Tuesday 1 July 2014

Sniper Elite 3 - Can it Hit the Broadside of a Barn? - Quicky Review!

Want a game for your next-gen console at £40 that isn't finished? Well this is you game! Rush to your local retailer and purchase this game with a story shorter than that thing you call a penis, next-gen graphics from 2002's Gamecube, a 16GB install, a frame rate that drops as often as an alcoholic in a vineyard and glitches enough to make EA's UFC proud. Having seen nothing about Sniper Elite III at EGX until a few months back, I was fairly excited. X-ray kill-cams and an intuitive mechanic for snipers sold me on V2 and returning with "Improved works" and some new extras just seemed like a much stronger game. It may simply stand that the Xbox One version of the game is supremely glitchy but that's no excuse for a game that cost £40 and just appeared out of nowhere one day without much warning.

If you're looking for a story that engages you in an action packed adventure with colourful lead character and a dark villain to boot, Don't play this. Both of these feel non-existent. Considering you only meet the villain in the final mission and kill him a little later, it feels really unjustified to pave the way for an insane Nazi, only to cut him down without any enforcement of what he is doing that is
Kaaaarl...That Kills People...
anything other than following orders. Our lead man whose name is never mentioned in game but is Karl Fairburne is practically faceless. With the emotional range of Ryan Reynold's Deadpool, the only difference is that Karl talks to himself like a madman...

The redeeming factor for Sniper Elite is the X-ray cameras. Trying to get good shots for the recording (Will be up on the Black Ribbon Youtube channel soon!) was great fun. A yelp of happiness spewed from my mouth once I finally managed to achieve a testie shot on some poor bugger. Playing on the 'normal' rating was fairly simply to do as long as you didn't go getting sighted and make a lot of noise. Bullet drop was the only gimmick that affected that particular setting of difficulty with several others ramming up the difficulty for those with the patience not to draw everyone out and play whack-a-mole with dozens of Nazi craniums.

As a pre-order bonus, I was 'rewarded' with DLC. The trend sweeping over the industry to stick DLC straight after the game is released has to be the worst idea in history. So you couldn't just place it in the game to warrant the money I've just spent on something that's only positive part is shooting AXIS forces in slow-mo, in the nuts and just general violence? I would continue to rave on about the game being screwed. So badly screwed that I had to replay a mission from the begin just so I could get a recording that didn't feature a tank locating me 12ft underground. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy shooting people and it's just a mind-numbing experience which anyone can enjoy while investing the same brainpower as a breastfeeding baby. 6/10 is where I have to place this. With no characters, a story which was already written in for them, just dumbed down and it's fuck-ups are infuriating to battle with. DO NOT WASTE £40 on it. Wait until it's cheaper! Then you may enjoy it.


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