If I snipe someone from far away, an entire brigade will abandon their duties to sweep the area I’m in. They don’t feel like robots patrolling their specific corner of the map. Though inconsistent, the game’s AI enemies are shockingly cogent. While I can survive with a more aggressive playstyle, Sniper Elite 5 encourages a stealthier approach. Every quiet takedown or sniper shot from afar is another brutal victory in my poltergeist-like quest to tear down the Nazi war machine. When I’m sneaking in the shadows and picking off enemies from afar through a sniper scope, I feel like an unfriendly ghost haunting my enemies to their graves. While its immersive sim hooks don’t quite hit the unpredictable joys of a game like Hitman 3, it makes up for that shortcoming with crisp stealth and gunplay. Everything available in mission one will be used in the same way to complete objectives in mission nine (satchel charges to blow up doors, crowbars to open locked crates, etc). Rather than introducing new tools every mission, the game doesn’t evolve much from level to level. Since this is a (somewhat) grounded WWII game, Fairburne’s toolset is mostly restricted to some guns, explosives, and simple distraction items. There are some limitations to the sandbox. In its best moments, Sniper Elite 5 does Metal Gear Solid 5 better than Metal Gear Solid 5. There’s another where I seek out those satchel charges I heard about and start blowing down doors instead of quietly looking for keys. There’s an option where I run into the courtyard with guns blazing and aggressively rush the front door. That scenario could have gone an entirely different way, and that’s what makes the game so exciting. When I reach the building, I climb some vines to sneak in through a window and start carefully stealth killing Nazis and taking keys off their bodies until I stumble into the office. I overhear two guards having a chat and someone mentions that there’s a weapons room somewhere inside containing satchel charges - noted. Once I’m ready to sneak in, I drop off the side of the bridge leading to the building and shimmy my way onto the castle grounds. I start by patrolling the farmlands on the perimeter, picking up tools like bolt cutters and crowbars that could make my break-in easier. In one operation, I need to break into a heavily guarded castle, find a hidden office, and swipe some documents. While series like Call of Duty tend to lean on linear campaigns built around Hollywood set pieces, missions play out more organically here. It’s that level of freedom that makes Sniper Elite 5 stand out in a sea of interchangeable WorldWII games. Each mission drops Fairburne into a compact, but intricately designed map filled with key objectives that can be checked off in any order before safely exfiltrating. It’s Rebellion’s approach to mission design that sets it apart. Sniper Elite 5 does Metal Gear Solid 5 better than Metal Gear Solid 5. From a narrative side, it’s a game that feels like it could have been made any time in the last 20 years. WWII has been done to death in video games, and Sniper Elite 5 doesn’t have much else to say about it beyond its Nazi-killing catharsis. Fairburne, with his gruff voice and cardboard personality, is about as dull a video game hero as they come. The story itself is boilerplate, dropping in vague political intrigue to set up missions. Throughout nine missions, Fairburne must assassinate key targets and sneak into secret facilities to sabotage crucial weaponry. military operation to dismantle a Nazi plot code-named “Operation Kraken,” which threatens to turn the tide of WWII. Sniper Elite 5 follows Karl Fairburne, a highly skilled sniper with zero tolerance for Nazis. Just make sure your stomach is prepared for violence so grisly that it could put the fear of God in a white supremacist. Sniper Elite 5’s limited toolset and generic set-dressing don’t quite elevate it to Hitman levels of creativity, but its open-ended approach to stealth action makes for a devilishly satisfying war game. Every Nazi target is an opportunity for players to flex their creative muscles (and their trigger fingers) in a series of free-range murder sandboxes. Building off of the increased scope of its predecessor, the fifth installment is a full-blown immersive sim set during World War II. The latest entry in Rebellion Developments’ long-running stealth-action series is more notable for a less headline-worthy reason: Good, old-fashioned design.
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