This title came out three years ago, and I spotted it on sale on Steam last week for $6 (still a few hours left in the sale I believe). Reviews were lukewarm on release, and technical issues plagued it. But after checking it out I thought it looked cool and certainly worth a punt at this price. It's more of an open world than most sniper games, which, having played it, I see as both a blessing and a missed opportunity.

You play a sniper in a conflict set in the nation of Georgia. The story isn't strong in my opinion, and the dialog is questionable at times, though the voice acting is OK. Graphics are good enough (Cry Engine game). Runs very smoothly and trouble free, and at least for me it seems that whatever technical issues existed at launch have been patched out.

Gameplay consists of completing story missions, and of exploring the gameworld, which is full of Points of Interest (POIs). These might be an enemy outpost, or a cave to loot and that sort of thing. Missions are fairly varied, with some bounty type work mixed in. It has appealed to me because I can set the pace, playing as I see fit, and launching story missions when I choose. I can spend an hour clearing POIs, then mix in a mission, then hunt a bounty target. Nothing's timed, and that means I can play at my own pace. I can take as much time as I want to scope out the target site, let an alert cool down, or to find (or change) my shooting position.

There is a large number of weapons and gadgets to employ. You can carry one primary weapon (sniper rifle), one secondary (assault rifle, shotgun, bow) and one sidearm (pistols/revolvers). In addition there are mines, grenades, combat knives, night vision, explosives, a drone and more. I've used the drone tactically, occasionally, but not that much really, and the other stuff like mines and grenades don't fit my approach. But they are there and so you have a lot of tools in the box.

The weapons are solid, with fake names for real-world guns. Most all of it needs to be unlocked through gameplay, but as time goes on you can upgrade optics, magazines, camo and more. There are several ammunition types as well (ball, AP, tagging, luring). You decide your kit-out at the safehouse, and then proceed on your mission. No way to re-arm without returning to the safehouse.

The sniping is great. I turned off 'bullet cam' right after the prologue. Wind, range and elevation all play a part, and I find this part of the game very satisfying. There is a certain art to it all. Strong winds put a lot of bend to a long shot, and getting it right is highly satisfying. Pick a target, dial in the scope dope, adjust for elevation, wind and range, exhale, squeeze. Get it wrong and you risk alerting the base, causing the enemy to seek cover or search. The AI is servicable. Alerted enemies will eventually return to normal state if they cannot locate you. In this way you can work through and clear them all. It just takes patience and good shooting.

Because I am not rushed, I tend to find a good overwatch position, then spend as long as it takes to tag all the targets. Patience is key. Noting patrol routes and sight lines. Deciding on an order to start taking them out, and doing it so they will fall out of sight of any allies. It's like a puzzle. But clearing a heavily guarded facility without anyone ever catching on is good fun. If you keep your distance though it's highly unlikely they will find you, and the AI is rather exploitable as a result.

I said the open world is a missed opportunity because even though you can travel around as you see fit, there are no random encounters. No AI patrols, and the game is worse for it. You can travel around the map with impunity as long as you don't stray too close to the enemy posts. It's shame, because spotting, skirting or eliminating roving enemy patrols would make the game so much better and more engaging. There's no chance of a patrol stumbling on your hide while you're casing the joint, and this lack of threat and tension is missed.

I've found the game to be quite a bit better than reviews might have suggested. The sniping requires skill and patience, the tools are varied and the game looks good and plays well. It won't win any awards for a gripping story or innovation, but at it's core it's a very solid sniper-shooter that rewards planning and patience and good shooting. Played at the higher difficulties, and with 'gamey' sort of indicators, cameras and aids turned off makes it a fine first person quasi-realistic tactical sniper game.

As of this posting, there are still 3 hours left on the Steam sale to grab it for six bucks.

Hi Mr. Bond, glad to see you back

Did have a look at the series not to long ago, as Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts was on sale and it caught my attention. It´s a shame that reviews are done short of the titles release, which is the case for SGW3 and SGWC, meaning that if you read up on SGW3 most reviews will put you off (bugs, optimisation ect.), but in reallity (now), most of the issues if not all have been ironed out. In the case of SGWC, I would then wait beacuse it´s been recently released, but as for SGW3 goes, it seems it´s not so, or justified. Especially now with your review.

Sale is over but I can still get it for a similar price, and beacuse Iam in a FPS stage as of lately...

Beacuse of these recent sales, I have picked up Medal of Honor Warfighter (my fav FPS of the time), Medal of Honor, and Battlefield 4 again. Played all three in a week and had a blast AGAIN Spent almost all afternoon yesterday playing BF4 online, plenty of people still play these games online now days. Between the campaign and the time spent online (MP), I would say circa 17hrs. That´s about a $1 an hour, and still have more to go in MP.

