Gameplay
Sniper Elite is a third-person shooter that combines stealth and first-person shooter game elements. To reinforce the stealth aspect, there is a camouflage index, measured in percentage, that displays the visibility of the player. Fairburne uses several World War II-era weapons, including various sniper rifles, a silenced pistol, submachine guns, light machine guns, an anti-tank weapon, and hand grenades that can also be used to set up tripwire booby traps.
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 performed 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.
Other features include the ability to wound an enemy so that their comrades are forced to come to their rescue and thus expose their positions for sniping, detonating enemy grenades and fuel tanks with well-aimed bullets, and timing shots so that loud noises such as thunder or artillery blasts mask the sound and thus avoid alerting nearby enemies.
Sniper Elite supports online multiplayer. On the PlayStation 2 version it was supported through GameSpy and on the Xbox version it was supported through Xbox Live. In line with other online-enabled games on the Xbox, multiplayer was available until 15 April 2010. Sniper Elite is now playable online again on the replacement Xbox Live servers called Insignia. [3] [4]
Plot
In April 1945, as Berlin is slowly encircled by rival American and Soviet armies, Karl Fairburne, an agent of the American OSS, is deployed into the ruins of the city wearing the uniform of a German soldier. His superiors have tasked him with thwarting efforts by the Soviet Union to obtain information, personnel, and technology from the German nuclear weapons program. Very little information is revealed about Fairburne's background, other than he was raised in Berlin 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 primarily chosen for the mission because he's familiar with the city's geography and can easily blend in with Berlin's defenders.
There are several factions active in the city, including the German resistance, who assist Karl, the Soviet NKVD, who are working against him for access to the spoils of German nuclear research, and the remnants of the Nazi forces in Berlin. The historical Nazi official Martin Bormann, an extremely powerful figure within the Third Reich, is one of Karl's first targets for assassination as he plans to meet up with an NKVD contact at the Brandenburg Gate to defect to the Soviet Union (in real life, Bormann committed suicide rather than be captured by the Soviets). 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 George S. Patton, commander of the American forces assaulting Berlin, who is responsible for authorizing Fairburne's mission.
The campaign begins with Karl Fairburne making his way through the war-torn streets of Karlshorst to meet an informant but learns that the commander of his main objective, a fuel dump captured by the NKVD, has left the facility for a few days.
Fairburne is next tasked with assassinating Martin Bormann, Hitler's personal secretary. Bormann has cut a deal with the NKVD to provide them with information on the Nazi nuclear research program in exchange for safe passage out of Germany. After assisting the German Resistance in capturing an ammo dump and destroying a Soviet tank camp, Fairburne heads over to the Reichstag to retrieve latest intel on Martin Bormann’s activities at a dead drop before exfiltrating the area towards Brandenburg Gate. After confirming his escape route and obtaining a new SVT-40 sniper rifle from a fellow OSS agent, Fairburne assassinates both Bormann and his NKVD handler.
Fairburne is then tasked with assisting with the escape of an OSS spy, who has penetrated the operation of a German Ministry of Science detachment and has vital first-hand information on the German nuclear program. Although he finds the agent's contact dead, Fairburne finds a note, describing a route of a German supply truck that could be used to infiltrate the target area and transport the agent out of there. After assisting an OSS agent kill a senior security officer to obtain his uniform and papers, Fairburne moves into the Gendarmenmarkt Square and takes up position in a partially destroyed tower of the French Cathedral. He then provides covering fire for the escaping spy before heading towards his designated hideout, using hit-and-run tactics to thin out his pursuers.
Fairburne then returns to the Karlshorst Fuel Dump and tasked with destroying the facility. Fairburne infiltrates the fuel dump without raising the alarm. As the NKVD commander arrives by train and heads to the communications room, Fairburne eliminates him quietly and retrieve his code book. After he exfiltrates, the facility is destroyed from the detonation of the timed bombs he planted earlier, triggering a chain reaction large enough to destroy the entire NKVD camp.
Afterwards, Fairburne is tasked with delaying the departure of recently captured German nuclear scientists by train from Anhalter Station until an OSS team can arrive to extract them. After securing the Gleisdreieck U-Bahn Station and its surrounding area, Fairburne rushes to destroy a troop transport convoy carrying an NKVD unit tasked with reinforcing the security at Anhalter. Upon reaching Anhlater Station, Fairburne quietly eliminates NKVD special commandos guarding the station and sets up an ambush for the NKVD unit due to arrive with the scientists, successfully preventing the departure of the scientists.
The following day, Fairburne head to the Nordsig Heavy Water Plant via the U-Bahn rail network at Möckernbrücke Station. Fairburne infiltrates the area, killing German soldiers guarding the perimeter and at the guardhouse. Once inside the facility, Fairburne uses timed bombs to blast his way through heavy steel doors protecting the control room and storage vats. He secures Dr. Lohmann and sabotages the heavy water tanks before securing the shipping manifest and contacting the OSS team from the facility’s radio room. After providing covering fire from a vantage point on the roof, the OSS attack is successful; with both Dr. Lohmann and the heavy water samples are safely exfiltrated. On his way towards the extraction point, Fairburne meets with an OSS contact, who provides him with a new sniper rifle, a modified Mosin Nagant variant. After eliminating three elite enemy snipers, Fairburne ultimately exfiltrates the area himself via the Nordsig U-Bahn station he originally arrived by.
A few days later, the NKVD has hijacked a German convoy, which was carrying a small-scale prototype of a successor to the V2 rocket motor. The NKVD unit is now lying low in the Schloss, waiting for reinforcement and fuel to transport the prototype to Soviet lines. Fairburne assists OSS efforts by eliminating motorcycle couriers to cut communications, destroying ammo depots and transport trucks, disabling Katyusha rocket batteries, and clearing the Holzmarkt train yard. Fairburne then heads to the Schloss and intercepts the NKVD convoy, eliminating its armed escort and securing the prototype tech intact.
With the German forces almost finished, a Soviet noose is rapidly closing on Berlin. Fairburne intercepts the NKVD convoy carrying his escape pilot and later rescue the pilot's brother. The German Resistance convoy is later attacked by Soviet tanks and supporting infantry but Fairburne dispatches them all. The survivors of the attack then proceed towards Tempelhof Airport. At the airport, Fairburne eliminate the sentries and then assault the control tower to give him a vantage point to kill NKVD personnel at a communications trailer, disrupting control of the AA guns. Despite enemy reinforcement rushing into the airfield to prevent them from leaving, Fairburne catches up to the moving plane and safely flies to Allied lines with Dr Lohmann.
Secret Mission
After completing the game, a bonus "Secret Mission" called Safehouse is available by going past Escape from Berlin on the mission selection screen.
In this mission, Fairburne meets a contact inside a Safehouse, holds off an enemy assault and then escapes.
