Yes, it’s another Switch port, but Sniper Elite 3 Ultimate Edition is a rather interesting example that’s certainly worth a closer look. The original game hails from the early beginnings of the current-gen console era, where developers were still getting to grips with the new wave of hardware – highly enjoyable and technically competent, but very much a game of its time. The nature of the game’s origins, combined with some strategic but sympathetic technical nips and tucks, produces an experience that adapts well to Nintendo’s console hybrid.
Even at the content level, the Switch version acquits itself well. The core single-player mode, the eight-player online multiplayer and all associated DLC is included, with Rebellion concentrating on compression and optimisation to allow for the whole package to sit within a 6.3GB storage footprint. Even the basic tech metrics are creditable. Sniper Elite 3 ran at 1080p on PlayStation 4, and drops to 1632×918 on Switch with seamless dynamic resolution in play, taking us down to 720p in the most graphically intense areas. In handheld mode, nothing is taken away from the visuals bar pixel-count – 918p becomes 720p, with a lower bounds of 1120×630.
DRS transitions are unnoticeable for the most part, as Rebellion only adjusts resolution when the camera is moving, gradually shifting it back higher when the GPU resources become available. The game still looks decent connected to an HDTV but in common with many Switch titles, I’d say it works better in handheld mode. Beyond resolution, other compromises are well handled – several ports have seen poor quality, compressed audio but Sniper Elite 3 sounds just as it should.
In terms of the game’s visual make-up, everything holds up well. Shadow quality sees a minor, mostly unnoticeable drop in quality, while geometry and LODs can be pared back in some instances, with some tweaks to lighting too. Performance shines where it matters though, and as you navigate the open terrain, textures and geometry stream in very smoothly. Texture quality itself is also impressive, with the game using the 1024×1024 texture maps used on PC’s high settings. We can also report that the anatomically correct – but sometimes gruesome – x-ray kill shots are fully replicated on Switch.
Post effects-wise, the game holds up. A form of bloom makes the grade and depth of field is implemented in cutscenes, giving lovely bokeh refraction patterns on the foreground. We even get reasonably high resolution alpha effects, so Sniper Elite’s more explosive moments have all the impact of the other console versions. There are some minor tweaks though: ambient occlusion – the shade between objects – has a somewhat thicker look on Switch, but the change that mostly stands out is the removal of light shafts and lens flare.