Sniper Elite

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Sniper Elite

Xbox cover art
Developer(s) Rebellion Developments
Raylight Studios (Wii)
Publisher(s) MC2 France
Reef Entertainment (Wii)
Distributor(s) Atari, Namco, Ubisoft
Creative Distribution (Wii)
Director(s) Jason Kingsley (creative)
Christopher Kingsley (technical)
Producer(s) Emerson Best
Designer(s) Emerson Best
Programmer(s) Kevin Floyer-Lea and Kieran Donaldson (lead)
Adam Brown, Andrew McCabe, Matthew Clemson, Martin Harris
Artist(s) James Fraser (lead)
Andrew Brady, Mark Hill, Daniel Meeuws, Damien Rayfield, Jamie Sims, Rob Stevens, Rupert Young, Ken Turner
Composer(s) Tom Bible
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 2
Xbox
Wii
Release date(s)
  • NA October 18, 2005
  • PAL September 30, 2005
Genre(s) Tactical shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution DVD ROM, digital download

Sniper Elite, also known as Sniper Elite: Berlin 1945, is a 2005 tactical shooter created by UK video game developer Rebellion Developments. In 2012, to coincide with the release of the sequel Sniper Elite V2, it was re-issued through Steam by Mastertronic.

A second sequel is set to be released in 2014 named Sniper Elite III.

The main character is Karl Fairburne, an American OSS secret agent disguised as a German sniper. He is inserted into Battle of Berlin in 1945, during the final days of World War II, with the critical objective of obtaining German nuclear technology before the Soviet Union.

Plot

The game follows protagonist Karl Fairburne as he attempts to prevent the Soviet Union taking control of Germany's nuclear secrets in and around Berlin, April 1945. Very little information is known about his background, other than he was raised in Berlin as the son of a U.S. ambassador to Germany before the war broke out, that he studied at West Point shortly after America's entrance into the war, and the fact that he was chosen for this mission because the city was his childhood home.

There are several factions active in the city, including the German resistance, who wish to aid Karl, the Soviet NKVD, and the Nazi forces. Martin Bormann, an extremely powerful figure within the Third Reich, is one of Karl's targets for assassination as he plans to meet up with an NKVD contact at the Brandenburg Gate to defect to the Soviet Union. The rest of the characters (such as Dr. Max Lohmann, a key German scientist who Fairburne is assigned to help capture and escort out of Berlin to America in order to prevent him from falling into the hands of the NKVD) are fictional with the exception of General Patton who has sent Fairburne on his mission.

Gameplay

Sniper Elite is a third-person shooter that involves stealth. To reinforce the stealth aspect, there is a camouflage index measured in percentage that displays the visibility of the protagonist. Fairburne uses several World War II-era weapons, including sniper rifles, a silenced pistol, submachine guns, machine guns, an anti-tank weapon, and German and Soviet hand grenades (which can be also used to set up tripwire booby traps).[1]

One of the main features of the game is the option of realistic ballistics, involving factors such as bullet drop, wind strength, and breathing when attempting a shot. Sniping gameplay is in first person scope view, whereas movement and use of all other weapons is in third person view. When the player successfully takes a particularly well-placed sniper shot (such as a head shot or a shot on a moving target), the view follows the path of the bullet in slow motion, while the camera rotates around the bullet. Features include an ability to wound an enemy so that their comrades expose their position by coming to their rescue, detonating grenades and fuel tanks with well-aimed rifle fire, and timing shots so that loud noises such as thunder or artillery blasts mask the sound.

Wii version

The Wii version of the game was released by Reef Entertainment in North America in September 2010.[2] It is compatible with the Wii Remote and Wii Zapper and contains a bonus new level. The game was also released in Europe later the same year.[3]

Reception

Sniper Elite was awarded "Best PC/Console Game" in the TIGA Awards of 2005.[4] As of 2010 the game holds an average GameRankings scores of 73.44% for the PC version,[5] 76.65% for the PlayStation 2,[6] and 76.97% for the Xbox.[7]

Novel

Rebellion's book imprint Abaddon Books released a novel inspired by the game, Sniper Elite: The Spear of Destiny.[8] In this book, Karl Fairburne's mission is to stop a Nazi SS general Helmstadt from selling an atomic bomb to the Soviets.

Remake

References

External links

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