Line #5 Videogame/SniperGhostWarrior3


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sniper_ghost_warrior_3_cover.jpg]]
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3	''Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3'' is an [[WideOpenSandbox open world]] FirstPersonShooter, and the third game in the ''VideoGame/SniperGhostWarrior'' series by Polish developers CI Games (formerly City Interactive). It's notable for being the first game by CI Games with a AAA level budget. The game uses the [=CryEngine=] and seems heavily influenced by the ''Franchise/FarCry'' series in terms of design and gameplay. Like the previous games in the series, ''Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3'' uses semi-realistic sniper mechanics such as having to compensate for bullet drop and wind deflection. New to the series is the ability to manually adjust the elevation of your scope based on distance-to-target to compensate for bullet drop.
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5	The story takes place in the disputed Northwest region of Georgia, in which U.S. marine sniper Jon North is tasked with waging a one-man guerrilla campaign against the Russian-aligned separatists that have taken control of the region. However, Jon's primary reason for taking the assignment is to search for his older brother Robert, who was kidnapped by mysterious elite mercenaries 23 months prior to the events of the game and was recently sighted in the region. In the process, he stumbles upon a secretive international conspiracy and finds himself facing off against a mysterious, seemingly superhuman enemy sniper known as Armazi.
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8	!! Distinct tropes of this game:
9	* ActionGenreHeroGuy: Though he fits most of the checklist, this is somewhat averted in that the game rather heavily leans in on Jon being a {{Jerkass}} Christian Conservative, and the trope generally involves the main character being more generic and mainstream.
10	* ActionGirl: Lydia is former Georgian special forces and a expert sniper. You even play as her in the ''Escape of Lydia'' DLC mission. Mossad agent Raquel is also indicated to have advanced combat training, though she mostly operates as a non-combat intelligence agent in the game.
11	* AKA47: To the point of a few weapons actually having their calibers and relative stats be completely different from their real-life equivalents for balancing reasons. Bonus points for the AK-47 assault rifle (actually an [=AKM=] if you're going to nitpick) ''actually being called'' an AKA-47.
12	* TheAllegedCar: One of these serves as your primary means of transportation throughout the game. It's a really old Eastern European model that breaks down surprisingly quickly if you accidentally ram into a tree or rock a couple of times, and isn't exactly going to stand up well to gunfire. On the plus side, it's fully repaired and dropped off next to you every time you fast-travel. Notably, pretty much all other cars and trucks in the game are locked, so you're stuck with your trusty old jalopy. Some versions of the game add a much more durable buggy as free DLC.
13	* AlwaysNight: Most missions start at midnight. Hiding in the dark makes sense, but the game does not have an explicit visibility mechanic.
14	* AnotherSideAnotherStory:
15	** You play as Lydia in the "Escape of Lydia" DLC campaign, in a short series of 2 missions showing the incident that got her kicked out of the Georgian military.
16	** "The Sabotage" DLC campaign has you playing as [[spoiler: Robert]] as he is on the process of [[spoiler:becoming Armazi]].
17	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If you fail a mission (usually by dying) then you return to the most recent checkpoint (usually at the start of the mission). The blow is softened in a couple of ways:
18	** If you scanned the area, then you don't have to scan it again.
19	** Any resources or collectibles that you picked up remain in your inventory, and don't have to be collected again.
20	** If a mission has multiple objectives, then you usually get a new checkpoint after completing each one, so this time you don't have to go back to the beginning.
21	* ArmorIsUseless: Played straight with Rank 1 assault soldiers, who are very bulky, which makes it look like they're wearing significant armor underneath their heavy cold weather clothing. However, they die pretty much as quickly as the regular soldiers. About the only thing that sets them apart is that they're trained to throw grenades. Averted with shotgun troopers, HeavilyArmoredMook Heavy Armor soldiers, and the [[spoiler: 23 Society Super Soldiers]], who all wear noticeably better armor than other soldiers and as a result can take more bullets before dropping.
