Introduction
It’s ironic that so soon after the release of Enemy Front, another title with a very different outlook on war has stealthily marched onto the scene. In Sniper Elite III, rather than making you think about the needless loss of life with the gory, slow-motion glory of every rifle shot, shattered skull, splintered bone, and ruptured internal organ, as you cut your way through a legion of soldiers
Gameplay
Set during the North African campaign of the Second World War, the games Kicks off during the Siege of Tobruk, as the elite sharpshooter you fend off a German attack and are recruited by British Intelligence, who ask him to investigate reports of a German General working on a mystery weapon that [well do I need to tell this] “could spell defeat for the Allies”.
Killcam Mania 😉
The controversial x-ray kill camera also returns, triggering whenever you pull off a particularly noteworthy shot. Just as the bullet gets close to your target, everything slows down even more. We get to see the blankly oblivious face of the enemy. So whether it’s shattering their skull, smashing bones, or piercing organs, these bloody vignettes are extremely graphic.
But then the problem with Sniper Elite has never been the sniping. That’s almost a mini-game in its own right. It’s the stuff surrounding it that has held the series back from greatness, and it’s to Rebellion’s credit that despite arriving only a few years after the previous title, Sniper Elite 3 represents a pretty huge step forward in terms of design.
The linear levels of the last game have now been replaced with enormous open maps that you’re free to traverse however you see fit. They’re beautifully designed as well with a lot of scope for exploration. Secondary objectives are also discovered in this way, bundled together to encourage you to not simply squat-run in the direction of the main objective marker, but to poke around, consider the terrain and think about your surroundings.
Multiplayer
Apart from single-player, multiplayer is much as it was in the belated additions to the previous game. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are decent enough, with the sniper gameplay changing the traditional pace and the new maps more suited to multiplayer games.
Distance King and its team-based variant anoint winners based not on kill count or points scored but on the cumulative distance. No Cross keeps teams completely separate, forcing players to concentrate solely on sniping rather than traps or close-quarters kills.
Sniper Elite III brings back Overwatch mode which is co-op, where one player acts as a sniper and one a spotter is a lot of fun here on the large maps. Shooting Nazis in the knackers is awesome, but the game could be so much more than that.
Conclusion
Sniper Elite 3 is not without its flaws, but remains a gripping, tactically-rewarding shooter that fans of the genre would love to experience.
What works for Sniper Elite 3 is that the sniping works great with the kickass x-ray vision. You also get a lot of freedom due to the Large maps. That said the unsophisticated artificial intelligence ruins the stealth elements. Low tech graphics and poor sound design also spoil the effect of what could have been a game changer.
Note of thanks
A big thanks to our friends at Origin games for sending us a Review copy.
