Game of the Week - Silent Scope

johnny_ultimate

I am an elite sniper, and this is my rifle. You'd be surprised how often that chat-up line works.

I receive a call. The President and his family have been kidnapped by terrorists. What is it about fictional secret service? They never do their job right. Not to worry about that (or plot), there's terrorists to murder!

I am on top of a building. It could be a book depository. I didn't check, but wouldn't it be poetically ironic if it is? Anyway. I set down my rifle, and stare through the scope. There's a tonne of really slow terrorists on the ground. They're wearing black, which indicates they're evil. My sixth sense marks the enemies who are about to shoot me in dramatic red. I shoot them, just because. I'm rewarded for it. Elsewhere, a child loses their patriarch through my actions. I care little.

90% accuracy, strange floating text informs me. I got skillz. Time extended. An omnipotent voice yells motivation in my direction. I shoot like a madman. He tells me to slow down. I don't care.

The street clear, I move over to wipe out the snipers on an adjacent building, who for various reasons had decided not to kill me while I picked off their colleagues. I thank them silently, but kill them anyway. Across the way is a pool. There's a semi-naked lady there. My attention drifts. Most men would get aroused. I get a health-pack instead. Why? I don't ask questions.

The rooftops clear: a question comes through on the radio. Would I like the building, the stadium or the air battle. Surely there's a chance I'll choose the wrong choice, and the President's daughter will be elsewhere, leading to much embarrassment? However, I choose the airfight, because it sounds most awesome. I am a sole stationary sniper vs a fighter jet. I win. John McClane got nothing on me. I save the President's daughter for some reason. I move on.

A motorway. I am in a moving vehicle. Cars come rushing at me, passengers shooting at me very, very slowly. Disaster! I get shot. Lucky I have four health packs. Everything is good. I shoot the driver of the other vehicle in revenge. The vehicle spins out of control and crashes.

Rinse. Repeat. At some point, a helicopter shows up. I shoot it five times. It crashes and explodes. I laugh manically.

Look! Over there! The first lady! In a convertible that makes it really easy to pick off the other passenger, who is also a terrorist. I headshot him. But he takes my bullets easily, and heads for a convenient truck that's nearby. I leave my vehicle and stand directly in the path of the truck. I shoot the driver five, six times. He can take thirty hits, because he's a ****ing magician or something.

The truck eventually hits me, and I'm too mental to jump out of the way, and drop one of my health packs as a result. I continue to shoot. Thirty shots later, the truck grinds to a halt, and I examine the bullet ridden body of the driver. I reflect briefly on the transience of life.

No time for inner reflection: I'm on a parachute, heading towards the enemy stronghold. How am I holding an extremely weighty sniper rifle with any sort of accuracy while floating through the air, you ask? Because. That's why. I pick off the spotlights. One light hits me. A flurry of bullets shoot from the ground. I grunt as one hits me in the arm. I'm down to one health pack. My brain is throbbing red from the pain!

I land, and it's pitch black. Lucky I have a night-vision scope. I begin to infiltrate the compound. I shoot an electrical box, knocking off the lights. In the darkness, I spot an attractive lady sunbathing by the pool at night. I am struck by the surrealism of the image, but get another health-pack anyway. Thank you, mysterious nightbathing woman, I salute you. I pick off the few lingering guards, although they try to distract me with dastardly flairs. They are no match for my elite skills, yo.

I fight two camouflaged lunatics who keep running around and hiding behind bushes. I long for the days when terrorists stood still while I shot them. I ache with nostalgia.

I have infiltrated the building. In the same room I am in are a number of guards. Oh how I wish I had brought my sidearm! Instead, I am stuck picking them off with a stupidly awkward sniper rifle. I blind shoot some of them, because it's easier.

Suddenly, the omnipotent voice informs me I'm running out of time. I am momentarily frozen with existential dread. Is my death imminent? What is going on? Who is the voice, and how does he know all he knows? God? These questions flash in front of my eye. Or maybe it's the torch the terrorist is shining in my face. Who knows?

I reach a state of near transcendence. I blindly, rabidly headshot all attackers. I run up a stairs, and through the bedrooms. Another woman in lingerie grants me a healthpack. I feel I don't deserve it, and shoot her instead. She takes her healthpack away again. I feel better.

Time ticks ever downwards as I reach a Generic Secret Bunker (c). I pick off some terrorists in the distance. Suddenly, nearby crates start moving, and I'm attacked by a somersaulting maniac. I slowly await her to approach. She runs towards me. I have but ten seconds left. I need a headshot. She somersaults towards me.

Five.

Come on!

Four.

I aim.

Three.

I hold the crosshair steady.

Two.

I press my finger to the trigger.

One.

She raises her bladed weapons. I fire.

Zero.

Oh no! You are out of time. Hard luck. Insert coin to continue.

No. I have died. I have failed. I have learned a valuable lesson about time and the futility of existence. My second to highest score stands as a depressing testament to my brief, sinful life.

I go and play Time Crisis 2 instead.

Retr0gamer

Was disappointed you didn't choose an arty game for game of the week.

I should have known better; I click on the thread and am greated with a piece of what can only be called new age game journalism that would have kieron gillen masturbating furiosuly over it.

Great read

johnny_ultimate

I was going to pick Starship Titanic and do a long rambling post about how the dialogue system has yet to be improved on.

Yet since I haven't played it recently, and can sum up the basic gist in one sentence, I chose this instead.

The above story is entirely set in Bray Bowl, by the way. Good times.

Pyongyang

What an unexpected choice, nicely done too. A great read!

pdbhp

Silent Scope eh?
Only played the arcade game once or twice but played a lot of it on GBA and didn't really think much of it.
Nice read though, think I'll get you to write my epitath :pac: or is it eulogy, too lazy to think

johnny_ultimate

Yeah came across that GBA port while 'researching' this yesterday. Seems like a right oddity, although a fairly loyal port given the limitations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpfPHsOxy90

I played a lot of the game in the arcade during my formative years, and the PS2 port was the only game I had on our new PS2 for a long time so it got played a lot. But it is just a fairly standard lightgun game at the end of the day, albeit one with a cool cabinet.

I note now that I forgot to mention the last level of the game, which is the only one that actually bears any resemblence to what a sniping game should actually be. One shot, high odds.

pdbhp

From what I can tell the GBA port stays as loyal as it can to the original material although it is stupid to play using a D-Pad and the small screen doesn't help matters at all, there are far better shooters on GBA

CiDeRmAn

I loved it in the arcade, the PS2 version was a lot of fun, the Xbox edition was fantastic, I think they eventually released a copy with all three games in the series included.
The GBA version is amazing, imho, as said, given the limitations of the hardware it really does a sweet job, any problems after that are fundamental with regard to the gameplay itself.