Sniping, when done well, is some of the best fun to be had in a FPS. Most games treat it as a subset of a larger palette of tactical engagement strategies, limiting strict sniping to a few legendary levels of a wider story arc and only picking it up again in multiplayer. Often that is done to great effect, such as certain classic Call of Duty levels or Hitman contracts. The few that attempt to evolve their entire title around the mechanic seem to fall short more often than not, and I'm really not sure why. There is plenty of source material in the lone sniper using stealth to infiltrate targets deep behind enemy lines to create a compelling narrative and certainly gameplay examples to make the engagements fun and interesting.
The first two Sniper: Ghost Warrior games fell squarely on the wrong side of the spectrum for sniper games, but what's a bit refreshing is the studio behind the series, CI Games, is somewhat acknowledging this. They claim the first two were "budget" titles while the third installment is the first to be a true "AAA" effort. And with that admission, they have released the official reveal trailer of the biggest and most ambitious Sniper: Ghost Warrior game to date. The trailer showcases a lot more action from the creep and scope tactics of some sniper focused gameplay, and I think that is going to be the formula CI Games adopts to try and break through on this iteration. It'll be interesting to find out if they're right.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 releases January 27th, 2017 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
