[REVIEW] ‘Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3’ Is Now On An Open World Format

The "Sniper: Ghost Warrior" series is a franchise that was made for a specific audience that wanted realistic sniping mechanics in a video game. In the game's latest installment "Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3," the developer CI Games have decided to take a risk and switch from its tried and tested linear format to an open world format.

According to Game Spot, "Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3" has no narrative connection to the series' previous titles. Players take on the role of Jonathan "Jon" North, who is on assignment in Georgia while also working on a mission of his own,

"Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3" is divided into four acts played across three maps each with a varying number of main campaign missions featuring main missions than its predecessors. Apart from the main campaign missions, there are also side-ops that unlock at several points in the campaign which players can optionally do. The side-ops may affect the upcoming main campaign missions in some way but they aren't necessary to complete the main campaign missions.

"Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3" open world is riddled with a large number of things to do. Starting from rescuing civilians and clearing towns of terrorist to finding hidden items and searching for collectibles, there won't be any shortage of things to do in any of the game's three maps. Traveling the maps can be done through driving a somewhat always available car or players can fast travel to unlocked fast travel points on the map.

Unlike its predecessors, players are limited to using only one or two pre-determined weapons every mission, as noted by Kotaku. In "Ghost Warriors 3," players can access to a myriad of weapons throughout the game across three weapon categories such as the primary weapons, which are the sniper rifles; the secondary weapons, which include assault rifles, machine guns, and shotguns; and the sidearm that include pistols.

Each of the "Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3" weapons has different characteristics including damage, recoil, ammo capacity, fire rate, noise generation, and more. The number of weapons and their variety gives players the flexibility to choose a weapon loadout that fits their playstyle and the needs of the current mission.

The "Sniper: Ghost Warrior" series has definitely come a long way since the original was released over half a decade ago. In spite the criticisms the series has received in the past, it's been successful enough that CI Games was adequately confident to shift gears with Ghost Warrior 3 and take a huge risk.