Customer Reviews

Sniper Elite

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ok I have the PC version of this game. I suggest you buy the PC version of this game as it gives you a more refined, more precise way of aiming your crosshairs at the target by using a mouse, rather than using a console thumbstick controller. Sniping means precision and if you don't have the right "equipment", then you won't be hitting your target.

This game is not your regular FPS run fire kill and then run some more. This is a pure sniper game. You get spotted and chances are you will get killed because the AI will flank, position, and surround you; just like in real life, the opposing force hates a sniper more than anything else in a battlefield.

Graphics: Excellent. Remember that this game was set during the last days of the Reich (WWII) so expect to see TONS of rubble, bombed out buildings, and roadblocks. Graphics were a bit repetitive but really you don't have time to admire the scenery because chances are the enemy will spot you if you stay too long in one position. One the first map, you'll see allied planes in formation flying over Berlin. It just sets the tone for the whole game.

Gameplay: A nice twist. You are an OSS operative assigned to stop the Russians from stealing/acquiring information to build the A-bomb from the Nazis. So yes, you are an American dressed as a Wehrmacht sniper. Don't worry about the Nazis because they're your friends. It's the Soviet Army you need to worry about. You are inserted in Berlin during the last days of the Reich, Russian tanks rolling across the city and bombing the living daylights out of it. You have contacts that you need to locate, tanks to blow up, and you get to assasinate Martin Bormann. Yes you heard me...assasinate Martin Bormann, and it's probably one of the most difficult missions to complete. As a spoiler...you need to track a contact, get some ammo, and then you have to locate the perfect sniping position to kill Bormann, while making sure you get to that position in time before he drives away. Tried so many times to complete this mission and failed lots. I finally decided to just sneak to where Bormann's car would exit (through the Brandenburg Gate),and then I waited for him. As soon as I saw his car coming, I stepped in the middle of the road, went into a crouching stance, aimed my rifle, took a deep breath (you can clear your lungs by hitting the F key to stabilize your gun hold) then pulled the trigger. I took him out at 123 yards as a moving target. The more difficult the target was presented to you, the more points you get when you take him out. Such is the nature of this game...numerous ways to enter and complete the mission. Hence, this game is not linear.

The nifty thing about taking a shot here in this game is that if you hit a target cleanly on the head, you get to see a slo-mo of the bullet flying towards the target and then actually seeing in slo-mo the head whip back and a chunk of flesh bursting out of where the bullet entered. It's actually a good way of telling whether you're going to hit the target or not. As soon as you pull the trigger and then you immediately see the screen turn into a bullet trajectory slo-mo view, then you know you've taken out your target. Farthest target I've hit was a 125 yard shot from the ground and hitting my target on top of a building. Bullet entered his left cheek. I know because of the slo-mo. Cool huh...

Strategy: Look, crawl, examine, check, then move again. This requires a lot of patience on the player. Again, this is not your standard shoot-em up. You have to consider several factors in this game..windage, bullet drop, distance, clearance, and situational awareness. Firing your gun means you are giving away your position to the enemy so move out of your position as soon as you fire your weapon. Sometimes you'll hit a body shot and the enemy will cry out for help while cringing in pain. Two ways to handle this, let the enemies come towards the injured comrade (they sometimes assist the injured) and then pick them off one by one OR fire another round just to put him out of his misery.

The rule of the game is ONE SHOT ONE KILL. Ammo is limited to about 200 rounds. Waste your rounds and you are forced to forage for ammo that you can use for your rifle. There are tons of weapons, mostly SMGs. The problem is gunning down your target with SMGs is just inviting a whole battalion to come after you.

And now the gripe...enemies are able to hit you from a distance using a submachine gun! How in heavens they can do that is beyond me. I look at it this way...it adds to the challenge.

All in all, this is an awesome game with lots of replay value and strategy. Not suitable for kids because of the slo-mo bullet impact feature. Buy the game.

This game caught my eye and i thought i would take a chance and it payed off with a great game. Not only do you get a chance to engage the enemy at long range but stealth movement and planning are also required! The graphics are a 8/10 imo game play can be done in like an arcade type setting or getting down and dirty with wind, distance, breathing, heartbeat becoming a factor. This is not a fast paced game but stealth and cunning take the day which require planning and forward thinking....Set in Late War Torn Berlin in April 1945 the city is destroyed so plenty of places to hid on a quest to stop the Russians from gaining Nuclear secrets. What is fun also, is the fact you can pick up an MG44 or a russian PPH etc...along with grenades and such and take on the soldiers but remember your only one man and when the alarm is raised its one against many......so have an escape route. This is one to own imo with lots of replay value and the story line is interesting with rescues and assassinations. I played live and had a blast on team play with russians agains germans.....give it a try it worth that if your into WW2 games....

