Sniper Elite III Wiki – Everything you need to know about the game

Sniper Elite III is an upcoming tactical third person shooter video game featuring stealth elements with a focus on long range precision sniper fire set against the backdrop of the second world war in North Africa. The game is currently in development by Rebellion Oxford who found fame with their popular Sniper Elite franchise and 2010’s Alien vs Predator game.

The title is set to be published by both Rebellion and 505 Games who previously published Payday 2 and Sniper Elite V2. Arriving in Europe on June 27th 2014 and July 1st 2014 in North America, Sniper Elite III will be available at retail and via digital download and will be launching on current and last generation consoles. Sniper Elite III will be available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows.

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay
• 3. Story
• 4. Characters

Development

Despite development information being somewhat limited, some details have come to the fore thanks to a community Q&A that was hosted by Rebellion. When questioned about what changes we can expect to see between the previous two games and Sniper Elite III, developers have said that when to compared to the previous games the levels will be up to three times larger that will allow for longer missions with more objectives and more choices in how you execute your orders by making use of your environment. The player can sabotage pieces of equipment in the game world to create additional ambient sounds to help mask the sound of their shots.

The larger maps will also contain markedly more enemies (no specific numbers have been giving regarding the new on-screen enemy count). The increased enemy count will also be bolstered with new AI that will make them “smarter, more believable”.

Player interaction with the environment is said to be smoother with a number of features that will be improved, including vaulting over and taking cover as well as weapon acquisition and equipment selection and use. Despite mentioning the inclusion of period and location specific weaponry, Rebellion are remaining vague in regards to other weapons in the game leading many fans to expect additional content to be provided by way of day one paid DLC, “The launch release starts out with weapons used in the conflict – so the favourites are back – the M1 Garrand, the British Lee Enfield and Gewehr. We’ll be adding some popular V2 ones and some all-new rifles at a later date!”

Speaking to Gaming Bolt’s own Kurtis Simpson, Sniper Elite III’s senior producer Jean-Baptiste Bolcato spoke about the various challenges that face developers who want to develop their titles on Xbox One. This was in response to the industry’s current fascination with achieving 1080p + 60FPS (frames per second: The speed at which the image refreshes, a smooth 60FPS is often considered by PC players [and more recently the console audience] the most stable and player friendly way to play games). Stating that the issues encountered were partly reliant on eSRAM (a low latency, high bandwidth memory solution) and how much the Xbox One has available. This lower eSRAM availability has caused trouble for developers trying to achieve a 1080p image. Bolcato says, “It was clearly a bit more complicated to extract the maximum power from the Xbox One when you’re trying to do that. I think eSRAM is easy to use. The only problem is…Part of the problem is that it’s just a little bit too small to output 1080p within that size. It’s such a small size within there that we can’t do everything in 1080p with that little buffer of super-fast RAM.”

Gameplay

The gameplay in the Sniper Elite video games has catered to the dedicated snipers of gaming since 2005 when they released Sniper Elite on PS2, Xbox, Wii and Microsoft Windows. Since then, little has changed at the games core which has always been laser focused on delivering precision action that relies on the players ability to put rounds down range and never miss their target. Players will make their way through a number of hostile enemy environments, tasked with assassination, reconnaissance and sabotage.

As the player moves forward, they will often find themselves hopelessly outnumbered, facing enemy camps and patrols that leave no stone unturned when pursuing their target. Making use of period specific weaponry such as bolt action rifles outfitted with long range scopes or magazine fed weapons customised to maximise their DMR (designated marksman rifle) properties, the player will wage war from afar. And if all doesn’t go according to plan they may employ the use of mines and trip wires attached to grenades to secure an escape route or cover a bottle neck.

The player can hold their breath to help stabilise their aim to assist in making those all important long range shots against the enemy. Targeting the most vulnerable body parts and organs or scoring a particularly fine hit will sometimes reward the player with an “X-ray Cam” view of the bullet as the game slows down and the camera follows the trajectory of your lethally aimed projectile, giving the player a graphic (and clear) picture of just how much damage the bullet has wrought. Hitting targets in the leg can be used to force heroic rescuers to run into your line of fire in an attempt to save their ally, a savvy sniper will use this chance to (literally) kill birds with one stone. If the player is feeling particularly lucky and happens to have a favourable cross wind, they may even be able to detonate any explosives that the enemy is carrying with an expertly placed shot.

Story

Rebellion is hoping that Sniper Elite III will have a campaign in the region of 12 hours long, but they admit that this is subject to change depending on both the players play style and their competence in the game.

While not much is known about the game, we do know that it will take place in North Africa set against the backdrop of World War 2. The player will be primarily fighting against the fearsome and wholly lethal Afrika Korps, but the enemy is a person by the name of Vahlen who has something secret planned.

Characters

Karl Fairburne – Karl is an American OSS secret agent who travels deep behind enemy lines disguised as one of their own. Using his lethal sniping abilities he has accomplished more in his time as an agent than an entire regiment of men could achieve.

The Afrika Korps – The fighting men of the Afrika Korps are a potent and capable enemy that is the main enemy of the American agent Karl Fairburne.

Vahlen – Vahlen is an unknown and an enigma at the moment with next to no information being available regarding him or his activities.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.