In an industry ripe with ostentatious shooters such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, Sniper Elite is something of a breath of fresh air. Unlike other set piece-heavy blasters – be it third-person or first-person – Rebellion Entertainment has set its crosshairs firmly on creating a differentiating experience, with a focus on methodical, stealth-based gameplay. Try to run-and-gun your way through Nazi-occupied Africa in World War II, and you’ll end up a bloody mess — quite literally. No, this is a game very much about planning and patience, and it’s only by learning your surroundings and picking the right target that will you successfully navigate behind enemy lines.
In the depths of London’s ‘The Vault’ underneath Waterloo Station, PSU was lucky enough to go hands-on with three of Sniper Elite 3’s stages to get a feel for Rebellion’s latest stab at its WWII-based shoot-’em-up.
Well, I say three, but it was more like two-and-a-half, as the first level – ostensibly a tutorial to bring you up to speed with the core mechanics – was fairly brief. Stepping into the shoes of the gruff Karl Fairburne, Sniper Elite 3 introduces the series to the North African campaign in style, as you’re plonked into the middle of a heated battle with Nazi troops complemented by Stuka dive bombers. As my first experience with the series, I was struck by how user-friendly the mechanics and controls are. Of course, this is chief among Rebellion’s philosophy behind Sniper Elite 3, as the studio told the assembled journalists in a briefing prior to our hands-on — accessibility is the name of the game here.
Slipping into sniper mode is a case of holding down L2 (we played on PlayStation 4, which was a treat visual-wise), and then hitting R2 to fire — just as you’d expect. Zooming is selected via the D-pad, while L1 brings up your weapon wheel and R1 allows you to see exactly where your bullet will strike from a long distance; after all, the game employs some fairly realistic physics, so it’s not simply a case of lining up your crosshairs on the spot you want to hit. Sniping is your bread-and-butter attack method, and proves a visceral treat as the series’ famed ‘Kill Cam’ tracks your killing shot from your gun into the target, X-Ray style. Here, bones break, limbs spasm, and organs shatter as you dispatch your adversaries in grisly fashion. There’s a great sense of accomplishment to be had in tracking your target, using your scope to tag and keep track of them, before lining up that fabled one-hit kill.
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However, once your enemy is rendered a bloody, broken mess on the floor, you must flee the area and relocate before getting discovered. The Nazis aren’t just going to sit around and wait to get picked off; they’ll hear your shot and head over to your immediate vicinity pretty sharpish, so you’ll need to escape to a safe distance – indicated on the radar in the bottom left – before the reinforcements turn up. This game of shoot-and-move feels seamless and authentic, and its thanks to the competent AI that I was kept on my toes throughout. Enemy troops are also pretty vigilant, so they’ll spot you if you don’t take care to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
Rebellion championed the use of more open environments for Sniper Elite 3 in
comparison to its predecessor; indeed, this seems to be the case from my two hours with the game. Areas were fairly expansive, allowing for greater tactical freedom, but also giving your enemies more opportunity to flank you from all directions. I found myself judiciously observing enemy patrols and tagging them with my binoculars, and making ample use of the crawl function in order to successfully navigate unseen, before eliminating my opponent surreptitiously. But Sniper Elite 3 isn’t only open in game-world terms. It also allows you to go about the mission in any way you see fit.
Obviously, your trusty sniper rifle is an intrinsic part of your arsenal, but if you want, you can utilize other weapons, such as a machine gun or my favorite, the silenced pistol. I experimented around a lot, but found stealth to be the most rewarding and tactically sound method of accomplishing my objective. The game lacks an authentic cover system so to speak, and as such going in commando with a machine gun didn’t feel quite as mechanically sound as a quieter approach. Silent melee kills are also available, offering further incentive to sneak up on your foes, while the more brash player may wish to opt for grenades or land mines to neutralize the Nazi threat. This is all tied into a XP system, which rewards you with various unlocks (weapons etc) depending on your performance. My meticulous planning obviously played off, as I activated the reward-heavy ‘Ghost Mode’ several times in my playthrough.
Of course, I can’t wrap things up without mentioning the new ‘vehicle kill’ segments, which track your shot into the innards of lightly-armored trucks once you’ve ascertained their weak point. This is typically the fuel tank, which when shot, rewards you with a glorious explosion, destroying the track and barbecuing anyone without range.
Sniper Elite 3 is scheduled for release in Europe in late June and early July in the U.S. Judging from my hands-on time with the game, Rebellion appears to have successfully married stealth, action and accessibility into one compelling, methodical package without eschewing the familiarity and uniqueness that fans have come to expect from the brand.
Stay tuned to PSU for our full review later this month.