Story: Sniper Elite 3 once again puts you in the role of veteran sniper, Lieutenant Karl Fairburn. Set as a prequel for the events of V2, you play as Karl during the conflict in North Africa during WW2. The story starts out with Karl loading his rifle in Tobruk, when suddenly the Axis forces invade the city and begin bombarding the walls with artillery. Shortly after escaping the destruction, (and taking off a few heads with your M1 Grand), You find yourself in the middle of a Nazi plot to create a super tank... or something. To be honest, I stopped caring about the story, because it became obvious the developers didn't care about it either. For example, this is the only way the narrative progresses: It's a shame the devs didn't take the time to create a truly compelling story, but that seems to be the trend with shooters these days. Luckily with Sniper Elite 3, it doesn't impact the overall experience. The game still manages to keep you coming back mission after mission because... Well, this. No other shooter in recent memory offers such satisfying kills. Sure, Fallout 3 has a similar feature with the V.A.T.S. system, but in this game, with each perfect shot you line up, you're rewarded with a gruesome and detailed look at what the bullet you fired does to your target's organs in full X-Ray view. It's been called a gimmick by some reviewers, but it's honestly the one thing that sets this title apart. It adds some flare to an otherwise dull campaign.
Gameplay: So if the story is non existent, the gameplay better be great right? Luckily, Gameplay is where Sniper Elite 3 shines best. SE3 progresses at a steady pace, balancing stealth and shoot-out sections well enough to keep the game from getting too repetitive. Most of the time, stealth is heavily encouraged, although you are free to complete the missions guns blazing if that's your thing. On the higher difficulty settings, however, you will be punished for being spotted. The enemies are unforgiving, and won't hesitate to empty an entire clip into you. This is because Sniper Elite 3 is, at it's core, a stealth game. There are many opportunities in each level to mask the sound your rifle makes by either sabotaging a noisy generator, or firing during lightning strikes in a thunderstorm. You also have a silenced pistol and an endless supply of throwable rocks to trick gullible nazis into isolating themselves, allowing you to swoop in for a stealth kill. It's obvious the creators intended for players to sneak through missions, but it's nice to have an MP40 at your side when things go haywire. The multiplayer is also a generally fun experience... When you aren't getting disconnected. SE3 features the standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch game types, but also throws in unique modes like 'Distance King' where player score points based solely on how far away their target was. It's certainly a different kind of shooter; if you run around the map with a machine gun, you're going to lose your head quickly. The game only features 4 sniper rifles to choose from, (unless your willing to cough up extra dollars for DLC), but it does allow you to modify various parts, tweaking the stats to your liking.
One good thing that can be said about SE3, is that it makes good use of the next gen hardware. On the PS4, the game runs at 1080p and what appears to be 60 frames per second. However, it's obvious the developers haven't gotten used to the new consoles just yet as the game is host to a plethora of glitches. Thankfully, none that I have encountered are game breaking, but I have seen Karl falling through the floor on other reviewer's videos. As I previously mentioned, If you're playing on the PS4, prepare for an uphill battle when trying to find a match. It can take upwards of 15 minutes to get into a match without having your session time out. The game also features Co-Op for all 8 of its single player missions, however, I have yet to test this feature as this mode also suffers from syncing issues and sessions timing out. It's a pretty big mess, but Rebellion has acknowledged the issue, and claims it to be their #1 Priority. It's likely this will no longer be a problem by the time this review is published, but it's worth mentioning.
Conclusion: Overall, Sniper Elite 3 is fun, and during the summer game drought, that's all you can really ask for. Sniper Elite 3 doesn't hit the bullseye, but it's close.
Trailer
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