Sniper Elite

[Runnen]

Platform : XBOX, PlayStation 2, PC.
Title : Sniper Elite (XBOX, PlayStation 2), Sniper Elite : Berlin 1945 (PC)
Genre : Third-Person Shooter, Infiltration, Sniper

I picked up this game yesterday without really knowing what to expect as I had never heard of it, and it's true there've already been so many games about World War Two that they are getting a bit old even some were truly excellent (Medal of Honor, Call of Duty)..

This game does not actually take place during World War Two proper, as it begins on April 15th 1945, and the War is about to end as the Russian armies swarm over Berlin..

You are an agent of the OSS dispatched in Berlin to foil a plot from the Russians to take over Berlin in order to steal the prototype of the Atomic Bomb. In short, this is the beginning of the Cold War.


So during the game, you can roam around (it's limited by invisible walls but you still are able to change paths when one is too dangerous for your taste, or if you want a better sniping position) in third person view.. you can crouch, lie down or stand up to snipe, but obviously most of your sniping time will be spent on your belly.

You have other items and weapons (handgun with a supressor, machinegun, medikits, bandages, grenades..) and can pick up enemy weapons along the way (machine guns, panzershrecks, TNT..).

You can pick up the corpses of enemies (or sometimes the wounded allies), which adds a sense of infiltration although most missions will not require you to be particularly silent (especially considering the majority of the missions take place amongst utter chaos, with buildings exploding, planes crashing and the cries of the wounded).

The graphics are nothing amazing, but they look more than decent and good enough in my opinion. The soundtrack is pretty good, the sound effects are fitting and the music is very good at times, though it mostly happens in the "epic" moments.

The Enemy AI is sometimes surprisingly good, and it can be frustrating to be the sniper with the huge-ass scope and still get sniped from so far away by a foot soldier with a handgun.. (I'm exagerating a bit).. In short, expect to die several times per mission but it really comes more easily with practice.

The controls are pretty good, although it takes a few minutes to get used to.. the left joystick controls the movements and the other controls the aiming... it's classic really but some games don't use it so for some people it may take a while.

The difficulty of the game is largely compensated by the fact you can save at any time you want, and can consequently load back to the last save when you get killed or are too badly injured to continue (if you so decide).


Obviously the most fun in the game is the BULLET TIME which follows each lethal bullet fired from your rifle and shows the impact in rather gruesome ways (there's some blood, but the wounds are seriously gory sometimes, especially if you shoot in the eye or knees). The Bullet Time effect follows only the "bullet that kills" and it reminds me a bit of Max Payne.

Also, it's worth mentionning that this one of the very few games where localized damage actually means something... if you shoot a soldier in the leg or foot, he'll limp slowly to a hiding place, if you shoot them in the arm or hand they won't be able to hold a weapon anymore and if you only injure them badly, they'lll roll and writhe on the ground calling for a medic..).

I hadn't seen that since Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark, personnality.

A nice touch to the sniping factor too is the possibility to "Empty Lungs" before shooting, which will stop most of your trembling but only for a few seconds... then your heart beat gets too fast and you tremble more, so it's up to you. You also cannot empty your lungs when you've just sprinted across the field obviously, you need to wait a few seconds.

So far really the only annoying thing I've encountered is the fact you cannot re-read your objectives after they've been given to you and so it's sometimes a bit confusing to remember what you have to do next.. (most of the time an arrow on your compass points you to the next objective but sometimes if you did not do them in the right order, it can glitch on you and then it's better to reload or restart the mission).

Most missions are pretty long, especially when you've just begun and are a bit paranoid about the hidden snipers, but once you know the path well, it's a lot faster (although the soldiers sometimes change positions so don't get too cocky).


In short, this game is pretty much a nice sleeper hit, and I think it's definately worth a look, and at the very least a rent.

[woot!]

Originally Posted by Runnen

So far really the only annoying thing I've encountered is the fact you cannot re-read your objectives after they've been given to you and so it's sometimes a bit confusing to remember what you have to do next..

Mhhh ... yes you can. At least on PC, it is the secondary screen of the zone map/plan screen I think.
Also it was not as detailed as yours, I had made a post about it (http://www.fohguild.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16711).

[Runnen]

Yeah I just found out you could by pressing SELECT. Talk about embarassing after I spent like 1 hour stuck on an objective because I did not know I had to set the bomb's timer to 4 minutes =(


I finally beat the game, it's really pretty long for that kind of game, I'd say longer than Medal of Honor or Call of Duty. And there are so many detailed things in this game, like the possibility to shoot in the gas tank of vehicles to blow them up, or shoot in the tyres to stop them / slow them down.. the damage done to tanks isn't even the same depending on where you plant the TNT!

A big time sleeper hit.