Originally Posted by
OmegaFenix
Im about half way through V2 and find myself disappointed. The sniping mechanic works and is spot on, pulling of a slowmo shot and watching the bullet rend flesh, burst eyeballs and shatter bone is very satisfying. On Marksman difficulty the assist system makes it easy enough to pull of these shots, on sniper it gets a little harder. So whats wrong with it then? Everything else... It feels visually date, levels are static and extremely linear with very few possibilities to take round about route to your target. Instead the game insists funnelling you into shooting galleries where any pretence of stealth is abandoned since your fist shot will draw the undivided attention of every enemy & the few that spawn. Luckily the AI is idiotic, so they prove no risk unless they get with in 20 feet of you, running around like a herd of startled sheep as you take potshot after potshot. Even the levels where there is a sound to mask your shots and thus you assume some level of stealth needs employing the level design fall back to the shooting galleries. The points where the game asks you to sneak through a occupied building taking out enemies as you go is some of the most enjoyable in the game, but it too is marred a weak sneaking mechanic. Another thing that also kept bugging me is enemy spawning triggers, in one level I was tasked clearing a square under the cover of a bombing raid. So i took great care scanning every possible vantage point as I took out the patrolling guards, feeling confident that I got everyone I started my sneaking treck across the now deserted square but once I reach a specific spot I noticed a danger indicator and found that the game has spawned 4 snipers across the square, all in positions I had cleared. This wasn't an isolated case, this sort of trigger spawn really cheapens the experience especially if you maliciously planned your route. This reeks of building a game around a single gimmick, in Sniper Elite V2's case the x-ray shots, meaning other vital parts gets neglected.
IMO a sniper-centric game begs for large sandbox type levels where the player can pick their own patch, it also needs persistent enemy placement to allow gun-ho players to find a vantage point and start shooting or stealth players to sneak into position only taking out enemies they can't avoid. More consistent sounds that could mask your shots, not the glaringly obviously random selection featured in V2.
Over all I think the games 6/10 rating is about right. My advice is wait for bargain bin or steam sale (shouldn't be long.)
Sniper Elite v2 review (MyGaming)
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