Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Innovative"

Sniper Elite puts you in the boots of an American OSS trained sniper at the end of the Second World War. The basic story line is that Stalin's Russia are fighting for control of Berlin and his special units called NKVD are attempting to gain control of a nuclear weapon that Hitler had been creating, needless to say Americans can't allow this and so you are effectivly sent on a one man mission to stop them at all costs.

The level designs are interesting, for the first few times you encounter a new one there are a fair number of areas to explore and learn so you can shoot from them later, however these levels are used again and again and you feel the game could have had a bit more in design in some.
The sounds in the game are impressive also, with plane, bomb and other war time sound effects really pullnig the player into the experience.Even exposions can be exploited by being used to mask the sound of a shoot from your rifle

The missions are usually fairly simply, assinate him, infiltrate here, protect allies etc etc and these are supplemented by additional bonus objectives that you can choose or not choose to do dependant on your playing style. I have noticed however that the number of bonus missions do tie to the main mission, so when you have to assinate a German General the bonus might be to sneak in and place explosives on a truck. This is good because when the truck comes to drop off the Generals personal guard, one shot will kill them all making your life easier.

The approach to this game should be carefull and methodical, and certainly not to shoot anything that moves. Various elevated positions are built into the maps in the forms of staircases to second, third or fourth level windows or simply debris that forms a handy slope up to the roof of the building. These positions allow you to get the drop on a few troops before they can see you coming, running around will normally get you killed as the enemy have snipers as well and would kill you in an instant.

The enemy AI is incredibly advanced, once you have shot a few rounds from position they tend to figure out where you are and will come looking for you so you need to move around lots and stealthly. Enemy snipers once they take a shot you won't simply stand there waiting to reload, they duck behind cover, lie under trucks etc making them very difficult to spot.
The system will even work in teams, so while you being pinned down by sniper fire, another unit will flank you and attempt to shoot you before you have any idea they are there so in a sense it makes it quite challenging.

On easier levels the only thing to affect gun fire from your rifle is gravity, which is simple to get. The further away you are the higher over your target you aim to ensure that when the bullet starts to drop you will still get your shot. On harder player levels you will have to contend with wind and many more factors that hinder your shots.

If you do achieve a good shot such as a long range head shot or double kill with one bullet the camara angle changes to show the bullet ripping thourgh the air and where on the target it hits. This feature may not be appropriate for younger gamers as bits of skull and brain will fly off your headshot showing it in quite grusome detail.