22	* ArtificialStupidity:
23	** If mooks notice that their comrades are being shot, then they go onto yellow alert, "caution." If they spot your drone, then they usually go into full red alert combat status.
24	** Wolves cannot jump. If you aggro some wolves in your vehicle, you can just stand on top of it while they mill around it, and shoot them with your side arm.
25	** "The Sabotage" ends with a HoldTheLine mission, in which you have to defend an area. If you stick your head over the parapet, prepare to lose health quickly. The safer tactic is to wait for the enemies to come to you. They either come down a long hallway two at a time, or over a ledge one at a time, and can be easily shot down before they can shoot you.
26	* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Averted. The named "Most Wanted" assassination targets as well as [[spoiler: Davit, the supreme leader of the Separatists]] are all about as durable as the lowest rank Mooks and can generally be killed with a single shot from any weapon. In contrast, the unnamed officers that appear in each enemy base are at the level of EliteMooks.
27	* AwesomeButImpractical:
28	** .50 caliber sniper rifles are massive BFG rifles that kill pretty much anything short of a HeavilyArmoredMook or [[spoiler: SuperSoldier]] in one shot to any body part (and even those 2 particularly tough enemies can be downed with 2 shots). They also can't be silenced and are incredibly loud, so prepare to alert every murderous asshole with an assault rifle within a 2 mile radius whenever you fire one.
29	** The Galeforce Long (a fictional version of the Israeli [=ACE=] assault rifle) can only be found in a hidden stash and is, stat-wise, likely the best assault rifle in the game, but due to a bug the crosshair on the reflex sight is off-center, causing you to completely miss your shots when aiming at targets. It also can't be silenced, unlike most of the other assault rifles.
30	* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Dr. Sergei Flostov pretends to be a ReluctantMadScientist captive of the 23 Society when you first find him, but is actually the leader of the 23 Society and the BigBad of the game.]]
31	* BottomlessMagazines: Ammunition is limited, but you have an infinite supply of drones.
32	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Armazi turns out to be [[spoiler: a Brainwashed and Crazy Robert, who's been reconditioned by the 23 Society into their ultimate weapon.]]
33	* BulletTime: Like in the previous games in the series (as well as ''Enemy Front'', a similar game made by CI Games on the same engine), time slows down when you hold your breath while sniping; however, this can only be done when your heart rate is low enough, so you have to wait several seconds after moving before you can use it.
34	* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: [[spoiler:Robert briefly reveals himself to Jon after one mission, and declares himself to have been reborn. Butterflies flutter around in the background]].
35	* CainAndAbel: Davit arranged the assassination of his twin brother Tomas in order to take full control of the Separatists. And of course [[spoiler: Armazi turns out to be a BrainwashedAndCrazy Robert.]]
36	* CallBack: The final mission in the game is [[spoiler: an assault on a uranium mine where weapons-grade uranium is being produced, just like the penultimate mission of the first ''Sniper Ghost Warrior'' game.]]
37	* DifficultButAwesome: Bows are the most powerful secondary weapons, and the quietest, but they are are also very slow. To get the most out of them you will need the hand/eye coordination to hit first time, every time; and also the tactical skills to consistently avoid groups of enemies.
38	* DiscOneNuke: Several of the game's weapons are found in hidden stockpiles in the open world; quite a few of them are significantly better than the weapons you unlock through completing missions, and can be a Disc One Nuke especially if you find them relatively early on.
39	* DragonInChief: While [[spoiler: Dr. Flostov is the actual BigBad of the game]], Armazi does all the heavy lifting and for most of the game you'll be hearing about him instead.
40	* TheDreaded[=/=]ShroudedInMyth: Armazi is often mentioned as being this. You yourself also become this through your actions over the course of the game as your one man war against the Separatists does increasingly more damage to their cause.
41	* EliteMooks:
42	** Separatist officers (marked with a star in the HUD) are noticeably tougher than normal troops, requiring several assault rifle shots to kill instead of just 1 or 2.
