Playtime: 48 minutes (quit during intro mission of two campaigns)

Main campaign

The main campaign forces you to sit through dreadful story stuff for 10+ minutes before you're allowed to do something. You kill two enemies from up close and then it makes you tag six distant ones and take them out one by one, in a strict order.

This is the second time you fire your sniper rifle and the first time that wind and distance come into play. If you miss and don't kill the enemy fast enough you fail and have to restart from the checkpoint, because of course there are checkpoints. The game tells you to shoot a third enemy, i do. And instantly fail. Right before this you and your buddy each take out an enemy. If you miss your first shot at one of the other distant enemies he might take them out. So i assumed he would take out target #4. But no, you have to wait. Which you aren't told. So i wait, kill #3 separately and miss #4 but kill him with the second shot. And insta-fail the mission, because he warned the remaining two.

DLC campaign

Ok, so i tried a DLC campaign. It said it is hard and you have to try the normal campaign to learn how stuff works first. Fine, i try the third and last campaign. You're in a village and have to find and kill an officer. I kill a few guys and half a dozen others swamp me but somehow don't find me, even though they clearly magically know my position. I kill them from a short distance, because obviously that is what sniper games are all about. Then i decide to "be a ghost", as per the game's description. At some point a helicopter appears. And i notice it says "kill the officer before he escapes". I think "no, they wouldn't". But yes, there's a hidden timer or trigger. So i fail the mission.

Conclusion

This is a sniper game that won't let you snipe. A sneaking game that won't let you sneak. And apparently an open world game... with checkpoints? What? Go play Sniper Elite 4 and 5 instead. Or even Sniper Elite 3, really.

What does it bring to the table? Very little. this game is a mix of far cry type formulation with sniper elite. yet, its a cheap gimmick and misses the high marks of the sniper elite series. you do however get a large open world with lots of sight seeing and side quest like distraction to appeal to your OCD completiionitis. (The usual for third person AA whoopty-do.) But, it hit a certain chord in my Blood Dragon mutant DNA: It's nice to reconnoiter areas and observe things through a scope, tagging all enemies (DX:HR style). But, there are a few flaws that really hold this game back from just being decent-fare in a world saturdated with generic FPS games not worth your time: -Your engagement areas are actually fairly small and confined to certain 'play area' zones. This gives its a slightly contrived/on rails feel and at times makes it feel you are too close to the enemy (enemy also wont even spawn if really far off)

-a lot of sidequest/upgrades/type stuff in the form of points of interest (POI) usually a brief engagement or an item or some other thing to do, that really isnt that satisfied worth doing. And there are tons of them.

-Really not that many sniper rifles in the game. many linear upgrades (This rifle beats that) In general you'll find 2 maybe three you like and never switch as you unlock the next therafter.

-Annoying and cumbersome workshop/buying/crafting menus in home base complete with skewed mechanics and game economy.

-Hitting some keys by mistake can be quite unfortunate (such as deploy drone which goes into a lengthy animation that can be your doom if a patrol is right near you.)

-an absoulte abysmal story with a shit show ending. Some things are nice about this though:

-AI is prettty good at using cover to block your LOS and patiently wait you out. They hunt and flush decently, and will keep you moving by using arty.

-Nice variety and style of enemy models that actually look like second world soldiers/mercenaries.

-the remote drone is very cool esp with upgrades but its really OP. and makes picking targets off way too easy considering you know where they all.

-decent/unique setting.

i wouldn't really recommend this game. If you like Far Cry you might appreciate it but I feel it is a subrate generic FPS with a bit of falderall and doesn't hold up to contemporary standards. some shots can be satisfying but it falls short of sniper elite and it lacks any kind of atmosphere (which i feel is most important for open world games) unlocking stuff/completing things isnt particularly satisfying. i liked it more than the far cry games i've played though (i dont like FC).