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Sniper Elite 4is simultaneously the victim and the beneficiary of timing.

It's a Nazi-shooting game coming along at a moment when the question "Is it OK to punch Nazis?" is a subject of public discourse. You don't merely shoot Hitler's soldiers in Sniper Elite 4; you also get X-ray vision close-ups as your bullets shred bone and internal organs.

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It's an immensely satisfying display of virtual violence, made even more potent by the current political climate.

But Sniper Elite 4is also arriving as a bigger-and-better sequel at a moment when video game fans are drooling over inventive new releases like For Honorand Horizon: Zero Dawnor name-brand sequels for Mass Effectand Zelda. Not to mention an entirely new Nintendo console.

To compete in an environment such as this, a new game really needs to dazzle. And while Sniper Elite 4carries forward the strong principles that made its predecessor so enjoyable, it doesn't do enough to take those ideas further.

Credit: Rebellion Developments

The World War II-set game casts you once again as OSS agent Karl Fairburne. The focus this time is on the war's southern front, with Fairburne taking on Nazis and their Italian fascist allies as he pursues a German weapon that could turn the tide of the war.

The written story in Sniper Elite 4is secondary to the one you make for yourself as you explore each expansive map and gather intel. Your rifle scope is still the gateway to the game's most memorable moments, but the work you do to get yourself into sniping position matters just as much.

Early missions are fairly cut-and-dry: sniper-friendly elevated positions are easy to find, and there are obvious -- if threat-filled -- paths from one to the next. Later on, however, the notion of what a sniper is and how he operates evolves as maps provide fewer obvious opportunities for attacking at long range.

That's where Rebellion Developments' thoughtful level design really gets to shine. Over the course of the game's eight missions you'll take on the Axis powers in a variety of locales: rural farmlands, forested mountain passes, busy railway yards, wealthy population centers, and sprawling military bases.

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Each location delivers a new set of tactical advantages and challenges. The regular boom of an anti-air gun reliably masks your sniper fire when you're infiltrating a Nazi base, but that helpful crutch disappears when missions take you to rural farmlands or secret research facilities.

Credit: Rebellion Developments

During one early mission to bring down a railroad bridge and destroy the Nazi heavy gun parked there, I found myself chased by a squad of soldiers into a snowy, seaside forest. I couldn't snipe without giving away my position, but the abundance of foliage allowed me to isolate and dispose of my pursuers -- at close quarters -- one at a time.

A later mission tasked Fairburne with locating and capturing a German researcher tucked away in the far corner of a bustling military base. That objective was complicated by the fact that base security intensified as I destroyed fixed gun emplacements -- a secondary goal of the mission. Worse, each gun destroyed meant one less sound source to mask my sniper fire.

Unfortunately, Rebellion's superior level design can't hide the fact that your enemy is brain-dead. Gun one down and another will show up to investigate; gun that one down, and yet another will come, and then another, until everyone in the vicinity is wiped out.

The simple alert system is also easily gamed. You're meant to be stealthy in Sniper Elite 4, since you risk discovery every time you fire your rifle without some other sound to mask its noise.

Credit: Rebellion Developments

The problem is, enemy forces need to hear a couple of your rifle shots before they can pinpoint your position. One isn't enough; it just puts everyone into an alert state. And if you hunker down long enough -- around 30 seconds -- the alert ends.

This isn't the recommended way to play, of course, but that it can be done at all highlights the underlying A.I. issues. Ratcheting up the difficulty makes shootingmore difficult -- Sniper Elitegames have always taken a realistic approach to bullet physics at higher difficulties, and this is no exception -- but it doesn't make your Nazi targets any smarter.

The A.I. issues don't go away when you play the game with a partner -- the entire campaign supports up to two players, and separate Overwatch missions put one player on the ground while another snipes from far away. A wave-based Survival mode is included as well, but its all-out aggression runs counter to the stealthy core of the game.

So which impacts Sniper Elite 4more: The happy timing of its release coinciding with a renewed distaste for Nazis? Or the unfortunate timing of this more-of-the-same sequel releasing alongside games that are higher profile and/or more inventive?

There's no single answer; it all depends on the kind of game you want to play.

Sniper Elite 4is an excellent game in many ways, even if it does little to separate itself from its 2014 predecessor. Nazis have always made great video game baddies, and in this one you get to make their heads, lungs, hearts, and other bits explode in slow, bloody motion.

That might be exactly the sort of escapism you're looking for in February 2017.

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TopicsGaming