iSniper 3D Arctic Warfare

If you’re looking for a polished, sniper-based game of skill, look no further than Triniti Interactive’s iSniper 3D. This is a strategic game of accuracy that presents players with complicated scenarios of sharpshooting juxtaposed with a simple background story.

As expected from a game with “sniper” in the title, every level I’ve come across so far is presented in the same format: players take on the role of a sniper and are required to zoom in and kill an array of enemies. Players find a scene or landscape and they tap sections of it to zoom in. Then shoot enemies in their field of sight. More points are given for headshots (as opposed to body or limb shots), and the level is completed once all enemies on the screen are killed. There are some difficult variables too. The player only has a certain number of bullets in each clip, and the guns have a specific power and lethality (which can be upgraded by purchasing new weapons in the store). So, timing is key; players need to make sure they eliminate the enemy before their clip runs out, otherwise they risk losing the shot during the time it takes to reload. The levels are time-based, requiring players to complete an objective before the clock runs out, but icons are onscreen to help with this. Players can shoot health or clock icons in order to increase…well, time or health.

This is about where my grasp of the game ends. I think the levels themselves are very effective as quick, pick-me-up missions. I can play this while I’m waiting for a train, while I’m watching TV, or during a short lunch break at work. But, the story itself—in the form of feeble, comic-style asides that are crammed between the levels—is satisfactory at best. Your sniper has a name, his unit has a name and some mystery woman is apparently attracted to him. That’s about as much as I got. The back-story reminds me a bit of Max Payne in style, but not nearly as effective. I know what aesthetic the game was going for, but I think the attempted, scrolling-text drama was unnecessary, and really thin.

But if you’re looking for a simple arcade-style game with basic controls (aiming can be achieved by either dragging your finger around the screen or by tilting the phone itself), this is worth the purchase. I think it succeeds where a lot of FPS games fail: do something simple and short, but do it very well. I found myself going back to completed levels trying to beat my time. I really got into the competitive high-score nature of it. And in a world where attention spans are fragmented (particularly in the mobile sphere), this style of game definitely has its place.