Sniper Elite Series

The Sniper Elite Game Series Thread.

The Sniper Elite series is a series of games set at varying points and locations during WWII. In the main game series you play as Karl Fairburne and American OSS Agent/Commando(Office of Strategic Services)^note The Predecessor to the CIA on various missions with some sort of real life historical background in WWII.

• Sniper Elite: Disguised as a German Soldier, German born OSS Agent Karl Fairburne infiltrates Berlin to stop the Soviets from gaining Nazi Germany's atomic secrets. He fights both the remnants of the Nazi armies and the invading Soviet forces in a race to control the Germans secret weapons and technology as the start of the cold war is beginning even as WWII is ending.

• Sniper Elite V2: A remake of the previous game You are again Karl Fairburne this time you are infiltrating Berlin to stop the Soviets from getting their hands on Germany's V2 rocket technology by any means necessary and in the process uncover a sinister plot that only Karl can stop.
  • Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army, Nazi Zombie Army 2, and Nazi Zombie Army 3 are direct stand alone spin offs to Sniper Elite V2 with Hitler and some of his commanders unleashing an army of undead Nazis in hopes of winning the war. Karl and some allies struggle to stop them. These versions use the same overall mechanics but has new enemies and co-op oriented game play.

• Sniper Elite III: A prequel to Sniper Elite V2 that takes place during the Africa Campaign. Karl is sent into Africa to investigate and help deal with reports of Nazi Wunderwaffe^note wonder weapon and to aide the allies against the Nazi presence in general. More detailed kill cams, new weapons and enemies, and of course new levels.

• Sniper Elite 4: After Royal Navy signal intelligence vessel is sunk in Italy by a new Nazi anti-ship weapon, Karl is again dispatched to enemy territory to once again uncover and thwart the Nazi's plans to use their advanced weapons against the allies. This game introduces not only larger maps but several locations encourage vertical exploring and sniping from high spots. Additional silenced weapons including a DeLisle Carbine and suppressed bullets are introduced to aide the player in their new stealthy approach. The Maps are large enough to be like a segment of an open world allowing the player to rather freely roam around the map. This game offers some of the longest range sniping options to date out of all of the games.

The key draw for the three main games aside from the WWII setting is the sniper simulation mechanics. All of the games use a mostly realistic shooting mechanic for the game. On the highest difficulty settings players have to account for bullet drop due to effects of gravity over distance and bullet drift due to effects of wind. Long range kill shots show a "Bullet's Eye" view as the round hits the target. Sniper Elite V2 and Sniper Elite III go a step further showing the bullet as it travels through the enemies body. Sniper Elite 4 adds X-Ray kill cameras for shrapnel from exploding environmental objects and a new melee kill cam as well. Organs are ruptured, eyes are destroyed, organs perforated and ruptured, bones are shattered, and even testicals are obliterated by the bullets on successful shots at range.

All the games feature adjustable difficulty levels of varying degrees with the first game having the most variables for custom game modes. All three let you adjust general enemy skill level and how much realism there is in shooting. For example players adjust whether or not they have to account for drop and/or wind or not.

Players get points for accuracy and head shots over distance, multiple kills from the same bullet, and other factors. Sniper Elite III combines the scoring with an XP system that unlocks equipment and layouts for Karl's Kit. Sniper Elite 4 adds challenges to unlock modifications and skins for your weapons.

Sniper Elite V2, Sniper Elite III, and Sniper 4 all have DLC pre-order bonus missions where players get to Kill Hitler in various settings and missions. Other DLC includes bonus campaigns and weapons packs.

edited 18th Apr '17 7:34:56 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Crap, this is definately something I'd want to pick up. Thing is, except for Battlefield I kinda hate playing FPS games on the PC due to the keyboard. If they'd announce console controller compatibility then I'll definately grab the PC version, but otherwise I'm not too sure...

according to steam, it does have controller support.

As for the game...well, the original felt kinda awkward and un-sniper like at times. (scripted events? one too many close-range firefights?) if they somehow fixed that up and improved upon the core sniper gameplay, then I'd probably get it.

