Sniper Elite 4 - PS4 Gaming Review
Posted on: 2017-02-15
Our rating:
Sniper Elite 4 is a fantastic game where it switches gears from the usual route of shoot everything in sight as it encourages you to take your time. It has a lot of replay value as you will revisit levels over and over again.
The Sniper Elite series has been around for the best part of a decade and they offer heart pounding stealth action coupled with over the top gore and violence with the x-ray kills. It’s been two years since the last Sniper Elite game which I did review on my blog and I loved it with its stealth gameplay and realistic sniping ballistics. Does Sniper Elite 4 stay true to the series? In short, yes.
Sniper Elite 4 takes place in the Italian fronts of the Second World War where you’re pushing Nazi oppression out of the region; I like this change of setting as a lot of World War II games don’t explore it as most games stick to D-day or Operation Market Garden etc. You once again step into the shoes of expert marksman Karl Fairburne who has been tasked to take down several high ranking officers in the region, as well as sabotaging several high powered rocket weapons that the Nazi’s have on standby. The game’s plot is standard it is a thin layer of context to set you up for the gameplay as this is the department the game focuses on the most, it tells you what to do then lets you get on with it with no interruptions.
Sniper Elite 4 gives you several objectives and dumps you in huge wide open maps where it lets you tackle them in any way you see fit and these levels can take anywhere between 40 minutes to over an hour depending on how many side objectives you do. As a sniper you’ll be taking things slowly by scouting the coming areas and picking off enemies, but you mustn’t be too trigger happy because otherwise they will know your position. You can use techniques like using loud noises of planes flying over etc. to mask your shots, things like this keep the game fresh as it adds a layer of strategy to your approach. You can use binoculars where you can mark enemies which even give you a bit of background on each soldier such as personality traits as well as weaknesses.
Sniping in this game is realistic as you’re not pin point accurate as there are elements of wind direction and bullet drop. It does take a while to get use to these mechanics but if you’re an avid Battlefield player who likes to snipe you’ll be use to this. When you do master sniping it feels really satisfying to nail a headshot from 400 metres away where you then see the damage you do with the game’s signature x-ray kills.
Things will go to hell if you miss a shot or don’t mask your shots with loud sounds and trust me it will go wrong at least once in every level on your first try. You can go loud as the game gives you sub machine guns to use but these are inaccurate and are generally there to get you out of close encounters. My advice for this game is to take your time and observe the environment as you’re not the only sniper on the field. When another sniper comes into play you’ll get a flash of lens flare from the enemy’s scope, first it will flash white to show they have a vague idea of where you are, and then it will flash red when they have spotted you.
The presentation is a mixed bag the environments look beautiful they have done a good job of capturing Italian region with dense forests to wonderfully detailed villas in small villages coupled with olive fields and vineyards. However the character models do look last generation with stilted and mannequin like movements with poor lip syncing from the characters. On the other hand the graphic detail of your bullet coursing through the enemy’s body is great you see it tear through flesh, muscles and bones coupled with sickening sound design of crunching bones and organs exploding.
Sniper Elite 4 is a fantastic game where it switches gears from the usual route of shoot everything in sight as it encourages you to take your time. It has a lot of replay value as you will revisit levels over and over again to get that perfect score and complete them on higher difficulties. If you’re looking for a decent stealth game with sniping elements then I highly recommend this game.
4.5/5
Article by:
Sam has lived in Bristol all his life. A keen cyclist he speeds around the city but video games are his bread and butter. Whether the old Nes and Snes games or the XBox One and Playstation releases he loves them all. Sam runs his own gaming blog called Bristolian Gamer where he had been reviewing indie games, doing retro reviews and venting his anger at the industry when it does wrong since 2010. Sam joined the 365Bristol team in December 2014.
