Sniper Elite

[John Beaulieu]

Was keeping an eye on this one for quite some time, the premise interested me immensely, and any game which forces me to improve my snip0r-ing skill can only be a good thing for my whole round gaming ...

the game is set in war-torn Berlin, towards the end of the 2nd world war .. the catch being that instead of fighting Germans, you are an allied soldier (US/UK) fighting the Soviets ... it looks like a linear/non-linear hybrid - maps seem to be large enough to accomodate different methods of completing your objectives, but the game doesn't appear to be a complete 'sand-box' experience ..

Stealth plays an important role in this game - you need to move from cover to cover, in the hope that you can avoid detection by enemy snipers. You start the game wearing camoflauge, and you get a percentage rating of just how well hidden you are (similar to MGS3) - I am not sure if you get different camoflauge outfits to give you an higher stealth rating in different areas of the game.

the maps are distinctly war-torn - bombed out buildings, rubble strewn streets, burning fires and destroyed vehicles ... its all murky, murky, murky ... the in-game map highlights higher vantage points which give you perfect sniper perches, and in the tutorial advices you to use the terrain to your advantage, and to take enemies out at a distance rather than get in close.

Enemy AI seemed pretty good on the medium settings - the enemy sussed out my position and one kept me pinned down whilst the other one tried to out-flank me (the one keeping me pinned down kept lobbing grenades into the area i was trying to hide) .. a nice feature is that you can choose the radius of grenades, either realistic (20m) or Hollywood (8m)..

talking of nice touches - the binoculars which you need to use to scout out the area before moving out of cover give you a few seconds of 'out of focus-ness' when you select them and when you zoom in and out ... its a very small touch but it adds that little bit of atmosphere...

Sniping is harder than usual - real world physics are in play here - with gravity (bullet drop), breathing and wind all taking a factor in whether you obtain a successful headshot or not ... ramp the difficulty levels up and you really have to work to get those kills

all in all, sniper elite gives a very promising first impression - its trying something different in the stealth genre, whilst using components we have seen in countless games before. if i have one negative its that button presses seem to have a small lag (this might be down to the preview build i was using though)

any questions don't fail to ask

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[SummAh]

nice impressions, got me very interested...

so uhm, which platform is this for? ^^

[The Boatman]

What format was the preview? Xbox? PC?

[John Beaulieu]

Xbox version is the one played - controls seem to adapt very well to the pad, though there is a case of button lag which I am putting down to the preview build ...

another touch i noticed - snipe someone from a long distance (head shot) and you get a bullet-cam view of the 'hit' - complete with gruesome bullet wound/blood splatter ... I have also been messing about with the settings, putting everything on realistic (sniping) so that posture,bullet drop, breathing and heart rate all play a part in your shooting

another thing to point out - sniping in the game is good, but i found that in-close fighting is a bit ****ty .. you can pick up enemy weapons etc for use in battle but i have found its much better to stay at a distance so that you can pick off enemies as and when you pick them out from all the battleground clutter ..

another nice little touch - you can crawl under vehicles for a sniping perch - its only a little thing but it put a grin on my face

nearly forgot - due to excessive BF2 play I found myself wishing i could call down an artillery strike onto an enemy tank, or highlight the tank for an airstrike ... its something that is definitely missing from this games experience

[Unwell Cat]

Sniper Elite PS2

Saw this in Game today for ?24.99 ( PS2 ) and as I had ?5.00 on my game card thought what the hell give it a try as I've liked what rebellion have done in the past.

After a grainy world war 2 intro explaining what is going on it's into the game.
I've only played the first mission for a couple of hours but I like what I've found so far. Graphics are ok, not fantastic but they do the job. Movement is nice and smooth and the first level at least has more than one route through it. You can either move from barricade to barricade or climb down into the canal and go through the broken sewer for example. Nice little touches like planes flying in the sky, ack ack going up and planes on fire hurtling through the sky before crashing to the ground. Animation seems fine and as you would expect if you play it like doom you don't get very far. Every move needs to be planned and the vacinity scanned for enemys before moving on. If you do get killed then you are shown a close up of who killed you. If you manage to get the sniper shot you are are shown the bullet tracking towards it's prey before their head explodes ( nice ! ).

Textures are not great close up but the backgrounds etc look fine. Also noticed during the intro that later you get trip wires to set and then wait for the russians to set it off and blow themselves up. You can also shoot vehicles and plant TNT which you can shoot to ignite and destroy whatever you planted it on.

I quite like the slow thoughtful play, it makes a nice change from the normal run around kill everything really quickly before tea time. Oh and I'm sure you can save wherever you like, I just keep forgetting to which is why I'm still on the first mission.

Sound is good, very minimal as you would expect. I didn't notice any in game music but the effects are nice, weapons, explosions, rain etc. One nice touch is that germans speak german and russians appear to speak russian.

