The lion or the tiger may be more powerful, but the wolf does not perform in a circus...
Lonewolf(17+) is a mobile game made in 2016 by SHD games. Currently, it is available for the App Store and Google Play.
You control a mysterious assassin, whose background and identity are completely unknown save for his name: "Lonewolf". Having recently been initiated into a criminal organization known as "The Assembly", he quickly proves his worth as he ruthlessly and efficiently assassinates The Assembly's enemies one by one, much to the pleasure of his bosses. But as his body count keeps piling, it becomes clear that there's more to him than meets the eye...
Gameplay wise, Lonewolf is a sniping game, though this isn't all that it is; a better description would be that it's a subdued Gameplay Roulette where most of the levels are grounded in sniping, and almost all the levels involve shooting stuff. As such, almost every single level has a one-time unique gimmick; combined with the puzzle-like nature of some levels, you'll never be quite sure of what's around the corner...
After two years, the game was updated to version 1.2.31, adding new rifles, scopes, and achievements, as well as delving a bit into Lonewolf's past.
Not to be confused with Joe Dever's Lone Wolf, or its mobile equivalent.
This game contains examples of the following tropes:
- A.K.A.-47: Zigzagged: Some guns are referred to by their real names (e.g. M4A1, Mosin Nagant, VSS), some are given a name that reference their real life counterparts (e.g. 700 Tactical, Soviet SSD, Enhanced BR), and some are just give generic names (e.g. Hunting Rifle, 9mm pistol, .45 pistol), and there's no rhyme nor reason to this naming scheme.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- You can buy tips after you a fail a mission, hinting at what you need to do.
- Some achievements require you to do something without messing up (e.g. 100% accuracy after X number of shots, beat the game with no fails) and if you do screw up you'll have to start a new game from the menu to get another shot. Luckily, you retain all rifles, scopes, attachments, money, and achievements: only your stats and progress are reset.
- There's a lot going on in the first few seconds in "Trailer": once you shoot the executioner, you have to shoot the two front door guards with pistols as well as two shotgun-wielding enemies, whose shotguns will fill half of your bar, and all of this happens in the first two seconds of you opening fire. Should you survive this but your bar is more than half full, at least 50% of your bar is emptied to give you a fighting chance against the remaining enemies, all of which use shotguns.
- Allegedly Free Game: While technically the game is free, attempting to play it without purchasing the 3 dollar premium will leave half of the sniper rifles and scopes, the .45 pistol, and the two superior sights for the M4A1 unavailable to you, as well as having ads play in between levels. None of this is all that bad. What REALLY makes non-premium game-play difficult is the Anti Poop-Socking energy bar. Basically, playing a level costs energy and you slowly regenerate energy over time, but if the premium is purchased, this feature is removed. Since the later levels are
Nintendo Hard, this will guarantee that you will be forced to spend several days, if not weeks, on a single level because you only get like five tries a day. - Armor Is Useless: Originally Played Straight: There were only two levels where enemies wore body armour, but in those two levels, if you played with the pistol, they'd still go down in one hit to the torso. With update 1.2.31, which added the Ruger 10-22 and a new chapter where everyone wore body armour, this became Exaggerated: you still kill them in one hit if you shoot them in the torso, even with a .22lr! Inverted to the opposite extreme in the last two levels: enemies there wear bulletproof vests, and if you hit them in the torso they'll take the hit and sound the alarm, even if you used the .50BMG rifle.
- Of course, it it possible that the enemies aren't actually wearing plate carriers; they're just wearing tactical vests. Still doesn't explain the Assembly's ridiculously bulletproof vests though.
- BFG: As the sniper rifles get more expensive, they get larger and larger, culminating in the premium M MK82 (based on the Barrett M82, which fires a .50 BMG round at such a high velocity that you'll barely have to compensate for distance and wind speed most of the time.
- Dramatic Gun Cock: In "Trailer" and "Bridge", sometimes enemies will work the action of the gun AS they pop out of cover, as opposed to before (pump action shotguns in the former, AK type rifles in the latter). This works in your favour because it makes it significantly easier for you to shoot them before they can start shooting at you.
- Gun Accessories: You can customize your sniper rifle with a bipod for greater accuracy, an Eagle Rifle Shooters Stock Pack for quicker reloads and bolt action times, and a sling for better recoil control. You can also purchase a burlap wrap or gillie wrap and a makeshift suppressor for no other reason than Rule of Cool. If you purchased the premium, you can also replace the Troy Battle Sights on your M4A1 with an EoTech or an AimPoint for free.
