11. Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 2

After the Nazi Zombies wreaked havoc in the first standalone expansion to Sniper Elite V2, who could guess they’d return for another around? Nazi Zombie Army 2 offers a new campaign with fresh locations and enemy types, and you’ll once again slay undead by the droves solo or with up to three other players. Don’t fix what isn’t broken, but when it feels more repetitive than its predecessor, you have to wonder if it’s really worth it. Nevertheless, it’s more maps for slaying zombies, which counts most for some.

10. Sniper Elite VR: Winter Warrior

Another follow-up that noticeably falls short of the original, Winter Warrior is developed by Just Add Water of Oddworld fame. Given how well the first title fared, you would expect the momentum to continue. A forgettable narrative and iffy controls later, and you realize that’s not the case. The sequel doesn’t even do enough to switch up the formula or spruce up the visuals. The gunplay is still on point, but there isn’t enough content to justify jumping in. A mixed bag overall.

9. Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army

The original and Rebellion’s first attempt at a Left 4 Dead-style undead spinoff starring Karl Fairburne but set in an alternate universe World War 2. The shift from careful and methodical sniping and stealth to gunning down zombie hordes en masse is still a huge shift for the series. Nazi Zombie Army handles it well enough, combining the realistic gunplay and X-Ray Kill Cam with new kinds of threats and co-op. Though it won’t be competing with the best co-op zombie shooters in the genre, it’s a fun ol’ time, if nothing else.

8. Sniper Elite V2

The first sequel in the series, Sniper Elite V2 focuses on Fairburne attempting to stop the V-2 rocket program in Berlin (which explains why it didn’t get a simple “2” in its title). While it received some praise for the realistic ballistics, the AI was a mixed bag, alternating between competent and imbecilic. Respawning enemies and stealth were also points of contention, with sniping being the only aspect that resonated. That’s because Sniper Elite V2 introduced what would become a staple of the series for over a decade – the X-Ray Kill Cam, rewarding kills with a bloody showcase.

7. Zombie Army Trilogy

It’s a close tie between Sniper Elite V2 and Zombie Army Trilogy in quality. However, the latter wins out by not only remastering the first Nazi Zombie Army expansions but including a third campaign. You can play through them with up to four players, choosing from eight different characters (with Left 4 Dead 1 and 2’s cast joining later for an additional eight), and even adjusting the difficulty. The famed ballistics and X-Ray Kill Cam are also present alongside dismemberment, which adds a bit more strategy. It’s still pretty repetitive and lacks much of the series’ nuance, but it’s still good for mindless fun with friends.

6. Sniper Elite VR

The first Sniper Elite VR title and one that boasts a poor narrative with some strange gates stopping you from completing the last few missions. No autosaves, bugs, underwhelming melee combat – it’s almost hard to get on board. Where it excels is in the fine mix of arcade shooting and realistic ballistics. It’s also responsive enough to make racking up points with the most creative kills enjoyable. Still far from the best in the series, but a solid option for those who want a fun sniping title in VR.

6. Sniper Elite 3

After Sniper Elite V2 underwhelmed, Sniper Elite 3 came along and…marginally improved things (while flailing even more in other departments). Technically a prequel, it saw Fairburne venture to North Africa, with new desert locations to deal with. Unfortunately, the story wasn’t much to write home about, and the AI still had its failings. Where Sniper Elite 3 succeeded is in presenting larger more open levels for players to plan out a myriad of approaches.

Sabotaging generators to mask your shots with the sound, leveraging the revamped stealth to tactically take out threats, scrounging for weapon parts, setting up traps – it all felt so liberating (and, of course, the sniping was still on point). Add on improvements to the X-Ray Kill Cam to factor in organs and bone shattering, and on several gameplay levels, Sniper Elite 3 could be a fun time.

4. Sniper Elite 1

It’s somewhat ironic that one of the better games in the franchise is the one that started it all. Sniper Elite launched in 2005, and as far as sniping-focused titles were concerned, it was unlike anything else in the WW2 shooter space. The realistic depiction of ballistics, where factoring in things like the wind, felt fresh and challenging. Sure, you didn’t get the explosive viscera of the X-Ray Kill Cam, but it was still satisfying for a bullet to dramatically reach your target in slow motion. With all the other relatively new tactics, like using louder sounds to mask your shots, it’s no wonder it received attention despite some shortcomings.

