Sniper Elite 4 Deathstorm Part 3: Obliteration
Rebellion
I love Nazi-killing in games just as much as anyone else does. But after a while, it does begin to get a little stale. As a whole, the World War II genre, not just in games, but in film, literature, and other forms of media, has been beaten to death. It was already getting tired about five years ago when it began to putter out of steam. But amazingly, the WW2 genre seems to be making a comeback. I guess in these hyper-politically correct times, conflicts within safe space bubbles which can be re-enacted over and over and over for the sheeple are what many folks feel should be on offer.
Why haven’t there been any games or movies about brave people standing up against the many Communist regimes throughout history? I mean, Communism has been tried out by hundreds of millions of people for over one-hundred years, and has always resulted in death, extreme suppression, “disappearing” people, and overall misery and suffering. It is estimated that 150 million people died under the iron fist of Communism. Evidence points to at least 100 million being killed. That dwarfs anything that the National Socialists (Nazis) did. Why aren’t there any games or movies about brave Russian or Chinese heroes rising up to fight against the overwhelming tyranny of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and many other monstrous leaders, along with their various lackeys? It’s quite baffling.
So here we go again, back to Nazi-bashing during WW 2. While the genre as a whole is hackneyed and worn out, are there still some games based on it out there that are actually decent? Well, yes and no. While the extremely limited imagination it takes to whip up a quick and sleazy anti-Nazi premise is pretty pathetic in and of itself, some of the games themselves can be pretty good, at least technically. The Sniper Elite series is one such example.
Indie game developer, Rebellion, specializes in sniper games, with their other sniper franchise, Sniper Ghost Warrior, set in modern times and the Sniper Elite titles set during WW 2. While the recent Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 release was met with harsh criticism, Sniper Elite 4 was lauded as one of the best sniper games out there. And with good reason. It’s tighter (as opposed to SGW 3’s empty open world environs), more focused, and features some seriously gorgeous scenery to take in.
Sniper Elite 4 features American secret operative and crack sniper Karl Fairburne, whose gravelly voice makes Escape From New York’s Snake Plissken sound like Shirley Temple. The original game took him all across the gorgeous country of Italy, and culminated in a spectacular spoiler that I won’t ruin for those who have not yet played it (I hate when people do that!).
Ever since the debut of the original game, a three-part mini DLC series called Deathstorm has been released in rather quick succession. I have to hand it to the developers here. They could have been greedy and sold each DLC for $9.99 but they are reasonably priced at $6.99 apiece, or free if you happen to own a Season Pass.
The first DLC offered pretty wide open areas which were easier to get into, since the original game’s ten missions were very expansive. The second one was much more enclosed. This ramped up the difficulty since there weren’t as many places to hide, plus the enemies were much more numerous (and dangerous). It sort of reminds me of the new Hitman series, where each episode offered completely different challenges for players to take on.
The third and final DLC, Sniper Elite 4 Deathstorm Part 3: Obliteration, starts off in an odd way. The announcement details say the following:
It’s in the Bavarian town of Steigerloch, in the heartland of Germany, where the abominable nuclear project known as Deathstorm is being researched. A heavily guarded underground complex is rumoured to lie hidden beneath the sleepy town’s hilltop church, with suspicious vehicle activity suggesting the Nazis are planning something big – and soon. Elite agent Karl Fairburne must draw on all his skills to neutralize the facility and bring Deathstorm down, once and for all.
Firstly, Bavaria is a state located in the far southeast region of Germany, hardly the “heartland of Germany.” Secondly, the Deathstorm nuclear superweapon that they refer to (and the principal goal of Fairburne’s mission) doesn’t seem to be taken as seriously as one would think.
For instance, during the briefings and cut scenes, Fairburne and his associates rarely seem to grasp the severity and importance of what hangs in the balance—basically the mass destruction on millions and millions of people. The tones of their voices were even-keeled and the expressions they exhibited on their faces seemed a little too stoic, especially in light of being faced with such a horrific threat.
Luckily, the leisurely pace picks up quite nicely the closer you guide Fairburne intended target: The Deathstorm doomsday weapon. Well, let me correct myself—you actually have to take out Professor Wilhelm Bosch, the man in charge of the weapon, and dispose with anyone else in the area for good measure. In this case, lots of bad folks. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that the closer I got to the primary objective, the more crazy things got. In fact, the best part of the game for me was the final climactic showdown, when all hell brook loose.
Sniper Elite 4 Deathstorm Part 3: Obliteration is a great finale to the Deathstorm mini-saga, and if you’re a fan of the Sniper Elite series, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Now, if only someone can break away from this hackneyed WW 2 genre and make a commie-crushing game. Oh well, we’ll see…
SCORE: 83%
Sniper Elite 4 Deathstorm Part 3: Obliteration features great graphics that make its WW 2 theme come alive. However, you want to have a pretty beefy gaming PC or gaming laptop in order to play it at a decent framerate. So, you may just want to invest in a decent gaming rig:
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