Certain moments in Sniper Elite V2 made you feel as if you were wielding the Finger of God packed into a high-caliber casing. It was every Battlefield bush-Wookiee's wet dream. Until you made a mistake or two, at which point the game more or less freaked out and didn't know what to do with itself. It was still a great bit of fun, but this binary structure of either feeling like a ghostly bringer of death or Rambo's inept cousin was pretty jarring, and that's exactly what the folks at Rebellion are looking to remedy with Sniper Elite 3.
The first order of business was to make sweeping changes to the AI and how it responds to the player. No longer will every enemy on the map know where you are once one of them spots you. Guards now follow a much more realistic awareness model – one based on sound, sightlines, and proximity. So if you come around the corner to find an Axis soldier staring you right in the mug, just stay calm, jab a knife through his throat, and keep moving. As long as you properly hide the body, it's all good.
Of course, when you're stalking your prey through the scope of your trusty M1 Garand, keeping your location a secret is of chief importance. That’s a fact that hasn’t changed from the two previous entries in the series, but in Sniper Elite 3, there’s an entire mechanic built around it – one that also helps bring some much needed structure to the nonsensical chaos that ensued in V2 once your location was known. As you take shots from your perch of choice, an awareness bar builds, and once full, bad guys in the area will zero in on your nest. If you can get a set distance away from where they know you to be without being seen, everyone settles back down, albeit with somewhat heightened awareness.
It’s hard to say if this will work as planned in a wide variety of scenarios, but in the ones I saw, it was a big step up from V2. Combined with the larger, more sandbox-y level designs, this new mechanic allows players to be far more fluid by giving them the power to engage and slip away as they deem necessary. This leads to more stealthy badassery, less time clumsily exchanging clips with enemy soldiers, and an overall better sense of situational control. Another nice effect of the more open environments is the added context it lends to the existing Sniper Elite formula. Setting traps, using environmental sounds to mask shots, and shooting strategically placed explosives feel more like tools in a toolbox rather than scripted, one-off gimmicks.
Of course, Sniper Elite 3 enjoys all the other benefits of being a sequel, particularly as one making the jump to a new generation of consoles. PS4 and Xbox One are the lead platforms here, and while Sniper Elite doesn’t seem to push either platform to the limit, it certainly looks quite a bit nicer than the last console versions did. The seldom-used North African theater also sports a different aesthetic than most WWII shooters, which also helps set it apart. Additionally, the multiplayer mode that found its way to V2 post-launch will be available from the start, and the excellent co-op campaign makes a return as well, so you won’t be missing out on content by making the next-gen jump.
Sniper Elite has always nailed its core mechanic, so it’s really nice to see the folks at Rebellion making the game around it better. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the final product pans out, and if the new freedom and flexibility solves the issues fans have had with the franchise in the past.
Vincent Ingenito is IGN's third newest recruit, and third biggest MOBA fan. He also doesn't suck at fighting games. To hear him nerd out about them and other games, follow him on Twitter.
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