3. Zombie Army 4: Dead War

Considering its predecessors, there may not have been many expectations from Zombie Army 4. Yet somehow, everything fell in place, from the campy campaign with its zombie sharks and zoo to the X-Ray Kill-Cam triggering off explosions and well-placed shots alike. Each character has extensive progression and some fun talents; the weaponry went above and beyond, straight-up embracing the elemental and bizarre new enemies debuted, including a zombie tank. Yes, it has overpriced DLC, and yes, the gameplay can still get repetitive, but it’s the series’ – and one of Sniper Elite’s – best offerings yet.

2. Sniper Elite 5

Sniper Elite 5 is not where the series’ truly started to take a turn and really come into its own with the sandbox-style levels and freedom of playstyles. It still excels in those regards, refining the realistic sniping we know and love while presenting some of the best levels in the series. There’s also Axis Invasion, a new mode where an enemy sniper can invade your game, leading to even more tense encounters. The key shortcomings of the series remained, but it felt like Sniper Elite finally carved its winning formula.

1. Sniper Elite 4

And it all truly began with Sniper Elite 4, which took the sandbox-like maps of Sniper Elite 3 and went even bigger. Fairburne was more agile than before, capable of clambering up structures to set up his shots. Night missions introduced new twists to the stealth formula and players were freer than ever to strategically take down enemies, go guns-blazing or take a completely silent approach. While it couldn’t overcome the series’ curse of middling story-telling and AI, Sniper Elite 4 achieved a new level, elevating it into something incredibly fun.

The Carcano – Sniper Elite 4

Sniper Elite 4 – as evident from the title itself, has a great assortment of sniper rifles that players can utilize in the game’s many missions. The Carcano however, stands out from the rest particularly due to its ability to deal some crazy amounts of damage along with a decent magazine size, which makes it a great choice for those wanting more stopping power. It can be hard to master though, particularly because of its high recoil – but those who do will undoubtedly have a great time sniping heads from afar.

To see the current-gen update in action, check out the trailer below. Set in the Italian peninsula during World War 2, Sniper Elite 4 follows marksman Karl Fairburne as he allies with the resistance to take down the Nazi regime. Much of the same elements from previous titles like the X-Ray kill cam and realistic sniping carry over, though the sequel offers more freedom when playing a mission.

Along with traps and missions at night, Karl is also more adept at climbing, which opens up more vantage points for sniping. Sniper Elite 4 is currently available for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch and Google Stadia. For more details, check out our official review here.

After having brought over several games from their back catalog to the Nintendo Switch – from Sniper Elite V2 Remastered to Sniper Elite 3: Ultimate Edition to Zombie Army Trilogy – it made sense that they’d be doing the same with other, more recent games from their library as well. Recently, they made the announcement that 2017’s Sniper Elite 4 is also making its way to the Switch.

As probably the best game in the series, it’s going to be one to watch out for for anyone who’s enjoyed the aforementioned Sniper Elite releases on the console. In addition to bringing over the entire game as is, Sniper Elite 4 will also have some Switch-specific features, including gyro aiming, Pro Controller support, local wireless play, and support for HD Rumble. Check out its reveal trailer below.

When Sniper Elite 4 launched in 2017, we praised its “excellent emergent stealth gameplay”, and despite some shortcomings, called it “a solid game that shouldn’t be missed if you enjoy stealth games.” Read our full review through here.

Sniper Elite 4 will release for the Switch this Holiday. A specific release date hasn’t yet been confirmed.

Agent 47 – Hitman Series

Enhanced speed, reflexes, strength and even a slight healing factor – Agent 47 possesses all of this and more, further supplemented by training in all forms of assassination. That includes sniping, as he can take down targets and vanish with barely any trace. Such is his overall infamy that he’s considered a legend in the ICA and will go to any lengths to kill a target.

August is looking like a good month for PlayStation Plus subscribers on PS4. Sony has announced that WipEout Omega Collection and Sniper Elite 4 will be free to download. Both titles will become available when the PlayStation Store updates on August 6th.

Developed by XDev, Clever Beans and EPOS Game Studios, WipEout Omega Collection alone is worth looking into. It’s a remaster of Wipeout HD, Wipeout HD Fury and Wipeout 2048, packing tons of tracks and ships into one single package. If you favour high speed, futuristic racing, this might be the game for you.

Rebellion’s Sniper Elite 4 is another strong addition to one’s PS4 library. It still carries the series’ penchant for long-range sniping and stealth but now includes more open-ended gameplay and larger maps. Movement has been revamped to encourage more verticality and there are even night missions to play.

Sony faced quite a bit of flak when it announced Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 for last month’s PlayStation Plus free games. So much so that it eventually replaced this with Detroit: Become Human Digital Deluxe Edition. We’ll see how the response is to this month’s offerings in the coming days.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Yes, the story-telling was uneven and the ending was kind of disappointing. However, Kojima Productions’ Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain absolutely delivers on the promise of systemic stealth gameplay. Guide a robot arm into a guard’s face. Sabotage convoys with horse dung. Wait till dark for more cover and exploit every aspect of the environment to succeed. All of this only scratches the surface of what’s possible with Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.

