Rebellion brought its successful Sniper Elite series to Nintendo Switch with Sniper Elite V2 Remastered earlier this year, and it continues with a port of 2014 prequel entry Sniper Elite 3, complete with all its Ultimate Edition goodies.
Sniper Elite 3: Ultimate Edition is a World War II set stealth and strategy shooter with intricate ballistics psychics and graphic X-Ray nutshots. In this installment, you’re taking on the infamous Afrika Korps in North Africa, and must sabotage a Nazi plot to build super weapons by stabbing, shooting, strangling, and sniping your way across canyons, cities, and more in the blistering heat and chaos of the War.
You’re a sniper first and foremost, so much of the time you’re exploring the open stages for good vantage points for taking out targets from afar. Wherever possible, the point is to remain unseen and unheard. That means using the environment to take out large groups of Nazis at once (say by hitting the fuel tank of a truck) or using the sound of mortar fire to mask your shot.
Lining up a shot in Sniper Elite 3 is much more than simply aiming and firing. You need to know what potential threats and diversions are in the area, take wind trajectory, distance, and shot drop into account, and most importantly, wait until the perfect moment arrives and watching your bullet fly through the air towards your target, and then watching the gruesome X-Ray of the damage you’ve done to their body parts. It’s a grisly, yet satisfying, payoff for offing yet another important Nazi.
It’s not all about exploding Far Right testicles over long distances though. Sometimes you’ll have to sabotage equipment, or sneak behind enemy lines to reach an objective. These instances usually require being a bit closer to the Nazi menace than usual. Here’s it’s all about stealth. Silenced pistols, sneaky stabbings, and diversions will help you navigate war-torn Africa relatively unscathed.
Thankfully, if things do go a touch sideways, then all is not lost. Things certainly get tougher once your position is well and truly known, but it’s possible to dispatch with any pursuers with a bit of cunning and non-snipey weaponry. It’s not exactly Sniper Elite 3‘s strong suit though, and the methodical structure of the game is slightly at odds with the mad scramble of messier combat. Suddenly things feel too loose and awkward. It’s not a game-breaking problem, just a distracting one.
The big difference with this Switch version is the gyroscopic motion controls. This adds some freshness to a 5-year-old game by going through the motions of setting up your shot in a more physical form. Again, it’s not well suited to every aspect of Sniper Elite 3 as it could be, but it’s a fun new way to aim.
As ports go, it’s a pretty strong one. Any difference between this any version released on other consoles is expected and marginal. The game runs smoothly enough and everything is clear to see, so a solid port job done, with any technical hiccups not exactly uncommon on other formats.
This Ultimate Edition carries a decent amount of additional content, alongside the existing multiplayer options (vs multiplayer, and co-op campaign and survival for up to 8 players) there’s 4 pretty sizeable DLC campaign missions, a selection of extra weaponry, and other such tidbits. Plus a lot of the early issues with other versions are now gone.
If you’ve played Sniper Elite 3 before, there’s not a whole lot new to this latest version beyond the motion controls and portability, but in fairness, that’s as significant an update you can get without changing the game’s base structure. There’s no doubt we’ll be getting more of this series on Switch in the future, and hopefully, that will include the next Zombie Army spinoff. For now, having another round of Nazi skull-exploding sniper shots playing out in slow motion X-Ray form shows it never gets old, no matter what the format.
Sniper Elite 3 Ultimate Edition review code for Nintendo Switch provided by the publisher
Sniper Elite 3 Ultimate Edition is out October 1 on Nintendo Switch, and out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.