Hitman Sniper: The Shadows is a sequel to the original Hitman Sniper game launched on mobile back in 2015. Instead of having Agent 47 as the main protagonist once again, this new title goes with a team of snipers in the absence of the classic agent. In this Hitman Sniper: The Shadows review, we’ll share our first impressions of the game pointing out the good and not so good aspects.
Snipe down your targets as you make your way in the ICA
Starting off with the Hitman Sniper: The Shadows review, the core gameplay involves shooting at enemies from your sniper perch. Most of the targets are henchmen/ guards and then there are some high profile targets in the campaign. And while Hitman Sniper had a campaign and a zombie mode, this one replaces the zombie mode with a PvP mode.
The gameplay is again really simplistic (and not in a good way) since players just have to aim, zoom and shoot. Most of the time the game does that for you, putting the crosshairs smack dab on your targets when you press the warning symbols that appear upon the discovery of a body. It’s actually quite honestly a downgrade from the previous game.
For some reason, it feels like the bots/targets have gotten a major nerf. They take too much time to react to a body right in front of them, often seem oblivious to things like explosions, and take even longer to call for assistance.
The game introduces a decent story but the fun slowly dies down
The campaign is decent as it goes through a small story and players have to take down a bunch of important targets. Not too different from Hitman Sniper. Players actually have to bring their characters up to certain energy levels too and there are the usual sniper blueprints for upgrades.
Another thing worth discussing is the special feature each of the new operators comes with. While most of them were fine and welcome additions, the first one you’ll ever use can shoot four people at once. So much for realistic gameplay. There weren’t really any bugs or glitches observed.
While the previous game, Hitman Sniper was a decent title with a few faults, many expected quite a bit more from this title so the question is if it lived up to the hype. And the short answer to that is a disappointing no. The game looks great in terms of the UI when players first jump in. It sets up a story and introduces the protagonists however that’s where the good features dwindle off.
Square Enix tackles replayability with new maps and different time of the day
In Hitman Sniper, their AI seemed to be a lot better and faster at analyzing the situation and taking action. There’s not even any warning for taking out people who aren’t marked as targets/ are innocent civilians.
The levels in fact make you kill innocent bystanders to stop the guards from being alerted. Although it was there in the trailer, there’s no narration by Diana telling you what to do, information about certain targets, and most importantly, telling you to keep the innocent people out of your sight.
One of the upgrades is multiple maps which can be set in the day/night time. One of the things that players disliked about this game’s prequel was just 2 maps (one for the missions and one in the zombies mode) which got quite repetitive. The PvP mode is fine. It’s mostly just about shooting as many targets as possible and not dying. It’s not the best but certainly a better option than the repetitive modes that the original Hitman Sniper had.
Clean UI and the game comes with a decent soundtrack
Hitman Sniper was a pretty good-looking game and this one is not much of an upgrade from there. However, in terms of the audio, there are pretty good and crisp sound effects along with a decent theme song/soundtrack. It’s not exactly on the level of Hitman Sniper’s theme song (which was an absolute banger) but it’s something and better than nothing at all.
The controls are mostly tapped and dragged while aiming but one of the features that were missing was Hitman Sniper’s reload minigame. It was a signature reload that just isn’t there in this title but anyone who played the last game will remember how it felt natural after a while.
Once players hit the reload button, the game switches to a reload animation in the third person perspective. Again a feature that shouldn’t have been removed is being thrown out. The UI is pretty clean and standard with nothing to complain about.
No ads but money does reward you with better guns
The game has no ads that interrupt gameplay. It does push you towards in-app purchases but it’s not pay-to-win and players can get by without paying for anything although better rifles can be obtained faster through real cash.
Final Verdict
There are really not many reasons to say that this game is a good sequel. Nothing new here is a saving grace aside from more maps to play in. And considering the fact that the previous game had better gameplay elements (and is free now in many regions), this doesn’t look too good as a sequel.
The game isn’t something players should steer away from. But it’s not a good sequel or a game considering this is a project by Square Enix, a AAA studio. The game doesn’t seem to have any major upgrade over the previous title aside from the addition of a bunch of snipers in the players’ team and new settings.
Hitman Sniper: The Shadows review by Gamingonphone
Gameplay Mechanics - 6
Storyline - 7.5
Graphics and Music - 8
Controls and UI - 7
Free to play Elements - 7.5
7.2
Average
Hitman Sniper: The Shadows isn’t something players should steer away from. But it’s not a major upgrade considering the success and popularity of the OG Hitman Sniper.
What are your opinions on the Hitman Sniper: The Shadows game and your review of it? Do let us know in the comments!
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