43	** Likewise, rank 2 Separatist soldiers and rank 2 assault soldiers (marked with 2 chevrons in the HUD instead of just 1 chevron), are tougher than rank 1 soldiers and require several assault rifle shots to kill instead of just 1 or 2.
44	** Rank 2 and rank 3 snipers are tougher than rank 1 snipers and can't be instant-killed with a torso shot from a sniper rifle, requiring a headshot to put down instantly. This is particularly challenging on Challenge Mode which removes the red dot telling you exactly where your bullet will land, making you much more reliant on torso shots while sniping due to your reduced certainty of where your bullet is actually going to hit.
45	** The gas mask wearing Separatist shotgun troopers are well armored and can take about twice as much damage as regular soldiers of equivalent rank, without being slowed down by their armor, unlike the HeavilyArmoredMook Heavy soldiers. They're usually limited to about 2-3 per enemy base. The rank 1 shotgun troopers are still very weak and die in just 2-3 assault rifle shots instead of 1-2, but the rank 2 and rank 3 shotgun troopers are quite tough, able to take a dozen or more assault rifle rounds before falling, and even being able to shrug off a sniper rifle shot to the chest, requiring you to shoot them in the head or use armor-piercing ammo to ensure a clean stealthy one-shot-kill.
46	** The [[spoiler: 23 Society SuperSoldiers]] are well-armored, explicitly superhuman opponents; they're significantly faster than normal troops and are tough enough that it takes 30 rounds or more of assault rifle fire to the torso to drop them. They can even survive a sniper rifle headshot, unless you use armor-piercing ammo or a [[{{BFG}} .50 caliber rifle]], although if you use a semi-auto sniper rifle it's possible to double-tap them in the head for a kill before they can sound the alarm. Unlike regular soldiers they also carry 2 weapons at once, a futuristic assault rifle ''and'' a futuristic .50 cal sniper rifle. However, due to flaky A.I. they seldom use their sniper rifles even at long range.
47	* EnemyMine: Towards the end of the game, Jon briefly works with [[spoiler: a splinter faction of the Separatists under the leadership of Inna "the Black Widow" to track down and defeat the 23 Society as well as the rival Separatist leader Davit. Notably neither party is at all happy with the arrangement, Inna wanting to have as little to do with Jon as possible and making it very clear their cooperation is only a very brief alliance of convenience.]]
48	* EverythingFades: Generally averted; bodies don't disappear as long as you remain in the same general area, which complicates stealth since enemies will investigate any corpses they see and sound an alarm after determining the stiff is dead and not just sleeping on the job.
49	* EvilCounterpart: Armazi is this to Jon North, just like [[spoiler: Maddox]] was to Cole Anderson in ''Sniper Ghost Warrior 2''. However, unlike [[spoiler: Maddox]], who was simply an equally skilled U.S. military sniper gone rogue, Armazi is an explicitly superior, superhuman opponent who even manages to defeat [[spoiler: Cole Anderson, the hero of the previous game]], in an off-screen sniper fight.
50	* {{Fanservice}}: Raquel wears an outfit that prominently displays her impressive cleavage, and (as [[Creator/BenCroshaw Yahtzee]] himself noted in his Zero Punctuation review) Lydia's shapely rear is rather emphasized by her form-fitting pants. Fanservice this blatant has noticeably become something of a DiscreditedTrope in Western-developed video games in the past few years, though it seems Poland didn't quite get the memo.
51	* GasMaskMooks: Shotgun troopers wear gas masks and serve as EliteMooks; they're even marked with a gas mask in the HUD when scanned. Amusingly, their gas masks don't actually protect them from gas grenades.
52	* GlassCannon: ''You''. You can go down very quickly in a firefight, which makes things very tense on the rare occasions when you have to enter an occupied building instead of picking people off from a distance.
53	* HarderThanHard: Challenge Mode significantly increases the awareness of enemies, as well as disabling many of the HUD elements that help you significantly, most noticeably the red dot that shows you precisely where your sniper bullet will hit when you hold your breath, forcing you to manually compensate for wind deflection and bullet drop. You also don't have RegeneratingHealth in this mode, but since the game's Regenerating Health is so limited anyway the difference isn't actually that big.
