Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2: Aim to Please

The mission was quickly becoming a disaster. I had managed to assassinate my first target, an arms dealer named Antwan Zarza, in a large industrial area at the northwest end of the map. My journey to the next target took me through a makeshift military base. I took out an enemy overlooking the camp, but didn't notice his friend, who managed to sound the alarm before I could knock him down.

Now I was pinned down by the fire from below. I picked off a few soldiers with my sniper rifle, but in the center of the base a soldier was about to fire a mortar. The explosive shell would almost certainly end my life.



I drew my rifle, calibrated the scope to account for bullet drop, and aimed at his chest. That's when I saw him, the glow of a grenade hanging from his belt. Quickly adjusting my aim, I noticed a slight crosswind, held my breath and fired. The grenade erupted in a flash of fire and shrapnel; the force of the explosion tore through the surrounding men, ending the skirmish in an instant. I was on my next target.

When I took to the field with CI Games' upcoming Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, the fifth installment in the Sniper Ghost Warrior franchise, I expected another solid sniper game, with quality weapons and excessive kills by Bullet-Cam. What I found was a game with the potential to deliver some of the best emerging gameplay of the year, where each player's unique adventure surpasses anything a scripted encounter could hope to deliver.


Hitman

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2: Aim to Please

In Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, you play as Raven, an expert sniper dropped into enemy territory, tasked with eliminating key cogs as you work to overthrow a corrupt head of state. Along the way, you have to achieve certain goals, such as freeing prisoners, destroying special equipment, etc.


From the start, it was clear that SGWC2 is more than just a point-to-point sniper game. The first mission dropped me on a large map, with three potential targets, each in a different area. The general lack of direction was refreshing, as I was free to create my own as I saw fit. In this case, I headed south, in pursuit of expert hacker Fyodor Novikov, who had taken refuge in a military installation.

The journey to my destination was not easy. I had to work in front of multiple groups of guards through intuitive first-person stealth. Staying in the shadows, I was able to get behind a guard and ambush him. The moron found himself more than willing to divulge the whereabouts of the rest of his allies in hopes that I would spare him (I didn't). With this new information, I plotted a route around the perimeter of the group and headed for the target area.

brain assassin

There are five levels in total in Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, each filled with targets, missions, and challenges. Three are built as hubs, with extreme ranged shooter missions scattered around. The other two levels are pure sandboxes, more akin to previous SGW titles, where you can take the perfect shot from afar or take a stealthy approach for personal assassination up close.


Novikov was in an extreme range firing zone. Previous games allow you to take out targets from a maximum range of around 600M. This time you shoot up to 3 times more. In this case, I was about a mile from the target and got to work.


One of the great things about this series is the balance between realism and fun gameplay. CI Games consulted real snipers from GROM, Polish special forces. These conversations lead the team to focus on strategy through observation and planning before taking pictures. In practice, this meant spending several minutes observing the target area through my binoculars, marking enemies and points of interest.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2: Aim to Please

To have the best chance of success, I had to plan a whole series of movements and try to visualize the sequence of events before taking a shot. It was chess from a mile away, with a .50 caliber sniper rifle.

I decided to play it defensively. First, I took out an enemy sniper on a rooftop. It would give some room for error if I miss my shot. At this distance, no one would hear the sound of my rifle. I could try to lead the target a few steps, catching him in stride, but I found a spot where he liked to greet one of the guards. I sat down patiently, my trigger finger ready.

Take the Longshot

At 1 meters there were many factors to consider, all of which were easily visible in the comprehensive yet unobtrusive user interface.

First, I calibrated my scope for distance. This would center my reticle at an elevation that accounts for the effect of gravity on the bullet over distance. There was a slight crosswind, shown by the dynamic reticle system, which drew a line down the side of the reticle, mirroring the bullet's trajectory. The bullet would take over a second to travel that far, so I had to line up my shot for where the target would be at that moment. He came into my line of sight and I fired.



There is immediate feedback when you find a well-targeted photo. The camera moves out of the first-person perspective and follows the ball on its course in a cinematic tracking view. A rifle of this power hits with incredible force. My bullet hit the side of my target's head, just above the ear.

At the player's request, the gore was re-edited from previous entries in this series, and it was on full display here. The concussive power was enough to crack the skull. A crimson explosion erupted, with anatomical details similar to what you would find in Mortal Kombat. It was both disgusting and exhilarating, striking the right balance between violent enough not to diminish the violence of what you, a sniper, are doing, but overdone enough to avoid being overdone or gratuitous.

Gore can be disabled in the menus to some degree if you prefer.

Another round of blows

Now that my target was eliminated, I made a hasty retreat. My successful kill earned me money and upgrade tokens, which are used to purchase new gear and upgrades. There are several upgrade trees that you can customize to suit your style. Gadgets include spy drones, special ammo, and even a remote-controlled sniper that you can use as a second shooter.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2: Aim to Please

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 missions are designed to be repeatable. You can come back to try different strategies to eliminate your target. As you level up and upgrade your gear, you can begin to perfect some of the more creative ways to take out your targets.

In addition to your rifle, there are environmental hazards to take advantage of. In one instance, I saw a crane with a heavy load hanging over the path one of the targets likes to walk. Another had an escape vehicle that I could destroy once my career was inside. These emergent sections give the game a Hitman-like replayability, with challenges and achievements to match.

As I continued to play, I found every encounter to be dynamic. Once I was spotted and had to shoot the driver of an armored vehicle. Another time, I carefully surrounded an enemy until they lined up with another soldier, and was rewarded with two kills for a single hit. I shot circuit breakers to lure a target out in the open in an assassination attempt and blew up a parked helicopter to create a distraction in another. Everything I did felt dynamic and each encounter had to have the potential to be unique.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 feels like the marriage of tried-and-true first-person shooters and the unique experiences possible in modern open-world games. While I can't wait to play the final version, I'm more excited to see and hear other players' unique experiences. Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 might be well worth picking up when it releases on June 4th.

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