Ski Sniper is a comical, but somewhat scary, sniper game that plays exactly as the title suggests. From a perched position far away, you are a sniper and the goal is to pick off skiers as they jump off an Olympic sized ramp. Each successful shot features a cool slow-mo bullet time x-ray flourish reminiscent of recent Mortal Kombat titles so you can see the precise damage in real time. It is sort of scary as this is essentially a realistic sniper simulator, like a spin-off Saw sequel, definitely warped and morbid especially since the skiers are totally defenseless.

The problem is Ski Sniper has fiercely high difficulty. Hitting a moving target from these long distances is like trying to thread a needle by tossing it in the air and catching it on the way down. The initial rifle has a limited scope, making each successful attack more luck than skill.  Making matters worse, all the other sniper positions are from much greater distances and often with other hurdles in the way. For example, one area has the player sniping from a moving ski lift, another from a great distance at an awkward angle.  The only way to earn a better rifle is to grind the initial stage that has the shortest distance in hopes you unlock something before frustration causes rage quitting. It is also annoying having to wait for each skier’s transition animation instead of instantly restarting which drags the experience. Some stages features multiple skiers, one launching right after another, but still nearly impossible to land a single hit let along multiple shots within a very short amount of time. There are bonuses, like hitting specific body parts to earn additional cash, but this is practically impossible when hitting anything is a miracle unto itself.

If the balance and difficulty wasn’t so frustrating high, Ski Sniper had potential to be a silly mini-game distraction with a decent gameplay loop.  Instead, players will have more fun picking off opponents in a match of Shotty Snipers in a Halo playlist.

Not As Good As: Silent Scope arcade

Also Try: the Sniper Elite series

Play It Instead: Silent Scope on GBA – it is way better than you would think

By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com

Twitter: @ZackGaz