Sniper Elite

He is inserted into the Battle of Berlin in 1945 during the final days of World War II, with the critical objective of preventing German nuclear technology from falling into the hands of invading Soviet forces.

• Title — Sniper Elite • Developer — Rebellion Developments • Publisher — Various • Director — * Jason Kingsley • Christopher Kingsley • Producer — Emerson Best • Designer — Emerson Best • Programmer — * Kevin Floyer-Lea • Kieran Donaldson • Artist — * James Fraser • Mark Bradshaw • Composer — Tom Bible • Series — Sniper Elite • Platforms — * Windows • PlayStation 2 • Xbox • Wii • OS X • Released — * Windows, PlayStation 2 • Xbox • Wii • OS X • 23 April 2013 • Genre — Tactical shooter, stealth • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

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.

In April 1945, as rival American and Soviet armies encircle Berlin, American OSS agent Karl Fairburne is deployed into the ruins disguised as a German soldier. Authorised by General George S. Patton, Fairburne's objective is to prevent the Soviet NKVD from seizing German nuclear technology, personnel, and research. Raised in Berline before West Point, Fairburne uses his knowledge of the city to operate between three warring factions: the defending Nazi remnants, the invading Soviet forces, and the Allied-aligned German Resistance. His initial operations involve assisting local resistance fighters, gathering intelligence from dead drops near the Reichstag, and assassinating Nazi official Martin Bormann alongside his NKVD contact at the Brandenburg Gate to halt a high-level defect. Fairburne then focuses on securing critical intelligence and disabling Soviet infrastructure across the war-torn city. He aids in the exfiltration of an embedded OSS spy by providing covering sniper fire from the French Cathedral at Gendarmenmarkt Square. Soon after, he infiltrates the NKVD-occupied fuel dump at Karlshorst, where he assassiantes the Soviet commander to retrieve a code book before destroying the facility with timed explosives. To stop the transport of captured German nuclear scientists to the USSR, Fairburne secures surrounding U-Bahn channels, destroys and enemy reinforcement convoy, and ambushes NKVD special commandos at Anhalter Station to hold the location until Allied forces arrive. Moving through the underground rail network to Nordsig, Fairburne targets a civilian factory storing imported Norwegian heavy water. He inflitrates the facility, sabotages the storage tanks, and extracts Dr. Max Lohmann, a vital German nuclear scientist, alongside heavy water samples with the assistance of an OSS assault team. Shortly afterward, Fairburne disrupts Soviet logistics across Berlin by neutralising couriers and artillery before intercepting an NKVD unit at the Schloss, successfully securing a captured prototype of an advanced V2 rocket motor. With the Soviet encirclement tightening, Fairburne rescues his stranded escape pilot and protects surviving German Resistance members from Soviet armor pushing toward Tempelhof Airport. At the airfield, Fairburne neutralises perimeter sentries and assaults the control tower to disable the facility's anti-aircraft defenses and communications trailer. Under heavy enemy fire, Fairburne boards a departing aircraft piloted by his rescue contact, successfully exfiltrating Dr. Lohmann and the recovered nuclear research safely to Allied lines.

The Nintendo Wii version of the game was developed by Raylight Studios and released by Reef Entertainment in North America in 7 December 2010. 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. Sniper Elite was released in Australia on 6 October 2005.

Rebellion Developments' book imprint Abaddon Books released a novel inspired by the game, Sniper Elite: The Spear of Destiny written by Jasper Bark. In this book, Karl Fairburne's mission is to stop a rogue SS officer named Helmstadt from selling Germany's only working atomic bomb to the Soviets.