If you enjoyed the first title in the Sniper Elite series, it will be hard not to like V2 as well. There was something weirdly beautiful about the artwork in the first title that is sort of lost in V2, but the much more advanced graphics compensate for that. It’s important to note that the extra missions that used to be sold separately from the original (non-remastered) Sniper Elite V2 are included in this remastered version, under Challenges in the main menu.
First let me say that Sniper Elite V2 has always been my favorite in the series, but man it has got so much better. You can tell that they took their time to upgrade the visuals and fix a lot of the bugs. The lighting is amazing and it adds so much more to the game. I would recommend this to amyone who love stealth shooters or even if you like to mix it up, because you can set booby traps up all over and then start picking people off and hear as they blow up looking for you.
+ Fantastic Optimization - as most if not all Rebellion games
+ Fun gameplay
+ Few game modes
+ Difficulty that changes whole experience
+ Decent graphics and audio
+ Overall length
+ Some replay value
- AI is too strong on highest difficulty especially the enemy snipers
- Some light flicker is present
- For some might be too linear
Positives:
+ Good idea
+ Nice graphics and lightning
+ Good sounds and music
+ Sniping is cool with bullet cam and x-Ray kill-cam
+ Mostly entertaining
+ Gravity, wind and heartrate that effects sniping
+ Some nicely designed places
+ Cool DLCs (especially Neudorf Outpost)
+ Co-op mode
+ Okay length (about 7 hours in total)
Negatives:
- Flickering lights that can give headaches (and its not possible to it turn off)
- AI is all over the place (from smart to very stupid)
- Spawning enemies
- Very hard on the higher difficulty settings
- Enemies spot you right away (it dosent matter if youre stealthy and using the environment to your advantage) and sometimes shoot you thru obstacles when covered
- Bugs (cover system hangs, enemies get stuck etc)
- Bad cover system in general (feels glued and unnatural)
- Mostly very linear
- Quirky controls
- You cant jump
- First person view would be preferable to third person
- Very little is remastered except a few graphical upgrades
- Not worth the full retail price
Well I have to say this was a nicely upgraded sequel compared to the original game released in 2005.
The graphics in general are way better (as it should be in 7 years time), with better lightning effects (thanks to the remaster) and physics. Its also much more fun this time, and the x-ray kill cam is a nice touch. What bothers me though, is that the controls are still quirky and the cover system is not polished at all. The enemies are also a mixed bag, and takes away some of the enjoyment.
But dont get me wrong, its still a good game. But why was there so little improvement done to this remaster? Seems like they thought: "We'll just make a few graphics upgrades and make some easy money". At least its nice that they included all the DLCs (I loved Neudorf Outpost).
So all in all its a cool game if you like sniping and WW2 titles, but this remaster its not worth the full retail price, so its reccommended to buy it when its discounted.
Total Score: 7.5/10
I really wanted to like this. I loved both Sniper Elite 3 and 4, and well, that's the problem. This game pales in comparison to those later titles in every way. Where this is especially evident is in the level design. Whereas 3 and 4 feature large, open levels with a series of objectives that you can complete in any order, V2 is much more linear with much smaller and less open levels. There's no planning or multiple paths to your next objective.
Stealth also seems broken in this game. Where in 3 and 4, cover, concealment, and light-level all factored into your ability to remain undetected, those features seem to be missing in this game. Concealment doesn't exist and being in a dark room doesn't seem to make any difference in the enemy's ability to detect you. That leaves cover, which the enemy seems to be able to see through most of the time. And that cover mechanic is terrible, requiring you to map a key to your keyboard or controller to enter and exit cover instead of the more fluid experience in the later titles in this series.
Well, it's a sniper game so the long distance rifle shots are spot on, right? Wrong. Fire your rifle one time and every enemy automatically knows exactly where you are and starts laying down fire on your position. Doesn't matter how far away or well hidden you were. This disincentives ever using your rifle and instead makes the silenced pistol the primary weapon and the Thompson the secondary weapon when your backed into a corner and spraying every enemy that walks through the door (because they all know exactly where you are, remember?).
The graphics don't seem to be all that "remastered", except maybe a slight improvement in the lighting. You'd honestly have to put screenshots side by side to tell the difference. And "janky" is a good word to describe the animations.
Overall, it's not worth the asking price of 35 dollars. I'd say pick it up if it's 10 dollars or less. Or better yet, buy Sniper Elite 3 and 4.
