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| Game: |
Sniper Elite |
| Genre: |
Shooters |
| Developer: |
Rebellion |
| Publisher: |
Ubisoft |
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| Related Links: |
Coming Soon. |
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Hands On Preview:
There are a number of games that feature a lone hero whose job it is to perform a wide variety of deeds to save mankind or to simply save the day, perhaps even going boldly where no one else will dare. Usually these tough men and women are armed to the teeth and able to dish out and receive a fair bit of punishment whilst accomplishing their goals. Sniper Elite is one such game that has a lone hero and yes he can dish out some painful punishment but on the other hand his own life is as fragile as paper near a flame. Set during World War 2, Sniper Elite puts the player into the shoes of a top class marksman as you perform a wide variety of behind the scenes missions that could sway the outcome of the war.
You get to kill people!
Upon booting up the disk and then embarking on the first mission it’s clear that Sniper Elite is somewhat different to its contemporise. Fine, the game features German soldiers that are up to no good and a plethora of authentic weapons but the game play is somewhat different. There basically is no run and gun style play here as this style will result in you pushing up daisies pretty quickly (think Ghost Recon). Sniper Elite opts to utilise a little more lateral thinking and a touch of stealth to proceedings. Armed with a map, a compass which shows the direction of primary and secondary objectives it’s your job to navigate the terrain with as little fuss as possible.
The main aim here (and no pun intended) is to distance yourself from your targets and remain undetected as best as possible. Your sniper rifle gives you great accuracy at distance whereas your opponent’s weapons couldn’t hit an elephant at the same range. There are a number of factors that influence your shots which include, wind, gravity, heart rate, posture and distance. Going prone seems to be the best way to proceed and whilst you are prone you might just benefit from being camouflaged, depending on your environment. Crawling around like Solid Snake seems to work well here and with the use of your binoculars to scan an area before moving into it creates some realistically tense immersion into the game world.
But is there blood?
So you can navigate by crawling around and hiding under or behind the many objects that litter the levels, oh and talking of litter you even see the litter blowing across the empty streets giving you an indication of the wind direction. Inevitably you are going to need to start picking off targets; although one mission requires you to stealth it up until you have completed objectives and if you don’t then your task becomes 10 times tougher. Picking off unaware enemies is a joy to behold, especially if you take your time to line up the shot correctly whilst aiming for a vital body part such as the head. If done correctly you will be treated to a bullet eye view (as seen in Max Payne) and then the rather gruesome looking entry wound on the victim. At these points you are often treated to some sort of stat which will show what type of shot you just performed and whether it was your best shot (in terms of range). You score points at the end of the mission based on these types of shots. Sometimes you might shoot and not quite hit your target where you intended and what is a great feature is the way in which the enemies will react. Hit them in the leg and they will hobble away in pain, the same goes for a body shot as they try and find cover. However what is best is when they get shot and collapse on the ground not dead by writhing in pain, unable to move. Sure you could leave them but one of their fellow soldiers might just pick them up and carry them to safety; or you could simply shoot them a little more whilst they are down, putting them out of their misery.
Aims and Objectives
The missions in the game seem to be quite varied and sometimes will require stealth and sometimes a little more upfront action. One such mission required our man to sneak into a city square undetected and then venture to the top of a cathedral to signal an escaping agent. From the Cathedral it was then up to our man to take out any pursuing Germans whilst the agent escaped. Once completed it was then up to us to escape whilst being chased by a number of angry Germans. This mission highlighted the fact that you could use a number of weapons through out the mission including things like trip grenades and an MP-40 sub machine gun for those up close moments.
During the more stealth orientated moments you can get away with the odd kill but like games such as Splinter Cell you have to pick up the dead body and hide it somewhere rather than leaving it for all to see. Another mission required us to rescue an injured soldier from his captors and then carry his body to a safe point. Obviously avoiding the patrolling tanks and guards was more favourable during this particular mission, although one could still fire the silenced pistol whist carrying the injured soldier.
There are a lot of things going on at times during the game whereas at other times the game world is spookily quiet. For example at one point there is heavy artillery fire raining down on your area making holes in the ground where as in another section aircraft are flying above you, sometimes even crashing right before your eyes. Either way the level of immersion is of a high standard and will no doubt put you right into the heart of the character.
Any Good Then?
Sniper Elite is looking like a great title for those who like to think and plan ahead before they shoot. Whilst initially I wasn’t too impressed with the game, after about 20 minutes once I realised that I needed to employ tactics, I found that the game oozes features and is somewhat different to in your face games such as Medal of Honour. There is definitely an air of realism about this game and for anyone who likes to play sniper will probably enjoy this title immensely, as for once you get to actually be a sniper rather than a soldier with a sniper rifle on the front line. The graphics seem detailed enough and convey the war torn nature of a city very well as are the animations which are great also. I would have liked a permanent first person view as when you are moving, the game is purely 3rd person, although this isn’t too much of a problem when you have to constantly use your binoculars anyways (yes you can move when they are being used). The enemy AI seemed to be pretty intelligent and at times a little too intelligent especially when tossing the realistic grenades to flush you out. Sniper Elite also promises a two player co-op mode and some form of Xbox Live modes to mess around with which should prove interesting considering the large scale maps and plenty of hiding places. Either way Sniper Elite should be a title to look out for when it is released at the end of September this year.
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