Marine Sharpshooter IV: Locked and Loaded

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Marine Sharpshooter IV: Locked and Loaded
Welcome to the Groove Games World in Marine Sharpshooter IV. In a world full of brainless teammates, linear ravines, and hilarious ragdolls.
Genre(s): First-person shooter Rating(s): ESRB: M PEGI: 16+ USK: 18 Platform(s): Microsoft Windows Release: CA: June 28, 2008 EU: October 17, 2008 RU: January 23, 2009 Engine: Unreal Engine 2 Developer(s): Groove Games Publisher(s): CA: Groove Games EU: City Interactive RU: 1C Company Country: Canada Series: Marine Sharpshooter Predecessor: Marine Sharpshooter 3

Marine Sharpshooter IV: Locked and Loaded (known as Marine Sharpshooter IV in Europe) is a 2008 first-person shooter video game developed and published by Groove Games in Canada, City Interactive in Europe, and 1C Company in Russia. This is the first game in the Marine Sharpshooter series which wasn't developed by Jarhead Games due to shutdown in 2007.

Plot

The player just plays the role of a sniper who, together with another soldier, of course also nameless, is tasked with enduring nuclear terror by finding and securing a nuclear bomb, of course killing terrorists at the same time & that's all.

Why It Sharp-shoots Itself

1. The game uses an outdated engine, Unreal Engine 2, despite the game was released in 2008, where Unreal Engine 3 was released for several years, which already offered better game quality. The developer didn't even want to install a newer game development engine, they simply decided to continue using the older one, which shows the developers' laziness.
2. The plot is almost nonexistent. You play the role of a sniper who, together with another soldier, of course also nameless, is tasked with enduring nuclear terror by finding and securing a nuclear bomb, of course killing terrorists at the same time. In addition, you can complete the game completely without bothering about the plot, which shows the developers' lack of creativity when creating the game.
   • In addition, you learn about the plot, not when the cutscene appears, but through the logs before the mission with the transcript.
   • Speaking of cutscenes, there are the ones that appear during the game (not after starting or completing a mission), which totally add nothing to the plot that can be easily ignored.
3. Extremely bad artificial intelligence which is so badly programmed that it is difficult to create a worse artificial intelligence than in this game.
   • A teammate is only there to be. In general, he does not help in anything, he cannot shoot at enemy (he can only shoot at stones), he can't protect you or help in resolving the battlefield. In addition, there are situations when he gets stuck in some place and cannot get out of it. The developers realized that the teammate would be a total idiot, they gave for teammate the opportunity to teleport to you, when you are too far.
   • It is also worth mentioning the intelligence of the opponents, which is not better than your teammate. Their strategy is to stand like a pillar of salt or take a few steps towards you and then stand still. You can guess that the opponents have sclerosis. Your enemies can only see you apparently by looking straight in one line, so all you have to do is hide behind a corner or walk backwards towards your opponent, they just won't notice you.
4. The gameplay is painfully linear and too easy. The game was supposed to be stealth, but you can hit the 'W' button and go forward proceed without any problems. The opponents do not sin with intelligence in any way (as mentioned in #4 point), and you have to do the same thing without any varieties. The developers simply decided to take shortcuts by creating the most repeatable gameplay possible in order not to put too much effort into the gameplay and because they wanted to use as few resources as possible.
5. Ugly graphics, comparable to the first games released for the original Xbox, PlayStation 2, Nintendo Gamecube or Dreamcast. As mentioned above, it uses an outdated engine, from here you can see this graphics' artistry in terms of texture quality, models or particle effects. Not to mention that the previous installment somehow looked better. The graphics are a kind of peak of laziness shown by graphic designers when creating graphics.
6. Cringe-worthy soundtrack. The music sounds like some African techno on pots from the deepest abyss. The developers didn't even bother to listen to this music, nor did they care whether it fits the game or not, and whether it was pleasant to the ear at all.
7. The sound effects are also not in very-high quality. For example the gun sounds are like pounding meat on a table top.