54	* HeavilyArmoredMook: Separatist Heavy Armor soldiers are slow-moving opponents who wear [[VideoGame/CallofDutyModernWarfare Juggernaut]]-like suits of heavy armor and fight with light machine guns. Their armor lets them soak well over 100 rounds of assault rifle fire or several sniper rifle torso shots and also makes them immune to melee takedowns, but they can be instantly killed with headshots and are also vulnerable to armor-piercing sniper ammo or being shot in the back (or, oddly enough, pistol rounds, which can kill them in just a dozen shots or so for some reason). One variant wears a ballistic mask that can deflect one or two headshots before breaking, but can still be killed with a single shot to the back of the head.
55	* HeelRealisation: One bit of EnemyChatter is a mook saying "I can't get over those screams. What we're doing ... it isn't right."
56	* HideYourChildren: Children are nowhere to be seen in the entire region. There is a token [[AvertedTrope aversion]]/[[SubvertedTrope subversion]] though - in the dam area you can find a little girl at one of the huts. And no, [[ImprobableInfantSurvival you can't even scratch her]].
57	* HollywoodSilencer: Averted in the sense that many of the sniper rifles still sound remarkably loud even with a silencer attached, but played straight in that the silencer will still prevent enemies from being alerted when firing the rifle as long as they're not right on top of your position.
58	* TheIlluminati: [[spoiler: The 23 Society]] is pretty much an {{Expy}} of them, even being named after the "23 Enigma", a pseudo-science phenomena that appears frequently in Illuminati-based works of fiction.
59	* ImprobableAimingSkills: Armazi supposedly possesses these due to being [[spoiler: a drug-enhanced, genetically engineered super soldier]], although since he's TheUnfought you never actually see him in action other than in a couple of cutscenes. Averted with the other [[spoiler: 23 Society super soldiers]] that you actually do fight, although this seems to largely be due to their sub-par A.I.
60	* ItsUpToYou: Unlike the ''Far Cry'' series from ''Far Cry 3'' onward (or many other similar-themed open world games like ''VideoGame/HomefrontTheRevolution'' or ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands''), there are no friendly rebel troops on the world map, so the game consists of just you going up against the entire Separatist army.
61	* {{Jerkass}}: Jon North has a fairly abrasive personality and is pretty strongly implied to be a Christian Conservative, and rubs pretty much every single one of his allies the wrong way at some point. Though he's at least willing to admit that he's kind of an asshole.
62	** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: North's ultimately a decent guy, trying to help Georgian civilians endure the hardships of the conflict and objecting to Mossad agent Raquel's JackBauerInterrogationTechnique.
63	* JustTrainWrong: In the mining town area there is a trainyard. Miscellaneous freight cars and numerous M62 locomotives are randomly placed all over it with no regard to how cars should really be queued[=/=]assembled into a train. Switches[=/=]junctions are positioned in a way that serves no useful functions. Signal lights are placed in the middle of platforms and don't even look like real ones. Said M62 locomotives have ladders on them which the real ones don't have and also exceed the loading gauge. Randomly scattered large wheels are obstructing many tracks.
64	** The worst of all is that the trainyard is ''not really connected'' to any line. The whole thing is comletely useless and makes no goddamn sense.
65	** There is also a single freight train running on one secluded line. It consist of aforementioned M62 locomotive [[note]]this time without the ladder[[/note]] hauling three flatbed cars. It's astonishingly quiet baring some mild clunking. The headlights are off despite constantly being night. The flat cars just ''invite'' you to hop onboard and take a ride. If you try that, the train just slips from under your feet and runs off leaving you standing on the track like a complete moron. At least it is still capable of flattening you if you happen to stumble in its way.
