sure is going to be a tutorial level.

Two very angry guys.

Whoa, look at those incoming messages! They must be urgent. So, which one of you impatient brats should I answer to first? Agent M. Diaz here even attaches a big unhappy image of himself to his message to show how angry he'd be if I don't pick it up immediately. No thanks. So who's the superior here? Is it Commander Wheeler down there? He also doesn't seem to be too happy about something, so I won't answer to him either. How about if I answer to none, because this is just a loading screen?

Behold!

Holy crap! Gorgeous graphics! Look at those trees sway! Look at the shadows creeping across the ground and my rifle as I move around! Also, god rays! Even though I'm not really the type who cares too much about visuals, this game is really starting to win me over with its graphics. It's appropriate that this level is taking place in a tropical forest. Just the right settings to show off Crytek's advanced and very stable CryEngine.

Anyway, I heard some really bad reviews about this game, but we'll see. It's way to early to make a conclusion. Besides, it feels a bit unfair for the game if I play it with my mind set expecting glitches and other flaws. So I'll just let the graphics impress me and drown all the negative things I read in the reviews.

Peeing into the river is not enough to critically pollute it.

I like how the grasses and leaves brush against me as I move through them, eventhough the motion is a bit rigid and unrealistic. The water effect is kind of awesome, too. You know why? Because when I bend over, the barrel of my gun immerses and pierces through the surface, albeit looking a little weird but I think I can live with that.

But it's kind of sad that the player character's torso and feet are not visible, because that would have completely won me over. At least I want to feel like I'm really a sniper camouflaged with grass suit, not just some invisible entity that carries a gun around and shoots people in the woods.

Check your head!

Bang! Headshot! The shooting mechanic offers nothing new. Press Shift to hold breathe, follow the red dot, the usual stuff. It works similar to other sniper games like Sniper Elite or one of those sniper levels in Call of Duty. Yeah, I figured you heard that coming.

"Diaz! What are you doing here?"
"Well I'm your spotter!"

Oh crap! The plane wreckage which has been my sniping spot can no longer holds my weight, and now it's- wait a minute, my spotter's been here all along too? No wonder the wreckage collapsed, two guys with big guns are too much for it to support!

God rays and waterfalls! Banana trees! Momma nature!

Right, it turned out that Agent M. Diaz here is my spotter. He looks much more relaxed in-game, I suppose nature calms his nerves. Although the game advised me to listen closely to him, well... let's say that I didn't listen to the game's advice either. I'm just too busy enjoying the view and entertaining thoughts of visiting that waterfall over there once this is all over.

Alright, alright, I know what we're supposed to do, okay? We're going to blow stuff up, right? Relax, partner... Usually that would attract my attention, but I'm just too amazed by the graphics of this game. Besides, I'm pretty reluctant to use my special demolition job talent at the moment since it'd be a shame if we blow up the entire forest. We won't, right?

Spectacular.

Ah! Look! Ancient ruins! Games taking place at ancient ruins usually win me over very, very easily. I like how the game makes you run through a cave and then surprises you with spectacular views such as this one above once you're back in the sunlight. Sure, this style may sound cheap and over-used, but hey, I like it if done right.

Wait, is he looking over here? Is his friend, too? Have they seen us? But that's impossible! We're camouflaged and well hidden.

Crap, they've seen us! Aaaand they sent their dumbest friend to assault us close and personal. Well, at least you guys should have given him some other gun that's better suited for close-combat, like, I don't know, a shotgun?

But you know, often times, it feels like the bad guys have this superhuman sense of knowing what you're looking at as if they have access to your mind. It feels a bit like a cheat but I think I can live with that for now. Besides, there's nothing my mate here Diaz and I can't really handle.

Well, now that I think about it, I think I did most of the killings. My spotter Diaz is not much of a help. For an agent, he's a pathetically unskilled shooter. None of his shots hit. But at least the enemies won't focus on me alone, so that's good enough.

Upon hearing my comments regarding his usefulness, Diaz magically disappears into thin air and leaves me for good. So now I'm on my own but I don't mind. Finally, nobody tells me what to do and what to look at and shoot. Well, except for the game itself, which of course, is still there to direct me to my next objective. Since this isn't an open world game, I don't have much of a choice.

A few headshots later...

My goodness! This is truly gorgeous! Now this is what I call "scenic outlook"!

"Press 'F' to Set Up on the Sniping Spot". With pleasure!

Oh crap, that was a bad move! Suddenly, the game forces me to use the scope but I'm still not yet done enjoying the view! Also, I can't seem to take my eyes off the scope! Damn! I guess I'll do whatever I have to then.

And that screenshot above is actually a glitch. Maybe you can't see it clearly but there are two guys there stuck in the middle of the stream. Congratulations, Sniper Ghost Warrior 2, for pointing it out for me. Now I have to deduct one point for you..

Kill cam!

I'm not that impressed though. This feature should be one of the things we can expect from a sniper game. Sniper Elite V2 pulled it off better but nevertheless, kill cam is always satisfying, so why not, right? Since I'm a very forgiving sort, I'm going to give the game back the point I deducted just now.

The rest of the mission goes on in a narrative and scripted fashion. Nevertheless, it's still enjoyable, so I've got nothing to whine about there.

The second mission takes place at nighttime. It's more or less the same like as previous mission: go to area A, clear area A. However, the second mission is a bit more interesting and challenging. It's more story driven and apparently crucial to the plot of the game, so I won't talk about it. There was a climax event, something about betrayal... Let's fast-forward to the third mission!

Mamma Mia! Look at the sand! I'm so sorry but this game is really winning me over with its graphics! Normally I'm not a sucker when it comes to graphics, but for a game that looks this good, Sniper Warrior runs so smoothly which is why I'm easily impressed.

Eliminate the enemies on the beach. Oh, here we go again. Well, that's pretty much what sniper games are all about, right? But fortunately, the stealth element makes the gameplay much more interesting. For example, you have to carefully which target to eliminate first, time the shot right as well as choosing the right cover. These are some of the things that make sniper games fun. 

Sniper games that have good AI such as Sniper Elite V2 puts a great twist to the otherwise monotonous gameplay. Sniper games with superhuman AI are a complete failure because-

Oh crap! They saw me! That's impossible! Time to leave, our sniper says. We have no choice but to jump off this cliff into the water below, which should help to break our fall. Diaz sure owes us big time for this. Oh yeah, about that. Remember Diaz, our spotter friend from the first mission with a big unhappy picture of himself on the briefing screen?

Well we got him now. Apparently, this is a flashback mission that took place before the first mission. Diaz was captured and almost executed by a bunch of baddies until we intervened. But in doing so, our hero has disobeyed his chief's order: retrieve some kind of a bio-agent from the bad guys (kindly refer to the 3rd screenshot for the chief).

Oh and if you skip the cutscene leading to the scene above, the two bad guys that were supposed to stand in front of Diaz would not show up, making it impossible for you to progress. Just look the screenshot above. Another glitch!

Now we're on the run! Run forest run! Run Diaz run! The bad guys managed to secure the bio-agent and took off with a plane, but their friends here won't let us go out alive. They even brought a tank to blow us up! A tank! A freaking tank! We're in deep trouble Diaz!

But yeah of course we made it out alive, because, you know, we're super soldiers! We can take several bullets and our health naturally regenerate! Anyway, that's about it. The first couple of hours of Sniper Ghost Warrior 2. So far, nothing's that bad. The AI is still forgivable. The shooting is fun, but it can be frustrating at times. The winner of the day is of course, the visuals. The game takes great advantage of the CryEngine. It looks good and most importantly, it runs good.