Rebellion were in a tricky spot balancing Sniper Elite 5. Having slowly built a cult following over the past 17 years, they suddenly find themselves with a host of new fans.
The temptation is always there to water down a complex challenge to welcome new fans. This is something which is common with strategy games and always runs the risk of alienating long-time fans.
The other route is to add more to the mix and introduce your game to the neophytes in a baptism of fire. Sniper Elite 5 unashamedly opts for the latter.
Scope Scoop
Sniper Elite 5 follows the story of Karl Fairburne, a professional Michael Ironside sound-alike and US Rangers covert ops specialist.
You are tasked with disrupting the preparations of the ‘Atlantic Wall’, a set of fortifications planned by the Germans to halt the expected allied invasion. Part of that plan also involves assassinating the head honcho of the Atlantic Wall construction.
While hooking up the French Resistance, you discover plans for a superweapon codenamed Operation Kraken. You may as well stop that while you are there.
Invader Banished
The core mechanics are mostly unchanged. Bullet physics are realistic and demand precision but a slow-mo ‘Empty Lung’ feature aids the player. Bullet drop and, on higher difficulties, wind play a major part in combat.
The AI aren’t hard of hearing so using suppressed weapons or timing your shots to be masked by other loud noises is necessary. Similarly, they have decent vision and aim for video games folk and being spotted usually means death.
Sniper Elite 5 adds more depth to the gunplay, refining sway and mobility to balance difficulty. The game also adds more weapon upgrades, each with pros and cons that again, attempt to balance difficulty.
This balance is certainly an effort to make ‘Invasion Mode’ a bit more playable. Invasion is the biggest change to come to the core of Sniper Elite 5. Players can elect to allow Sniper Jaegers to enter there game and try to hunt them down.
It’s not really anything like Dark Souls beyond someone coming into ruin your game. There is an asymmetry to proceedings with Jaegers possessing the ability to buff the AI guards and have them report your location. The host player can call to reveal the location of the Jaeger from phones marked on the map.
Call to often and your location will be revealed, camp too long and you’ll be grassed. The rules forced a cat and mouse game that you expect in a counter-sniper op. Invasion Mode is tense and rewarding with the asymmetry making it interesting.
Sneak ‘n Gun
Sniper Elite 5 follows the series trajectory of larger sandboxes, more puzzles and a heavier insistence on stealth. Like the Hitman series, Sniper Elite accepts there is only so much sniping a player can realistically do on a map.
The puzzles, the set-up and the tension fostered on a long, stealthy run fit the theme even if most missions can be completed without firing a shot or killing anyone;
Each level comes with a main objective or objectives, some of which you discover along the way. This adds a little dynamism to the missions.
The missions see the player eavesdropping or stealing intel. Sabotage is another common goal with players often offered a variety of routes to this end.
Even with the limited set of goals, there is enough variety in how these can be achieved that Sniper Elite 5 never feels stale.
Coupled with the emergence fostered by the level design and AI, there is a replayability to most levels. Some you may never want to visit again but that’s a story for another paragraph.
Side-Arm
Each level also features a range of side-missions, most of which emerge when happening upon something during a mission. You aren’t told how many there so you never know if another element will be added to a mission.
This is nice way of introducing new objectives while not overloading the player with checklists at the beginning of levels.
The side-quests, however, vary in quality. Some are elaborate sneaks or multi-part infiltrations with branching goals. Some are a matter of having or not having a satchel charge.
On larger levels, this inconsistency is more readily visible as the best and worst of side-quests stand side by side.
Side-Harm
The other optional quest in each mission is the more traditional assassination target. Like Hitman, the player is offered a method of dispatching the target to earn extra XP. Some of these are funny little set pieces that need creative thinking to check the box.
By and large, the targets are forgettable despite the efforts to make them distinctive. Sometimes it’s even hard to pick your mark in the designated search zone. There were occasions when I felt forced to awkwardly use the binoculars from twenty paces just to bag my guy.
Secret Weapon
The levels themselves are incredible. Some are outdoors spaces with mostly one expansive plane, offering huge lines of sight. Others are indoors or labyrinthine rats’ nests making the game a close quarters affair.
The level of adjustment to a player’s style coerced by the map design is commendable. As is the AI placement and priority around these maze-like maps.
Despite the ability to approach most areas from any angle, clever design often funnels players into sneak or destroy set pieces around places of interest.
While each level is an open book for players, the AI often gently pushes the player in the right direction. Following vehicles or lads in nicer hats offer clues without resorting to flat-out telling you.
Technique vs. Art
Sniper Elite 5 is not a visually impressive title from a technical standpoint. The models, textures and animation could readily pass as 8th gen. despite being reviewed on PlayStation 5. Textures don’t hold up well from up close or from the wrong angle.
However, the game is often gorgeous. Some of the levels are stunning with the third mission based on the tidal island of Mont Saint Michel being a particular highlight.
Players approach a rock islet densely covered with a quint village that surrounds a grand cathedral. It’s almost magical to explore the endless nooks and crannies.
There’s also great contrast between pastoral France, the industrial grime and the bombed-out hellscape of wartorn cities to be seen across the game’s nine core missions.
Each of the nine features a jaw-dropping level of detail that sells the individual worlds to the player.
A Rollercoaster
The difficulty of the game is massively inconsistent and somewhat front-loaded. The first mission is simply not welcoming to new players. Then one of the longest and toughest missions is tossed in shortly thereafter.
Clearly, the devs clearly didn’t want to turn off the veterans with an extensive tutorial or easy-starter. However, that first mission drops the player in at the deep end before a much easier, shorter second mission.
That breathtaking trip to the island cathedral is next. It’s a massively tense multipart sneak that make will take around an hour if you know what you are doing. For someone new to the series, it make take hours if it doesn’t extinguish their patience.
I can understand that a level so well-made needs to be seen by players. However, Sniper Elite 5 is mostly easier from there. Beyond the final mission, the game just doesn’t test the player to the same extent.
Post-War
Sniper Elite 5 doesn’t lower its bar for new players and sticks to the tense, puzzling setpieces that made the series a slowburning success.
The game loop is still magnificent and the evolution in level design and AI adds to gameplay without bringing in new mechanics.
The one new single-player addition, Invasion Mode, is a revelation that adds much to the emergent challenge to be had across the ambitious maps.
Normally, a reviewer would criticise a game for playing it safe or nor for not adding more. But for a game with such a narrow premise, what Rebellion have done was probably the correct option.
Review code provided by PR
