So, two weeks ago, I accidentally deleted my SNIPER ELITE 4-profile. It happens. To me, anyway. Unfortunately, I had no backup save, which meant everything was gone. My XP points, my rank, my carefully and lovingly upgraded arsenal… poof!

No, I was really mad!

Frustrating, right?

But, as a matter of fact, once you’ve mastered the game, starting from scratch is not so bad. You have put so many hours into honing your skills that you’ll still be able to survive the Sniper Elite-difficulty even without a fully upgraded loadout.

And thanks to rushing through the campaign on Sniper Elite-difficulty and thanks to the support of my friends, who played a ton of Survival missions and all four DLC missions with me on that same difficulty, I quickly regained rank 50 and am now only 10 or so ranks short of where I was prior to that truly infuriating mistake.

While annoying, this mishap brought back an idea I had a while back, which was selecting my favorite missions and ranking the campaign missions of SNIPER ELITE III and SNIPER ELITE 4. I played both games on Cadet, Marksman and Sniper Elite-difficulties, starting with the easiest (Cadet) in both cases.

My criteria? How difficult it was for me to achieve the primary as well as the secondary objectives. Each game features eight campaign missions in total. Those are:

SNIPER ELITE III
Mission 1: Siege of Tobruk (which is the tutorial mission and okay for being a tutorial)
Mission 2: Gaberoun (second campaign mission and on my first playthrough impossible to play stealthily, for me at least)
Mission 3: Halfaya Pass (fun mission, one of my favorites, and tough to beat on Sniper Elite-difficulty)
Mission 4: Fort Rifugio (There’s this achievement you are awared if you get to your informant without alerting anyone. And it’s a night mission, which I hate in this game, and one of the hardest campaign missions, actually, for me)
Mission 5: Siwa Oasis (Another fave! There are not that many places to go to ground when discovered, so I thought it pretty hard. But I actually enjoyed the DLC mission in Siwa more, especially on Sniper Elite-difficulty)
Mission 6: Kasserine Pass (I like the passes. This one is harder than Halfaya, but once you’ve beaten it, it is actually pretty easy, even on Sniper Elite)
Mission 7: Point du Fahs Airfield (This was definitely the hardest to beat on my first playthrough, and on Sniper Elite it was almost impossible for me to keep from dying in the beginning, because I was so impatient)
Mission 8: Ratte Factory (Another pass, and by then I knew what to expect. Still, the inside of the factory is a challenge on Sniper Elite-difficulty.)

Favorite mission:
It’s a tie between Fort Rifugio and Siwa. But Siwa wins. I could really feel the sweltering heat, and I was constantly alert while creeping through the city, trying to be as stealthy as possible.

SNIPER ELITE 4
Mission 1: San Celini Island (which is a brillant tutorial mission, I think, especially for me, since I played this game right after I had finished SNIPER ELITE III and was especially happy to discover new skills)
Mission 2: Bitanti Village (okay mission, but in hindsight it could have been more focused)
Mission 3: Regilino Viaduct (My absolute favorite: there’s forest, mountains and a map you have to really explore to find all the hidden paths to your objectives. Also, you can get really long shots when shooting the soldiers on the bridge in the distance right at the beginning)
Mission 4: Lorino Dockyard ( a night mission, nevertheless hard when I played it the first time. It became easier with time)
Mission 5: Abrunza Monastery (Still one of the hardest for me to beat, especially in the beginning I am usually far from stealthy and die a lot. Though it is not as tough as the Deathstorm: Infiltration-DLC)
Mission 6: Magazzeno Facility (Another night mission and with the objectives scattered all across the map, which makes it a true fun mission, in my opinion)
Mission 7: Giovi Fiorini Mansion (when I played this mission the first time, I thought it ultra-hard. It still is. But now I am better)
Mission 8: Allagra Fortress (Actually, this being the last mission, I think it should be harder. After all, you have spent the entire game honing your skills and upgrading your loadout. And the map is really compressed, compared to others in this game, like San Celini, for example. Even on my first playthrough the hardest part was damaging the plane’s engines.)

Favorite mission:
Still is the Regilino Viaduct, though, admittedly, if I were to include the DLC missions, all of them would qualify.

So, do you have any favorites? Let me know in the comments and keep on playing!

Vanessa