Microsoft has revealed at least some of the games that will be added to the Xbox Game Pass lineup come November. Among those, the big headliner is Sniper Elite 4, the fourth entry in Rebellion’s World War 2 era stealth-shooter franchise. Also being added to the lineup is OlliOlli 2, the fantastic follow up to the side scrolling skateboarding platformer, and GRIP, a new car combat game. Gotta say, between GRIP and OnRush, Game Pass is becoming a hotbed of great car combat titles.

Additional titles being added to the lineup are post apocalyptic survival game Sheltered, and a run and gun shooter, Rise and Shine.

If none of these games really do it much for you, you don’t need to worry—Microsoft has confirmed that more additions for Game Pass will be announced at X018, which is due to be held in Mexico City next month. We can probably expect a big name addition to the lineup then, if it is being saved for such a public event.

NOMINEES

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy: 

Naughty Dog’s follow up to Uncharted 4 was better than it had any right to be. Freed from the shackles of following Drake’s increasing emotional baggage, the new game instead follows Nadine and Chloe on their adventures through the Western Ghats in India, delivering a short, snappy, and well paced and fun adventure that took on the best qualities of Uncharted 4’s gameplay to deliver one of the standout games of the year.

Cuphead: 

Truly the Dark Souls of shooters—and we don’t mean that as a joke. This side scrolling run and gun game is exacting and brutally difficult, relying on pattern recognition, and all too eager to punish sloppy players. Cuphead is a marvel- the gorgeous art is probably what will catch your eye at first, but it will be the incredible gunplay and the thrill of conquering a hard boss that will keep you playing for days to come.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands: 

GTA with friends- that’s the pitch of Wildlands, which puts you in an open world reimagining of Bolivia, and lets you buddy up with friends for all sorts of co-op mayhem. Mechanically, Wildlands is sound, if unremarkable—but it is the life it takes on when played with friends that makes it stand out. Throw in exceptional post launch support, such as the newly added PvP mode, and this is doubtless one game we will be talking about for a while to come.

Call of Duty WW2: 

After a few off years, Call of duty roared back into form this year, returning to its World War 2 roots and reminding us all why we fell in love with this franchise to begin with. Featuring a cinematic, thrilling campaign, combined with an excellent multiplayer offering with some truly forward thinking ideas, Call of Duty: WW2 is without a doubt one of the best shooters of 2017.

Destiny 2:

Bungie’s follow up to their troubled shared world shooter is flawed, but its flaws only grate more because of how sound the core offering is. Destiny 2 retains the fun gunplay and addictive systemization of the original game, while also removing a lot of the fluff that plagued the original game, and layering on an actual meaningful campaign. It still has a way to go, and Bungie has recently announced updates to the game to fix it and make it more compelling for series veterans—but that only cements our love for the game even more.

Wolfensien II – The New Colossus:

Bethesda and MachineGames followed up on the 2014’s Wolfenstein with The New Colossus, and the new title lives up to the legacy of the original game. Creating a terrifyingly realized rendition of an alternate history in which the Nazis won, and pairing it with some high octane action, Wolfenstein 2 is a gloriously fun shooter which has something meaningful to say—something that is increasingly rare in today’s day and age.

Splatoon 2: 

Nintendo’s follow up to their hit Wii U multiplayer shooter takes everything that was great about the original, and delivers it as is on the Nintendo Switch—but it adds some twists of its own. Whether via way of minor quality of life improvements, or the excellent Salmon Run co-op horde mode, or a great new campaign, or the amazing post launch support which has continued to add hundreds of new weapons, gear pieces, and many new maps—all for free, Splatoon 2 is a compelling, addictive shooter that remains one of the definitive experiences on the Switch.

Metroid: Samus Returns: 

Metroid Prime 4 may be a way away, but Nintendo brought back Samus Aran in a big way with the fittingly titled Samus Returns, a remake of Metroid 2: Return of Samus for the Nintendo 3DS. More a reimagining in the framework of the older game than a remake, Samus Returns reminds us of why the Metroid franchise was so great and beloved to begin with, by sidestepping the loss of focus and vision that had plagued the last few entires in the series, and delivering a pure, compelling Metroid adventure—and one of the best shooters of the year.

