Sniper Elite 4

By adding open battlefields to the already solid stealth action of this series, this World War II shooter is like playing a tense but engaging game of cat and mouse. Set in 1943, Sniper Elite 4 sends you to Italy, where you have to prevent the Nazis from deploying a secret new weapon while working with local resistance fighters to undermine the fascists. Good thing you know how to be sneaky and patient and how to hit a target from a hundred yards with a sniper rifle. But this third-person shooter isn't only about shooting German soldiers from far away. You also have to locate your targets and steal their intel when they're done, and that requires getting a little closer. Good thing you also own a pistol and a machine gun. Just be careful, since the battlefields in this sequel are more open and varied, which means you can come at your objectives from multiple angles -- and your enemies can do the same.

But while this game's story-driven campaign is exhilarating and engaging, some of this shooter's competitive and cooperative online modes, including "Team Deathmatch" and "Survival," offer nothing new. Others, however, smartly take advantage of this game's unique mechanics, such as "Team Distance King," in which the winners are the ones who collectively take the longest shots in dispatching their enemies. But it's the campaign that is this game's centerpiece, and it's here -- when you shoot a bullet between some trees and into the gas tank of a truck from 200 yards, causing it to explode and take out a group of soldiers -- that Sniper Elite 4 really makes you feel like you've earned that title: "elite."