Sniper Elite III

Sniper Elite III is a tactical third person shooter, developed by Rebellion Developments and published by 505 Games for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. Released in June 2014, it is a prequel to Sniper Elite V2 set 3 years before.

Plot[]

Panzer — Afrikakorps panzer advancing towards Tobruk.

In June 1942, during the Battle of Gazala, OSS Sniper Karl Fairburne has recently arrived at Tobruk with orders to hold Tobruk against the German army along with 35,000 British soldiers. Karl was putting his M1 Garand together when a fellow soldier, Tommy, came rushing through the battle to tell him snipers were needed. Karl finishes putting his rifle together and headed out. He made quick work of the two German spotters and proceeded down to assassinate the final spotter. When a German truck pulled up with a turret in the pick-up, Karl aimed his rifle and saved the men from being mowed down. He quickly ignited the truck into flames. He helped British soldiers repel General Erwin Rommel's forces, but ultimately, the port of Tobruk is lost. Fairburne heads to the Gaberoun oasis in Libya to kill several officers and reveal Vahlen's whereabouts. He only finds a document revealing the name of Vahlen's project, Project Seuche (literally meaning "plague"). The Long Range Desert Group asks for Fairburne's assistance in destroying several Flak 88's in Halfaya Pass.

Karl Panzer Afrikakorps — Karl screening a German patrol in Gaberoun.

Fairburne's only hope of finding Vahlen is by rescuing a British informant inside Fort Rifugio, previously held by the British during Operation Compass. The man, Brauer, shares intelligence about officers meeting at the Siwa Oasis in Western Egypt. Fairburne, whose sniping has earned him the label Wüstengeist (Desert Ghost) by the Germans, sneaks into the town and finds out that the officers plan to betray Vahlen to Hitler by giving him the general's personal diary in Berlin. Fairburne kills the officer tasked as the courier and steals the book, which details Vahlen's plans to conquer Europe when the Afrika Korps win in North Africa, with his base of operations somewhere in the Kasserine Pass.

20170119053942 1 — Generalfeldmarschall Franz Vahlen during his monologue.

Fairburne and Brauer infiltrate the base and discover from a secret movie reel that Project Seuche is a supertank codenamed Ratte. Tragically, Brauer is killed by a Tiger tank, but Fairburne destroys it in revenge. He buries Brauer and takes a round from Brauer's Lee-Enfield rifle. With the location of the Ratte's production facility still unknown, Fairburne joins the LRDG in assaulting the German-controlled Pont du Fahs Airfield and finds a map leading to the facility, which is nestled inside a giant canyon. He gets inside the complex and is ambushed by Vahlen, though he manages to escape and gets to the production area. He prepares satchel charges to collapse the base as well as destroy the Ratte prototype. He finds the tank and shoots cables holding the supertank's massive shells, dropping them onto the Ratte itself. The tank is destroyed and Vahlen is mortally injured under the rubble; Fairburne takes Vahlen's Luger and kills him before escaping the base.

Mission List[]

"Airfield", early concept art of Pont Du Fahs showing Karl covering the LRDG.

Campaign[]

DLC[]

Trophies and Achievements[]

Main article: Sniper Elite III Trophies and Achievements

Gameplay[]

Truck driver of an Opel Blitz shot while in movement.

Like its predecessor, Sniper Elite III is a Third Person Shooter, with an emphasis on stealth. It is much quicker to use brute force if the player wishes to, though it can be tricky.

Testicle shot Ratte factory — Testicle shot, a fan favorite.

The sniping mechanics remain mostly the same with realistic ballistics, including shots being affected by the wind and gravity over large distances. The ability to empty lung to give the illusion of time moving slower returns. The X-Ray Kill Cam makes a return, and is largely unchanged. Sound can be utilized to mask shots, in order to cover the player's position.

Stealth has been reworked, and instead of the detection bar at Karl's feet, a meter will fill yellow above enemies heads, causing them to grow suspicious. Once they are in that state, the meter will fill again, in red. If filled, the enemies will begin a full on assault. Breaking the line of sight with all enemies will cause a "ghost" to appear, signifying the last position the enemies saw Karl. The ability to relocate has been added: moving a certain distance from suspicion zones will lead enemies to abandon their search. Traps and distractions are still prevalent in game. One of the new features is a flint and steel that can be used to start fires. The Flint works on a timer, allowing for Karl to leave the area before the fire starts burning, allowing Karl to draw enemies to a certain area, or set explosives on a timer.

The game opts for having a segmented health bar as opposed to complete regenerative health: it will heal to a point, though there is reliance on supplies to maintain life.

Weapons and equipment can be selected before missions, and several presets can be saved.

Locations[]

Siwa Oasis water and plants — The water and vegetation of the Siwa Oasis.

The game's setting spans several countries in North Africa as Karl follows the lead of Project Seuche. These countries include Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco. The scenery goes from windy deserts to oasis with blue water and green vegetation, with day and night missions. The fort of Tobruk is played during daytime in the prologue and infiltrated at night in the mission to kill Hitler; same with the Siwa Oasis.

