The latest installment of the Sniper Elite series is here, and with it comes immersive maps, exciting gameplay, and a vast multiplayer experience. Sniper Elite 5 is a mixed bag of visuals, story, sound and gameplay. Where it lands depends on the expectations of the player. Sniper Elite 5 can take 12 hours+ to finish the main story. To complete the side missions, kill lists etc. you could need in excess of 20 hours. Is that enough to make it a must buy?
Platforms: Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam, Windows Store
Publisher: Rebellion
Developer: Rebellion
Release Date: May 26, 2022
GWW was provided a digital code for the PS4 for the purpose of this review. The review will thus be reviewing every aspect of the game via the system it was played on.
Gameplay
Sneak your way into the enemy base. Throw a grenade into a group of Nazi’s. Snipe and assassinate from a far. There is more than one way to skin a cat in Sniper Elite 5, and thus the biggest selling point of the game. Karl Fairburne, the protagonist of the Sniper Elite series is a man of many talents and to complete objectives you will need his entire arsenal. There is more than one way to complete the mission and that makes Sniper Elite 5 enjoyable to play from start to finish.
Overall the missions and objectives are simple and by the end of the game are repetitive. Karl is dropped into a open sandbox area of France. The mission? To infiltrate a Nazi base, steal documents or kill a high ranking officer and then retreat. By the middle of them game it can become repetitive doing the same thing over and over again. But where the game makes up for that is the tension that can arise from being trapped inside an old French castle with Nazi enemies behind every corner. Using stealth tactics, like focus and marked enemies from Karl’s binoculars make the missions a bit easier. Hide killed enemies in crates, hide in long grass and behind obstacles. Karl will use his entire repertoire to complete the mission.
Gun play in the game is easy to pick up right away but is not its strongest quality. Close combat gun play is messy and unpredictable. Using Karl’s sniper rifle is the key to Sniper Elite. X-ray kills are enjoyable for the first 10 or so but then eventually they get tiresome. Unless you shoot a Nazi in the testicles, that never gets old. Using the sniper rifle and having to factor in wind and drop, how loud the gun shot will be and what to do with the body once Karl has shot it are all things that make and enjoyable and thought out missions. Scoping out the surroundings, routing the path Karl will have to take to reach his goal is exceptional.
Visuals/SounD
On the Playstation 4, Sniper Elite 5 looks like its a Playstation 3 game. Landscapes and buildings are all serviceable. The character designs are lackluster and at times laughable. Weather and time of day all play a part in each mission. Daytime missions or night time missions all have a distinct feel to them. The visuals aren’t bad but when compared to other shooters in the genre on the same systems, there is no comparison. Sniper Elite 5 is at the lower end of the visuals.
Sound design is good. X-Ray kills sound gruesome and bloody. But with an underwhelming voice cast, boring dialogue and over done cut scenes, watching and hearing the story progress is a turn off. Character conversations are boring to listen to, because of the dialogue and the voice cast. The game isn’t sold as a magnus opus when it comes to the way people talk, it’s sold on the way Karl traverses the world and the way he kills the enemy.
Overall Enjoyment
With a long and immersive single player campaign, invasion and co-op mode and a survival mode. Sniper Elite 5 will keep you busy for hours upon hours. That alone sells the game. But with lackluster visuals and off putting dialogue and voice work, Sniper Elite 5 is a mixed bag of good vs evil.