![]() I mean, I did get a bug in the very first area where I had completed the mission but it wouldn't let me leave, not registering the first area as having been done, and needing to return and do it twice. I think in retrospect of my previous experiences with the series, it is important to note that, largely, this game seems to be pretty glitch free. It's important to understand just what the game is then: A good core experience, but one that plays through rather quickly, with a promise of more on the horizon. So perhaps this game is one that will grow into its lack of initial content and really build itself out. There is DLC incoming that should help with this, and that DLC is slated to be free. It's the same five missions, plus preludes and prologues, and once finished, well.you're done. And that's the biggest problem: there is no multiplayer, no random component to the mission layout, no challenge builder. Except for trophy or achievement hunting, I really can't find a reason to dip back in once all of the game is complete. There are challenges associate with each of the five missions, but they only reward more in-game currency that is already abundant enough to unlock everything in the game with a playthrough only tackling the moderate hurdles. But its biggest issue really is just the limited scope and linear progression of how it all unfolds. The game executes well in the sniping, is ok in the rest, and has a wide arsenal that is largely underutilized. I just can't stomach dropping trip mines and leaving a wake of noise pollution behind in my "stealth" game. ![]() ![]() So many of these gadget and variety options just end up being both ineffective and feeling narratively wrong. After the mission was over and a set piece completed I thought, "A cleverly placed turret would have mowed down that entire encounter." But the only way to really realize that would be to replay the entire mission from the start with what is essentially a know-the-cheat level of prescient knowledge. Problem was I never really found a single spot where the gadget seemed appropriate or useful, except in retrospect. I can choose things like grenades or a med kit for my special items, but played right you never get hurt-and tossing things that go boom seems completely antithetical to the intended gameplay loop itself.Īnother big addition and focus this time is the remote sniping turret that places a rifle on the end of an automated kill box. But for so much of my play through, most of these options felt like window dressing. There are heaps of gadgets at your disposal, a bevy of choices in your load out, and a skill tree to build up and fill out as you progress. Stealth is a component and you can choose to go stealthy and try and change the core loop if you want, but it's just not as fun as it is not the focus of the game. This is a sniping game with sniping done right. Sniping is always the better choice, both with respects to how successful you are likely to be with accomplishing mission objectives and how fun the experience will be on the road to get there. There are really two types of missions: the long shot contracts force you to the sniper's perch, but the other maps do give you the classic option to sit back and snipe or ghost in close and personal. ![]() Once there, the game settles down with the character as you lay prone and dive into your binoculars and sniper scope, picking out targets are various distances and either taking them down, or simply working out the puzzle how to get off a clean shot. You drop into these maps and traverse them to reach various sniping perches. Contracts made a wise decision to leave the open world behind, because the way the maps are laid out forces you into these sniping set pieces which are the creme de la creme of the game mechanics and interactions.Įssentially the game breaks down into five missions where there are smaller, open world-style navigation sections in each one. The boast for this game is extreme distances in excess of a kilometer for the take down, a first in the series. That continues here in Super Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, and on the whole that core loop is as solid as ever, but all the stuff around it is a slightly different matter.Īgain, Contracts 2 rests it laurels on excellent gun play behind the scope of a sniper rifle. The first iteration of Contracts debuted in 2019, ditching the open world and presenting a much more set-piece-inspired game loop. What the game lacked was narrative focus, a better use for the open world, and polish needed to iron out the bugs that carried right through into release. Even though I only gave it a 6.5 in my review the core loop and sniping mechanics were spot on. The last in this series I played was Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, back in 2017.
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