It has an online mode ( not tried yet ) so some extra fun there maybe if played properly ?

Controls are fine with all the button mapped sensibly, circles changes stance, R1 fires, R3 puts you in sniper mode and the dpad selects medipack and rocks.

No 60hz mode which is a shame and no widescreen mode select although on my TV the game automatically put the TV in widescreen mode so maybe it has one and selects it automatically based on the dashboard settings, then again I could be talking out of my arse...

Any questions let me know, one more thing play have this for ?17.99 and the xbox versions not out for a couple of weeks.

[John Beaulieu]

the more I play this game, the more I know that its in my top 5 Xbox titles. This game deserves to be played by anyone looking for a shooter with a bit more intelligence about it, its much slower paced than the MTV generation would cope with - for example, staking out a target for 5 mins or so, waiting for that one bit of background noise which will disguise your rifle shot, then relocating immediately to another vantage point and doing it all over again is something which I expect many people will find a turn off, but for me its just gaming at its deepest.

The thing that really stands out in this game, and trust me, there are a high number of positives ranging from the AI of the enemies, to the bullet physics, to the layouts of the huge maps, the grittiness of the graphics etc - is the use of sound. It really does add an extra dimension to the game, what on first 'hearing' is solely background noise, there to set the scene, soon becomes apparent to be an integral part of the games 'puzzle-solving'. From hearing enemies approaching you (when you are staking out a target you can't really be looking all around you), to disguising your shots, to using wounded enemies as bait (their screams draw other enemies towards them) everything has been so well thought out sonically as to be as close to perfect as possible.

Put it one way, if NTSC-uk were in the nature of assigning review scores for each individual component of a game (as some sites do) Sniper Elite would get nothing short of a 10 in the sound department.

Please, if you are want a good shooter to tide you over for a few weeks, pick up Sniper Elite. This game deserves to be played by as many people as possible. plus, it can be picked up for 24.99 or less

[Unwell Cat]

Differences between Xbox and PS2 anyone ?? Just sharper graphics ?

[MJ]

I've been thinking about getting this and after reading this thread I might just give it a go.

[Zapp$ter]

For those that are undecided it is going for cheap at play . There's also a PC demo available, I got it with my PCGamer magazine(the one that has the FEAR demo as well).

What I played of the demo was fantastic. Really tense stuff with some great sound effects. I've got to agree with what John said, if you're not the patient type then this might not be the game for you. Personally I found it enthralling, waiting and watching for a sign of movement and then *BOOM* enemy down. Crawling around making as little noise as possible whilst trying to root out enemy troops.Top stuff. I've ordered the full version which should be here soon.

[Concept]

Picking this up tomorrow. Sounds good from what I've read. I wouldn't mind a cerebral first-person shooter, after playing the pretty-but-dumb Far Cry Instincts.

[langley]

I am so glad that people have picked up on this game, it is such a good game and i could see it just dipping under the radar for most people, it is a shame because it is a great game, and as has been highlighted can be picked up for a resonable price. I must admit to liking sniping in games and have been enjoying Delta Force online for the last few weeks - but this has dragged me away from it, and playing this 2 player co-op is even better, one person scouting with one sniping - really add's another eliment to game play and would highly recomend.

[MonkeyWrench]

Right that's it...I'm picking this up tomorrow! Chaulk up another purchase on the back of a NTSC-UK first play thread

[mr_fantazmo]

Well i like to be popular and follow current trends, so i'm buying it as well!!

seriously though, those first impressions sound good!

[Squirtle]

Haven't had a lot of time to play this, but had a great moment in the first level. Nearly finished it, took out the tank and making my way out. Suddenly a snipers starts peperring shots around me. I duck behind some cover and scope out where he is. A-ha! On top of a building, but he keeps darting back out of sight after his shot at me and I can't get a clear shot lined up. So I wait... And when he ducks back, I jump up and leg it to a different bit of cover and wait... Up he pops and lines up his shot... But he doesn't shoot, because now I'm not there. But he's still looking for me there, thinking I've just ducked behind the cover. Slowly, I line up the shot, slowly hold my breath and boom! Right in the eye! Then off I sauntered out the level.

****ing great stuff.

[MonkeyWrench]

Picked it up this morning. Just finished the first level, great stuff indeed! Most of the shots I was close enough to directly aim for a head shot, but one of the Russians near the tank at the end was a fair distance away and I couldn't get any closer due to a sniper on the rooftops...so I found a good vantage point, exhaled and aimed for his face. Then I realised he's probably too far away for a direct shot, so I aimed about half a foot above his head, pulled the trigger and then POP! Bullet went straight down his earhole Sweet moment. This is going to be one of those games where everyone has a different experience.