The organic feel of Sniper Elite 5’s levels is only enhanced further by the flexibility with which you can approach your targets. It makes the levels feel like living, breathing worlds, designed to reward curiosity and those willing to venture off the beaten path. Later, whilst exploring a small coastal village at the bottom of a mountain, I inadvertently ran into a high-value target from Karl’s kill list that sat out front of a heavily fortified church in an armored vehicle. Deciding to skirt the coast of the island on my way to the main objective, I stumbled across a cluster of enemy-occupied bunkers that I was advised should be taken out. One mission saw me tasked with taking out a radar tower as part of the critical story path. How you will stumble across additional goals feels incredibly organic. You’ll be told what you need to do, but how you reach and achieve your goals is often entirely up to the player. As with the main objectives, minimal direction is given in how you approach the side objectives. As you explore a level, side objectives will become available, as will members of Karl’s kill list, high ranking Nazis who can be taken out but are entirely optional. Players are again dropped into massive, sprawling levels, handed the main objective, and given very little else in terms of direction. Thankfully, Sniper Elite 5 provides the most robust and immersive Nazi busting action in the series to date.Īs I alluded to at the top, Sniper Elite 5 is more of a refinement than a reinvention. It’s ground we’ve covered in numerous games across numerous franchises, and unfortunately, Sniper Elite 5’s narrative beats can’t help but suffer because of this.Īs formulaic as the story can feel, this series has become known for its visceral stealth combat and its ruthlessly satisfying sniping action. It’s admittedly well written, and Karl, as well as the supporting cast, are all engaging characters, but I’d be lying if I said the plot didn’t quickly become background noise, given how recycled the various tropes all feel. I’ll be honest – there’s no denying that the narrative set-up for Sniper Elite 5 treads a lot of familiar ground. So it falls on Karl to push further across France, learn more about Operation Kraken, and hopefully put an end to the Nazi’s last gasp attempt at domination. Operation Kraken is an ultra-confidential Nazi operation that could see them once more turn the tides of war back in their favor. Things ultimately go south, and Karl finds himself stranded in France, which is still under Nazi occupation, and it’s there that he learns of the existence of Operation Kraken. With an Allied push on mainland Europe set to take place imminently, it falls on Karl’s shoulders to push behind enemy lines and weaken Axis defenses in anticipation of the Allied assault. It’s 1944, and we find ourselves once again strapping up the boots of Karl Fairburn, right around the time that the Second World War starts to slip through the fingers of the Axis forces. Whilst Sniper Elite 5 doesn’t feel as impactful as some of its predecessors in terms of providing a drastic jump forward for the series, it still manages to be the best entry in the series yet due to its focus on meaningfully refining and building upon the already solid foundations of Sniper Elite 4. Remasters, zombie-themed spin-offs, a VR experience, and now five mainline entries – what started as a relatively linear series that relied heavily on its brutal x-ray kill cams has blossomed into something entirely more substantial. When the Sniper Elite series first appeared some 17 years ago, few could have predicted the upward trajectory the series would take.
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