Y’know what, I kinda love it.
I think I've played all 5 of the Sniper Elite games, and I have some fond memories of the earliest ones (even if I can't differentiate them), but it would really be pushing it to consider it amongst my favourite video game series. The games were always kind of mediocre, relying on the x-ray killshots to draw attention to them; and yet they had this kind of baseline enjoyability that kept me coming back (as a WW2 FPS fan), and so when I heard the fifth one might actually be a legitimately good game, well, colour me intrigued.
And boy oh boy, it really is. Gone is the whiff of mediocrity when it comes to most of it, with the game sporting some truly fine FPS/TPS action, enjoyably semi-open maps, different ways of approaching objectives, beautiful visuals, and more tasty Nazi headshots than you can shake your cane at.
It's not all perfect of course. The story is as dumb and pointless as they come, even with the AAA level of sheen (though I did appreciate the tiny injections of diversity in the cast, even if I don't think I can differentiate any of the characters on anything but their appearance - where the diversity helps too, I guess). The upgrade mechanic is okay as a minor carrot for a while, but the upgrades are mostly boring and I didn't feel the need for half of them. The weapon upgrade system relies on finding workbenches so if you're looking for anything specific, good luck (ultimately I just googled where to get the sniper silencer). And there are so many options when it comes to attachments and such that I personally felt overwhelmed and mostly stuck with the first thing that worked for my style.
But it just goes to show how good the game is at what it's good at that those are just minor complaints. I ignored most of the writing, as you are anyway wont to do usually as an FPS fan, and took from the upgrades and weapons what I wanted and left the rest at that, because what I wanted the most was to already get into another map and enjoy the moment-to-moment action and gameplay.
Though even then, I played 4-5 maps, then felt it was getting a bit samey, and took a break. A few months later I returned, played 2 more maps, and took a break. And then some time after I returned, finished the game, and wanted more. Partly because I had expected the 9th map to be, y’know, a proper map, but it's such an anti-climatic joke that you can't help but feel like something’s missing. The DLCs are priced preposterously high (at least if you only care about the maps) so I can't imagine getting them without a sale.
Be that as it may though, leaving one wanting might be a good strategy because I sure am looking back at the game with rosier eyes than I had at first, and I feel an urge that the alternate gamemodes are unlikely to satisfy, even if I'm desperate to try (the Axis Invasion is pretty much dead, right?)
So as I said, I kinda loved it; and god, I hope the DLC goes on sale soon.
I think I've played all 5 of the Sniper Elite games, and I have some fond memories of the earliest ones (even if I can't differentiate them), but it would really be pushing it to consider it amongst my favourite video game series. The games were always kind of mediocre, relying on the x-ray killshots to draw attention to them; and yet they had this kind of baseline enjoyability that kept me coming back (as a WW2 FPS fan), and so when I heard the fifth one might actually be a legitimately good game, well, colour me intrigued.
And boy oh boy, it really is. Gone is the whiff of mediocrity when it comes to most of it, with the game sporting some truly fine FPS/TPS action, enjoyably semi-open maps, different ways of approaching objectives, beautiful visuals, and more tasty Nazi headshots than you can shake your cane at.
It's not all perfect of course. The story is as dumb and pointless as they come, even with the AAA level of sheen (though I did appreciate the tiny injections of diversity in the cast, even if I don't think I can differentiate any of the characters on anything but their appearance - where the diversity helps too, I guess). The upgrade mechanic is okay as a minor carrot for a while, but the upgrades are mostly boring and I didn't feel the need for half of them. The weapon upgrade system relies on finding workbenches so if you're looking for anything specific, good luck (ultimately I just googled where to get the sniper silencer). And there are so many options when it comes to attachments and such that I personally felt overwhelmed and mostly stuck with the first thing that worked for my style.
But it just goes to show how good the game is at what it's good at that those are just minor complaints. I ignored most of the writing, as you are anyway wont to do usually as an FPS fan, and took from the upgrades and weapons what I wanted and left the rest at that, because what I wanted the most was to already get into another map and enjoy the moment-to-moment action and gameplay.
Though even then, I played 4-5 maps, then felt it was getting a bit samey, and took a break. A few months later I returned, played 2 more maps, and took a break. And then some time after I returned, finished the game, and wanted more. Partly because I had expected the 9th map to be, y’know, a proper map, but it's such an anti-climatic joke that you can't help but feel like something’s missing. The DLCs are priced preposterously high (at least if you only care about the maps) so I can't imagine getting them without a sale.
Be that as it may though, leaving one wanting might be a good strategy because I sure am looking back at the game with rosier eyes than I had at first, and I feel an urge that the alternate gamemodes are unlikely to satisfy, even if I'm desperate to try (the Axis Invasion is pretty much dead, right?)
So as I said, I kinda loved it; and god, I hope the DLC goes on sale soon.