sniper elite v2 |

Publisher: Rebellion

Developer: Rebellion

Release Date: 5/2/2012

Available On

Sniper Elite: V2 doesn’t stand for version 2, as some people may think. This is about trying to stop the Germans from using V2 rockets in World War II. After seeing those three words, you probably left this review already. Another WWII game? V2 has a lot of potential but is lacking in many areas due to the developers’ laziness in design. The story is nothing special, with the only satisfying thing being sniper shots.

The game is all about stealth, but right away you will notice this is broken. The enemies are laid out in such a poor manner that it is hard to figure out how to take everyone out without raising an alert. If you do so, you have to fight it out with limited ammo from your other weapons, and you die very quickly. Using sniper rifles is just fine with the ability to hold your breath to steady your aim. Slowly, a red diamond will focus on a part of an enemy, and that is where your bullet will land. Once you fire, the game uses a bullet camera, and sometimes you will see an X-ray shot of the bullet penetrating the target’s organs (the nut shot is awesome!). You will see the skull shatter, organs burst, and eyes explode. This is the most satisfying use of a sniper rifle for any shooter. The problem is, the fun stops there.

Of course, sniper rifles back then really didn’t have silencers, so once you make the shot, everyone knows you’re there. Some levels have loud noises you can mask the shot from, but this can be difficult. The enemy AI is extremely dumb; they won’t notice a dead comrade right next to them, or they will spot you from hundreds of yards away with some sort of eagle vision. On top of all that, enemies spawn strangely out of some sort of ether because you will walk a hallway with no enemies, circle around, and then somehow there’s an enemy there. This makes stealth frustrating as hell, and you will rage quit often. It doesn’t help that the forced shootouts are frustrating and hard because you die almost instantly.

You can lay traps for enemies and such, but I honestly didn’t find any reason to do this much. Even the level design is screwy because the hallways are confusing and everything looks the same. There just isn’t enough satisfaction from finishing levels and outsmarting enemies because, in reality, you’re exploiting the dumb AI to advance through the levels. After just about 3 or 4, you will probably have enough and call it quits. It is just so sad that the great sniper mechanic was wasted on such a boring and dull game. The graphics look pretty good, but other than that, you won’t stay interested. I had this game on my HDD for about 2 months, and even when I had nothing to play, I couldn’t go back to this drab game.

Overall, V2 has some awesome kill shots and great sniper rifles; everything else is a bust. Dumb AI, poor stealth mechanics, boring level design, uninteresting stories, and frustrating shootouts. The multiplayer is pretty satisfying, but you won’t be coming back for long. V2 is a huge disappointment over a prequel that was fairly decent. Even the most patient gamers won’t last here.