Sniper Elite 3 is out now for multiple platforms and is the follow up to Sniper Elite V2 in which we reviewed and enjoyed a couple years ago on the Xbox 360. At the heart of the Sniper Elite series is the ability to take out enemies from long range with your trusted sniper rifle. A good majority of the game is spent lining up shots carefully by holding your breath and calculating distance and wind resistance – it all happens very quickly and when you make a successful shot then you are treated to a rewarding bullet-time slow-motion kill-cam victory. Sniper Elite 3’s best feature is the kill-cam (back again from the previous game).
So what else does Sniper Elite 3 offer that the previous game didn’t? First up – the ability to melee combat facing an enemy. Last time around you could only knife someone if their back was turned but now you can punch, stab and kick an opponent from the front and back. Graphics are mildly improved (we played on the PS4) with nothing to write home about but we did enjoy the gimmick of having some of the sounds (like reloading the gun) come from the PS4’s controller.
We mostly played Sniper Elite 3 on single-player as none of our friends already have the game on PS4 to co-op with or challenge in multiplayer but hopefully that will change with this review! Sniper Elite 3 has a moderate learning curve – it’s not like your typical shooter and relies heavily on stealth, tactics and not being seen. Generally once you are seen – an alarm goes out and all enemies will converge upon you and it’s only in the last few levels of the game that you’ll be skilled enough to fight your way out of an ambush.
Overall we enjoyed Sniper Elite 3 and will give it a thumbs up — however the game can be intimidating for the casual gamer and requires a high stealth skill level in order to finish chapters without too much frustration setting in. Again – the gimmick of the kill-cam is the most fun part of the game and watching Nazi soldiers getting crushed from your bullet in slow motion is oh so much fun to watch! Some other elements of Sniper Elite 3 aren’t as fun — mostly like how the game lacks polish and sub par ‘next-gen’ like graphics. We found many glitches and loop-holes in the game to take advantage of giving Sniper Elite 3 sort of a ‘glitchy-charm’ like for instance – if you are surrounded by enemies converging on your position — simply drop down into a well (they are all over). One by one Nazi soldiers will approach the well – drop down and you can knife them easily – we killed about seven in a row using this method – no Nazi seemed capable of aiming his gun down to shoot upon us.
For gamers willing to stick it out – there is much to shoot at, explore and modify weapons in Sniper Elite 3. We’re still undecided if we prefer the landscape of Europe (Sniper Elite V2) or the new scenery of Africa for the latest game. Sniper Elite 3 is a nice game for those who are waiting for the release of Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain with less emphasis on tech and gadgets and more on the quiet-long distance kill.
Sniper Elite 3 Launch Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFFAmMlOflI