Sniper Dan Review – The Community Hero Who Shoots Problems, Not People

Postman Pat, Fireman Sam, and now Sniper Dan complete the community set. Then again, it would be nice if we could also have Pothole Chris and perhaps Dogshit Steve. Nevertheless, society is now complete.

PQube’s latest might be the first time Johnny Public can look up at the skies and not fill their pants when they see a reflective scope. As a community sniper, Dan will take on jobs for local people.

From ‘God’ in Navy SEALS through to Quiet in MGS: The Phantom Pain, or even Mordecai in Borderlands, snipers are cool, but aloof. Would they do good for society and dress up as a pirate? Sniper Dan would.

Dan will climb to the highest lookout point to get an overview of the area, then snipe problems for the people on the fly, or wait for the odd emergency phone call when a citizen is in distress.

Sniper Dan is a hidden object hybrid where players hunt for nuances in rotating scenes. Polaroids will highlight potential jobs, which Dan has to decipher through observation or through the play on words, though there is a limited hint system on hand, too.

The Magic Bullet

Exclusively from a first-person perspective, you see a world full of in-jokes and pop culture references through Dan’s scope. This isn’t a realistic simulator that focuses on temperatures and bullet velocity, and instead, you point and shoot.

Pixel perfect seems restrictive, but accuracy is paramount; otherwise it’d be called Rocket Launcher Dan. In many instances, zooming in close to shoot a can, fishing reel or a crumb off an ant’s arse is important, though pressures of time (aside from the off emergency bonus).

Sniper Dan has his rules. He doesn’t shoot people or animals. Well, theoretically, you can shoot them, but as there’s a ranking system, he’ll be penalised and earn less money and reputation. Still, it’s fun to ‘accidentally’ shoot an unknown.

Remember that Dan isn’t a deathbringer taking out dictators or picking off K-Pop stars to rid the world of evil; he’s shooting unexploded fireworks and banana skins, ensuring health and safety requirements are in place without using a clipboard or high-vis.

Far From Silent Assassin

With the money earned, he can decorate his office with better equipment, shelves to show off his shooting trophies, and skins. The latter makes Sniper Dan even more fun on a cosmetic level with novelty costumes and charms.

From a job perspective, the scope and reload are great for better clarity and for timely challenges, but the best was a fart sound every time a bullet was fired. Legendary equipment unlocked. And where do you get all this stuff from?

Instead of a laptop like all the other games, a local market of goodies is just around the corner, and in true Sniper Dan style, he attends the marketplace while sitting in a trolley and shooting the items that interest him.

Family-Friendly Gunplay That’s On Point

There are challenges via the timed aspects and bonus stages, but aside from the extra goodies, it’s not enforced. For that reason, the pace really is a casual affair, and despite wielding a sniper rifle, it is family-friendly. Save your parenting views for your forums.

From the very first stage, I struggled to put this down. Due to time constraints and an unhealthy number of games to cover this week, I played this on my AYN Thor via GameNative, and it worked beautifully.

Playing on a handheld with sticks sounds ludicrous, but that’s the point – it’s really accessible and simply fun to play. I’d rather take my time to scope everyone out and find the Easter eggs before completing the missions, as it is most definitely a hidden object game.

The visuals were fun, though some of the character models are a bit naff and repeated in places, but that’s minor and only because I scrutinised every area looking for every nuance. Yes, it sounds like a novelty, and it essentially is, but honestly, Sniper Dan is a bundle of fun.