8. Quite imprecise shooting, mainly due to the sensitivity of the mouse, which is as fast as Sonic after a short circuit in the incubator. You have to set it to the lowest sensitivity to at least be playable. The developers didn't even know how to make a sniper rifle well, or even worse, they didn't want to test the game to see how shooting works in the game.
   • When you turned on the zoom, the sniper rifle shakes which makes shooting inconvenient.
9. Ragdolls are so terrible they are amazing. In Marine Sharpshooter 3 there were also inept ragdolls, but here it happens a dozen times more often. The developers gave the holding breath opportunity and this is where the magic of this feature begins.
   • If you aren't holding your breath and the opponent is standing outsite the grass, and you shoot, he just collapses.
   • If you aren't holding your breath and the opponent is standing on the grass, and you shoot, the opponent vibrates for about a second as if he is having an epileptic fit and disappears.
   • If you are holding your breath and the opponent is standing on the grass, and you shoot, he jumps up like a grasshopper and disappears.
   • And if you are holding your breath and the opponent is standing outside the grass, and you shoot, the opponent starts doing all sorts of acrobatics in the air as if he were in a circus.
10. In the night missions, the night vision seems to be useless. The character models in the night missions are so bright, it feels like they've eaten too many fireflies. In fact, it can be said that this radar was placed only for decoration so that the developers could show that they can add anything to the game.
11. As this is a game about sniper, there are only 6 sniper rifles and 10 rifles and pistols in total! It's a bit like in game about planes adding more helicopters. You can guess the developers didn't know how to properly balance the number of weapons or they thought the title was quite misleading.
    • Speaking of weapons, another type of weapon is a knife, which is simply useless. Again, apparently the knife was added just for decoration.
12. Oddly done function of a camera looking at a bullet flying from a sniper rifle, at least in this game. In normal sniper games, this is to show the bullet hitting the opponent. Here it is quite the opposite. In this game, the camera shows how the bullet missed the opponent. Probably according to the developers, they were intended to show how you missed and you have to rethink that you performed such a shameful behavior in the form of a missed shot.
13. Unlike its predecessor, it's impossible to change perspective from yours to your teammate. This is inexcusable because it shows that the developers were even lazier than when creating the previous game and that the newer game has less to offer than the previous one and is therefore, of course, even worse.
14. Like most cheap shooters, guns have no recoil.
15. The level design is totally boring and only happens in the same valley. The game takes place only in the highlands and gorges, even in the night stages there is the same landscape which makes you vomit. This only makes the gameplay even more repeatable than it could be if it weren't for the fact that the level design was quite interesting.
    • Additionally, invisible walls have been placed in some places, which are one of the most annoying aspects in any game, instead of blocking the area with mountains or forests.
16. A few bugs and glitches.
    • The most notable glitches are the ragdolls (as written in #10 point);
    • After killing enemies, they penetrate the asphalt or even surfaces;
    • The second notable problem (in the night missions) is how the enemies and teammate are enlightened (as written in #11 point).
    • In addition, you can observe the levitation of various objects, including your teammate.
    • Besides, you can climb mountains, and you managed to escape outside the map several times.

The Only Redeeming Quality

1. The main menu looks pretty cool and has a lot of options by Unreal Engine 2 standards.

Reception

Ratings

Publication	Score
Shooterplanet	15/100

Critical reception

The game is so forgotten that there are hardly any reviews. The only review from critics that can be seen is from the defunct German website Shooterplanet, which they gave a 15/100, saying: "I think they said everything there was to say about the Marine Sharpshooter range. Bad gameplay, bad marketing, and rightly pushed into a niche. I think that if you put City Interactive games the wrong way around, the Hell Gate opens and the apocalypse begins. However, if you do everything right and install it diligently, you should not have been punished any less. I don't want to say that the developers can't do anything. I would rather assume that they have resigned themselves to their current level and reach the stars less frequently. And so Marine Sharpshooter 4: Locked & Loaded is another, uninspired sequel that will be rightly forgotten in the next few days and weeks."

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