Sniper Elite 3 from Rebellion sees you playing Karl Fairburne, a sniper in the 3rd iteration of this series. The story is set during World War II, and takes place in Africa. I played this on the PlayStation 3 and was very impressed with the look and feel of the game; the menu is presented in a way that is almost like a blu-ray menu. Then with a click of a button I was in the game. I really enjoyed the tutorial mission, it was very nicely done and played like an actual mission, whilst showing you how to kill silently and in the best possible ways. For me that’s really where the fun pretty much ended though. Well no, that’s not quite true, there were some points in the game where I enjoyed myself for a short while.
When I started to play this game I was under the impression that there would be a lot of sneaking stealthily around. Now I know what you’re thinking, it’s a sniper game so that’s what you will have to do, but I feel that because it was a sniper game and you need to play this type of game slow, it felt like all the work had been concentrated into this and left the story line hanging, along with the level design as well. To the untrained eye the level looked very nice, the rocks and the trees looked amazing, in fact the graphic fidelity looked great! The African sun shone down on those levels and made them look awesome. However, at some points the maps did feel a little forced and railroaded, like I could only go one way and I felt a bit like a mouse trapped in a maze.
Please don’t get me wrong I did enjoy sneaking around trying not to be seen, and waiting for trucks or any other machine to make a sound so I could shoot without being heard. In fact they were some of the most enjoyable parts of the game for me, trying to work out the patrolling patterns of the guards. However, what I got fed up of was the amount of times I had to see my bullet fly from my gun and impact the target and then see what damage the bullet does to the internal organs and bone structure.
Once the story line (what little there was of it) kicked in, I was hoping to be lifted a little, but the only word I can come up with is weak. I don’t want to go into too much detail about the storyline as it could spoil it for people who do want to play this, but let’s just say that you have to basically stop someone from building something otherwise it’s game over for the allied forces. So I proceed to sneak around the level one by one shooting the Nazis. You really will get your money’s worth out of this game just from the sheer amount of time it takes to sneak around the maps. Trying to find those kill spots will take you some time and then you have to hide the bodies, can you see the picture I’m painting? You could easily lose a good hour on a map or maybe more if you wanted to be totally sure no one can see you.
The multiplayer side of the game though is great fun. If you have ever played an online shooter and always pick the sniper rifle then there are probably a few game types you will like such as Team Distance King. In this game the further away you are from your target, the more points you will get. The other one is No Cross. In this game type both teams are separated, so you have to find a spot where you can camp and sniper away. I really did enjoy this one. However, if you’re like me, frustration will creep in when you start getting shot from 150+ meters away, and you can not even shoot someone 50 meters away! There is a lot of skill involved in this game and most definitely in the multiplayer.
Overall I would say that Sniper Elite 3 is an OK game, I feel had Rebellion just give us a bit more in the way of a storyline, the game would have held its own and not relied on the multiplayer side of the game. So, if you like a slow paced game where you can take your time and plan the perfect shot, then this is totally a game for you. Otherwise your efforts might be better focussed elsewhere.
Reviewed on PS3
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