Well, it's certainly a marked improvement from the last entry, but it's still not quite enough to be worthwhile.
Sniper Elite III takes things from the dreary, war-torn streets of Berlin in the final days of the Second World War back to the North African front in the early 1940s. This change in scenery gives the game a nice, unique look and a visual upgrade from the last one, even in its remastered form.
With these new sandy vistas comes an upgrade in level and game design. Having learned from last time, this third entry, while still very much baked in linear objectives and intent, allows a lot more freedom in its levels this time, giving you several different paths to approach your objective from. These alternate paths also come with optional side objectives that serve no purpose other than granting you some extra XP that goes towards unlocking new weapons or reticles for your rifle.
In conjunction with this new approach to its level design, Sniper Elite III also vastly improves its stealth mechanics, making sneaking an actual viable option now. In fact, it encompassed a good 90% of my playthrough. You now have an eye indicator to show your visibility, as well as a stealth melee prompt and a lot more opportunities to mask your noise.
All of this serves to make the overall Sniper Elite experience a lot more palatable, and yet, I wouldn't say it's enjoyable still. Not to sound picky or anything, but much of the game feels like you're just going through the motions in a very dull way. Perhaps this is down to the continuing issue of the lack of an engaging narrative or purpose for embarking on these missions, or perhaps that the objectives themselves are uninspired.
There's really no one level that stands out in Sniper Elite III; it all just kind of blends together by the end.
Despite this, I did still have a better time with the third entry than I did in V2, and while there are still areas for improvement next time, after everything I've heard about the fourth entry, it sounds like they've once again outdone themselves.
6/10
Sniper Elite III takes things from the dreary, war-torn streets of Berlin in the final days of the Second World War back to the North African front in the early 1940s. This change in scenery gives the game a nice, unique look and a visual upgrade from the last one, even in its remastered form.
With these new sandy vistas comes an upgrade in level and game design. Having learned from last time, this third entry, while still very much baked in linear objectives and intent, allows a lot more freedom in its levels this time, giving you several different paths to approach your objective from. These alternate paths also come with optional side objectives that serve no purpose other than granting you some extra XP that goes towards unlocking new weapons or reticles for your rifle.
In conjunction with this new approach to its level design, Sniper Elite III also vastly improves its stealth mechanics, making sneaking an actual viable option now. In fact, it encompassed a good 90% of my playthrough. You now have an eye indicator to show your visibility, as well as a stealth melee prompt and a lot more opportunities to mask your noise.
All of this serves to make the overall Sniper Elite experience a lot more palatable, and yet, I wouldn't say it's enjoyable still. Not to sound picky or anything, but much of the game feels like you're just going through the motions in a very dull way. Perhaps this is down to the continuing issue of the lack of an engaging narrative or purpose for embarking on these missions, or perhaps that the objectives themselves are uninspired.
There's really no one level that stands out in Sniper Elite III; it all just kind of blends together by the end.
Despite this, I did still have a better time with the third entry than I did in V2, and while there are still areas for improvement next time, after everything I've heard about the fourth entry, it sounds like they've once again outdone themselves.
6/10