[Review] SNIPER ELITE 5 REVIEW Not a misfire, but still doesn't hit its mark

[FazzNoth]

Five games deep, Sniper Elite delivers what I consider to be its best instalment since the original—thanks largely to the influence of games like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and the Hitman reboots. Yet a lack of confidence in its core sniping conceit, as well as a truly dire story, drag down an enjoyable stealth game.

It's probably not what a lot of people coming to Sniper Elite 5 care about but someone at Rebellion was intent on cramming numerous cutscenes into this thing and they are all, without exception, duller than the dead eyes of the Nazis left in the wake of protagonist Karl Fairburne. This macho American commando and sniper is a videogame gruff-man so generic he feels like he didn't even get to the end of the assembly line of the factory where they make these cookie cutter men. It's not impossible to imbue a Nazi killing machine with inner life and depth BJ Blazkowicz from Wolfenstein is subversive with his well of introspection. Karl, though, is boilerplate, and everything he says washes over me like white noise.

Well everything except those moments of unintentional comedy, like at the game's outset where, after seeing their submarine destroyed, Karl utters "Nazi bastards" while a sad accordion plays. Accordions! Get it? Because it's set in France!

The choices of the game's musical score are a not so subtle hint towards the level Sniper Elite is working on. It's the second world war through the lens of a teenage boy. Which doesn't matter in the grand scheme of shooting nazis, but certainly holds it back from having much in the way of character or tone—never tongue-in-cheek enough to pull off the macabre humour of Hitman or serious enough to engage with the realities of occupied France.

The French resistance are present throughout and every time they showed up I couldn't help but wonder why they weren't the star of the show. Why weren't we some under-resourced sniper, having to use their wit and cunning to overcome the powerful nazi war machine? Someone with personal stakes and ties to the country? It's such a blindingly obvious way to breathe some life into proceedings but for whatever reason, the series seems married to its bargain bin action man.

More Info: https://www.pcgamer.com/au/sniper-elite-5-review/