What Iam trying to say is that, these "past" games are still good fun now days, and at there price on sale are well worth a try. So yes, might give this one a spin!

Thanks for your review DBond, and again, nice to see you back.

Red

I've done about 25 hours on it... thoroughly enjoyed it, and can't say I've found any game breaking bugs with it, despite what the forums might say!

Thanks Red, for your comments and the returning welcome. I wasn't gone for long and couldn't imagine anyone might notice.

Occasionally I purchase a game that's just been released. But only very rarely. RDR 2 is one example. But 95% of my purchases are games at least a year old. Partly this is to save money, and mainly it is to be able to play the most seasoned version of the title. I mean, six bucks for this is money well spent, and whatever early-buyers had to put up with (bugs, technical issues, etc) are largely eliminated. So this all leaves me with a much more favorable impression than if I had dropped fifty dollars and watched it lock up or crash a lot. After playing halfway through I bought the season pass for another two dollars so I'm in to it for eight.

I've gotten 40 hours out of it so far, and progress is right at 50%. I will complete the story, but there are far too many of the POIs (192!) to hold my attention and clear them all. Lots of 'collectibles' as well, but that sort of thing doesn't interest me, although I like finding the 'classic' sniper rifles.

Hey Troop, yeah it's not bad is it? What's your longest shot? I'm at 354m but struggling to find a target far enough away to hit the 500 for the achievement. It's a spawn/render issue I reckon, but it must be possible. If you know of or see a spot where such a shot can be attempted please let me know.

Mostly I've been rolling with the Knight's Armament M110 SASS, but I recently either unlocked or found the Brezatelya (I think this was the one where you need to use a drone and send it down a elevator shaft to restore power and can then descend yourself). This is the Vintorez subsonic sniper rifle that we saw in STALKER. I've been using this one since I found it. It's shown as 7.62 in the game, but I guess the devs didn't want to make too many cartridge calibers. I can forgive this omission. The integrated silencer requiring no upkeep is a nice QOL enhancement. It shoots fast so you can quickly correct a miss and kill before an alarm is raised and has a 20-round magazine so you carry 80 rounds total which is nice for some extended patrolling. It's a gun that doesn't really look the part, but I'm finding it really effective.

Load times are on the long side, especially the initial map load. Reloading checkpoints if you're killed isn't so bad. But the initial load, or switching maps takes a while.

I got my longest headshot to 354m and longest shot to 425, but still searching for a 500 meter opportunity. It seems that it's the way the enemy troops spawn in. I wonder if there is a way to maximize this distance?

I checked out Contracts that Red mentioned. It looks really good. Like they combined Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 with Hitman. I put it on the wishlist and I'll pick it up at some point in the near future. It's a $30 game. I've also been kicking around Sniper Elite 4 while I'm on this sniper kick. I won't buy it at full price, so maybe when it's on sale. I wish it was a first person game though. I bought Sniper Elite 2 back in 2014 and played it for half an hour. I can't recall though why it didn't click with me.

What I don´t like about it is the recoil (if any). Don´t have the game yet, as the recoil dose put me off a bit. I do understand it´s not a realistic simulation as maybe Arma 3 with ACE as a sniper, so it´s a matter of getting over that.

Here´s one of my favorite women marksman trying a 300m shot with a 22.cal...



Red

I played all the sniper elite games to death, loved 3 and 4... I'm doing the new revamped version of 2 on and off when I can fit it in.
As to Contracts, like most of these games, I wait until they have been out awhile and get them in the sale.
I recently got Shadow of the Tomb Raider definitive edition with all bells and whistles at a knock down price, so I have to fit that in as well, lol!

What the issue with recoil?

From the YT videos, I don´t see any recoil. It´s like shooting that 22cal in the video I posted.

Seems fine to me. Little recoil when sniping prone or in a supported stance. More if crouched or standing. Plenty with automatic weapons. I own and shoot firearms regularly and for me recoil in this game is well done.

The most powerful weapon I own is a Browning bolt-action chambered for .270 Winchester. Bench shooting it sends the recoil straight back in to my shoulder and I don't lose sight picture through the scope on the target. Little muzzle climb. If I were standing it would be different. But from a supported position the effect of the recoil is minimal even with such a powerful cartridge. Minimal effect on sight picture, but it sure does wear out my shoulder!

Thanks DBond,

It´s hard to tell from the YT videos I have seen, as either there directly in scope view, and/or right after they shot it´s the kill cam. Motion seemed minimal. Saw more motion in the recent Contracts videos, maybe they tweaked that part a bit.

I can do without the kill cam though.



See what I mean...

Too much bullet cam in those vids haha. I turned that sh!t off straight away.

