Not quite 'elite' but good

This generation of consoles has been oversaturated with stealth and World War II games to a point few gamers can really enjoy anymore. But amazingly, with "Sniper Elite," Namco has come out with a WWII stealth game that is actually fun to play and brings something new to both genres.\nIn "Sniper Elite," you take on the role of a U.S. sniper in the closing days of the war who must stop the Russians from getting a hold of Germany's atomic secrets.\nWhile the story isn't the strong point, what's here is presented well. On Xbox the bombed remnants of Germany look top notch, though the actual textures and buildings seem to vary little among the game's 28 levels and roughly 10-hour story mode.\nVoice acting and music are much stronger. The score is right up there with a modern Hollywood movie, but unfortunately it also seems to blend together like some of the graphics.\nGameplay in "Sniper Elite" depends on what difficulty you play on. This game was designed to be the most realistic depiction of sniping ever, complete with meters to keep track of breath and heart rate and a physics system that makes you take gravity and wind into account for every shot.\nBut if you prefer a more arcade-type experience these options can be turned off too, which makes for faster but less stealthy and deep gameplay.\nStill, this is a game about sniping on any difficulty which can be a bit jarring for someone like me who usually plays faster-paced shooters, but after awhile, moving from cover-to-cover and popping Russians in the heads starts to feel natural, and fun.\nAnd though the controls are mostly intuitive (as they have to be for a game that requires such precise shots), switching weapons still feels a bit cumbersome and more suited for a keyboard and mouse set-up. If you get cornered by a bunch of troops and your only hope is switching to a machine gun or grenade, you're almost definitely done, but then again if you're in that position you're not really playing this game the way it should be played.