Sniper Elite 4 Review: A Piercing Hole in One

What’s better than running wild as a sniper hiding in the shadows and picking off enemies one by one. Well a lot of things to be honest, but in Sniper Elite 4 it’s not only an adrenaline rush. Sniper Elite is one of the highly anticipated releases solely for the iconic X-Ray kills possible throughout gameplay. But we have to raise the question does Sniper Elite 4 elevate to new heights or is this installment simply a cut and paste.

The story kicks off in San Celini Island, a secluded location in south Italy with your protagonist Karl Fairburne; the one man wrecking machine.

Sniper Elite has always been a crowd pleaser when considering how every takedown is potentially gore-tastic. Elite 4 maintains that conventional feel as your able to not only kill enemies from afar, you can shoot objects and contraptions for more unique kill tactics. Personally I found myself holding my breath for almost every kill, seeking the ballistic mode.

When considering weapon choice, you have a wide variety of guns to choose from in load out, as well as handguns for close combat out of the shadows. CQC in Sniper Elite 4 is more gruesome than any of its predecessors, including new camera angle for a more detailed look at each lethal take down.

Expect more of a challenge in this installment as AI does a much better job of taking cover rather than hiding in plain sight. There were a handful of times I found myself locating enemies on the radar but struggling to find them through my scope, in most cases until the AI thought the area was clear. Don’t expect AI to give up on looking for you as quickly as I had to create unique opportunities to close in on the Germans. In close combat however, enemies made it more of a challenge hiding behind objects and obstructions.

Each mission also has plenty of hidden items to find, as well as items you can pull off of dead enemies to keep plenty of ammo and discover additional weapons.

Visually Sniper Elite 4 does a fairly decent job portraying the 1940’s within a closed off area in Italy. Plenty of debris and items throughout each widespread map that feels authentic to the era; also bushes and houses that are in pieces with just enough height left for cover.

Sniper Elite 4 includes a cooperative mode allowing you to go online and complete the campaign, enemy waves in Survival and Overwatch where you have to scope and find enemies from afar and snipe them down. I enjoyed playing the campaign with a random few as similar to Elite 3 and easily at times felt like a solo campaign with help. Sadly however, co-op is not available in split screen.

Multiplayer also returns with team and solo Deathmatch, Distance King where you attempt to kill enemies from as far as possible, Control which plays similar to domination and possibly the one of the most entertaining modes, No Cross, where you attempt to kill the opposing team across the map as you’re separated by an impassable section that splits the map.