Sniper Elite 4: 

The long running fan favorite Sniper Elite 4 returned for its fourth outing this year, and delivered the best entry in the series yet. Adding in the scope for emergent dynamism from something like The Phantom Pain with the excellent gunplay and stealth the Sniper Elite series has always been known for, this is one game that deserves all the love and recognition that it can get- because warts and all, it is truly unique and compelling.

Nex Machina:

Nex Machina will be HouseMarque’s last arcade twin stick shooter, but what a way it is to sign off. Taking the same formula that made Resogun, Alienation, and Dead Nation so bloody compelling and thrilling, HouseMarque has delivered a frenetic, frantic shooter that demands a kind of mastery of the game’s rhythm that you can only get by relentless practice—truly in the tradition of old arcade games. It is not a stretch to say that New Machina is one of the best games of the year on the PS4—and that really is saying something.

Prey: 

Arkane Studios’ incredible reboot of the Prey IP delivers a haunting immersive-sim of the kin that we have not seen in over a decade. Prey is a game with an amazing atmosphere, incredible combat, and oodles of depth and emergence, so that no two players will ever have the same experience. It is Arkane’s masterpiece. 

Resident Evil 7: 

Capcom revived the Resident Evil franchise in a big way with Resident Evil 7, which, eschewing the third person viewpoint that the series has held, and indeed helped popularize, for years for a first person one, returned to the kind of thrills and horror that made the series os beloved to begin with. Resident Evil 7 delivered psychological horror and gory action in equal measure, and became one of the best games ever in a series that is known for having some of the greatest titles of all time.

Day of Infamy:

Before Call of Duty: WW2 brought World War 2 shooters back into the mainstream, New World Interacitve’s Day of Infamy had already delivered Day of Infamy, a fantastic multiplayer World War 2 shooter that challenges players by taking away their HUD, crosshairs, maps, and in many cases, even respawns—how you do and survive in Day of Infamy will come down to how well you play, and how well your team is coordinated. It’s really different, in a sea of increasingly homogenized shooters.

Get Even: 

Get Even is a hugely flawed game- there is no setting around it. And yet, for all of that, there is also no getting around how good it manages to be regardless. Whether it is because of its tense horror or incredible atmosphere, or the highly frantic combat situations that it puts players in, Get Even is an unpolished gem that we really hope gets a follow up so it cane tap into its full potential.

DOOM (Switch): 

DOOM gets nominated for this category for the second year straight, thanks to the Nintendo Switch port- which is a technical marvel. To get DOOM running on a 6.2 inch tablet is in and of itself a feat- but to have that compelling, fast paced action with labyrinthine level design that made us all fall in love with DOOM last year to begin with, and pair it with the instant pick up and play nature of the Switch, elevates the experience beyond whatever knocks the degraded graphics have.

And as for the WINNER:

Prey: 

Think of Prey as the Breath of the Wild of shooters—it is emergent, dynamic, and reactive to the player and their actions. If you think it, chances are you can do it. This potent gameplay formula, mixed with a haunting atmosphere that is almost second to none, a stunning art style, and a minimalist story that will actively make you uncomfortable, makes Prey the standout shooter of 2017.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

A lot of the rhetoric in the industry will tell you that single player games are dead, dying out, or becoming increasingly unviable for companies of all size to justify continue investments in them, beyond first party publishers who can justify prestige projects like Zelda or The Last of Us.

However, one industry veteran, at least, does not think so. Speaking to Metro GameCentral, Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley said that single player games are not dead, and are not going anywhere, noting only that the zeitgeist currently might be dominated by multiplayer titles in large part, but that single player games are still going to stick around.

“I think there are some changes going on in the industry at the top end, and I think all of us – as games players, games consumers, and professionals – we need to look at the direction it’s going in. And we need to give feedback,” he said. “Because I want my games to be enjoyed, consumed, thought about, replayed… I am little concerned about how the sort of aftermarket loot box-y thing is being perceived by our core audience. A lot of people like them, a lot of people pretend not to like them… but you will know, as a journalist, that what people say and what they do is often different. But I also think games are an important cultural component of our society and I think it’s really important that in the game space that we [at Rebellion] occupy, which is single player narrative-based action with some multiplayer components, I don’t want to see those become purely multiplayer. We want people to go on adventures in our games, to have fun…

“Single player is not dead. I think what people are desperately trying to do is work out how to get more money out of people that are willing to give them more money. And I think it’s dominating the news a little bit, but I’m absolutely sure that these people aren’t going to throw away the single player market.”

I think I agree with him- and after all, this year alone, we have had Horizon: Zero Dawn, NieR Automata, Resident Evil 7, Nioh, Persona 5, Super Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and of course, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as big name single player games that saw success- I don’t think single player games are about to go away any time soon.