Sniper Elite is a seventeen-year-old series about sniper Carl Fairborn, who fights the Nazis during World War II. The first parts are about the battles in Berlin, the third part takes Karl to Africa and the fourth part is set in Italy. The Sniper Elite 5 uses a setup that is more recognizable to many. This time Karl ends up in Normandy, where he has to make sure the invasion can be successful on D-Day Eve. Once in France, Karl discovers a mysterious plan that, if the Nazis are to be believed, could decide the war in their favour. To the one-man army named Carl Fairborn, so the clean job of thwarting that process.

With the setting, Rebellion of course plays it safe, because the player can return to action in World War II. In any case, it guarantees recognition, but it would also be good to gradually make a completely new setting. Acquaintance not only with the place and the main character, but also with a number of gameplay elements. For example, the special “kill cam”, in which the game very clearly shows the damage that the shot fired into the body of the enemy soldier, once again steals the show. We’ve known that camera since the second part of the Sniper Elite series and although the images are still stunning, we got tired of it after a while. The new one has worn out and there is a high degree of redundancy in it. No problem, more than a sign that what was once a cool new feature has lost some of its luster.

Mont Saint Michel

This aspect is not helped by the general level of graphics in Sniper Elite 5. The game looks good at times. The third mission takes Karl to Mont Saint-Michel, which also looks beautiful in the game. However, the fictional locations look less inspiring and other elements, such as soldiers and cars, make little impression. Admittedly, this didn’t bother us too much while gaming. The lighting effects do their job well enough to definitely make the tasks that happen at night look great. The missions are interspersed with cinematic scenes that add new parts to the story. They are very cute, but nothing more. The level of acting is not close to that of today’s leading games and many of the roles are highly recognizable. Of course, the general story does not help with that. An unnoticed spy who sabotaged a secret Nazi plan in enemy territory is not the most original plot ever.

More originality can be found in the gameplay, at least when comparing this gameplay with the previous games in the series. In Sniper Elite 5, there is an amazing transformation. Karl has to be up every now and then sniper rifle Confidence, but often that coarse artillery is a hindrance. The game forces players to make frequent use of stealth tactics. Infiltrating, disguising yourself, taking out enemies silently and keeping their bodies out of sight is more important than ever. We committed a lot of killings on our missions with our own hands or with a gun SilencerThen with a sniper rifle. This fact, which is enhanced by the ability to use items in the environment and even set very deceptive traps, makes Sniper Elite 5 a bit like Hitman.

Stealth

It comes down to how you work and what you think of the game. Suppose you think Karl is just a sniper, so pick a tactical place to sit and open fire. Your best chance of winning the battle that follows. However, the game makes it clear in every way that this is not actually the intention. Yellow and red colors warn you that enemies are on your way or even fighting you. It acts intuitively as a guiding element; You don’t want yellow, let alone red. Additionally, the game rates you at the end of the mission and shows items such as how many times enemies have seen you and how many times the alarm went off. So you’re clearly being steered in the stealth direction, which really makes Sniper Elite 5 more of a tactical spy game than a pure sniper game.

This is also noticeable in the gameplay features that players have in Sniper Elite 5. If you play in Standard mode, Karl can mark enemies so that their location is always visible. He also has a focus mode, with which he can detect enemies through walls that are not yet spotted. It is also easy to shoot with a sniper rifle; The icon shows where you should aim to compensate for distance, wind, and movement of your target.

The game has more tools that make things easier for the player. Some of them are useful Metal Gear-like tricks, but they don’t really fit the look either. Fortunately, all of these tools can also be turned off, with Authentic being the hardest option. You have lost all of the above means and you are relying on your feeling and intuition. Find out where the enemies are, then continue by observing their patrols for yourself and remember where you saw the enemies. So taking wind, distance and movement into account is a manual task. This logically makes Sniper Elite 5 a more challenging game, but certainly when it comes to shooting with a sniper rifle, it’s more satisfying. However, we can imagine that most players will pick a few training wheels here and there, as this approach requires a lot of your skill and patience. It’s nice if you can adjust the difficulty level for each part of the game, so you have help spotting enemies, for example, but less shooting.

change weapons

If you want to give yourself some extra help, you can do so by changing your armor and unlocking perks. You can do the latter by spending fairly limited experience points skill tree† For example, you can give yourself a little extra money health Or it causes enemies that Carl takes out with his own hands to automatically discharge. In this regard, weapons provide more entertainment. Gradually you unlock more weapons and attachments that allow you to customize those weapons. Every weapon can be heard in Sniper Elite 5, but by placing a silencer on a machine gun, you limit the sound to a few tens of meters. If you want to eliminate some enemies from a distance before you get in somewhere, hearing your gun will be good too. Shooting enemies one by one will be of little use if you immediately sound the alarm and dozens of soldiers attack you.

You can reduce this effect at some levels by timing the shots with background noise. For example, in the above example of the level where you have to sneak into Mont Saint-Michel, planes fly over it. You hear the sound swell and when that sound is at its loudest, you can completely hide a loud shot from a sniper rifle. You can also use this trick on a smaller scale, for example by letting the generators ignite, so that soldiers in that area no longer hear a modest gunshot.

Invasion of other players’ games

The opponents in the game offer quite a few challenges, but not the biggest one that you can face in Sniper Elite 5. This time it is possible to conquer other people’s games, as a sniper on the German side. The player as Karl Fairburne will be notified of the presence of an enemy sniper nearby, as well as an indication of the whereabouts of that sniper. There is a phone system in the game that can provide players with additional information about the whereabouts of the enemy. This creates a cat-and-mouse game between Carl and an enemy sniper, which is without a doubt the most exciting moment in Sniper Elite 5. We enjoyed it more than being a hunter like Carl. In your own campaign, such an invasion always looks like an interruption in your progress, while of course you choose it yourself when you start the invasion mode and go on a hunt as a Nazi sniper. By the way, you can only turn off the option of having invaders in your game if you do not feel like it, but then you will lose some of the excitement.

In Sniper Elite 5, players can play not only against each other, but also with each other. This changes the game quite a bit, because being able to take out two targets at the same time makes many of the difficult parts a lot easier. The conquest of the hub is definitely an added fun, because you can attack the player or other players together. The dynamics change quite a bit as it becomes a two-on-one. Once you can kill one of the players as a lone, the other player of the team of two has only three minutes to take you, otherwise you win the duel by definition. This presents a nice tactical issue. After all, it is worth trying to quickly attack one of the players, because then you just have to hide yourself and let the other take the risk.

conclusion

Sniper Elite 5 definitely has some great parts, but we’re not convinced that the game does what it should. Obviously, a slightly different path was chosen. It’s as if Carl Fairborn doesn’t play the main role, but Sam Fisher or Agent 47 got into the time machine until 1944 in Normandy. Does this mean criticism? Well a little. Based on the title and on the basis of its predecessors, Sniper Elite 5 promises to be primarily a sniper game, but that is only limited. Fans of tactical spy games will love it and yes, it is also a pleasure to complete a stealth mission completely or use one of the more creative ways to kill enemies; Just as you feel in the Hitman games. Sniper Elite 5 is a very nice game for the target group who are less familiar with games and who also don’t want a high difficulty level. Purists will lose focus on realistic shooting, but they can at least choose a more authentic difficulty setting.

Sniper Elite 5 turned out to be a fairly good game, but it is not the recommended game that many were hoping for. The experience is a good idea for many players anyway, as Sniper Elite 5 is available for free on Game Pass for PC and Xbox. PlayStation players will have to purchase the game separately.