E3 2012 hands-on: City Interactive round-up with Dogfight 1942, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2

We had a chance to sit down with City Interactive and demo two of their upcoming games, Dogfight 1942 and Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2. Three of us took turns trying to outdo one another, putting both games through their paces.

Dogfight 1942

The first demo we had a chance to run through is an aerial fighting game focused on World War II aircraft missions. These range from dog fighting and bombing runs, to aerial defense campaigns.

I have an extensive background in aviation and happen to be a sucker for historical aviation in general. I can spot a fake game from a mile away. City Interactive is staying true to the essence of WWII dog fighting by capturing the sounds, feel, and look of the aircraft as well as the overall accuracy of the period to include the nicknames of the Japanese planes given to them by the Allied forces.

Another thing I noticed which spoke to the accuracy of the game was the dialogue. There was no such thing as being politically correct during WWII and though we may find it to be insulting now, the Japanese were called a slew of derogatory names. I fear this may be a turn off for some people, but I absolutely respect City Interactive for staying true to the history of the time they're trying to capture. The bottom line is we weren't all nice to each other in the past, and when doing a period piece the ugly truth has to be shown no matter how much we may wish to forget it ever happened.

Besides the true-to-life accuracy, the gameplay itself also shined through. The tight controls and fast pace really capture the essence of dog fighting, making this a game to keep your eyes on when it releases later this year on the PSN, Xbox LIVE, and Steam.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2

Following your spotter's calls, the demo began with us taking out a couple of guards catching a smoke break outside of their tank, proving smoking truly is bad for your health. Afterwards, we began working our way down into an enemy camp.

Sneaking through the enemy compound proves this game is more than capping people from long distances, as we had to get a bit close and personal to our targets. Even so, hanging back and lodging a bullet in someone's skull from a few hundred yards away was a lot more satisfying. If you get a unique kill, a bullet camera will follow the trajectory and show the kill in a very detailed manner. A bit over-the-top, but still fun to watch.

Still following our spotter, we were led further into the compound into a train station where a couple squads of enemies were on patrol. We quickly dived under the train cars to avoid being spotted.

Crawling under the train added a nice touch to the stealth element, but we didn't want to make it too easy on ourselves and began picking off enemies from our hiding spot. Our spotter gave us a scolding as soldiers quickly surrounded our position and open fired. Even though the game isn't really meant to be played in that manner, it was still a fun challenge.

While we may have horsed around a bit much, we still got a very good feel for the overall experience, and I am definitely looking forward to putting on my ghillie suit for this. Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 comes gunning for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on August 21.