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| | Title:
Sniper Elite
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System:
Playstation 2
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Genre:
Action Adventure
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Publisher:
Namco
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Developer:
Rebellion
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Release:
October 18, 2005
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
Mature (M)
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Sniper Rifles have always been a part of shooting games and they are usually the crowd favorite. They are big, loud, and can take someone down from extreme distances. What's not to like? Until now, there has never really been a game centered completely around this one type of firearm for Xbox. Now this has changed with Namco's Sniper Elite where you play as a lone sniper performing a number of missions near the end of World War II. Your sniper rifle is your main weapon as you travel throughout war-torn Berlin on a series of missions to prevent Stalin from obtaining Germany's atom bomb research and technology.
Gamplay
Sniper Elite is all about shooting down enemy forces from concealed and far off locations. You will often find yourself lying down on the top of buildings that are half crumbled or lying low in a hole blown out by a tank or air strike. For most of the game you play out the stealth role and try not to be noticed while getting long range shots from where the enemy can't even see you. Besides the skill of being stealth and having a good shot, you also need to have a plan of action for each individual mission. You always have access to a map of the area and there are tactics involved in picking the right routes and working things out safely.
When you zoom in with your sniper rifle, it is not as simple as aim and shoot. There are many factors that will determine how your bullet will move and where exactly it will end up. Wind, gravity, your posture, and even your breathing will affect the trajectory of your bullet. First you will have to focus on whatever you are attempting to hit. Obviously if you want to hit a target 150 meters away, you don't want your scope zoomed all the way out. Different sniper rifles have different ranges as you will find throughout the game. Some rifles can barely zoom in, and others are like the Hubble Space Telescope! (Ok, maybe just up to 6x.) Once you have your target in sights you need to aim for where you want the target hit. The first thing you need to consider is bullet drop. If you are shooting something extremely far away, you need to take bullet drop seriously and aim slightly higher, if the enemy is two feet in front of you, you shouldn't have to worry about this and should be more concerned about taking them down quickly! If you just ran around ten blocks, it is a good idea to wait a while for your heart rate to drop so you can keep your rifle steady. You also have the ability to clear your lungs to make aiming extremely easy.
Once you pull the trigger (and hopefully hit someone), something amazing will happen. Time will slow down enough for the camera to actually ride right above the bullet. It will follow the bullet how ever far it was shot and until it ends up in someone's body. Once the animation is done, a message will pop up on the screen telling you how long the shot was, and if it was any kind of special shot (such as if the person was moving, if it was a headshot, etc...). The bullet trajectory does not get over used and once you get past the first level it will happen only occasionally. It will only happen if you set a new record distance or shot one of the special shots. The bullet trajectory is an excellent part of the game and is really awesome to watch, especially if the shot was very long or passed close to a few objects or buildings.
Although the game is built around using a sniper rifle, there are plenty of other weapons and items you will use in the game to help. Most of the time, in Sniper Elite, you will be equipped with a pistol, some sort of machine gun, different sorts of grenades, and possibly even an anti-tank weapon. Machine guns will become your next best friend besides your sniper rifle. When you are moving around from location to location, you usually want to have out your machine gun incase someone happens to show up right around the corner or pop out from somewhere. With your machine gun out, you can quickly take them out, or fire a few shots, get behind cover, and then finish them off with your sniper. The pistol is rarely used because of its inaccuracy and weakness, but it is good to have as a last resort. Grenades are something you won't learn to use right away, but after getting further into the game you should become more comfortable through using them and be able to throw them exactly where they need to be. Grenades consist of the traditional frag grenade, stick grenades, and you can even play around with a tripwire. The most powerful weapon you will have access to are the anti-tank weapons such as the Panzershreck or Panzerfaust. These beasts can take out a tank instantly as long as it is a clean shot and not in a heavily armored area of the tank.
Vehicles are often seen throughout the game, especially tanks. There are a number of ways you can deal with tanks besides firing a Panzershreck or simply blowing it up with some TNT. If a normal truck is spotted, they can be taken out by shooting the driver, or even my shooting one of the tires! Also, some tanks have an external fuel drum and this can be used to explode the tank and a few surrounding enemies if you are lucky. It isn't just aim and shoot though, you have to hit the cap on the fuel drum which is extremely small, and if you are too close you will die in the explosion. Trucks that are carrying a supply of reinforcements can even be blown up in a similar fashion. Although it may seem easiest to just ignore the vehicles and just continue on with the mission, you will see that there is a great deal of tactics in just getting rid of vehicles on any certain level.
Graphics
The graphics in Sniper Elite aren't anything special and everything seems to be some shade of brown. Although this is taking place near the end of WWII and you are in war-torn towns there is almost no color. The detail of most objects and the animations are also mediocre. Sniper Elite does do a good job on the amount of things in the environment and how realistic they are. Many of the buildings you can walk completely through, climb up stares, jump out windows and they serve absolutely no purpose to the mission. A lot of environment is there just to be realistic and also provide good hiding and sniper spots.Other effects such as planes flying low overhead and explosions are well done and add some much needed flavor to the visuals.
Overall
Sniper Elite is a very fun and tactical sniping game, but lacks in a few areas. The sniping and different elements that affect your bullets trajectory is very realistic and the best part is when the game follows the exact trajectory and ends up in an enemies head. Planning out your missions and executing them as hiding as possible is what makes the game exciting and fun. On the down side, the gameplay can get a little boring after a while and the graphics are very dull. Xbox Live offers tons of replay value and a chance to see how good of a sniper you really are against some of the best in the world. Overall, Sniper Elite is an excellent and realistic shooter game that will take you through many intense and exciting missions that are all taking place near the close of World War II.
| The Core Score |
Overall
8 |
| Fun |
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8 |
| Gameplay |
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8.3 |
| Graphics |
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7.5 |
| Audio |
|
7.5 |
| Replay |
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8 |
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