
The general rule is unless your name is Titanfall or Mirror's Edge, your first-person platforming efforts may be in vain. This is especially true during the game's many opportunities - and sometimes demands - for first-person platforming. Meanwhile, the worst it has to offer are some more bugs, some poor enemy AI, and an overall lack of character heaviness that makes movement feel unwieldy at times. It's reliable and feels solid, and along with the well-authored levels and lots of toys to play with, it makes up the best Contracts has to offer. With a smart UI, Contracts ensures players know where each round will go and how much they need to adjust to get that finish line over a bad guy's temple. Measuring for bullet drop and wind resistance is something many shooters do these days, but few take the care CI Games' Sniper does. Your character, Seeker, is handy in close combat and with a wide range of unlockable gadgets and guns, but the sniping is always the star - as it should be. Stealthy players will get the most fun out of this design because, despite the game's improved merits as a standard shooter, it's still a stealth and sniping game at heart. You'll have someone to assassinate, of course, but you'll also have context-specific missions, like sabotaging enemy stockpiles or hacking their computers for necessary intel. They feel worth playing again and again because of their intricate layouts, and even if you don't return, the first time through is also supremely satisfying because of the mission variety. The main objectives guarantee that you will visit all of the main sectors of a given map, while challenges will have you replaying levels several times over chasing different feats. Each map offers several main missions as well as many challenges. Level design also shines when reflected off of the game's mission objectives. Contracts gives players smaller sandboxes but each one feels totally authored and opportunistic as a result. It turns out I could do that, just like I could instead hide in a locker, sneak away in the tall grass, or time my shot just right to stealthily take out a guard, hide his body in one of those places or elsewhere, and continue along with my quiet mission. I thought how useful it'd be if I could crawl under the shed I was near, even as it initially seemed unlikely to offer salvation. In one early scene, I found myself desperate to sneak away from an oncoming guard. Rather than give players one vast and open map, missions take place across one large hub each, and this singular design decision makes up for a huge portion of the game's successes.Īs the backbone of fantastic and intricate level designs, each hub space feels like it offers countless secret routes, clever perches, and daring bottlenecks when stealth efforts break down. Whereas the last game mishandled its Far Cry inspirations, Contracts feels like it takes several cues from Hitman - fitting given the subtitle - though it's not a near-copy like Ghost Warrior 3 was of Far Cry.Įach mission begins by dropping you into a sizeable Siberian sandbox. The crucial difference is this time, the reboot works and it should provide a blueprint moving forward.
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Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts feels like a reboot of a series that just tried to reboot itself a few years ago. Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts Review: Sandboxes Worth Playing In


But in the ways that are most important, it's also the best in the series. It's safe to say Contracts is far from perfect, like all that have come before it in this quietly long-running franchise. That set up an interesting proposition with Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts, which is the series' latest attempt following that misfire, and one which again reinvents itself. In my eyes, it was an abject failure, offering the basic outline of a Far Cry game but little of the appeal and far more bugs.
