World War II games and killing Nazis are still very much a hot topic in gaming. It feels as if whenever the developers lack in new ideas, they can always play the WWII card. Rebellion has had a decent share of positive and negative criticisms about their Sniper Elite franchise. While Sniper Elite 3 wasn’t fervently loved by many, Rebellion decided to cut short of the downsides and released the Sniper Elite 4. Undoubtedly, the gameplay has improved from several aspects, especially if you consider its mass and online experience, unless of course if you don’t think that our generation has shown enough hate for the veteran Germans.

Protagonist Karl Fairburne is assigned to Italy in Sniper Elite 4, and his task is to locate deadly weapons hidden by the German forces. In doing so, Fairburne obviously has to stay hidden in areas like crumbling castles, vineyards, docks, towns, and kill targets from a distance. But Sniper Elite 4 doesn’t go by the rule of any usual sniping games, not even its predecessors. Fairburne doesn’t just kill from a distance but he taunts and tricks his enemies into dying. It sure does add some extra hours, but as far as gameplay goes, it’s enjoyable while also requiring patience. The lack of some haunting villains, however, makes the story a bit less engaging.

Long distance sniping is the heart of Sniper Elite 4. Players get to spend countless hours looking through the rifle scope, adjusting aim and waiting patiently for a perfect shot. SE4, however, is more accessible in terms of gameplay and difficulty than previous titles. On lower difficulties Fairburne is pretty much unbeatable, and even with less than pin point accuracy his bullets are clearly hitting the targets, also in close range, when the enemies are driving towards him. On harder difficulties, more patience is required. Before taking a shot, players must scout the area with binoculars, deeply observe the troop movement, plot the attack and finally approach. These are the very basic of any survival game, but timing the shots makes the difference in SE4. For instance, you can mask the sound of the rifle with a timed shot as a generator goes off. Each stage is designed with these clever contraptions, which are pretty much the best options if players want to finish the game somewhat stealthily. You can obviously go for straight forward sniping, depending on how you enjoy killing your opposition.

As for the gameplay, Sniper Elite 4 puts you in a semi-open world, so you’re basically free to choose however it is you want to play the missions. Players can set and defuse traps, use machineguns or pistols, grenades, almost same as the every third person shooter. When dropped in a mission, due to lack of directions players have to find their ways towards the end. Missions are lengthy and could take up to one to two hours depending on your approach. There are small side mission in each level such as destroying wreckage or recovering footage of something hidden and thankfully they vary throughout the game. In most cases however, the AI’s capability to spot your location is very limited. For instance if you’re only a couple of steps away from a solider when you’re stopped, and then you take a couple of steps backward to go behind a bush or cover, he’ll pretty much lose you instantly.

However, when spotted on harder difficulty levels, I ended up restarting the scenario. If, by any chance, I’m able to survive, each kill is extremely time consuming afterwards when the soldiers are on high alert. Because the soldiers will stay under cover, move or slide from one place to another, making it difficult to get a shot on them. Sniper Elite 4 has a custom difficultly mode where players adjust settings according to their skills. Co-op is also present, giving a choice of how to play the campaign mode. If you’re planning to blaze through enemies, I’d suggest you go for the easiest mode possible, which still allows for enjoying the X-ray kill cam. Speaking of the kill cam, which has been a trade mark of the Sniper Elite series, ruthlessly breaking bones and bursting organs, it maintains its brutal signature. Players can, however, turn it off if they’re not that much into organ splattering, and focus more on the core gameplay. The good news is that Rebellion has shifted towards a more free stealth gameplay, providing players with a larger map, giving them more freedom to decide their strategies. With this release, it feels as if Sniper Elite 4 is following in the footsteps of Metal Gear Solid V, which feels somewhat right, where players can resolve a situation according to their liking.

Sniper Elite 4 doesn’t disappoint when it comes to battlegrounds, as their sizes are now much bigger compared to the ones in previous titles. There’s no shortage of covering positions, whether behind a window, on a rooftop or mountain overshadowing enemies, and Fairburne can always take long shots from these positions. There’s also an option for close ranged melee kills and a silenced pistol when going through enemy camps. Players are rewarded with XP after various tasks and kill counts. The XP is used for upgrades which hardly feel worthy, except for increasing Fairburne’s lung capacity. The weapon upgrades don’t really matter much, because during the entire twelve to fifteen hours of the campaign, players can find a maximum of four or five weapons, and they don’t differ much in terms of output. If the weapons won’t, suppressed ammo will make a difference. This ammo allows to take out enemies quietly, while being strictly limited and expensive. It’s not your usual inventory item scattered across all corpses, and when you’ll find some, you can select a rifle from the inventory that matches these bullets. But despite of all the extra tools the game offers, players will eventually end up going back to the traditional sniping ways.

The best part of Sniper Elite 4 is its return to multiplayer. While the campaign can be finished solo or with friends, a cooperative survival mode can fit up to four players. Overwatch mode quickly became my favorite, where one person snipes from a secure position, and other players remain on the ground finishing the objectives. But there are only two Overwatch maps available to play, and they finish fast. Sadly however, the joy in multiplayer fades away soon when it becomes difficult to connect to a match. Anyway, in addition to these features, there are more competitive option such as deathmatch. If you think yourself good at sniping, test yourself among these faster paced modes.

Sniper Elite 4 is going to be a favorite for those who love shooting through a rifle scope. It cleverly injected strategy and cooperative play to suit its crowd. But there are still plenty of areas where this series can improve such as a better story, introducing modern warfare, and Rebellion seems to be going in that direction. It might be testing for new comers to this series as patience may not always be in their favor. Because soon they’ll be somewhat forced to play this game as a usual third person shooter. Small mistakes will trigger the alarm and the gameplay onward is only going to be aching. So, unless you’re specifically looking for some sniping action and are able to play in high difficulty mode, Sniper Elite 4 can wait.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed
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