Thank you CI Games for sending us a review copy for this game.

Note: This review is based on the PS4 Pro version and might not look, sound, and perform the same on other consoles and PC.

Sniper Ghost Warrior is one of two current Sniper series out right now, the other being the Sniper Elite series developed and published by Rebellion. The Sniper style of games is a very niche market of video games. Some gamers love the slower and strategic style, while others love the Fast-paced twitch style of shooters like Call of Duty, Halo, and SOCOM. Myself, I love the slower paced shooter games, known as tactical shooters.

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is the third (as the name implies) in a series developed and published by City Interactive (CI Games as they call themselves now). This series has been pretty popular worldwide with the first two games selling over 5.5 million copies. CI Games has now upped the ante and brought what fans of the series have been asking for, and that is a fully open world for gamers to explore.

In Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 (SGW3) you play Marine Captain Jonathan "Jon" North who is sent to the country of Georgia to rescue his brother, Robert North, who was kidnapped and taken by a unknown special ops unit lead by a mysterious leader 2 years before in a mission the brothers were on along the Russian Ukrainian border. Jon believes that his brother is still alive and being held somewhere in Georgia, and that is why he volunteered to go on this mission to kill the group that captured his younger brother and rescue him.

Jon is set up in a secret small base of operations where he can rest, craft items, and plan his missions to kill the Separatist Cells (the group who captured Robert) who are destabilizing the country. Jon is helped by Lydia, a former Sniper and love interest. Along the way Jon discovers that the mission he is on is one that can affect the whole world (in a bad way) if not successfully completed.

SGW3 has some top notch graphics and sound effects. I really enjoyed the look of the entire world. On my PlayStation Pro, the game utilized High Dynamic Resolution 10 (HDR10) brilliantly. The colors of the whole world really shown through with HDR10 and the lighting was well done. The sound effects were well done with the weapons, vehicles, and weather effects sounding very good. The chatter that civilians and enemies carried on was above average, but adequate for gaming standards today.

One of SGW3's big strengths is its shooting mechanics. I really enjoyed lining up my shot, dialing in my scope (adjusting for distance with a dial on your scope), taking in the wind speed and direction, and then firing off my shot. The game gives you a very good sense of being a sniper and that makes us who have been wanting another great sniper game very happy. I love realism and so do the fans of the series, and that is why the Sniper Ghost Warrior franchise has a loyal fan base.

Another strength of this game is the crafting and unlocking of more equipment. As you kill or knockout enemies you can search them and gain a variety of resources. You can also find a many different crates and boxes with resources for crafting as well. These resources can be used to create a variety of items like different types of bullets, grenades, and other gadgets. The game will also allow you to use money that you collect from fallen enemies to purchase the items mentioned above, as well as guns, gun skins, and drone upgrades as you unlock them.

Besides resources the player can unlock weapons (for use by the player) that the enemies drop after you kill them or knock them out. This helped me find better sniper rifles and other weapons for use against the enemy (nothing like using your enemies' own weapons on them). Also there are collectables throughout the open world that once collected appear in your hideout. Also these collectables give the player a little bonus in money (so it's worth finding all of them). I loved how as I found these collectables the developer had them automatically placed in different locations throughout the rooms in your hideout. One type of favorite collectable was rifles from famous snipers in history. These sniper rifles are displayed in a special wall mounted area for the player to check out whenever they wanted. Also in regards to collectables, in the game menus you can see a picture of the item and a lengthy history about it. I love this special attention to detail that CI Games has made available for the player to enjoy.

Lastly, another thing I liked was the map and map size. The map is rendered in great detail which is very appreciated. I loved that not all areas of interest are on the map until the player travels there and then it shows up (some games do this well, while others show everything, or almost everything). Also the map size is fairly large - not as large as "say" Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands or Skyrim, but it's fairly large. The player as they explore more of the map will unlock "Fast Travel" sign posts which makes the traveling quicker and less of a grind.

In regards to negatives of the game, the first thing that a gamer experiences is the long initial load time when you start or continue a campaign. It's very long and many players can be put off by it. The developers did say they would try to improve it, but that the reason for the long load time is that the game is loading the entire map and not just a portion of it. This provides for a seamless travel for the player without loading or stuttering as the player travels around the map. Also CI Games has said that this offers very quick load times when players are fast traveling around the map. I have to agree the map loads really quick compared to other games that offer fast travel (i.e. Skyrim).

Another negative is that the enemies pop in and out if you get too far from an area that they are in. I hope this can be fixed with a future patch; otherwise, it will get frustrating for the player when they want to pull off a 1,000 meter shot and the game won't load the enemies for the area they're supposed to be in.

The last negative thing I want to bring up is that the stability of the game needs significant improvement. In my 20 plus hours of gameplay, the game froze once, and caused error kick outs of the game 3 times. I was very upset by this and I hope the developer will address this in a future patch.

The game is supposed to have multiplayer but CI Games has stated they are focused first on more improvements for the game, as well single player future content, and then get the multi player content out later this year. CI Games has promised more free content through out the year so that is something to look forward too.

For parents I would say this is not for children or young teens. This game got a "Mature" rating for a reason. It has lots of blood (when you shoot an enemy), strong language, and drug references (from time to time). If you have a teen you might want to look at Destiny, Call of Duty, and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare for their shooter fix.

In conclusion, this is a very good sniper game with excellent shooting mechanics and realism. I would recommend any adult gamer who is looking for a deep tactical shooter and enjoys a slower style of gameplay. If you're looking for a run and gun type of military shooter you will not find it here. With future patches by the developer, this game will overcome its negative issues and truly shine.