I didn't get many close range fire fights in the first one. Not unless I screwed up. The first game was plenty sniper like. Utilize cover and concealment, pick your shots, fire during an explosion, plane roaring overhead etc. Fire from a position and then move to a new location or the enemy could find you. Most games have scripted events that is not likely ever going to change a whole lot.

edited 21st Apr '12 9:21:05 AM by TuefelHundenIV

Damn, that's good news... might wanna look into getting this one then... lemme check Steam to see how much it's price tag is.

New 50 bucks for Xbox 360. You should try the demo at least. Even my wife gave it a try and had fun shooting people in the kidneys.

At least with the kidneys you don't get the view of the bones flying apart. God, I'm used to violent video games and seeing the bullet just go through that poor bastard shocked me the first time.

In other words, the bullet cam as of the demo version is freaking amazing. I loved the demo.

Two best shots: shot a crouching sniper through both ankles, and then shooting one guy in the vitals, having the bullet tumble out and as it's tumbling hit another guy in his vitals.

There's also a certain satisfaction in quite literally putting one between a guy's eyes. Only thing I haven't managed to do (but really want to) is shoot through another snipers scope into him.

Shame I probably won't pick it up on release, can't really afford to right now... but this definitely goes on my "I want it" list.

edited 21st Apr '12 7:25:01 PM by TheInferno

I downloaded the demo for the PC. It's really short, but it was damned fun - good enough to make me pre-order the game on Steam!

There is one oddity though. I could've sworn the sniper rifle, especially a Springfield, could shoot more accurately at longer distances. The way this rifle works I don't think you can even shoot past 700+ meters before bullet drop and/or wind distortion completely ruins your aim. Another thing I don't get is why did they decide to make the character's health revive like in your typical FPS: it makes it too easy to abuse the typical "duck and cover" mechanic when you get spotted.

I think it would've played better if you were forced to perform first aid on yourself each time you suffered a significant injury. For example, if you end up getting shot, your character would begin to bleed, possibly even leaving a blood trail behind. You'd then have to quickly fall back, find a hiding spot, and then choose to treat your wounds before the enemy finds you. There would be no limit to your medical supplies, but what would make it dangerous to do in the middle of a fight is that you become immobilized while treating yourself. That way, you'd want encouraged to choose shooting positions with escape routes and not rush into fights thinking you can just wait it out.

BTW, has anyone played both the first game and this Demo? Are they any big differences or improvements?

Played the original and the current demo. The health is a big change. The graphics are an improvement. Enemy AI fits their difficulty levels better. The X-ray kill cam is new. The bullet cam has new angles and views that is a refreshing change. Weapon hits no longer simply kill the bastard they spark and ricochet. The higher difficulty enemy is more accurate and is more likely to lob grenades. Your recovering health may not be enough. If they get a grenade up to you it won't be enough. The higher rate of drop is so they could fit sniping mechanics into the levels of limited size. Even at 100 meters the round drop rate should be negligible on the Springfield. You will find all the rifles you get to have the same performance in that regard but will have more ammo and more zoom if the last game is anything to go by. I would avoid traditional gun fighting the enemy has the distinct advantage. Ammo for secondaries is a bit too scarce to make it practical and on higher difficulties you will get torn up by the enemy.

If your finding it too easy turn up the difficulty and turn of any aiming aides. Makes for a decent challenge for the demo.

I played it on the highest, got through in about 30 minutes. I didn't turn off the targeting aides though (didn't even know you could do that). Like I said it was fun, but easy, and I was actually missing quite a lot of my shots.

It is a bit harder shooting wise without the aides. You have to learn how to actually use the mil lines (the little dashes on the scope crosshairs) to measure both wind and distance. The first Sniper Elite included in the manual instructions on how to read them. I have pre-ordered it so if any of you want to wait I can give a more concrete opinion on it after May 1st.

edited 22nd Apr '12 4:38:33 PM by TuefelHundenIV

I think my favorite bit of immersion was when I shot someone and actually just incapacitated them rather than outright killing them, and one of the other enemy soldiers ran out of cover to grab him and carry him back to safety.

