Despite Churchill’s optimism and assertion, the Allied invasion of Italy did not expose a soft underbelly to the axis powers. The fighting was grim through the mountainous regions, with divisions more accustomed to blazing a trail through North Africa often struggling for days to make any appreciable advances. Yet, as Karl Fairburne lands on Italian shores to pave the way for the Allied landing and fan the flames of rebellion, he’s not to know that.
One of the biggest advantages that Rebellion have with Sniper Elite 4 is that they’ve cut loose from the last generation of hardware. Levels can be much larger, and that’s allowed them to play with more open mission design, as well.
The opening mission on the truly gorgeous San Cellini island is a perfect example of this, giving you what is effectively this huge playground to play on. With five German officers to assassinate, I found myself meandering from one objective point to another, taking one of the least efficient routes through the level possible. It was over an hour before I approached the grandest house on the island and Karl’s primary target.
A number of changes to the gameplay help to emphasise the more freeform play that is open to you. For one thing, you’re no longer restricted to using the Welrod for silenced kills, and while you can still sabotage running motors to give sputtering noise to mask you sniper fire, there’s also suppressed ammunition to find and equip. It’s in limited supply, but even when you do have to go loud, it can take several shots for the enemy to absolutely pinpoint your vantage spot and come for you.
Even then, it’s only soldiers in that area of the map, and if you hide and evade them for long enough, they’ll go back to their patrols, albeit in a more alert fashion. The game takes a good few steps to being a more all round stealth action title, as you can now hide in the foliage and pull the classic trick of whistling to draw an enemy near enough that you can take them out and drag their body into a bush.
Whistling is actually one of the many new secondary items on the item wheel, as the alternate of a throwable rock – the rock draws enemies to where it’s thrown, whistling draws them to you. Grenades can be wrapped in tape so they stick to whatever they’re thrown against, trip mines can be set to explode a few seconds after being triggered, so they catch a whole group and not just one person, set dynamite on a timer, and even boobytrap a body.
There’s just so many more possibilities, and it makes this first level feel like something that you want to explore and play with, as opposed to a level with clearly defined objectives that you go to in order. When you are discovered, I also didn’t feel that I wanted to reload the save, knowing that I could run away, hide and come at it from a different angle. Certainly, you can play it in a strictly stealthy fashion, but it was also liberating not to feel that I had to.
It’s not just the single player game that’s bolder, but the co-op and multiplayer as well. For one thing, there’s just a lot more of it. You can play through the entire campaign with a friend by your side in two player co-op – just make sure you pick someone you know, for the most raucous of eyerollingly predictable shenanigans – but there’s also the new four player Survival mode, in which you have to fend off wave after wave of German soldiers.
Compared to the spin-off Zombie Army games, it’s a more dynamic affair. You’re given a command point somewhere on the large scale map to defend, and have to do so for three successively more difficult waves of enemies, before that command point moves to a new location and is restocked with fresh supplies.
Enemies can come at you from any direction, alternately rushing forward, taking cover and laying down fire. You’ll do well to keep on the move yourself, and avoid staying in the same vantage point for too long. Even the best player can be overwhelmed and sniping is difficult and often wayward when under pressure in this game, so you’ll ideally want to pair up. Oh, and keep an eye out for flares that signal artillery barrages, and be deathly aware of armoured vehicles that can cut you down in seconds.
They can come at you from various directions, try to catch you out with flanking maneouvres, and so on. Yes, it’s ‘just another horde mode’ in some regards, but it can add many hours of added play time to the game. What the mode doesn’t have, though, is much time for stealth. Survival is all action, all the time, with only a few lulls between waves.
The same can be said of the competitive mode Control, which throws the multiplayer sniping game rule book out of the window. There’s five modes in the game, so you do still have the traditional sniper battles, but this is almost nonsensical fun that takes Sniper Elite’s more considered gameplay and sticks it in a blender with the faster paced action modes of modern first person shooters. You get out off breath from sprinting, your aim wobbles when moving, using items is a little unwieldy, and really, the game shouldn’t work when combined with this kind of mode, but it somehow does.
Your aim is to capture and hold the radio equipment, but it’s not about holding it for a certain amount of time, it’s about being the last team to hold it as the meter fills. Teamwork and caution get thrown to the wind as you see the other team about to score, and you have to mount a last ditch assault on a point to capture it and score a point. There is something to be said for the more cautious player, who can sit off to one side and provide sniping cover fire or take down enemies foolishly rushing in.
Honestly, I doubt that I’ll do more than dabble with the multiplayer after launch, but it’s good to see more variety like this for those that want it. For me, Sniper Elite’s beating heart is with it’s single player and co-op, and Rebellion are really pushing beyond what the series has done in the past with wider, more open levels and so many more possibilities and ways to play through them. Having loved going through the previous campaigns in co-op, I really can’t wait.
aerobes
I, like you, have played through each one also but never in co-op before, it would appear you have one more friend than I. :D Nevertheless, I’m excited about this as usual and your write-up is nothing but good things.
Stefan L
Hehe. I liked putting that little joke in there. Truth be told I have two friends.
Do play it in co-op if you can. The silliness goes up exponentially!