The follow-up to Sniper Elite V2 will be “more of a sandbox game”, according to developer Rebeliion’s CEO Jason Kingsley. This is great news considering that one of V2’s major flaws was the linear nature of a game that purported to be about multiple routes, stealth, and selective shooting. An open world setting would absolutely fit with the tone of a sniper game and, from the sounds of things, Sniper Elite 3 may be a significantly more enjoyable game.
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Writing in the tried and tested form of a press release, Kingsley said “Sniper Elite V2 was just the beginning of what we want to do with the franchise, there are things we didn’t have time to do before that we can really look at featuring this time. We want to focus on making this latest incarnation of Sniper Elite more of a sandbox game but also build on the awesome X-Ray Kill Cam and the atmospheric World War 2 setting.”
This sounds like a very good thing.
There were a lot of annoyances with Sniper Elite V2 but the main one in my experience was that despite being pitched as a stealthy game, almost a sniper simulator, you would shoot hundreds of German and Russian soldiers through the game, each level becoming a case of sitting behind a low wall and shooting until men stopped running at you.
What made it all the more frustrating was there was one moment in the game which nailed the potential of what Rebellion could produce. You were pinned down within an abandoned factory, in the buildings surrounding you were two-man sniper teams, and you had to try and stay within cover while working out where the teams were and how to get a drop on them. The entire set piece was open for you to play how you wished and it was different. It felt like something new, something other games weren’t doing. But it was all too brief.
From what Kingsley is saying it sounds as though we may be getting a little more of the latter and less of the former. Fingers crossed.
There’s no word on a release date but as Rebellion are hoping to launch it on the new consoles it is doubtful it’ll be in our homes be Christmas.