Sniper Elite 3

[h1][b] TLDR: Satisfying sniping mechanics buried under brain-dead AI, mission-breaking bugs, and early 2000s jank. Good at one thing, bad at everything else. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1] ➕Sniping mechanics - heart rate, distance, wind ➕X-ray kill cam is cool [h1]CONS: [/h1] ➖Bugs, often mission-breaking bugs ➖Can’t increase FOV ➖Dumb as bricks enemy AI ➖Screenshots on store page doesn’t look like game ➖Can’t shoulder swap(?) ➖Crash to desktop count = 1 [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/728740?snr=1_5_9__402]My review for Sniper Elite v2 Remastered is here.[/url] [h1] [b] Content (Game world/Narrative) – [6/10] [/b] [/h1] The game world takes place mostly in Africa, so you have traditional African landscape - desert, sand, and rocky areas. There seems to be some good exploration and collectables. There’s a narrative, but it seems pretty simple - you’re a lone sniper during WWII. [h1][b] Gameplay (Mechanics/Difficulty) – [3/10] [/b] [/h1] The mechanics I found to be both impressive, and terrible. The impressive side has some legitimate sniping mechanics that play into the shooting. Stuff like heart beat affects aiming, wind affects bullet trajectory, and distance impacts bullet drop. Probably the last cool thing is the kill cam, which is great at first, but did start to get old after the 30th time. You can adjust the frequency in the settings though. Terrible is pretty much everything else. The enemy AI is dumb as f**k. To have such cool realistic mechanics like lighting affecting stealth vision then to have enemies ignore their friend getting their head blown off next to them and resume patrolling 30 seconds later is just wild. I also found all the non-sniping shooting mechanics to be terrible. The difficulty seems to be easier than expected. I played on the “Hard” difficulty, Sniper Elite I think it was, and the enemies were too dumb to prove much of a challenge. As long as I didn’t play run-and-gun style, they forgot about all their dead friends and returned to their patrol route. [h1] [b] Graphics (Quality/Technical) – [3/10] [/b] [/h1] Graphics are on the lower end side. I’d say PS3-era. I was able to play fully maxed and it didn’t look very impressive. On the technical side, I did crash to desktop once. The graphics options on PC are also poor. There doesn’t seem to be a way to shoulder swap your aim, which is horrible for a 3rd person shooter. I also noticed many bugs - enemies walking into walls, enemies shooting walls, my character jumping down off a ledge and the floor disappearing making me stuck in the environment and having to reload the last checkpoint (which is thankfully frequent). 1440p @ 240hz | installed on SSD [h1] [b] Audio – [6/10] [/b] [/h1] Sounds good. There’s not much music, but the ambience and atmosphere sound good. Voice acting is present and seemed fine. [h1] [b] Replay Factor (Longevity) – [NA/10] [/b] [/h1] I can’t rate this section as I didn’t play it long enough. [h1] [b] Final Verdict – [4/10] [/b] [/h1] Sniper Elite 3 (SE3) has some great sniping elements. In fact, if it was just a game around sniping only, I think it would be much better. But looking beyond the few core mechanics SE3 has and you’ll find a buggy, mess of a game that is unfriendly to PC and has a look and feel of early 2000s-era shooters. My favorite part is the sniping mechanics, which are done well here. It’s neat to have to factor in so many variables that affect your shot. I also enjoyed the stealth elements, at least the part of moving after you shoot. All of these is where the game should have stopped and focused on showcasing these more. Instead, you’ll have to deal with some of the dumbest enemy AI in recent memory. It almost makes me feel bad, like I’m shooting a barrel full of poor, defenseless puppies that have a 10-second memory span. Even putting aside AI, in my short playtime I encountered enough bugs and technical issues that made me throw in the towel. Overall, this was not fun to play. Maybe it was decent in 2014, but I’d recommend a skip for this one. [h1] [b] Recommend? (Price) [Y/N] [/b] [/h1] [h1]No[/h1] $30 base? Heck no. The historical low sale price of $3 is much more worth what this game is in 2026. You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR