Sniper Elite is a series that, with the best will in the world, started out as a natural B-game. The original game, released in 2005, was a functional if fairly uninspiring shooter, made notable by its slo-mo camera that gave headshots and other difficult shots a splash of both brain matter and verve. Since then, we’ve seen every Sniper Elite game add something new, making each installment slightly better than the last.
This kind of gradual improvement is something that all of the industry should be doing. How often have we seen games like FIFA (or, as it’s now known, EA Sports FC) or Madden release a yearly installment that throws the baby out with the gameswater? Instead of doing this, Sniper Elite tends to build up to greater and greater levels with each release. Presumably, they will eventually end up with the Platonic ideal of a video game, a towering monolith that is the ne plus ultra of following bullets into Nazi testicles.
To make it easier to follow this trajectory (of the games, not testicular trauma), let’s break it down and look at each game and what was added.
Sniper Elite V2
It would be seven long years until Sniper Elite V2 followed its predecessor onto our hard drives back in 2012. In many ways, this was more of a reboot than a true sequel, taking place in the same location and timeframe as the original: Berlin, 1945. It brought with it a much-improved killcam that would not only follow the bullet into your unlucky long-distance target, but then give you an X-Ray of the bullet’s impact as you splattered them across some battered Berlin brickwork.
The game itself was, like the original, a good game but nothing too stellar, with the X-ray killcam doing a lot of the heavy lifting in keeping the game compelling. It also started the now series-long tradition of having a DLC mission that allows you to take out one of history’s biggest monsters, Adolf Hitler.
Sniper Elite 3
The third instalment changed the setting from the smoking ruins of Berlin after a visit from Aunt Katyusha to North Africa in 1942. As well as changing the setting, Sniper Elite 3 reworked the stealth system, making it easier to escape detection. The killcam got updated, too, showing multi kills in more grisly glory, as well as adding improved vehicle explosion X-rays. Another neat feature was the flint and steel, a new gadget (an ironic way to describe tech that has its roots in man’s first forays into fire) that could be used to start fires or set a timer when detonating explosives.
While not as big a jump as Sniper Elite V2 was from Sniper Elite, Sniper Elite 3 is still worth a play today.
Sniper Elite 4
Shifting the setting once again, this time to Italy, Sniper Elite 4 was a big improvement in terms of movement and general versatility. This time around, you could shimmy and climb around to keep out of sight of your enemies, and you could even do the Assassin’s Creed favorite: a grab takedown from a ledge beneath your unsuspecting blackshirt target.
Melee kills could now activate a killcam, making stealth more interesting, while the game took a small step towards additional realism by letting you zero your scope. The maps also got quite significantly more detailed in this installment, making it the first really noticeably larger game in the series.
Sniper Elite 5
The real golden child of the series, Sniper Elite 5 was a huge improvement that made it easier than ever to be the ultimate stealthy bastard. The maps, set in France, are alive with opportunities for stealth, with a small circle showcasing how close enemies can get before detecting you, a clear influence from the Hitman series. In addition to this, there are kill challenges for certain enemies, tasking you with taking them out in a very specific way, for example, by using poison or burying someone in concrete.
I’ve mentioned how the maps are more detailed, but the maps are stupendously large, too. Which is good, because it enhances perhaps the most significant new feature: Invasion Mode. This mode allowed players to, in Dark Souls fashion, invade another player’s game as an enemy sniper, whose sole task was to eliminate the main character, Karl Fairburne.
Sniper Elite: Resistance
It’s another round of incremental improvements in Sniper Elite: Resistance, with the latest game in the series featuring the best features from Sniper Elite 5 and a new type of mission, propaganda missions. These are effectively small time trial missions that test your stealth, sniping and general combat skills to their limits.
It’s an interesting addition to the game, and while Resistance can sometimes feel a little more like an expansion to Sniper Elite 5 than a full installment, it’s still great fun, as you can see in our Sniper Elite: Resistance review.
So, what next for the Sniper Elite series? Who knows – maybe with the next game we’ll get a break from the World War 2 setting, or an entirely new type of main mission? One thing’s for sure: the series is going from strength to strength thanks to its philosophy of gradual improvements, and it’s something that the rest of the industry should take note of and learn from.
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