Clear Vision

Sniper heaven indeed. Source: iTunes

I downloaded Clear Vision on the iPad, after a colleague told me excitedly that it was free and the reviews were crazy - an average of five stars by more than 3,000 users. My first thought was "Clear Vision? Is that some sort of contact lens solution or what?"

It turned out to be a sniping game. Gosh, which guy hasn't dreamt of being a sniper before? The story revolves around Tyler, who gets bullied and push around by his supervisor in a grocery store. One day, he lashes out and punches his supervisor, which, unsurprisingly, gets him fired. After going for dozens of interviews and failing every single one of them, he decides to take up arms and become a.... sniper who kills for money. A hitman.

Graphics-wise, FDG Entertainment has chosen the innovative way instead of utilising brute force in churning out ultra graphics. They use... stickmen. Can a game get even more simple than this? But it is precisely their minimalistic features that attribute to part of this game's charm. The gameplay is also extremely simple. Most of the time, it consists of just staring through a sniper scope, shifting a bit to adjust for distance and wind, and *bang* - it's done. There are some different missions, like poisoning and crushing victims at a car junkyard, and these serve as interesting variations to the normal shoot-and-kill assignments.

The story also progresses well, giving players the urge to see what comes next. The game's narration has a certain charm to it, with its silly newspaper articles, getting assignment requests via notes and emails, and its cutscenes. I got the app when it was free; now it costs a dollar, which is still very worth it. I am now waiting for the next chapter of the game to be out, and I wonder if they will charge for subsequent updates?