3rd time the charm?
The Sniper Elite games have had both ups and downs, the highs being the X-Ray Killcam and the actual sniping, while the lows have stemmed from the poor AI to the level design itself. Sniper Elite 3 arrives for next-gen, but is it ready to take the next step forward?
The game continues the story of elite OSS sniper Karl Fairburne during World War II. The title takes players to the unforgiving yet exotic terrain of WWII’s North Africa conflict in a battle against a deadly new foe. I have to admit, the story is incredibly weak and unforgettable…which is a shame, but does the gameplay counteract that?
It is an improvement, the objectives are paced out better and there’s a clearer sense of freedom to your targets. However, the same issues occur including dumb AI and invisible wall restrictions, you also can’t swim which seems ridiculous. You can’t even set foot in the water as an invisible wall stops you. It would have been great to swim across one part of the level to the other stealthily; it just seemed very dated in its design.
You can set traps if you wish, but I personally found it a pain to do. Best way is to be as stealthy as possible, take out your targets head first and move on. Of course, it isn’t as simple as that…especially when some targets are moving tanks. Overall, the campaign is decent but it still lacks the polish that a good sniper games needs, as of now we still haven’t had one that’s not rough around the edges.
Besides the campaign are co-op missions and multiplayer, while just playing the campaign will also net you XP towards new ranks and equipment. They are fairly good modes to have and more will come with DLC, overall it’s a nice selection on offer.
Visually, Sniper Elite 3 is a mixed bag. It looks crisp and runs smoothly on PS4, but character models look average and the killcam hasn’t improved all that much from last gen…It still looks good and it always feels good to pull the trigger that starts the sequence, it’s just not a big a leap as I would have liked. Voice-acting is passable but nothing special.
The Verdict
Sniper Elite 3 is rough around the edges and lacks the polish that you would expect from a next-gen game. But underneath it all is a decent campaign, co-op missions and an extensive multiplayer that nearly makes up for its flaws. If you are a fan of the past games, then you’ll feel right at home, just don’t expect a huge improvement over the last game and you’ll enjoy it till the end.
