Villordsutch reviews Sniper Elite 4…
Before we begin with the review allow me to take you back to 2012 with the release of Sniper Elite 2 – also from Rebellion – a game I played a stupid amount of times. I adored being locked within the streets of war-torn Berlin crawling on my belly, finding the best kills I could, and I’m not just talking “X-Ray Cam” glory kills here for I’d be looking for grenade shots, double kills or numerous foolish Nazi’s finding my subtle booby-traps. I loved it. Now here in 2017 Sniper Elite 4 has arrived and after a month of play I’ve decided to give my opinion.
Five years for myself is a good base to compare both games, as you can instantly see the massive difference in what Rebellion are delivering and it’s not just – as expected – within the graphics department. Sniper Elite 4 is now an extremely vast game. You have a mission and you need to complete it, that’s the goal. However, how you go about this mission, what you do, where you go before the final trigger pull is all up to you here.
The opening level is the litmus test in whether you’ll gel with this evolved world of Sniper Elite. Everything begins as you’d expect, there’s a path, a wall, you climb, you stab, you shoot, you scope then it all expands. The numerous paths open before you with enemy’s patrolling each, not just “popping” as you wander a corner, you may fall under the gaze of a strolling foot soldier or a scout on a hill depending on your path. Making use of the natural foliage, artificial noises and surrounding stonewalls allows you to plot your path before you decide on whether you’ll begin raining down mayhem or a surgical removal of the enemy. This representation of World War 2 set within Italy is now your occupied oyster.
As you’d come to expect with Sniper Elite games not only does it impress in the visual appearance of it all, but it also scores points with its impressive use of sound. The landscapes within Sniper Elite 4 are rather great to look at, but if we’re being brutally honest we’re concentrating more on a) the location of “Jerry” and awaiting a splendid b) “X-ray Cam” moment. It’s here the sound should really be respected as bone, muscle and the occasional testicle are painfully shredded by Rebellion’s Foley Artist.
Along with the positives to sing about for Sniper Elite 4 which include setting gruesome traps, and shooting grenades in the hands of the enemy, there are unfortunately a small cluster of negatives that need to be mentioned. One of these is also possibly a positive for others, that is the game has too big a sandbox. I’d honestly prefer games, such as this, to have its layout more structured and defined. Having the ability to wander elsewhere – in truth – doesn’t drive the story aspect for me, though I understand this pleases a lot of players but this is more a personal preference. The second bugbear is the constant saving – at one point the autosave feature returned me to a moment fifteen seconds before I was due to be surrounded again; it took some fancy footwork along with some foliage to wait out the search.
Other than those issues and the frustration of trying to find the best route before being spotted and erased by a swarm of lead, after twenty minutes of careful stalking, Sniper Elite 4 is an enjoyable evolution of the franchise. If you were considering buying it and still erring on picking it I’d recommend it, but make sure you’re sat comfortably for it’s going to be a long battle.
Pros
+ As always, the X-ray cam’s
+ The use of sound within the game
+ Planning the route and finally achieving victory.
Cons
-The size of the game isn’t necessarily a winner
-The autosaving is questionable
Rating: 8/10
Played on the PS4.
Originally published March 28, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
