There’s nothing quite as satisfying as popping a bullet in someone’s head using a sniper rifle from a really long distance in a video game and this is what Sniper Elite 4 is all about. Taking a deep breath as your aim reticule gets smaller and smaller and then finally pulling the trigger to see that perfect cinematic shot of a head blown to bits never gets old in a Sniper Elite game but with the fourth iteration, it’s even more satisfying.
This is primarily due to the game’s huge maps. Developer Rebellion claims that these maps are multiple times bigger than the ones found in the previous games and boy, they are indeed huge. But more than the size, it’s the intriguing design applied to them. There is a sense of verticality to them instantly reminding us of 2015’s Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. For a game that doesn’t really have a big budget than your usual AAA game, this is indeed a remarkable achievement by Rebellion.
If you are a console gamer then you should be playing Sniper Elite 4 on the PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 4 Pro. Both versions run at a native 1920 X 1080 resolution resulting into decent image quality overall. However the PS4 version suffers from aliasing issues. Nearby objects sometimes take a bit of time to load and the overall the game’s performance feels a bit off. This is because Sniper Elite 4 runs at an unlocked frame rate on the PS4. The performance for the most part doesn’t feel bad but a locked 30 fps cap would have been definitely appreciated. On the PS4 Pro we see a 60fps cap and for the most it does manage to hold that target. There are frame rate drops here and there but overall, the performance is way better on the PS4 Pro.
The Pro version also benefits from improved lighting, faster loading times, increased draw distance, increase geometry level of detail, improved shadows, and increased image quality on reflections. Surprisingly, Sniper Elite 4 does not have a 4K mode; it renders the game in native 1080p even if you play it on a 4K TV. Although a 1080p image buffer with higher frame rates are appreciated, we wonder why a checkerboard 4K with 30fps wasn’t implemented.
Overall, Sniper Elite 4 is a decent looking game. Movement is rather clunky, facial animations are dated and it is not pushing the hardware to its limit. But in hindsight, these compromises are fine since the performance boost on the PS4 Pro and the awesome level design make Sniper Elite 4 a rather interesting game to play through.
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