I honestly felt bad about shooting that guy, too. I think from now on I'll wait till the incapacitated guy is back in cover...

Hey your a sniper not a boy scout. Turn one casualty into two. Or get lucky and get a double kill. Since I rarely leave an enemy to be recovered I am not sure if they successfully carry them back and begin bandaging them what happens if I leave them to do just that.

Really? In my playthrough they mostly bounded from cover to cover, trying to get close to me. Only a couple ever managed to get into the building I was inside of, and both of them ended up setting off the tripwire bomb!

I saved my tripwire bomb for the ambush. There were a couple times where I ducked back into cover a guy snuck up on my position and turned me into swiss cheese. I think my worst death was I ducked behind a window and one got a lucky grenade through the window. I went splat.

Either I'm a whole lot better than I thought, or you're somehow playing it wrong, because the demo has yet to kill me, even when I go guns blazing!

I keep forgetting to use my items. The one time I needed to ambush someone (where there's a sniper out the door, and shooting alerts that one guy?) I just hid in the corner, waited for him to run around a blind corner without checking his angles and just shot him to death with the Thompson.

Go into custom settings, turn enemy ai up to the highest difficulty and tweak the other settings to your personal taste, they will actually hit you when they shoot at you, going in the open fire fight style is suicide. The guys with MP-40's can actually hit something 200-300yds repeatedly.

They utilize cover better. Quick bounds while trying to use suppressive fire so they can get close. There are a couple spots you can sit and they won't be able to run up on you but if you get on the same level as them they can get you.

Found out what happens if you let them recover a guy. They bandage him up and he gets back into the fight. So they can recover wounded soldiers and get them back on their feet.

Guys with Rifles are a bigger threat. Snipers can hit if you give them enough time. They find you when you shoot a lot more quickly and a lot more easily. You can fire from cover and they will still know where you are. They are also a lot more likely to throw grenades although their accuracy with grenades is kinda shoddy. Like I said they got a lucky grenade through the window after I shot one of their buddies through the face.

So the game just came out yesterday. Anyone playing the full version so far? How is it?

Oh shit, it is out. Gotta go pick it up.

I have to say, I enjoy the demo quite a lot, but something about the game I don't like keeps niggling at me. It feels a bit... cheap? Like an action figure with a lot of plastic left over from the mold that you can scrape off. I haven't figured out how to use a melee attack yet, if there is one (wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't one, given the nature of the game). The fact that you can kill an enemy by grazing their scalp is slightly annoying, since it seems it should be more realistic. The graphics seem a bit too de-resolute (that might have changed for the full game) and the sound leaves everything to be desired. It sounded like a train trestle when running through the streets.

Any players of the full game notice any improvements in these areas?

Won't know until tomorrow. Game Stop got a note to release the next day. Sound is mixed for me. I am not sure if it is exaggerated int he demo or not.

I have noticed some minor glitches with bullet impact. But if your talking about the grazing hit that shaves off bits of skull. That will kill just as dead as it hitting your head full on. Your head is still receiving the kinetic energy and bone and bullet fragments have a nasty habit of lacerating the shit out of the brain.

edited 2nd May '12 12:23:06 AM by TuefelHundenIV

hmm, hadn't thought of that. Makes sense now. Thanks, Tuef.

One of the lessons drilled in at boot. Wear the fucking helmet. It might not stop a direct hit but it can stop ricochets,grazes, glancing impacts shrapnel, and pistol bullets. If they animated the shock wave, bullet, and bone fragments ripping up the brain this game would be a hell of a lot gorier. I noticed even direct brain shots don't make a nasty gory mess like a .306 would.

Uhhh, no, it's not out yet. It's still greyed out for me and displaying "Pre-order" for me. To be fair though it might be a regional thing, given how Guam is both a day ahead of the States and still isn't recognized by some companies *COUGH MICROSOFT COUGH*.