Some achievements are more difficult to earn. The following achievements require specific tactics to pull off. To collect your gamer points or trophies, study up on these moves that only a seasoned sniper will master.
Back To School
To earn the “Back to School” achievement, you must eliminate all six snipers in Sniper Alley without taking a single hit. You engage the first three snipers in Sniper Alley in the first two library rooms. First, pull out your binoculars. Next, creep out near the large hole in the library wall and scan the apartment building across the street. You’ll spot three snipers at points on the apartment facade.
Once the targets have been identified, you can find them easier when you scope on the apartment windows. Inch out from cover and engage one at a time. Two of the snipers can be downed from the hole in the first hallway.
Enter the second library room to track down the third sniper. Pull out your binoculars again and look for the sniper in the tall window near the upper corner of the apartment building. Zoom in on the target and kill him quickly.
The second part of Sniper Alley occurs in the apartment building adjacent to the library. Slowly walk through the building and prepare for another sniper battle. You’ll notice dead bodies all over. That’s because another sniper nest has this spot pinpointed. As soon as you pass the white door with the pooling blood in front of it, snipers will gun for you.
You’ll see two windows in the next room. The first sniper will engage you through the right window. Use your binoculars to lock onto his position in the upper floor of the building across the street. Send a bullet through the window and through his head.
Stay low and crawl into the room. If you use the wall between the two windows as cover, you can set up your next spot to take out two more snipers from the left window.
Take out the sniper in the window across the street first. Inch out from cover and snipe him before he can find you. If you have trouble locating him, use your binoculars again. The third sniper is positioned on the roof. Lean out a little more from cover, just enough to send a single, lethal bullet his way.
Guardian Angel
To earn the “Guardian Angel” achievement, you must rescue the friendly in the apartment complex near the beginning of mission 2. Wait patiently as the team assaults the apartment complex. You can’t see the action, but you can hear it over your comm.
The final bad guy grabs the hostage. With the hostage being used as a human shield, the team can’t get at the enemy, but manage to force him out onto the exposed terrace. As the team advances on him and the enemy retreats, line up a shot on the enemy’s head or back.
Be very careful to snipe the enemy without hitting the hostage. You certainly deserve an achievement after having to kill the terrorist with a precise shot and not hitting the hostage as well.
Hangman’s Knot
Your first attempt to kill Major Vladic will fail. His men spot you, and you end up in one of the toughest battles in the game, fighting rooftop snipers and auto-fire ground pounders. After you dispatch Vladic’s guard, shoot the main man himself with a very long shot through the window of the building opposite the abandoned apartments.
Hazardous Materials
For the last battle in mission 8, you have to defeat several enemies in front of the final bridge. It’s a great time to score a triple kill with a grenade. After you pick off the isolated guards, you have three remaining guards huddled on the lower level by the bridge. It’s possible to gun them down one by one, but where are the style points in that? If you can nick the closest guard’s grenade, you can set off an explosion that will kill all three enemies at once. Zoom on the grenade on the enemy’s belt and squeeze the trigger when you’re sure you’ll hit the explosive. If it goes boom, you kill all three guards and you’ll earn the “Hazardous Materials” achievement.
Karma Chameleon
At the beginning of mission 8, you drop your sniper rifle and it falls down the cave wall and lands deep in enemy territory. To earn the “Karma Chameleon” achievement, you need to retrieve your weapon without anyone alerting any enemy to your presence. It’s a long journey, but entirely possible. See the full walkthrough text for mission 8 to sneak through the defenses and recover your weapon.
Laugh This Off & Nemesis
In the final battle at the end of the game, it’s down to you and Maddox, sniper on sniper. You’ll find him in the building with the long line of square windows.
Some of the windows are boarded-up; other windows are open. Ignore the boarded-up windows and concentrate your attention on the open windows.
Maddox can appear in any one of the open windows.
Maddox will kill you if he’s given time to take aim on you. Don’t give him that chance. As soon as you spot him at a window, zoom on the window. He will duck for cover if he thinks you’re taking a shot. Even if you don’t get off a shot, you can use this scare tactic to prevent him from firing on you.
You’ll have to be super-quick, but your sniper skills to this point have been training you to eliminate Maddox. When you spot his head in a window, quickly zoom on the window and pull that trigger when you have him dead to rights. Your final bullet will end the traitor’s life, and if you kill him with your first shot, you earn both the “Laugh This Off” achievement and the “Nemesis” achievement; otherwise, you earn only the “Nemesis” achievement.
Solid Sandman
To earn the “Solid Sandman” achievement, you must remove all the enemies at the beach house without raising the alarm. To begin, set your sniper spot at the top of the hill overlooking the beach house. There are five enemies to eliminate, and it helps to silence them in the correct order to avoid tripping the alarm and bringing reinforcements into the battle (not to mention, losing your achievement chance).
Survey the beach house for a minute or two before engaging. Your first target should be the enemy farthest away from the group. Wait for the guard patrolling the pier to walk out near the water. When he pauses to light a cigarette, snipe him into the waters.
Next, you want to take out the enemy sniper who oversees everything from the beach house’s top floor. He’s a nervous sniper, circling the house continuously. He does, however, pause momentarily on the right corner of the building. Down him here and no one will see him fall.
The third enemy searches the jungle left of the beach house. He’s the most difficult to locate from you sniper spot. With patience, however, you’ll see him break off from his jungle patrol and check out the beach behind the house. When he comes into sight, quickly zoom in on him and drop him out of view from the remaining enemies out front.
There are two more enemies out front, one standing in the shadows by the left, front corner and one working on the boats closer to you. The one in the shadows can see you shoot the enemy by the boats, which means he has to go first. Take your time as you line up either a headshot or the safer torso shot.
Look for the final beach house enemy between the two boats. Zero in on a clear shot and take it when he’s in your sights. When he falls, it’s clear to proceed.
There’s one more enemy left to earn the achievement. Take the path toward the beach house. Before you reach the house, though, you’ll spot the small outpost watching the path.
Go into a crouch when the enemy appears on your minimap. Slide along the vegetation until you spot the small outpost. The enemy watches the path, so either drop into a prone position and pick him off from the edge of the vegetation or take a step out into the open and unload on him with a quicker shot from the crouch position. Once he falls, you collect your achievement.