Sniper Elite III: Ultimate Edition (PlayStation 4) Review

Sniper Elite III follows Karl through his deployment in Africa, tasked with taking out the head honchos of the Nazi's Afrika Korps to destabilise their presence in the region. Africa is an interesting setting, and considering how big the campaign was, it's surprising so few games have been set there. Sniper Elite III presents it with such gusto that it's literally an amazing environment.

This time round, Sniper Elite III focuses on much more open maps with multiple paths and a great sense of scale. This removes the stiff feeling of Sniper Elite II's gameplay. Each environment has been exceptionally well designed and built to provide as many different sniping points and little concealed areas as possible. This means that stealth is very fun, and with the enemy AI being incredibly smart (most of the time), it is very difficult! Having such a varied terrain with multiple levels of elevation helps to increase the need for strategic thinking, and with the new feature 'Relocation' it becomes vital to leave an area clear for moving after each shot.

The series token bullet cam is retained. In bullet cam, the game slows down and tracks the bullet; upon impact it usually presents an x-ray cam, which shows the bullet tearing through organs and bouncing off bones. This camera has now been upgraded to apply to vehicles, too, so players can watch as their perfectly aimed shot rips through the combustion engine of a Nazi truck. This is one of the types of features that never gets boring, just like Fallout's VATS system. It is also perfectly complimentary to the rest of Sniper Elite III's systems, which are all polished beyond belief.

The atmosphere created by the visuals and sound is incredibly tense and represents the tension of actually being a world war sniper in the middle of Nazi territory. It's a shame there aren't friendlies present during levels to help create distractions and leave open the possibilities of accidental friendly fire, which would further increase the tension. The sound design is amazing, with bombing raids and shooting from afar ringing through the canyon style levels. It also helps with locating enemies, as their voices carry quite far, and they often have vehicles that move through the map, so it is essential to be able to hear which direction they are approaching from. One of the best features is sabotaging machinery to provide sound cover for rifle fire, opening new possible sniping locations.

The mission structure expects some experimentation and exploration in each environment, and often offers rewards, such as notes or other hidden items; these usually are non-material rewards, but no doubt dedicated players will collect them all for their Platinum trophy. Multiplayer allows for both co-op and PvP gameplay. Some customisations from the single-player can be carried into the multiplayer modes. It provides the fun multiplayer that is to be expected of a war game, and it is a good laugh to play, but the game really shines the most in single-player.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, but damn it's fun! Occasionally, Snipe Elite III can have physics glitches, detracting from the feeling of immersion; the AI can sometimes be stupid and not notice the player even while right on top of him. Gun fights are fairly well balanced, but on the medium difficulty it takes an inordinate amount of bullets for Karl to die - good if a mistake leads to a gun fight, but not very good for punishing a mistake made. In fact, the whole game, so long as it's played slowly and tactically, is not very difficult even on the higher difficulties.