Somewhere in a dark, and evil city, crime and corruption have destroyed any normal way of life. One man walks the Path of Vengeance, carving a road to nowhere with his weapons blazing. He is the deadly hitman known only as The Sniper; feared by both lowly street thugs and lords of the underworld alike. Now a vicious crime war has erupted on the streets, and The Sniper is caught in the middle. Framed, drugged, and imprisoned, you must kill your way through the ranks of power to find the source of this war, and end your Path of Vengeance.

• First Person Action using the powerful Lithtech Jupiter Engine
• A host of weapons to wreak your vengeance with; Sniper Rifles, Sigs, Hand Grenades and more
• Blood-drenched combat with over 25 levels
• Unique Character Building elements to create the perfect Killer
• Wage war against the Mob, Chinese Crime Bosses, and crooked Cops

GCM:	Please start off by introducing yourself and telling us a bit about Xicat and Mirage Media.
John:	Hi, I’m John Linn, and I am lead producer on Sniper: Path of Vengeance. Xicat Interactive is a world wide publisher of video games for PC, Playstation2, Xbox, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance, and Mac. Mirage Media is a development studio out of Warsaw, Poland, with a number of title credits including Another War and Mortyr. They’re also a very experienced Lithtech licensor.

GCM:	What systems will Sniper: Path of Vengeance be arriving on. What is the current release schedule?
John:	Sniper is out on PC CD-ROM, and will be making it’s way to Xbox in Q1 of 2003.

GCM:	Who is "the Sniper" and what's his motivation?
John:	The Sniper is a nefarious hitman with a deadly past. He does ‘hits’ for the mob, drug lords, and even the government. In ‘Path of Vengeance’ the Sniper has been set up and drugged, and he’s not happy about it. Throughout the course of the game the Sniper will try to track down those that have wronged him and extract his revenge.

GCM:	Sniper: POV seems like it is going for a cinematic feel. How story-focused would you say the game is and how are the cut-scenes being handled?
John:	The game’s very story-focused, being centered around his goal of vengeance and the journey to it. Most of the story is handled in game, via voiceovers and conversations with NPCs. Since Sniper: POV adds an RPG element with dialogue, decision-making and character building, an over-abundance of cut scenes wasn’t necessary.

GCM:	Will the missions in Sniper: POV be objective-based or are they more about "clearing out" an area?
John:	Sniper is organized into levels, and I’d say they’re more about finding out information you need to move on, or in some instances, acquiring items to help you on your search for revenge.

GCM:	What weapons and gadgets will be available to the player?
John:	The player will have access to 9 different weapons ranging from your traditional rifle to handguns, submachine guns and shotguns. Other items that will help the player on his quest include adrenaline charges, pain killing pills, and strength increasing-drugs.

GCM:	How large a part does stealth play in Sniper?
John:	Stealth comes into play more or less in levels where you have to trick enemies into believing you’re someone you’re not, or getting past certain enemies without a fight. the player is rewarded experience points for these actions, but most of the time it’s not required, he can run in guns-blazing if he likes.

GCM:

First Person Shooters are including RPG elements at an increasing rate and Sniper: POV is part of that movement. What elements have been added and how deeply will they affect the gameplay?

John:

The player has the option to customize the Sniper’s ability with different weapons, and to boost his health and stamina. Stamina makes you run longer and faster, and the weapon increases make your fire more accurate (especially with machine guns) and take slightly more damage. Health, obviously adds to the amount of damage the Sniper can take before he dies. There’s also inventory managing elements, the ability to switch items around in your holsters and quick slots, and the character interaction elements.

GCM:	About how long do you think it will take the average player to complete Sniper? What features do you see as potentially adding replay value?
John:	I think the average player will get through Sniper in 10-15 hours. As far as replay value goes, there are three difficulty settings, each with harder (and more) enemies, less power-ups, etc.

GCM:	What has Mirage Media managed to get out of Lithtech Jupiter Engine and what would you say are the ideal PC specs for running Sniper: POV?
John:	The engine features some great volumetric lighting, particle effects, and texturing. I think people will really notice the effects in the shot debris and gun fire, as well as the dark, brooding environments. The ideal specs would be around a 1.5 Ghz system with 256MB ram and a 64MB graphics card.

GCM:	When can we expect a demo?
John:	We’re putting together a 4 level demo which will hit the net shortly.

GCM:	Thanks for your time. Any final thoughts that you'd like to end on?
John:	I’d like to say thanks to Game Chronicles for the interview, and please visit www.xicat.com for more info!