YMMV / Sniper Elite 4

• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • While the Nazis never made one, a nuclear weapon designed primarily to spread radioactive fallout as a form of area denial has been considered before, and is called a salted bomb^note As they are meant to render an area uninhabitable for a longer period of time, meaning they are meant to Salt the Earth. As well, the Allies were actually worried that the Nazis might attempt to stop the Normandy Landings using radioactive material, though they were more concerned about a dirty bomb than a salted bomb^note A dirty bomb uses conventional explosives to disperse radioactive material, a salted bomb is a nuclear bomb designed to produce more fallout than a normal nuclear bomb.
  • As mentioned below under Stupid Jetpack Hitler, the Nazis did have radio-controlled anti-ship glide bombs^note Not missiles, though one of them was rocket-boosted to make sure it would end up in front of the plane so it could actually be aimed. They did make a number of prototype radio-controlled surface-to-air missiles, and considered making air-to-air versions before the projects were cancelled, so the idea of them making a prototype anti-ship missile isn't too out there
• Complete Monster: The elusive Nazi, General Heinz Böhm, the Butcher of Bologna, ravages the Italian countryside under his control. Killing almost indiscriminately, Böhm also disguises himself as an informant named Dorfmann and gives the Partisans information that leads to the deaths of his own soldiers, so he can lure the Partisans into a trap, initiating a massacre that kills many of them while he takes their leader, a woman named Angel, captive. Working on a new Nazi super weapon with slave labor, Böhm plans to attack and annihilate the entire Allied fleet closing in on Europe, intending to kill General Eisenhower and cripple the US involvement in the war. When finally revealing himself to the heroic sniper Karl Fairburne, Böhm reveals his intent to torture Angel and force Karl to watch, delighting in how he can either be a man "or a monster" when the situation calls for it.
• Even Better Sequel: This game takes several of the gameplay mechanics and elements from its predecessor Sniper Elite III and improves upon them tremendously, while also fixing almost all of the flaws present. The end result is a much smoother, better-looking, and massively improved Sniper Elite experience, with both critics and fans having nothing but praise for this entry.
• Game-Breaker: The DLC exclusive De Lisle carbine. As you'd expect, having a suppressed sniper rifle makes the game child's play, though its crap-tastic range tones it down a bit. To a lesser extent, the also DLC exclusive HDM pistol. You already have the Welrod for silent pistol kills, but the HDM has a faster rate of fire which can save your ass if you miss a headshot.
• Growing the Beard: V2 and 3 are fine games, but pretty much everyone agrees that the shift from linear corridors to open-ended environments in 4 has been the biggest leap forward so far in the series.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the second level, if Karl blows open a crypt with a satchel charge, he'll quip "That's it. I'm definitely going to hell". Well in the Zombie Army games, Karl actually does go to hell.
• Memetic Mutation: Sniper Elite Headshot: The X-ray headshot mechanic became the subject of many object labelling memes.
• Polished Port: Like Sniper Elite 3, the Nintendo Switch version of the game is praised for maintaining a consistent frame-rate and performance, with added gyro controls to boot.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • You can't find downed soldiers even if they were tagged. While this is for obvious reasons, this also includes soldiers that carry collectables. Take a far away shot or get into a fire fight and have to take your attention off them? Good luck hunting down their corpse!
  • Some parts of the user interface could've done with with more work. There is a white dot at the centre of the screen, to help with lining things up. Unfortunately, it is tiny, and hard to see against anything other than a plain dark background. The binocular view has a black crosshair, to help with tagging things.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Compared to its two predecessors, which suffered from Critical Dissonance, this game is far better received by critics, with an aggregate score of 81/100 on Metacritic.
• That One Achievement:
  • Shooting all of the stone eagles. They are not hard to hit (they are fragile and do not move), but good luck finding them without a guide. As of autumn 2020, slightly more PS4 players had the Trophy for finishing the game on Harder Than Hard than for shooting all of the eagles (0.5% vs 0.3%).
  • Better than the Best. To get it, you must beat the entire main campaign on Authentic Plus with no manual saves. Unlike other difficulty levels, Authentic Plus only saves a single checkpoint each level: at the beginning. So if you die or screw up, you must start the entire map all over again.

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