In 'Sniper Elite 4,' you punch many Nazis with your bullets
Sniper Elite 4 is simultaneously the victim and the beneficiary of timing.
It's a Nazi-shooting game coming along at a moment when the question "Is it OK to punch Nazis?" is a subject of public discourse. You don't merely shoot Hitler's soldiers in Sniper Elite 4; you also get X-ray vision close-ups as your bullets shred bone and internal organs.
It's an immensely satisfying display of virtual violence, made even more potent by the current political climate.
But Sniper Elite 4 is also arriving as a bigger-and-better sequel at a moment when video game fans are drooling over inventive new releases like For Honor and Horizon: Zero Dawn or name-brand sequels for Mass Effect and Zelda. Not to mention an entirely new Nintendo console.
To compete in an environment such as this, a new game really needs to dazzle. And while Sniper Elite 4 carries forward the strong principles that made its predecessor so enjoyable, it doesn't do enough to take those ideas further.
The World War II-set game casts you once again as OSS agent Karl Fairburne. The focus this time is on the war's southern front, with Fairburne taking on Nazis and their Italian fascist allies as he pursues a German weapon that could turn the tide of the war.
The written story in Sniper Elite 4 is secondary to the one you make for yourself as you explore each expansive map and gather intel. Your rifle scope is still the gateway to the game's most memorable moments, but the work you do to get yourself into sniping position matters just as much.
Early missions are fairly cut-and-dry: sniper-friendly elevated positions are easy to find, and there are obvious -- if threat-filled -- paths from one to the next. Later on, however, the notion of what a sniper is and how he operates evolves as maps provide fewer obvious opportunities for attacking at long range.
That's where Rebellion Developments' thoughtful level design really gets to shine. Over the course of the game's eight missions you'll take on the Axis powers in a variety of locales: rural farmlands, forested mountain passes, busy railway yards, wealthy population centers, and sprawling military bases.
Each location delivers a new set of tactical advantages and challenges. The regular boom of an anti-air gun reliably masks your sniper fire when you're infiltrating a Nazi base, but that helpful crutch disappears when missions take you to rural farmlands or secret research facilities.
During one early mission to bring down a railroad bridge and destroy the Nazi heavy gun parked there, I found myself chased by a squad of soldiers into a snowy, seaside forest. I couldn't snipe without giving away my position, but the abundance of foliage allowed me to isolate and dispose of my pursuers -- at close quarters -- one at a time.
A later mission tasked Fairburne with locating and capturing a German researcher tucked away in the far corner of a bustling military base. That objective was complicated by the fact that base security intensified as I destroyed fixed gun emplacements -- a secondary goal of the mission. Worse, each gun destroyed meant one less sound source to mask my sniper fire.
Unfortunately, Rebellion's superior level design can't hide the fact that your enemy is brain-dead. Gun one down and another will show up to investigate; gun that one down, and yet another will come, and then another, until everyone in the vicinity is wiped out.
The simple alert system is also easily gamed. You're meant to be stealthy in Sniper Elite 4, since you risk discovery every time you fire your rifle without some other sound to mask its noise.
The problem is, enemy forces need to hear a couple of your rifle shots before they can pinpoint your position. One isn't enough; it just puts everyone into an alert state. And if you hunker down long enough -- around 30 seconds -- the alert ends.
This isn't the recommended way to play, of course, but that it can be done at all highlights the underlying A.I. issues. Ratcheting up the difficulty makes shooting more difficult -- Sniper Elite games have always taken a realistic approach to bullet physics at higher difficulties, and this is no exception -- but it doesn't make your Nazi targets any smarter.
The A.I. issues don't go away when you play the game with a partner -- the entire campaign supports up to two players, and separate Overwatch missions put one player on the ground while another snipes from far away. A wave-based Survival mode is included as well, but its all-out aggression runs counter to the stealthy core of the game.
So which impacts Sniper Elite 4 more: The happy timing of its release coinciding with a renewed distaste for Nazis? Or the unfortunate timing of this more-of-the-same sequel releasing alongside games that are higher profile and/or more inventive?
There's no single answer; it all depends on the kind of game you want to play.
Sniper Elite 4 is an excellent game in many ways, even if it does little to separate itself from its 2014 predecessor. Nazis have always made great video game baddies, and in this one you get to make their heads, lungs, hearts, and other bits explode in slow, bloody motion.
That might be exactly the sort of escapism you're looking for in February 2017.
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