The game is particularly notable for portraying colonial forts of the period, colourful environments, as well as gloomy prisons with signs of torture and executions.

Characters[]

"Dramatic escape", early artwork showing Karl Fairburne escaping an enemy straffing run.

Protagonist[]

Karl Fairburne

Allies[]

Targets[]

Hitler giving his autograph to a German soldier.

Enemies[]

Italian Elites Fort Rifugio yellow suspicion — Patrol of Italian Elites in Fort Rifugio.

Factions[]

Weapons[]

Karl fairburne 3 4 — Karl with a customized M1 Garand.

Karl awaiting for Hitler in Tobruk. He carries an M1 Garand and a Sten, his standard loadout in cutscenes.

Primary[]

Sniper Rifles[]

M1 Garand
- M1 Garand (Camo) (DLC)
Carcano
Gewehr 43
Lee-Enfield Mk. III
- Lee-Enfield Mk. III (Camo) (DLC)
Mosin Nagant (DLC)
- Mosin Nagant (Camo) (DLC)
Springfield M1903 (DLC)
- Springfield M1903 (Camo) (DLC)
M1917 Enfield (DLC)
- M1917 Enfield (Camo) (DLC)
SVT-40 (DLC)
- SVT-40 (Camo) (DLC)
Springfield (Tuned) DLC
Type 99 (DLC)
Karabiner 98k (DLC)
- Karabiner 98k (Camo) (DLC)

Secondary Weapons[]

Blyskawica in action Pont du Fahs — Blyskawica in action in Pont du Fahs.

Submachine Guns[]

Assault Rifles[]

MP44 (DLC)

Shotguns[]

Trench Gun (DLC)

Launchers[]

Panzerschreck
Teufelsfeuer (DLC: Belly of the Beast)

Tertiary Weapons[]

Pistols[]

Mounted Weapons[]

Machine Guns[]

MG42 (turret only)

Other Equipment[]

Explosives[]

Thrown[]

M24 Stielhandgranate

Placed[]

Melee Weapons[]

Knife

Items[]

Distraction Items[]

Vehicles[]

Karl Vs Panzer — Karl hiding from a German panzer.

Panzer IV Siwa Oasis — Karl fighting a Panzer IV in the Siwa Oasis.

Land[]

Air[]

Superweapon[]

Ratte

Multiplayer: Game modes[]

Sikh MAB 38 — Blue player killing a red player.

There are a multitude of game modes to play in Sniper Elite III. They are either free-for-all or teamplay, with the Blue Team (Desert Foxes) and the Red Team (Desert Rats).

Beach Blue Team — Blue player noticeable by the arm bands.

Deathmatch[]

Players complete in a free-for-all, whoever scores the most kills wins the match.

Team Deathmatch[]

Players a grouped into two teams with coloured armbands on their arms either red or blue, whichever team scores the most kills wins.

Distance King[]

Players will kill each other and whoever scores the longest kill distance will win.

No Cross[]

The map is split in half with impassable boundaries between the two teams, encouraging sniping duels and camping.

Capture the Flag[]

The teams have to capture the enemy team's flag and bring it back to their own flag in order to score points; as long as one's flag is in place. The team that scores the higher amount of points wins.

Multiplayer Skins[]

In Multiplayer the player can use different skins which are enemies or allies featured in the game (in team game modes they wear coloured armbands depending on their team).

Survival Mode[]

Survival Hellfire Pass Score Screen — Score screen between waves.

Survival mode is the typical horde mode, in which the player has to fight off groups of enemies in increasingly difficult sessions called "Waves". Each wave ends with a score screen tallying the player's performance. A few seconds are given before the next wave starts, giving the player time to relocate and prepare. Survival mode can be played alone or in Co-Op with a friend. There are 15 waves in total and two maps: Hellfire and Beachhead.

The first waves consist only of infantry - both Grunts and Elites - running into the map, looking for the player. This evolves to trucks bringing more troops at once, armoured cars, snipers and finally tanks. Each wave presents the players with random challenges, like killing X amount of soldiers in hand-to-hand combat, in order to achieve a higher score. In certain cases, a red beacon appears indicating the player will receive a score booster by killing enemies while standing in said beacon; the score for each will be multiplied. The amount of enemies is represented by a red bar that slowly diminishes as they are killed. The number of enemies remaining is displayed when there is only small handful of them, beginning at 5 men standing.

When playing with a friend, one player can be downed by the enemy and thus require assistance from his co-op partner. When this happens, the wounded player sits in the ground, immobile, while able to shoot his sidearm. His friend, in turn, keeps receiving an S.O.S. signal, showing where the downed partner is. Each player can be revived indefinitely, only losing if both players are down. Playing alone is an "Iron Man" experience, with each death throwing the player back at the beginning of the wave.

Sequel[]

Afrika's sequel, Sniper Elite 4, was announced on the 7th of March 2016, and released the next year. The game is set in Italy in 1943, with bigger maps, colourful green scenery and more characters than in SE III.