Sniper Dan GBAtemp review
PlayStation 5
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): September 17, 2026
- Release Date (EU): September 17, 2026
- Publisher: PQube Limited
- Developer: Denki
- Genres: Hidden Object
- ESRB Rating: Everyone
- PEGI Rating: Three years and older
- Also For: Computer, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Game Features:
When it comes to sniping games, you don't usually associate them with cosy family-friendly fun. Sniper Dan is a cross between Silent Scope and a Where's Wally (Where's Waldo for those across the pond) book with that kind of Fisher-Price my-first-sniper-training look and feel to it that somehow genuinely captures you and makes you want to explore absolutely everything!
Easy to Pick up, Hard to Put Down
The premise of Sniper Dan is that he's simply a gun for hire. His faithful overwatch is what keeps the various locations safe from threats and keeps the population in check by solving puzzles, causing mischief and preventing disaster.
If Nintendo had the foresight to have allowed guns on Wuhu Island, this probably would have been the net result for the next Sports Resort titles, because the characters resemble Mii's, the colours pop and the mechanics are so intuitive and easy to pick up and play, and the game is undeniably fun for all ages and abilities.
You control Dan on his watch tower with the left analogue stick controlling your reticles position on the screen (you can swap sticks and increase sensitivity in the options screen), the R1 button zooming in and the L1 button zooming out. Discharging your firearm can be done with either L2 or R2 depending on your preference, and you reload with the Cross button.
Tapping Square brings up your jobs list, and hitting the Triangle button puts you in camera mode once you've unlocked it and bought yourself some film for your snapper, and then the right stick then works for zooming in and out with the camera.
Aiming and shooting is a cinch, just point and, well, shoot!
Marvelous Mysteries, Taxing Tasks
Starting out in a ramshackle run-down office, you pick up contracts by either checking your work board or answering the phone. Your work board contains maps and information regarding the locations at hand. These locations require licenses to work on, so you'll have to start out on the tutorial-esque first level, Perky Park, to solve tasks like litter picking, finding the bottle rockets, or helping people to swing higher on the swing-set or fix the valves of a leaky fountain.
You progress through a series of three days across each of the 6 locations (Perky Park, Happy Harbour, Funky Farm, Vibrant Village, Aces Airport and Central City). Each day ramps up the challenges and adds additional things to do over the previous days activities. This means that each level has three lists to action and essentially three variants of each level to play through.
Completing tasks earns stars, and finding hidden coins and wads of cash earns more to spend in the Magic Market, a place where you can buy customisations for your weapon including the scope zoom intensity, magazine capacity, reload speed, weapon skin, gun charm, and sound effects it makes when you shoot, office furniture and even your outfit. The cosmetics allow you to have lazer "pew pew" effects, lipstick smudges for bullet holes, more interesting reticles and cowhide as your weapons main skin, all the while dressed head to toe as a viking, or a fireman or even an airline pilot.
Feathering you nest, or spiffing up your office serves to buff bonuses in-game and allows you to bring home more bacon more swiftly. Speaking of processed meat, you unlock a variety spoopy trophies by completing upgrades, buying everything in a range, or completing all activities in a level. My particular favourites are the pre-loved sausage for purchasing items at the market, and the appreciated apple core you store in your refrigerator once you have wasted your coins on a selection of in-game gashapon. There is heaps to collect!
The stars are used to unlock the proceeding levels by procuring licenses, and additional mini-games, such as air hockey, bowling and tennis, can also be traded for them in the market. The twist: each activity requires you to use your rifle from a distance to precisely partake in them. They are clever variants of popular physics-based games that breaks up the intense searching action for something more frenetic.
Beyond Cosy & Cost Effective
Sniper Dan is, on the surface, a cosy-looking childs game, yet under that Play-Mobil facade is a fully realised shooting simulation that plainly draws inspiration from games like Silent Scope and runs with it. I love the simplicity paired with the time crunches, the on-going lists to strike through and the playfulness of the citizens of the world Dan belongs to.
Camera mode, which is unlocked by purchasing the camera and film add-ons at the Magic Market, allows you to add an almost Pokemon Snap-like mode into the game. There are indicated photo opportunities scattered across the environments and you have to take the most well composed, dramatic and tightly frames captures that you can for an album. It's a neat mode that fits in with the game's point and shoot ethos perfectly.
The addition of modes such as Time Attack and Ammo Hunt serve to add yet more layers of replayability but forcing you to find packs of bullets to let your game continue, or test your reflexes against the clock, which I found really tough!
The only issues I had with this title were that my eyes hurt and I felt a little motion sick at points, because some challenges took me to long to locate that I legitimately needed to take rest breaks, I noticed that item spawn points, though randomised, fell within select locations, meaning different items can spawn in identical places to the previous ones (when collecting 10 items or packages for callers), and that the menus in the game feel awkward to navigate. Why they didn't just maintain the aim and shoot mechanics in the menus is beyond me.
At just £7.99 on PSN, this game is an absolute no-brainer to pick up if you enjoy low-stakes, chilled sniping action with plenty of developer humor thrown into the mix. I might even go as far as to say that Sniper Dan is easily one of the most relaxed and enjoyable games I have played this year
Verdict
- Incredibly fun and re-playable missions.
- Six character-filled object-laden locations to scope out.
- 160 missions and extra modes like Ammo Hunt and Time Attack.
- Plenty of customisation options.
- Camera mode is fun addition.
- There's a free demo!
- The full game is just £7.99 on PSN!
- Object spawn points can be the same over and over.
- Some missions took an excruciatingly long time (skill issue).