- Hostage Situation: Quite a few levels involve you resolving such a situation.
- Hollywood Silencer: Averted. Unlike most sniping games, where suppressors prevent enemies from noticing you if you miss, even if the shot whizzes past their face, all the suppressor in this game does is lower the flash on the screen and the volume of the gunshot when you fire, and all the enemies in this game WILL notice if a bullet whizzes next to them, irregardless of whether or not you have a suppressor on. It doesn't even work in the one instant it should work: in phase 2 of "Warehouse", the sniper will notice you and kill you if you miss, even if you have the suppressor on!
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: An actual game mechanic, believe it or not. In combat levels (i.e. levels where enemies shoot back), there's a bar in the top right corner. As enemies barely miss you, that bar fills. Should the bar fill, a lucky shot strikes and kills you, and you fail the mission. As for the actual inaccuracy of the Mooks themselves, this is heavily Downplayed: the only time the enemies are inexcuably inaccurate are in phase three of "Baydoor" and the shotgun enemies of "Trailer". (Technically, the enemies in "Apartment" are really inaccurate too, but that can be excused by them using sidearms to shoot at you from 100m away! It's a wonder they do well enough to shoot near you!) In every other level, enemies use volume of fire and magdumps to make the bar fill rapidly, and the further into the game you go the quicker the bar fills, reaching the logical extreme in "Skybar", where unless you shoot the enemies in the exact right order or indiscriminately magdump in their general direction, they will manage to hit you in under half a second.
- Mythology Gag: Several levels in the game are copies of levels from Tactical Assassin, another sniping game made by SHD Games (specifically the missions "Hospital", "Suicide", "Park"), while "Bridge" reuses a background from Tactical Assassin.
- Shout-Out: In "Suicide", you have to blast the sidearm out of the hands of a suicidal man, in a reference to police sniper Mike Plumb and the "Shot seen 'round the world"
. The background is the same, and Rimer is even mimicking Douglas Conley's (the suicidal man) movements to a T. The only thing different is that Rimer has a full sized Glock instead of a snubnosed revolver, probably to make it easier for the player to hit. - Sniper Duel: In the second section of "Warehouse", you'll have to square off against one of Captain Raven's snipers. Unlike most sniper duels in fictional media, this one is relatively realistic; the sniper is very well concealed (much like you are) and is very difficult to find. You can spot him more easily from his scope glint, but unlike other video games where scope glint is heavily exaggerated (if depicted at all), it's only useful if you're looking at him at precisely that moment, and even then it's very difficult to spot. And if you miss a single shot, the enemy sniper will spot you by your muzzle flash and quickly zero on to you and deliver a fatal shot. Your only consolation is that if you do nothing for about 15 seconds, the sniper will spot you and take a shot but miss, allowing you to spot where the bullet came from and counter-snipe him. (Just don't take too long to snipe him; after his first missed shot, he'll follow up soon after with a second shot, and this one won't miss.)
- This Is Reality: Used by Mando as Lampshade Hanging for Emile not immediately shooting Lonewolf, even if Lonewolf's got his boss held at gunpoint:Mando: Emile! Shoot this fuck! This isn't a movie, just shoot him, NOW!
- Wham Line: The end of chapters 3, 4, and 5 all have a wham line, each more whammier than the last:
- Chapter 3 (Warehouse phase 2 intro cutscene):Lonewolf: Emile...don't move. We have a problem...Emile: What?! What are you-Lonewolf: This is a trap. Fuck, how could I fall for this? He used his men as targets to expose our position...Emile: Shit...what are you saying?Lonewolf: Captain Raven set a sniper up to kill us here...and he's looking right at us...
- Chapter 4 (Park intro cutscene):Midman: Wait, what the hell is this...he was a...I don't believe this...no wonder the cops shot Rimer at the fountain, and why the police shot Nicky at the garage...the headquarters, the ambush at the bridge, the police were always ready for us: he was at our meeting about the airport being a decoy for us to hit the police HQ; the cops had one of their men infiltrate the assembly...Mando...Slick-Will is a cop.
- Chapter 5 (ending cutscene):Lonewolf: Emile, back when we were in the army together, you told me you worked with Mando, you told me about Mando's history...it turns out I am part of that history. You took everything from me, Mando. I want you to know who is going to end your life. I couldn't kill you until you recognized me...Slick-Will’s son: You made a big mistake. You should have made sure you killed me that night like you made sure you killed my family.
- Chapter 3 (Warehouse phase 2 intro cutscene):