Update: 1/24/2006

I have completed all the missions and returned on a higher level and really have gotten into the online game. This is handsdown the best sniper/shooter game on xbox and the online feature is addicting. The game missions are exciting and bring the storyline together to make an outstanding action adventure game. Don't think your just going to be sitting around waiting to snipe folks...wrong... stealthy movement, silent kills, long range detonations, taking out tanks..ya name it this has it....worth every penny...i hope to see more games from this developer...

I think a review is subjective so, if you don't like shooters or war themed games then don't bother to read further.

I purchased Sniper Elite because a game junky who understands my penchant for shooters said it was easily worth the money. He was dead on.

The premise is that it is the end of WWII. The Russians are taking their first steps toward the atomic age and as a member of the OSS it is your job to infiltrate, whack the baddies or destroy equipment and exfiltrate.

I played this game all the way through alone and in two-player mode with my son, who at 11 is a better shot than me darn it. I actually liked two-player better because you really get a team feel. Multiple shooting points can really help in some missions.

The last thing to mention is the shooting itself. Through the game you progress through three rifles, each better than the last. You have to account for gravity, wind, rain and AI. It can take more than 1 shot if placement isn't good, but there is a great feature we refer to as "bullet cam". Spectacular shots change the point of view to that of the bullet. You follow trajectory all the way to the target and watch the bone smashing damage, followed by a heads-up message indicating the type of shot and the distance. It really makes you competitive and awards "Points of Fame".

In short:
AI - decent to spectacular depending on the difficulty level
Graphics - pretty good (remember this is xbox/PS2)
Storyline - Fair enough to support the missions.
Controls - Easy and make pretty good sense
"The Shot" - Most fun shooter I've played.

Only negative I found was that on XBox there are verbal communiques that come across as high pitched static screeches. I'm not sure what the dialogue is supposed to be, but I learned pretty quickly to drop and break out the binoculars :)

If you like shooters and/or war games you've paid for worse. I can only say this is the only game I ever played start to finish and re-played immediately at the next level.

Sniper Elite for the Xbox is a third-person tactical simulation. This is not an arcade shooter like "Halo", where you can go in with guns blazing, nor are you equipped with an absurd weapons payload or body shield. Getting hit by a few shots will certainly kill you. Sniper Elite tries to simulate the actions of a sniper in the WWII era and does an amazing job! Your primary weapon is a sniper rifle, your secondary weapon is a silenced pistol, a few hand grenades, trip wires, rocks and few bandages to heal your wounds. Stealth and patience is very important in this game, you must avoid being seen or heard by enemies. If the enemies hear something suspicious they will investigate the sound and search the area, if the enemy sees you, they will come in groups and try to flank you or flush you out with heavy gunfire and even toss a grenade at you.

The physics of the game are kind of realistic and take many factors into consideration which affect your aiming and probabilty of getting an accurate shot. You have to be aware of wind, gravity (bullet drop), weather conditions and your character's own heart beat. Most of the the times you you will be crawling on the ground in the prone position, but your character has the ability to crouch, run and walk. The levels are very open (free-form) and allow you to improvise to create a plan of attack. Most of your shots are a one shot kill if you hit your targets in critical areas of the body; anywhere on the head, neck and torso- one shot will bring instant death to the enemy and cause the camera to switch to a slow-mo bullet cam as it follows it's path and hit the target with gruesome detail.
You will see a spurts of blood, pieces of brain splatter and even a bit of flesh chipped off! Because of the blood and gore, this game is for adults only; not for children.

You also have the ability to search enemy dead bodies to aquire weapons or ammunition, you can then pick up dead bodies and move them to another location to hide them. If you leave a dead body in plain view, the enemy patrols might spot it and go on alert level. You can make a sniper's nest by setting a trip wire to close your area off or even toss a piece of rock to distract the enemy, while you shoot them in the back or sprint to a new location. My only complaint about this game is that the graphics are rather grainny and blocky, which in effect makes it look like a first generation game. But my overall experience of Sniper Elite, is excellent and really hope they bring a sequel!