Second video does have some no-bullet-cam shots near the end. This player is prone and has deployed the bipod. The rifle bucks back with no muzzle climb, which I gotta say is what I see when I fire similar weapons in a similar manner.

But I can accept it if you have a different take. That's cool.

It´s been +35 years since I did my service (Spanish Legion) so I can´t remember how recoil was to be honest I do remember how bad a mortar launcher can be on your ears though!

All the recoil I see is in games now days.

Any how I pulled the trigger, never better said LOL! Bought the season pass edition.

Here´s a vid that shows a 500m kill. Be patient, he has a hard time remembering where the spot was



Red

Liking it so far, I started the campaign in hardcore mode and just finished the second act.

Game looks real nice, and the fact that it´s open world is great too. As you stated, that gives you the freedom to play at your own pace, and wonder off in any direction you like, or use the fast-travel. Always nice to have options like this. Don´t have much weapons to choose from right now, but that´s normal at start I guess, still have to check out some POI, havent done that yet. From what I see on the map, there´s plenty of gameplay hours to be had. I think there´s another map after that one too so can´t complain at all.

Red

There are four maps in all I think. The open world was good for me because at the start I could just explore around and get used to the mechanics and practice my shooting, learn how the AI reacts, all the while finding money, crafting mats and gaining XP. I played for a few hours before tackling the first story mission.

You made a great choice playing it on the highest difficulty I think. This adds so much to the challenge and reward in my view. I'm most of the way through Act 3, and still don't have every weapon, maybe I've found or unlocked 85% or so. The starting sniper rifle is fine and certainly gets the job done. I've really taken to the Vintorez and carry it full time now. You cannot obtain this weapon until Act 2, and even then you need to look for it, it's not a mission reward.

The POIs are useful, you can find weapons sometimes, or free some prisoners. I've cleared around 90 of them thus far (out of 191), but at this stage I'm moving forward with the story and side ops, although if my path takes me near a POI I will check it out. The wanted list target jobs are good ones too and I like those. And you're right, there is a lot of content, I could see 100 hours out of it by the time I am done, and that's even skipping a lot of the stuff like all of the POIs and collectibles.

I said earlier I use the drone occasionally, but now that I've upgraded it with the best battery and the camo/noise reduction I am using it a lot more. It's quite handy to get the tactical picture before committing to the attack. Sometimes though I will essentially circumnavigate (on foot) the target area to locate all of the enemies and find all possible shooting locations and avenues of approach or escape. I'll often take 10 minutes or more of just observation before firing the first round downrange.

Four maps, wow! Considering I got lost a couple of times in the second act trying to find a side op, that´s alot of play! Lucky for the season pass edition and that all-terrain (dirt buggy) vehicle. Yes I think choosing the hardcore start was wise. It´s happen to me before, I´ll start on normal or easy thinking I could always start again when I finish in another mode but never do so, so yes glad I did. I could always play in challange mode once finished.

I think it´s a very good SP game, It´has the right ingredients for my taste. Like finding loot and how to get to it (Tomb Raider), weapons and gadgets customization (FPS/survival), location POI and side missions (The Division), open world (GTA), stealth (Splinter Cell/Hitman), and of course shooting

Yeah, most likely will buy Contracts at some point.

Red

The easiest mode has that red box that lights up when you're properly aligned, with wind and elevation factored in, so that one's out straight away. No satisfaction in playing that way.

I like your points in comparison with other games. Again, I don't think this title is groundbreaking, but it combines enough elements, and does is competently enough that the sum is pretty good. For me all it really needs is a random enemy patrol element to be a really good game. Still, I'm having a good time with it. Sniping and stealth sort of games have always been my thing. I am drawn to any sort of game where you're solo, sneaking and behind the lines. Helo sims, sub sims, sneakers like Thief, and any sort of sniping or black ops.

Red you mentioned GTA, do you play it still? Do you play GTAO?

With regards to GTA (GTAO Online?), no I havent. IIRC I think I played Vice on the first PS, or was it the first GTA, can´t remember. I have been thinking of buying GTA-V these past months. Trying to figure out which game I uninstall to make space for GTA-V. Don´t really know the difference between GTAO and GTA-V though. Thought you could play both of them online?

I agree on both, the sume makes it a neat game to play, and yes random patrols would be cool. Although I think that when your driving around the map, some POI pop up in your way that didn´t show in map before, can´t tell for sure cuz I need to play it more, might be wrong.

Yeah, GTAO is Online and is included in GTA 5. Just curious. I play it, but few others around here do and I've been trying for a year to get together a crew to run the online heists, so I perked up when you mentioned GTA. GTA V is on sale on Steam right not for US$15

I think you're right about the POIs, they are revealed by proximity, at which point they are permanent until cleared.

Enjoyed the Telescope Radar mission

The Cryengine works great on this title.