Rebellion’s Sniper Elite 3 is heading to the North African front of World War II, as Karl Fairburne must utilize a new set of tactics and equipment on a non-linear battlefield.
Fans of the series that were disappointed by Sniper Elite V2 should rest assured that Rebellion has taken steps to ensure Sniper Elite 3 delivers more of what gamers loved. The head of creative development at Rebellion stated that the title has been “built from the ground up to plug all the holes in gameplay that didn’t manage to go as far as we wanted to with Sniper Elite V2.”
Stalking your enemies in the desert will force players to focus on stealth and relocation tactics. This means that planning your approach carefully, by slipping from cover to cover, will be imperative for remaining hidden in the shadows. As you move hidden through the environment, players can utilize the game’s tagging system that allows you to mark enemies. This will be one of your most important tools because it allows you to track their movements through the environment, and plan a path of least resistance.
Of course, knowing the movements of your enemies also allows Fairburne to capitalize on the expanded set of mines and traps at players’ disposal. Savvy gamers will find new and creative ways to cover their defenses, but it seems that traps and mines will play a much heavier role in offensive tactics.
Gaining a strong sense of situational awareness will prove vital for each shot you plan to take. Now, enemies have an improved AI, which allows them to methodically discover exactly where a player’s shot originated. It will take time for them to pinpoint your exact location, but this provides the best opportunity to maneuver away from the rising danger. Rebellion revealed this to be a solution for ensuring that the game refrained from escalating into a full-blown shootout, much like what occurred when you were discovered in Sniper Elite V2.
There are ways, however, for players to ensure that they can fire freely from a secure location. Similar to Sniper Elite V2, players will be able to take advantage of ambient noise in the background by carefully timing each shot with the backfire of a truck or the overbearing shots of an eighty-eight artillery gun. Rebellion is also ensuring that players can make their own sound masking options by including environmental objects which can be used as solutions on-the-fly.
Interestingly, Rebellion is planning for even more player freedom by implementing a Rifle customization system that the fans have been begging for. As players gain experience and rank up in Sniper Elite 3, they will gain access to a range of new stocks new stocks, barrels, customized reticles and scopes.
But wait, what about the X-ray kill cam?
Luckily, Rebellion knows what fans want and will be bringing the above mentioned feature back with a whole new level of brutality. Lining up the perfect shot and pulling the trigger will reward players with a more detailed display of the victim’s innards, by also including models of circulatory and muscular systems.
Sniper Elite 3 is currently set for release in the second half of 2014 and will be making an appearance on PlayStation 4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows PC. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below and let us know how you plan on setting up the perfect shot.
