Sniper Elite 4 review

Welcome to the Italy of 1943.

Version tested: PlayStation 4

Set in the aftermath of its award-winning predecessor, Sniper Elite 4 the story of the Second World War continues, this time transporting us to the beautiful Italian peninsula, among sunny towns of the Mediterranean coast, colossal Nazi mega structures, gloomy forests and dizzying monasteries on top of the mountains inspired by Monte Cassino.

The secret agent and marksman Karl Fairburne will have to fight alongside brave men and women of the Italian resistance to help them free their country from the yoke of Fascism, and defeat a new terrible threat that could nip the Allied counter-offensive in Europe in the bud. If his mission fails, goodbye Operation Overlord, goodbye Allied landing and goodbye victory in Europe.

It will be successful Rebellion to make that long-awaited leap in quality? Find out in our Sniper Elite 4 review!

Pizza, spaghetti and… sniping

From the very first moments of the game it is clear that Rebellion wanted to show the most "significant" innovations of his latest effort, namely larger game maps e possibility of climbing and abseiling from holds and protrusions of various types; these appear to be the main innovations as the tactical approach to the missions has practically remained unchanged compared to the previous chapter. Once on the battlefield, it will be possible first of all to regain confidence with the various commands available, with the game hub which, in addition to allowing access to the map, perhaps a bit sparse and not very detailed, will indicate the primary objectives and secondary of the current mission and take advantage of a series of tips that will be shown to us in the rest of our game campaign.

The mission initialization phase, in addition to allowing you to change some parameters of our sniper, is basically based on a Briefing capable of gathering vital information to carry out the various objectives and the need, in the initial moments of each mission, to identify a place of observation suitable and raised to be able to "mark", thanks to the handy binoculars supplied, the enemies and targets of the mission. The developers have bet more than convincingly on greater freedom of action and finalization not only killing but also completing missions; the system works quite well thanks to the greater vastness of the game maps available, the shelters and the vegetation that will often be a fundamental ally to be able to catch your breath or to avoid being identified by the enemies on patrol.

We will have the opportunity to get rid of the enemies by remaining hidden and waiting for the unfortunate person to approach, perhaps attracted by the throwing of the stone provided, or to be able to take advantage of some environmental events, such as planes flying over a certain area, gunfire or noises that cause a lot of noise and that allow us to shoot at the targets avoiding being detected and triggering the alarm. It will be essential to plan your moves, as it is contemplated a "Wolfenstein" approach with weapons at the ready, when we "fail" the stealth approach, but it will have to be a final option, when we practically have no other way to make our way towards the targets of the mission. The fact is that it will not be particularly complicated to manage a large number of enemies because these sin enormously with regard to artificial intelligence, not exactly brilliant and which sometimes will make us turn up our noses precisely because some movements and / or decisions of the enemies do not seem right. during the fight.

We can say that almost everything is based on a identify, shoot and reload and also the "shooting" phase is not so complicated as, except for some situations, it will not be necessary to calculate particularly complicated trajectories and even the "shots" from distance will be more aimed at making the player feel satisfied rather than to a real difficulty. In fact it will be very simple, even when an enemy is behind cover, to make a "perfect" shot, even from sidereal distances to the head and feel omnipotent in the face of the spectacle granted by the X-ray chamber. This does not provide anything new compared to the past, so it can be said that it works well but does not provide new insights worthy of note; blows to the head, lungs, testicles and heart will be quite frequent even for those who have never had the opportunity to play one of the titles in the series and are trying their hand at it for the first time.

An improved gameplay but not without flaws

From a gameplay point of view, there is a step forward but not as obvious as one might think; As mentioned, there is greater freedom of action, some places that can be partially “explored” and the choice whether to seek a more conservative or more action-oriented approach. It is precisely in the latter case that the game gives its worst, as the enemies, although they manage to identify our last position almost perfectly, will seem to be practically disoriented "preys" waiting to be "eaten". Nothing they do or do will worry our marksman, most of the time they will tend to hide and throw grenades that practically never hit us or decide to come towards us at 2/3 at a time in open field to be sniped without any pity. In short, on balance the stealth approach continues to be satisfying and well structured, except for some minor flaws, while the one aimed at action is practically to be forgotten as, in addition to not putting us in difficulty, it will also be quite boring.

The main campaign is made up from eight missions and as many landscapes, well made, varied (we go from urban environments to forests) and at times breathtaking, which present several main objectives to be completed and different Side Quest which are not necessary for the purposes of the plot, as they do not add practically anything more, but enormously increase the duration of the single mission; just think that for some of them it took two hours to complete all that was required, collect documents
, open safes etc. and it is certainly not a small thing. In total, it will take about 20 hours to complete the campaign if you are a lover of the stealth approach, otherwise about 7 hours less if you prefer a modus operandi action.

The growth system of our character is perhaps a bit stale as it does not significantly add anything particularly useful for the rest of the campaign; practically from level 5 onwards and up to 30, we will be able to improve some parameters such as maximum heart rate, reduced fall damage, focus speed, reduced explosive damage. On balance, personally I have not improved practically anything, they will never be really useful for the purpose. Good paraphernalia available, in addition to the inevitable sniper rifle, the good Karl can count on an arsenal consisting of guns, rifles, grenades and mines of various types. Each weapon is characterized by an infographic that will allow us to understand which values ​​are better than the weapon in our possession and which are not. Each weapon can be improved as long as you have completed certain challenges that we will let you discover.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Sniper Elite 4 features a very good multiplayer compartment which in addition to offering two cooperative modes presents ben six competitive modes: The team or single Deathmatch, the "Control" mode aimed at collecting and controlling resources, a variant of the "Forbidden Crossing" Deathmatch, in which to separate the two rival teams there is an area that cannot be crossed and finally, the "King of Distance" in singles or in teams. It must be said that the overall server management and matchmaking presented no uncertainties and that the overall gaming experience (albeit limited due to the desolation of the servers) was quite fun; in fact it is not possible to stay crouched for a long time waiting to hit an opposing player as inevitably the reflection of our viewfinder will be identified, forcing us to move around the game map.

Unfortunately, although the variety of modes available is indisputable, the gameplay and the "core" of Sniper Elite 4, or sniping, fail to adapt well to modes designed more for traditional shooters.

Look at the sea how beautiful it is

From the point of graphic view, the game looks quite well, the elements present in the various game maps appear to be treated, even if some graphic textures could be made much better. Negative note to the polygonal models, still too rough and not very detailed; not even the good Karl stands out among the characters present, being too dull and anonymous. The lighting is not always perfect, sometimes ballerina and the shadow system does not fully convince.

As for the audio sector, the music is of excellent workmanship, while the dubbing turns out to be solid and without noteworthy uncertainties. Our main character has a powerful and confident voice that fits perfectly with Karl Fairburne.