Pros:
+open ended levels
+excellent controls
+excellent sound effects
+excellent A.I.
+excellent music
+excellent weaponry
+excellent stealth strategies
+realistic physics
+blood and gore
+bullet camera
+search dead bodies
+multiplayer/xbox live

Cons:
-weak graphics
-a few linear levels

This game is a blast. I won't go into everything I like about the game as it has been mentioned at length in other reviews. There are a few points that need some attention and one of them really detracts from the game.

Graphics are solid but not as good as I'd hoped.

Multiplayer campaign is much appreciated, but I hate the fact that you have to stick SO close to your partner. I got stuck and killed a number of times because of this. In future installments, they really should get rid of this.

The one thing that REALLY bothered me about this game was the "realism." It would be great if it really was realistic, and I'm surprised I haven't seen others comment on this. Lets talk about bullet drop folks....

Bullet drop is something that any sniper has to deal with. But most of the sniper rounds in WWII fired a .308 or larger round. So what you say? Sit tight... About the longest shot you will make in this game is 200 yards, MAYBE 240. I can tell you after many years of shooting in real life that at 200 yards bullet drop will be negligible with those types of rounds. But in the game you have to target so high above their heads to account for the drop that its just comical. 200 yards would BARELY change your point of aim. 500-1000 yards, then you are talking some more drastic adjustment, but 200 yards or less--no way. As I said, if it really were more realistic this would be a cool feature. But they made the bullet drop 10 times worse than it is in real life and that really annoyed me.

I bought sniper elite off amazon and the games looks like it could be a blast, but not on xbox 360. The game is 100% NOT backwards compatible and will not play on the xbox 360.

I played this game a few months after it was released with a friend of mine. I really enjoyed the game! The first time you see the slowed down bullet slice through the air and penetrate an enemy, you will be impressed with the game. Invite a friend and it is a blast. This game was for the original xbox, but I hear they are bringing it to the wii. You should get this if you enjoy fun and don't mind the out of date graphics. Still fun!!

First off, That Diego Braz guy that has written a review for this game on this site is an idiot or just really bad. This game is awesome. Most of the people have done a good job reviewing, so I'll try not drag this review out, and just give you the + and -.

+ The great parts of the game are, the slo-mo bullet cam, the realism, and the nonlinear gaming. In the game, you pick your own way of getting the mission done. You are your own general. The game incorporates, wind speed, gravity, heart rate, stance, visibility, and stealth. The difficulties turn these off or on. This game is an awesome stealth game and it's just really fun to play.

- You can carry an amazing amount of gear. (1 rifle 200 rnds, 1 smg 150 rnds, 1 panzer 3 rnds, 1 pistol 50 rnds, 14 grenades, 4 medkits, 4 bandages, 4 tripwire grenades, 8 tnt, binocs, and rocks) I am probably missing some things but you get the point. The other bad thing, is enemies with SMG's can shoot you from 200 yards away and spot you from 100 yrds. Oh well, that adds to the difficulty. The last thing is the whole idea that 1 sniper, can take out the whole Russian NKVD. I still love the game anyways.

So now you know. Try to beat these records that I have set.

Longest Shot - 230 yrds
Longest HS - 230 yrds

Have fun with this game!

Patience is the key word here, if you don't have it this game is probably not for you. You can do a bit of running and gunning but that is not what this game is about. Take your time, set up the shot, know your exits, and cover your exits then take the shot and reap the reward. You will have to make snap shots at times but nothing is better than one shot one kill. Well, that and having a trip wire grenade take out a would be stalker. Yes I have played it through all of the way. Sound is good and yes use it to hear people coming up steps etc. Graphics are average but they do get the job done. I hope to see a sequel on the 360 in the future.

When it comes to the original Xbox, there are not many titles that make me want to revert from the beautiful graphics and enhanced abilities of the Xbox 360 console and its games. However, Sniper Elite is an execption. I had played this game a few years ago and I couldn't stop thinking about it whenever the topic of which game captures the sniping art the best. As a friend and I were looking for another game to add to our co-op beaten list, I suggested that we find a copy of this game. Well, it is rare, but it is still sweetness in a case. The graphics, while not nearly as amazing as other games, hold their own. The inclusion of a "bullet cam" allows you to enjoy your best shots for longer, and from another prospective. While the levels feel a bit "blocked in" the is still plenty of room to get in some very long shots. The best thing I found in this game was the possibility of completing a level however I wished. I could crawl around in well-hidden tunnels and holes to find the best sniping positions, or I could enter a level and do my best to fight through the waves of AI that came running and gunning my way. All-in-all I am happy with this purchase, though the game didn't last long on the normal difficulty. (I suggest Realistic difficulty.)