66	* KickTheDog:
67	** The Separatists routinely engage in war crimes that would be worthy of the ''Nazi S.S.'' Later in the game this is somewhat hand-waved when it's indicated the dominant Separatist leader is a SocialDarwinist secretly in league with [[spoiler: the 23 Society]], and his leadership is part of the reason the Separatists are so brutal. ''The Sabotage'' DLC goes into more detail about the centuries-old conflict between the native Georgian populace and the ethnic Russian minority, and how atrocities on both sides have resulted in a cycle of violence.
68	** Pretty much all of the optional "Most Wanted" assassination targets are mentioned as having committed many heinous war crimes in their bios.
69	* LaResistance: There's a local Georgian resistance group known as the Rotki Lions who you do various side-quests for, but unlike the ''Far Cry'' series they have no actual combat presence in the game world.
70	* LimitedLoadout: One sniper rifle, one secondary weapon, one pistol, and a big pile of consumable and throwable items. There are also ammo limits: three magazines of regular bullets for all weapons, and ten of each special bullet for the sniper rifle.
71	* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: Maps take three or four minutes to load, depending on system and patch level. However, after that there is no visible loading when travelling through the world and when going in and out of buildings, and reloading for fast travel and respawning is also fast.
72	* LudonarrativeDissonance: Jon waxes lyrical of the atrocities committed against the Georgian people... but that doesn't stop the player from looting mass graves.
73	* MalevolentMaskedMan: Armazi and the other [[spoiler: 23 Society SuperSoldiers]] wear futuristic helmets with white skull emblems painted on the face section.
74	* MenAreTheExpendableGender: All of the enemy Mooks you face in the game are male, although several of the optional "Most Wanted" Separatist leader assassination targets are female combatants. The female targets even have their own unique combat dialogue, although if you try to interrogate them they have nothing useful to say and use the standard female civilian dialogue.
75	* MissionControl[=/=]VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Frank Simms, your [=JSOC=] handler, acts as this, with your partner Lydia and Mossad agent Raquel also periodically taking on the role.
76	* NeverMessWithGranny: One of the first optional "Most Wanted" assassination targets you can encounter is a Separatist leader in her 50's. She'll come at you with an AK-47 just like any other Separatist. In fact it's rather easy for her to catch you by surprise as it's entirely possible to mistake her for a civilian due to her appearance and civilian clothing.
77	* NoticeThis: "Scout vision" makes collectibles and graspable ledges glow. This is particularly useful for picking up antiquities, some of which are rather small.
78	* NumerologicalMotif: [[spoiler: The true villains of the game are The 23 Society, an {{Expy}} of the Illuminati. The game mentions their name is a reference to the 23 phenomena, but due to their focus on genetic engineering to create augmented humans it could also easily be a reference to humans' 23 chromosome pairs as well.]]
79	* OnlyOneSaveFile: Your main menu options are "Resume" and "New Game." While playing, your options are "Return to Previous Checkpoint", "Abort Mission", and "Retry Mission." There is one checkpoint, created by AutoSave. You also cannot replay missions, other than by starting a completely new game, though this is fairly typical for the genre.
80	* PinkMist: The effect of headshots varies between this and YourHeadAsplode, depending on the power of the rifle, and whether or not you're using armour piercing ammo.
81	* RegeneratingHealth: You have very limited regenerating health, just like the previous 2 games in the series. Only your last segment of health regenerates, which is only enough to survive 1 or 2 bullet hits before dying. And that's only on the lowest difficulty setting. On higher difficulties you don't get any regenerating health at all, and must heal with healing items to restore health.
82	* ReligiousBruiser: Jon is a highly skilled Marine sniper who's pretty explicitly indicated to be a devout Christian (although [[NotUsingTheZWord the word "Christian" is never actually used at any point in the game]]), in contrast to his brother Robert who's heavily implied to be agnostic or atheist. Armazi even gives Jon a villain speech about death and resurrection at one point in the game.
83	* RevolversAreJustBetter: The .44 magnum revolver is the most powerful handgun in the game, doing more damage than even several of the sniper rifles, but is limited to 6 shots before reloading and (realistically) cannot be equipped with a silencer, which defeats the primary purpose of a sidearm in this game. It also suffers much faster damage drop as range increases compared to sniper rifles.
