Sniper Elite 5 Rough Landing DLC ​​Map is an impressive throwback, but no bang for your buck

I will never get tired of slow motion kills in elite sniper 5. Similar to killing a legend boss in Elden Ring with a sliver of health left, or scoring a last minute winner in FIFA 23 online, or the head headshot The sniper shooter who’s been ruining all the fun in Fortnite-watching a subsonic round, shot within range of an M1A carbine, getting inside a Nazi soldier’s skull and blowing his brains out at half speed is never satisfying. Regardless of the setting or objective, being able to pull off moves in this style over and over again is part of what makes Sniper Elite 5 smarter, grislier, and more fun than anything that’s come before.

I used those same words to describe Karl Fairburne’s latest adventures in our Elite 5 review last year, but they woefully don’t apply to Tactical Shooting’s latest DLC offering. Not that Rough Landing Premium’s new add-on mission isn’t fun – it’s a gorgeous roam through the forest of Fréteval south of Paris, which, like last year’s Landing Force mission pack, is a stealth player’s dream – but it often feels like a missed opportunity.

Set the bar high

(Image credit: Rebellion) Fabulous Fairburne

(Image credit: Rebellion)

Sniper 5’s elite is smarter, grayer, and more fun than anything that came before it.

The obvious downside ramification of setting your own bar so high in the first instance means it’s impossible not to make comparisons later. ‘Spy Academy’, the third mission of the Sniper Elite 5 Base Game, for example, is up there with the best levels of sniper elite ever conceived. In fact, I would go so far as to say that when we consider other game series that coexist in this space – from Sniper’s Ghost Warrior to Wolfenstein, Battlefield, Ghost Recon Wildlands and even Metal Gear Solid – I can’t think of a more complete example of the formula. assassination sandbox; Where old inspirations and new ideas come together so effortlessly in spectacular style.

With its long, exposed low, exposed beach beach entry point, a network of narrow village-style corridors, and tight, castle-like stairs and climbs that take you from bastion to steeple and back again with continuous composure, the academy of espionage showcases Sniper Elite 5’s full array of combat styles and plays to great effect. Within minutes of touching the level’s sandy edges, you’re getting enemies 500 meters away, before slitting the throat of another in nearby rooms, picking up an alarm from reinforcements, and then engaging several Nazis in a bloody firefight in the fortress’s fortress moments after. Everything changes so quickly, to the point where finally you fall over 200 bodies with three hours on the clock, you really feel like you’ve won a medal.

It would be unfair to compare everything else in Sniper Elite 5 directly against its best tier, but when its latest offering on hard landings so closely mirrors another past mission – Sniper Elite 4’s Regilino Viaduct – these broader contrasting observations seem fair. Like Regilino’s flyover mission, Rough Landing has you looking for a wooded clearing for pilots whose planes have been shot down. The level has you searching the wreckage, robbing watchtowers, grabbing the key, planting mines to patrolling armored vehicles, and plotting a perilous course across an enemy-occupied bridge.

But where the intermittent boom of trains passing nearby offered a tight window for sound-mask shotgun blasts in Regilino, Roughing’s forest walk lacks a similarly defining feature. It looks absolutely gorgeous, granted, but it can be defeated in around 90 minutes – and while I’d need to check exactly how many bad guys patrol its leafy confines, if you told me it was half the spy academy’s enemy count, I’d suggest you were being generous.

(Image credit: Rebellion)

“In the meantime, I’d love to see Sniper Elite 5 lean heavier on the things it upped its base game in previous titles with missions that cater to all playstyles.”

Again, none of this is to say that the elite Sniper 5’s Roughing Landing Mission Pack (opens in new tab) isn’t fun – I had a lot of fun on this premium add-on, and I think those of you who are simply focusing on New things in Sniper Elite 5 will do too. Somingo a watchtower, out a handful of Nazis in stealth mode before mowing down two more in rooftop reach, sliding down a zip wire into tall grass and blowing up an armored tank with an RPG in the space of, what, 45 seconds it is very fun. But even with all that, I’m not sure the Roughing does enough to justify its £11.99/$14.99 price tag, even with two new weapons in the way of the much-sought-after and oft-requested mosina-nagante rifle. and Espingard Sjögren.

Similar to the game’s Season 1 release, splashing for the Sniper Elite 5: Season Two Pass (Opens in a New Tab) at £24.99/$29.99 is probably better value – which teaches you the above , plus nine more years yet to go – Character Weapons and Skins and packs revealed, and one other unreleased campaign mission – but this is a call for you to make your own.

Meanwhile, I’d love to see Sniper Elite 5 lean heavier on the things that elevated its base game in previous titles with missions that cater to all playstyles. What makes Spy Academy so special isn’t necessarily its size or its multiple paths to completion, it’s the fact that it can be approached in so many different ways. Here, Rebellion gives you the tools to succeed, and it lets you succeed, which means you can replay the level multiple times and end up with different results. This, to me, is key to the elite 5’s elite quest add-ons being celebrated in the same way their base game was last year. Well, that and giving me more slow motion kills the brain chatter at every turn. I go Never get tired of it.

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