Silent Scope

The first Silent Scope game was released in arcades in 1999. Developed by Konami, the machine garnered popularity by having a mounted sniper rifle that players would look through in order to snipe out various targets. Many consider the franchise to be the most accurate sniper simulation to-date.

Gameplay

Gameplay was similar to other on-rails shooters such as Ghost Squad or Time Crisis, however, the scope added a bit of welcome variety to the genre. Player would look through the scope, which had a small screen that showed a zoomed in view of wherever they were aiming on the main screen. In order to play successfully, players would have to look away from the scope to find their next target, aim their gun in that direction, and look through the scope to get an accurate headshot. Players had to be quick however, as there was an active timer at the top that would only go up every time you got a successful kill.

Ports

After gaining so much popularity in the arcades, the first game was ported to the Dreamcast in 2000. This port consisted of you moving an on screen cursor and holding a button to zoom in, creating a representation of what you would have seen in the arcade game's scope. Oddly enough, the game didn't support light guns and there wasn't any sniper rifle accessory released for it. There was one light gun released for the Dreamcast, called the Bio Gun, which got around this limitation by having a "Silent Scope" switch on it, however, this simply let you move the on-screen cursor using the D-pad on the side of the gun, and let you shoot with the gun's trigger, making it not that different of an experience from simply playing with a controller. The same version was also ported to the Playstation 2

Sequels

After the success of the first game, Konami released Silent Scope 2: Dark Silhouette for Arcades in 2001. The game was fairly similar, and added improved graphics. It was ported to the Playstation 2 later that year. in 2002, Konami also released Silent Scope 3 as an exclusive for the Playstation 2, however it was still just like previous home console versions and did not feature any light gun support.

Silent Scope Complete

Many would call 2004's Silent Scope Complete for the Xbox the most accurate port of Silent Scope. Not only did it feature all three Silent Scope games, but it also featured a sniper light gun controller, which was a first for the series on home consoles. The sniper rifle light gun that worked with the game did not have a built-in screen on the scope like the arcade versions did, but instead had a sensor that would sense when you put your eye up to the scope, which would switch the view in-game to "zoomed" mode. There was also an option to shut this off, letting you manually switch to zoomed mode by hitting the B-button.

Series' Death

After the release of Silent Scope 3, there haven't been any new Silent Scope games coming out. Many cite this as an example of how Arcade games are becoming less and less relevant in modern gaming. While that topic is up for debate, it's not very hard to see that the Silent Scope series has died alongside the Arcades, and is a good example of an original and noteworthy light gun shooter.