Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3

As of May 4th 2024,
Alright so this game has lots of negative reviews which I don't understand. It's far from being a bad game but it's not the GOTY either.
Runs pretty well, encontered no crashes during the whole 18 hours full campaign.
Story is ok, georgian music is ok but I don't know why loading from region to region are incredibly long even when the game is installed on SSD and the main music that you find fun to hear at first become kind awful to listen to after a while.
Anyway, there are 4 Acts in 3 areas that are kinda mini open world. If you're a collector or love to do extra side activities, they are plenty, not always great though. Overall it fells in some way like a Far Cry but you don't have the outpost to free to discover the map.
For an 8 years old game, it's still good, graphics are a tad ugly but gameplay wise and mecanics are good.
Unlocking side mission is kinda trash though, you'll need to go to the map ping to unlock the first mission of that specific mission line, once done you take the following line side mission from the computer. Took me a while to figure it out. No need to thanks me.
Better be equipped and plan ahead as it will be a 1 bullet death if you rush in without thinking a bit.
As for the gameplay, I enjoyed it. It's mostly based on sniper but you can use a rifle or gun if that fits more your style.
I paid this game 2,99€ with the 2 DLC campaign full package. Frankly for 3€ and if you like fps you should give it a try. I'm glad I did as I enjoyed it.

Recommended on sale. It is a good game, not great.
It is as much of a mil-sim as if Rambo was in Far Cry 2. The writing is a bit lame. It is fun to explore the area and find hidden secrets.
The enemy ai is great but bullet spongy and I understand why they did that. They want to emphasize the sniper rifle gameplay, and so 4 rounds of 7.62x39mm are required to take an unarmored enemy down. The game encourages headshots, which is lame because the sights do not seem to line up with the shot placement. The movement is good but not great. Settings are not persistent, i.e. the radio does not stay off in the vehicle, the semi-auto select fire does not stay between respawns. The other issue is that it takes a very long time to load, which means it is terribly optimized. Buy on sale.

Recommended, but only with the caveat that you use the unofficial patch/tweaks mod from moddb. This entry in the series definitely is borrowing from Ubisoft's school-of-Far-Cry. You've got a big and (semi) exotic open world, a full-fledged story with bad guys this time, and more icons to clear on the map than you could possibly have time for. You've even got the UAV thing to mark enemies just like in many Ubisoft titles! It all gets pretty old after you finish the first area, but clearing the big bases during the missions using stealth and long-range sniping always feels pretty good. If you've ever been interested in the series, this is probably a good one to start with, as it actually feels like a functioning game this time. Curious to see what the more streamlined 'Contracts' games are like after this one.

I was hoping for another linear 4-5 hour sniper game, instead I got Far Cry Georgia. I wasn't huge into this change, but if you like that kind of game, you're in for something good.
My problem with an open world map is too much side content, going to the same locations all the time and generally stretching the playtime with needless driving around the map.
The story is pretty lame, no need to explain much. Kidnapped brother, forced love story, super soldiers, dumb tragic stuff.
The gameplay is mostly solid, except later enemies that can take 2 headshots from your sniper rifle unless you use AP or explosive armor which is really limited.
Not sure what else to say, it's solid for the price. Worth a playthrough if you like the Sniper Ghost Warrior or Far Cry series.
Time to finish: ~20 hours

Great game, simple plot, really cool amunition and not overly complicated. I wish there was a 4th season

Good effort, but somewhat dated, glitchy, and repetitious.
Get it on sale ($5).

This is easily one of the best sniper games I've played. Good physics, various tactical positions with the freedom to choose what angle/style you want to approach from. One of the few games I've played recently where I lose track of time. This gets an easy 9/10 from me. Is it worth the current full price of ~$20? Hell yes.
Update: Ran into a few minor bugs - ammo going missing after maxing a certain AR, not the end of the world. Had a few CTDs but are few and far between. New rating: 8.5/10 and still worth $20.