Sniper Elite III (PlayStation 4) Review

Snipers have quite rightly been given a rough ride in the virtual killing grounds and jumping into any competitive online shooter it's a safe bet that the most irritating player on the opposing team will be the guy sat in a bush a few miles away from the danger zone, peering down the long range scope of a sniper rifle. It's hard not to feel foolish after repeatedly falling victim to six long distance headshots in a row, so it's only natural to crave some kind of vengeance to redress the balance. Of course, this rarely ends well since the sniper chum (call him Wesley, for argument's sake) is well prepared for angry retaliations and has already booby trapped the perimeter of his locale, thwarting any angry reprisals long before they get chance to manifest. As if that wasn't irritating enough, there is also the online phenomenon of 'no scoping,' which is almost exclusively practised by pre-teens and usually accompanied by a squeaky voiced insult directed at the parentage of the victim. It's exactly what it sounds like, pulling off seemingly impossible kills more reliant on luck than skill by hip-firing bolt action rifles, blatantly disregarding and making a mockery of the snipers skill-set in the process. With this, then, the third instalment of the Sniper Elite series, the uphill battle to make the solitary marksman cool again rests squarely on Rebellion's shoulders.

Admittedly, the back-story to Sniper Elite III is paper thin at best, serving only to unleash the main character, OSS Officer Karl Fairburne (an eagle-eyed Vin Diesel impersonator with a steady hand), on the outskirts of numerous troubled hotspots and gently nudge him in the general direction of the enemy. There is an overall mission to assassinate a General Franz Vahlen and uncover his top-secret project, however this is soon forgotten about once the action kicks off. Each chapter is a vast sandbox rife with opportunity for the player to sneak around and cause all kinds of mayhem, and it does a great job of promoting a non-linear approach to tackling the tasks at hand. While Karl does have a set of goals to aim for in order to progress, certain objectives can open up dynamically as a result of the player's exploration. For example, stumbling across a couple of items of intel in one of the chapters reveals the presence of a visiting general, so an additional objective to locate and assassinate him will open up. It's fair to say that Sniper Elite III isn't just a case of finding a nice spot on the top of a hill then casually picking off the enemy from a distance, as to succeed there is a need to go deep into enemy territory, make good use of the surroundings, and work all the angles to get the required shots. A well executed snipe is rewarded by the grisly X-ray Kill-cam that follows the trajectory of the bullet in glorious slow motion all the way to its intended target, with a gruesome close up as the projectile splinters bone and punctures vital organs. Lovely stuff.

Unsurprisingly, stealth plays a big part of Sniper Elite III and comparisons to the Metal Gear Solid franchise wouldn't be too out of place seeing as both favour the protagonist that can remain undetected. Armed with a pair of binoculars, Karl is able to scope out his surroundings and tag up to eight enemy troops at a time, which will remain active until the opportunity arises to silently take them out of the game. Handy indicators inform whether nearby patrolling soldiers are merely suspicious that something is afoot or fully alert and on the verge of investigating the disturbance. Whenever Karl breaks cover, the enemy will head to his last known location, so with a little forward planning the ideal opportunity arises to use the enemy's ordnance against them by drawing attention to an area previously prepped with landmines acquired during reconnoitre. Of course, keeping the proceedings on the down low is far preferable, so a close quarter melee takedown or a silenced pistol to the head should take care of business, although nobody likes a sniper who doesn't tidy up after themselves, so disposing of the unfortunate victims is essential if deep cover is to be maintained. Finding a means to mask the sound of gunfire is advisable when planning a long range shot, so waiting for a plane to fly overhead, nearby heavy artillery fire, or even a thunder clap during a storm, will all provide the necessary cover to pull the trigger without raising the alarm. In the absence of any naturally occurring environmental sounds loud enough to disguise sniper fire, any nearby generators can be sabotaged, which, if timed correctly, will intermittently conceal any shots fired.

While the multiplayer component of Sniper Elite III doesn't quite match Call of Duty's high octane pacing or the destructive spectacle of the Battlefield series, it still somehow manages to be quite a tense, nervy experience, in the best possible way. As might be expected, the maps are huge out of necessity, with plenty of nooks and crannies to hole up in and a number of ammo points scattered around that are handy for drawing the bullet depleted out of hiding. The gameplay gets surprisingly edgy when there are a number of human opponents stalking each other and shots really need to count since failure to hit the target is the equivalent of waving a giant 'Hey guys...I'm over here' sign for everybody to see. With a variety of multiplayer modes and a persistent XP system that extends through to the single-player campaign, Sniper Elite III sinks its hooks into the player quite quickly. If that wasn't enough, the inclusion of 'Survival' (a mode pitting the player(s) against increasingly stronger waves of enemy troops), 'Overwatch' (one player as a spotter, the other as the sniper), and the option to play the entire campaign with a co-operative partner, make this package very attractive to the more sociable gamers out there.

Interestingly, the current Guinness World Record for the longest individual gaming session is held by a Polish gamer, Hubert 'Gordon' Blejch, who claimed it playing this very game for a staggeringly unhealthy 141 hours. Don't try this at home kids.