sniper elite 3 preview
TRANSCRIPT
Sniper Elite 3 Preview
http://www.gamescdkey.com/news/sniper-elite-3-preview
The sniper has long had a cosy relationship with the videogaming
world. It’s a military role that blends perfectly with the key
principle of gaming: that the player is in control. While your
regular Tommy can’t do a lot about a badly timed bullet to the brain
or other misfortune, the sniper is a model of battlefield supremacy
and power. As much as certain action titles attempt to throw you into
the general masses, that necessity of control makes the player more
like a super-soldier than ‘one of the old boys’. Playing as a
sniper, however, is much more fitting. The Sniper Elite franchise
has, since 2005, taken advantage of that affinity with three well-
liked titles. With the third entry in the series, aptly
titled Sniper Elite III, developers Rebellion are attempting to bring their third-person stealth series to the masses. If my time
with the game shows anything however, it’s that despite the
broadened target market, they’re not making any compromises on what
made Sniper Elite V2 a success.
Which means the element that made V2 both infamous and a hit in one
fell swoop is back with a vengeance. The Mortal Kombat-esque x-ray cam is here for Sniper Elite III and it’s just as brutal, scarily
satisfying and Mary Whitehouse-bludgeoning as it was before. The
slow-mo is still used and abused with great effect, while the
improved next-gen visuals only help to make the mechanic all the more
visceral. A new vehicle X-ray mechanic also mixes things up. So
that’s one big thing ticked off the ‘what fans want to see’ list.
The next, according to Lead game Designer Michael How, was the role
of the AI: “the community have given us feedback and they didn’t
want an omnipotent AI, they wanted an AI which feels human. So you
can toy with them and start to trick them, and I think that’s an
element that grows with the player as they spend more time with the
game.”
During our playthrough of the first two levels of the game, it was
clear to see that Rebellion has acted on these community suggestions.
Whereas in V2 your entire plan could be scarpered by a misplaced
foot being spotted by the enemy, Sniper Elite III features a more
realistic and less telepathic AI. While it’s still just as easy to
be spotted if you’re not careful, it’s now possible to relocate
from your firing position and throw the Nazis off the scent. The game
uses a measurement mechanic in which the player must move a certain
distance from their firing position in order to lose the enemy. Along
with the more human AI, it makes for a much more natural gameplay
experience in which you feel less like you’re playing a game about
sniping, and more like you’re an actual WW2 sniper.
Michael How was also keen to highlight the differences between their
game and the slew of military actions games out there. “We’re
trying to incentivise more of a thinking man’s shooter; slowing
down, assessing threats, it’s not about bursting into the room with
the highest velocity weapon you have and just spraying bullets
everywhere.” A large part of that thinking involves the slow and
steady traversing of the game’s various levels. Most of the stages
will be huge open environments in which the player has free roam to
complete their objectives in whatever manner they see fit. It’s a
tactic employed by various recent shooters such as Killzone: Shadowfall, but it has yet to be pulled off particularly well. Sniper Elite III looks to change that; the second level
presents the player’s first real taste of an open environment and
it’s a beauty.
With the game now set in Northern Africa during the height of WW2,
there’s plenty of opportunity for some spectacular visuals. That
second level takes place at night around a desert lake, cocooned by
mountain peaks. It’s an excellent setting for sneaking and gunplay,
especially when the environment plays such a key role in the
gameplay. Darkness makes it more difficult for enemies to spot you,
sounds around the map can mask your gunfire and it’s your job to use
the terrain to your advantage. Rebellion has provided a playground of
death and destruction and it’s the player’s job to set everything
in motion. What makes Sniper Elite III such an appealing prospect
is that freedom to take the level in any given direction. Michael How
noted that he loved watching multiple people play through the same
level at once, as it demonstrates just how many options there are.
Where one player may move slowly through the grasslands, popping out
every once in a while to slit a throat, another may take the literal
high road and snipe from the raised paths using sounds and other
distractions to their advantage. Or then again the player could dash
between obstacles, using their silenced pistol to take out enemies at
close range and setting traps to lure them into a nasty end. Of
course, despite their efforts to make this a game of stealth,
Rebellion has also included the ability to go loud if needs be. So
you could just spray the whole Nazi army full of bullets if the mood
takes you and you’re good enough to survive. The variety is beyond
anything we’ve yet seen in similar games such
as Dishonored or V2 for that matter. It could well be the ace up
Rebellion’s sleeve, so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle
it throughout the game.
As mentioned, Sniper Elite III is themed around North Africa during
WW2, a time and place not typically associated with snipers. That’s
because they rarely operated in the desert where mobility and
vehicles were king. Suspension of disbelief is at play here, or “fun
trumps realism” as How titles it, and if it means we get to pop the
testicles of endless Nazis then who’s going to complain? Except
perhaps the Daily Mail. What that setting also means is that vehicles
will play a much more important role in the game. As well as simple
noise masking and cover, vehicles can now be targeted and taken down
with your sniper rifle. A quick check through the new binoculars
(which can target enemies much like in Far Cry 3) and you can spot a vehicles’ weak spots. Aim well and you can blow the
tank/truck/armoured car to smithereens with one well placed bullet,
killing and distracting enemies.
Sniper Elite III is filled to the brim with interesting interactive
elements such as this, giving the player more and more options once
let loose on the battlefield. Whether this variety can be maintained
through each level has yet to be seen, and will likely be the
toughest challenge for Rebellion. Based on the large levels that we
have played on, there’ll be a few surprises and new options to play
around with across the large stages. “There’s a lot of depth with
the traps and the way they interact with each other” notes How,
“you can lure your enemy into them, then set off a chain of traps so
it all kicks off. It’s cool to see all of that unfold.” While our
attempts at creating these chained traps fell a little short of Tom
and Jerry, we did see some real potential in this mechanic which
blends well with the more realistic AI.
It’s all shaping up to be a bit of a dark horse, really. While
Watch_Dogs and its kin have taken the spotlight, it could be down to
‘smaller’ titles like Sniper Elite III to give the next-gen
consoles their first must-play game. It could also be the best next-
gen title for a spot of co-op. The basic campaign mode will be fully
playable in two player co-op, a mode that perfectly suits the stealth
and snipe gameplay. It will also be available in the separate
Overwatch and Survivor game modes, which provide different challenges
to those posed in the campaign.“It was interesting juggling some of
the location mechanics for co-op, but I think we’ve got something
now that does just work. if you want to take town units tactically
then often it works better in a co-op environment.” This could be
the key selling point for Sniper Elite III, as next-gen gamers look for the first truly decent co-op game on PS4 and Xbox One.
There’s a deep gap between brilliance and failure, named mediocrity,
which Sniper Elite III will have to avoid when released later this
month. A niche game from a small developer and publisher combo could
go the wrong way. But from what we’ve seen so far, this game has all
the potential to be not only the best sniping game of all time, but
one of the best games yet on PS4 and Xbox One, not forgetting PC of
course. Don’t worry though, the game will also be on Xbox 360 and
PS3 for those who’ve (understandably) yet to make the jump. After
loving Sniper Elite V2, we’re really looking forward to number
three and the host of improvements it’s bringing to the series. The
beautiful setting, great returning features and excellent co-op
support make this one to watch with a sniper’s eye.
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