84	* SequelHook: [[spoiler: After Robert's death in the ending, Jon vows to have his revenge on the remaining members of the 23 Society. He may have his work cut out for him, as it's suggested that 23 Society has infiltrated the highest levels of government in the U.S., Russia, and China.]]
85	* SlidingScaleOfCollectibleTracking: "Individual Identification." The main collectibles are historical artefacts and prestige rifles. They are unique, and on lists. Items that you have not found are greyed out on the lists. If you visit a "point of interest," then the game will tell you if something is there via map icons.
86	* StealthBasedMission: Stealth is encouraged since you die quite quickly in a direct firefight, but unlike the previous games you don't instantly fail at any point if you do get caught and start a shootout. You also don't have to worry about an alarm summoning enemy reinforcements, although it does alert every enemy nearby.
87	* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: [[spoiler: Cole Anderson, who was the secondary protagonist of the first game and the main protagonist of the second game, appears towards the end of the game as a captured prisoner being held by the 23 Society. Having been tortured beyond the point of recovery, he asks you to give him your pistol so he can die on his own terms, then shoots himself as you leave the room.]]
88	* TimedMission: There are two, both to reach and hack a computer.
89	** In the radio telescopes mission, you get two minutes.
90	** In the missile base mission, you get fifteen minutes. If you have done a lot of exploring, then you may have already cleared out the mooks guarding the target, which makes things a lot easier.
91	* TitleDrop:
92	** Armazi [[spoiler: aka Robert]] refers to himself as a "Ghost Warrior" at one point.
93	** The skill menu is split into three separate trees, Sniper, Ghost and Warrior.
94	** Inside a cave you can find a TV connected to an old game console, which has a cartridge containing three games: ''Sniper'', ''Ghost'' and ''Warrior''.
95	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: What's that you say? My sniper game contains rock climbing, and it's necessary to reach some mission objectives?
96	* TheUnfought: Despite the massive build-up throughout the game for a final confrontation between Jon and Armazi ([[spoiler: aka Robert]]), you never actually end up fighting him, [[spoiler: with him breaking out of his brainwashing and pulling off a RedemptionEqualsDeath HeroicSacrifice in the ending cutscene. BigBad Dr. Flostov is also never confronted directly, as Robert kills him in the ending cutscene.]]
97	* UniqueEnemy:
98	** There are only 30 of the [[spoiler: 23 Society SuperSoldiers]] throughout the entire game; they only appear in main story missions, and usually only a couple of them appear in a single mission.
99	** Davit the main Separatist leader is the only enemy in the game who fights with a NATO 5.56mm Herstal assault rifle instead of an AK-47. It doesn't make him noticeably tougher than any other Mook, though. He's also the only named villain in the main storyline that you actually confront in normal gameplay rather than in a cutscene.
100	** The Criminal Heavy encountered only in the vinery.
101	** Georgian soldiers are only ever encountered in the "Escape of Lydia" DLC. They're essentially the same as basic Mooks, only equipped with Galeforce Long assault rifles instead of AK-47s.
102	** [=LOKI=] mercenaries in ''The Sabotage'' DLC. Despite having their own databank entry which seems to build them up as some sort of EliteMooks, they only appear in one side mission and aren't noticeably tougher than standard Mooks.
103	* UnusableEnemyEquipment: The [[spoiler: 23 Society SuperSoldiers]] are equipped with futuristic rifles that disappear when you kill them, preventing you from using them yourself.
104	* VideogameCrueltyPotential:
105	** You can freely kill all the civilian without any penalties except for wasting ammo, as shown [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbSyQcyUZug in this video]].
106	** However in the dam area there is a token little girl who'll remain [[ImprobableInfantSurvival unfazed by anything you attempt to pull out her]]. [[LordBritishPostulate Or will she?]]
107	** The harmless deer that you see here and there are a good source of the crafting material "biological substances."
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Context Videogame / SniperGhostWarrior3