Silent Scope
Review of Silent Scope
If youre an arcade junkie, youve probably run across this game. The obvious difference is the arcade version of this has a full-blown mock-up of a sniper rifle. This game attempts to do the same thing with the PS2 Dual Shock2 controller and we are happy to report that they did a pretty good job of it. One thing to note is there are only two really important buttons to push besides the directional or thumbstick controls. One is the trigger; the other toggles the scope off to allow for quicker moves to your targets. There are two other buttons that change the speed of the scope. I found that you need to toggle off the scope to be able to see where your target is. You center the circle as best as you can, then bring up the scope to line up the crosshairs. Overall, it couldnt be simpler. The enemy has three red arrows pointing at him (or them) and you just need to pick them off before the time runs out. The key is to quickly move your sight to the enemy, line up the crosshairs and fire…time is of the essence here. Early on, its pretty easy, since you are on the top of a building and just aiming at bad guys and shooting them. As you move on though, it gets harder. One scenario has you in a helicopter and you are trying to hit someone in a plane while you are crisscrossing through a cityscape.
There is a training mode to this game that Id recommend you go to first to help hone your skills in a less difficult environment. You have the chance to pick off pop-up targets based on different criteria. There are several venues to do this from which help you in the overall arcade play. One area you are in a rocking boat and need to hit targets while you and sometimes they are moving. Once youve gotten comfortable here, you will do better in the rescue missions. You top score in these training events is also recorded for posterity and you are given a final grade for your performance (A - F).
The overall focus for the main gameplay is to get all of the bad guys killed and rescue the person that is in peril in each particular stage. You then move onto the next stage and have to accomplish a new mission with different circumstances. It comes down to speed and accuracy and each level ups the difficulty level with new types of challenges thrown your way. You have to be quick to focus on the target and equally quick to fire a round before you or the other guy moves. There are certain characters that you cant kill off with one hit. For them, you will see a counter of how many hits it will take and how many youve gotten. The earlier bosses are five hits, then they move up higher as you progress through the game.
The difficulty of later levels can become somewhat frustrating, but you have to realize, if the game was a cakewalk you would be through in literally 10 minutes. As it is, the game is rather limited in its replay potential. At least there are branching points during gameplay that can make players want to come back and finish a scenario that they didnt explore the first time around.
The graphics in Silent Scope are quite excellent. With a controlled 3D engine running (the game is on rails) and the camera angle moving fast and furious, you experience no slowdown. Everything is rendered extremely well and is easily recognizable. There is a tremendous amount of detail thrown into each stage. Most of it is static backgrounds, but they are visually stunning. As you zoom onto the bad guys, you see them looking around, talking to each other, and setting up their next shot.
The sound FX are also excellent in this game. The gun sounds powerful and the bad guys make a nice grunt sound as you hit them (OK, but I didnt know you can hear someone scream out in pain when youre picking him off from about a 1/4 mile away). When you take out a plane or helicopter, you hear the engine fail as it crashes to the ground in a hardy thump. Rockets whiz by in surround sound as they fire at you in your helicopter. Theres a voice seemingly on a radio that makes periodic comments - like Hey... dont shoot civilians!.
OUR PLEDGE: We promise that we have fully played 'Silent Scope' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.
This review was written by Tom Downey © Absolute PlayStation
Click here to view our 42 Silent Scope in-game screenshot slideshow
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