Sniper Elite 3 preview: night sniping

Shacknews recently had a chance to go hands-on with Sniper Elite 3, taking a trip through the Gaberoun stage and learning that sniping in this series still isn't as easy as it looks.

Ozzie Mejia

May 29, 2014 1:30 PM

In the field of battle, Karl Fairburne has only one friend to aid him. That's his trusty sniper rifle. Sniper Elite 3 revisits the American sniper before the events of Sniper Elite V2, with developer Rebellion unveiling two more levels, just ahead of the game's scheduled summer release. Shacknews had a chance to see some of the levels in action before ultimately stumbling through one of the game's latter stages. The first stage on display was the Siege of Tobruk, based on a real battleground from World War II. This is Sniper Elite 3's tutorial level, meaning many of the game's stealth elements aren't at play for the first half. This portion of the stage saw Fairburne walk around with his welrod pistol, a silenced bolt gun from the WWII era. The weapon is primarily made for stealth and not so much for stopping power, allowing Fairburne to quietly traverse through levels. It won't, however, hold up in a firefight. The tutorial stage also mainly serves to help introduce players to the objective system and to the sniping mechanics. One example had Fairburne aim at an Axis spotter stationed atop an elevated mountain area. The idea was to take him out to prevent him from calling in Axis aircraft and Fairburne indeed plugged him with a sniper bullet straight through the eye socket. Indeed, the game's gruesomely graphic kill cams are every bit as rewarding in Sniper Elite 3 as in prior games. Fairburne could often be seen nailing soldiers right in the skull, causing the bones and brain tissue to splatter about. In a wonderful bit of detail, the bullet's trajectory shifts as it travels through the victim's head and becomes compressed by the weight of his insides. As explained previously, the kill cam will also extend to vehicles, with Fairburne able to take out trucks or tanks and take out any guards caught in the ensuing explosion. With these tools of the trade in mind, it was time for me to try this out for myself. I had the chance to try out Sniper Elite 3's Gaberoun level, the first of the game's stages to take place at night. As with the game's other stages, it's open-ended, allowing players the choice of how to proceed through their objectives. The ideal choice is to find a sniper nest and fire away at targets, but as I quickly learned, that option isn't always available. Though I sabotaged a nearby piece of equipment to make it malfunction, I wasn't always able to time my shots with the noise it made, quickly drawing attention to myself. This is where Sniper Elite 3 turned into more of a standard third-person action game. If I couldn't find a hiding spot and I had an enemy in front of me, I quickly rushed him and used a melee takedown. While this is a normal tactic in this kind of game, it also has some real consequences. Trying to follow this move up with a long-distance shot proved to be folly, since Fairburne's heart was racing to the point that I couldn't aim at all. Fortunately, there's no shortage of hiding spots, whether it be inside a tent, in a bunker, or within the plants. The game's stealth should be enough to satisfy meticulous enthusiasts of the genre. Snipers can't be too careless, since patrolling guards could just as easily find bodies laying about. Since they're also constantly listening for sound, it won't take them long to look to the snipers nest for anything suspicious. Skilled snipers must constantly be on the move, which is where the level design's openness works to the game's advantage. As I was harshly reminded through my repeated failures in playing through Gaberoun, Sniper Elite 3 is heavily based in realism. Aiming a sniper rifle isn't as easy as it looks. I constantly failed to compensate for wind and breathing patterns, which caused many of my shots to veer away from my target. Many of my shots that did hit punctured the target's mid-section, showing his spleen and stomach burst upon impact. Snipers must be patient before taking that precious shot.

Killcams in Sniper Elite 3 are even more detailed than their predecessors

One intriguing tidbit that I picked up involved the possibility of no-kill playthroughs. This may sound somewhat counter-intuitive in a game about sniping enemies and making their various bones and organs explode, but the idea arises from the Sniper Elite 3's sophisticated AI system. With enemies constantly seeking out anything suspicious and able to react to noise accordingly, no-kill playthroughs become an enticing challenge. Rebellion notes that certain levels can be completed without killing any enemies at all, aside from high-value targets. Sniper Elite 3 appears to continue the series' penchant for high-skilled shooting and for highly-graphic action. The open levels make single-player and co-op play ideal, which is why it's somewhat disappointing to hear that co-op will only be restricted to two players, with Rebellion citing game balance as an issue. There are also a number of competitive multiplayer modes in the works for up to 12 players. While standard deathmatch and team deathmatch are available, some modes revolve around the sniper aesthetic. For example, one of the game's modes (Distance King) will have players competing over who can take the longest shot. Sniper Elite 3 is set to arrive on PC on June 27, with Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 versions releasing on July 1.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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Shacknews

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May 29, 2014 1:30 PM

Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Sniper Elite 3 preview: night sniping.

Shacknews recently had a chance to go hands-on with Sniper Elite 3, taking a trip through the Gaberoun stage and learning that sniping in this series still isn't as easy as it looks.
- valcan_s
  
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  May 29, 2014 4:38 PM
  
  Awesome, I can't freaking wait for this game, I love the series.
- rms
  
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  May 30, 2014 7:48 AM
  
  Some simple stealth elements, namely distraction or possibly takedowns, would be a very good thing
- M T Mabowels
  
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  June 30, 2014 9:34 AM
  
  Got this game the day it came out. I am most definitely NOT disappointed.
  
  The game upgrade options are a bit arbitrary I have to admit. I mean, how does having a 'blued' scope reduce a gun's recoil?
  
  Anyway, that aside, I'm having a great time with this game, now that I automatically pull and hold R1 before firing. One doesn't necessarily need to use the sniper rifle at all. I'm having fun attracting the opposition to a point where they are fairly close together by chucking rocks around, then swapping the rock for a grenade.
  
  The sniper nest are great too. Pick some off and hide for a while. I have found that if you get detected, try throwing a stone or two to distract the opposition. They will think you have relocated and won't attack you.
  
  Using the stone is useful too for luring the opposition to your trip mines. And don't forget to lay land mines around the place to cover your back when sniping.
  
  I thought they might add 3D to improve the game over the previous version, great though that was, but they didn't. No, instead they have improved the game itself and I can tell. So I won't be complaining on that score. Come to think of it, it may not be technically possible to implement stereoscopic 3D in the nighttime levels anyway.
  
  Being back in World War 2 in the North Africa Theatre is great too. I'm fed up fighting Russkis and Mad Mullahs. Get too much of that in real life. Nope. Right now I'm happy dealing it out to Fritz.
  - M T Mabowels
    
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    June 30, 2014 10:31 AM
    
    One other thing. If... (er, sorry)... When one gets killed this game resets really quickly when compared with most other games and, most of the time, not all that far from where one was when one died.