Next-Gen Reviews

Sniper Elite 3 does a brilliant job of showing you what you want to believe a real sniper does and it does it with ease. The developers know that we want to see the brutal damage that a sniper bullet can do, and thankfully the very famous kill-cam is back and it’s most definitely been improved.  The kill-cam allows you to watch the bullet leave the barrel of the gun, flow through the air and penetrate the enemy or vehicle with great detail; see the bullet crack and smash the bone and rip through a the heart, and see how the bullet enter the engine grill and ignite the fuel causing a massive explosion…. It’s great! Being able to recon the area without being spotted and sabotage plans without anyone ever knowing is another great ability of the sniper and what better setting is there than WW2.

 

The levels look great and show off sharp edges, great layouts and the visuals we’d expect nowadays. Yes, Africa is pictured as being one big sandy continent, but here is much more to it than that and Sniper Elite 3 is happy to show that.

Missions differ between day and night and the objectives themselves are mostly fun. Expect to see you typical “Go there and kill that person” and fetch quests, but don’t expect them to be a dull as they usually are in many other games.

 

For those that like to cover every inch of a map, you’ll be glad to know that there are optional missions and of course collectibles. This adds a great amount of re-playability keeping you busy for many hours. As well as your normal collectibles you can also find new parts for your weapons; scopes, action, barrel etc, each changing the way your gun(s) work. These items can be found in various locations and through searching dead enemies and loaded before each mission by selecting the “loadout” option.

 

The controller configuration is brilliantly set out with your typical aim and fire buttons being on the triggers and Call of Duty-style face-button layout. I don’t remember it being in Sniper Elite V2 but there is a “select wheel” making it a complete doddle to change weapon, get out a mine or get a bandage ready to deal with your injury. As always, you can also choose certain items for “quick select” on the D-pad making the transition between one and another very fast, indeed.

 

With stealth being a major factor it’s massively important to have smooth movements and thankfully they are very smooth. This is a great relief because the AI isn’t as stupid as in most games, keeping you constantly on your toes if you want to get the upper hand.  This brings me to another feature to help you in your tracks, “marking enemies”. Marking your enemies is simple; you get out your binoculars, zoom in/out and click the right trigger and from then on you can see the enemies’ movements. However, you need to choose wisely because you can mark only 7 at one time.Without binoculars the game could be a little annoying because you’d constantly get spotted in the close quarters areas of certain maps.

 

My biggest problem with Sniper Elite 3 is mostly my fault but still an annoyance. Throughout certain parts on each mission a noise indicator will show at the top-middle of your screen and basically gives you the “all clear” to take shots without being heard. However, if you go outside of that by the slightest or a body gets discovered because you’ve had to take out a couple in quick succession, you’ll be penalised. The penalisation is the searching of you in what they believe to be your current location and if they find you, you’ve had it! It’s so frustrating because once you’ve been spotted; you’re as good as dead or have to start over. This annoyed me most because it is hard to get away from the enemies once they’ve started a manhunt and even relocating will often leave you in the crap. It’s disheartening and leaves you with 3 options; Suck it up and shoot it out, start again from a save, or start the whole level again.

 

Sniper Elite 3 also has multiplayer options allowing you to compete or play cooperatively.

I didn’t get a chance to play any of these modes due to the small amount of people having access to the game before the release, but I will update the review covering what I have missed in due course.

 

Here are the options open to you…

 

Co-op

Missions: You and a friend can play the campaign together

Overwatch: One is the sniper and the other is the spotter

Survival: How long can you both last before being killed by the enemy

 

Competitive

Deathmatch: Free-For-All

Team Deathmatch: Team with most kills wins

Team Distance King: The team with the highest amount of distance between kills overall wins

Distance King:  As above but alone

No Cross: Team deathmatch but without any risk of there being any CQB action. Set up and wait for the enemy to make a mistake

 

Overall, Sniper Elite 3 does what it has always done and that’s a great thing! The developers have done enough to make the game feel fresh and fun and continued to add what the majority of gamers want in every release nowadays, coop and multiplayer. And with the huge amount of re-playability, a great setting and the gameplay we know, love and expect from these talented developers, you’d be silly not to play it.

 

 

8/10