Penetrating Insight: Sniper Elite 3 Killcam

[[RC]Hunter]

<Center>[img]http://www.clusterwars.net/userpix/2_sniperelite3_1.jpg[/img]</center>

It’s rare that videogame violence makes me feel uncomfortable. After all, it’s just polygons, only code. I like the idea of games that purposefully make me feel uncomfortable with the heinous acts I commit – in ways more nuanced or subtle than po-faced script writing, at least. But I don’t think that’s what Sniper Elite 3 is going for with its X-Ray killcam. I think it’s going for, “hey bullets are awesome, look at how badass they are.”

The developer diary below outlines the changes to the system in their next World War 2 sniping sim.


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The developers in the video explain that the killcam is there to convey the reason why soldiers were so afraid of snipers, but I don’t buy that. They were afraid of them because they had guns and were unseen, not because their bullets did a particularly graphic job of killing people. The very next developer refers to the killcam as the “money shot”, and I think that’s closer to the truth. There’s something lurid and scuzzy about the slow motion bullet impact. I don’t like the sense that I’m spunking lead up inside people’s brains.

Which isn’t to say I don’t like the game anyway; I just know that I’m a terrible person for it. It’s due out in a few months, and I’ll be there, hoping the multiplayer is as tense and compelling as in Sniper Elite V2.

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good commentary

source:
Rock, Paper, Shotgun

[[RC]BooZer]

Well, the kill cam of Sniper Elite (also within version II) is really heavy in the beginning of the game but in course of time it grows on you ... as well as the most representations of violence in such games.

IMHO its an interesting feature of the gameplay and maybe it makes sense in a sniper game above all. And otherwise: there will be given higher points for various killing shots (e.g. headshot, eye shot, ect.) - so these are challenges for a sniper ... and thats the main part of the game... [img]http://www.clusterwars.net/userpix/3_licht_1.gif[/img]