Sniper Elite V2 Hands on Preview

Sniper Elite V2 was a game that I, initially, looked down upon. It certainly shows characteristics of those poorly made games that a few people buy but will never make mass market.

However after endorsing a certainly interesting amount of time on this game, my opinion has seen a dramatic U-Turn. The first thing that stood out, bold and new in this game was the kill cams. Not only do you go into bullet time but then get dramatic, bloody x-rays of the victim. I watched in horror as a piece of spine shattered, cringed at the splitting of a man’s lung and muttered “awesome” as my bullet found itself burrowing into an enemy grenade, causing an epic, explosive climax to my deadly projectile’s journey. Kill cams are cool; there’s no denying it.

The game revolves around a large amount of stealth and tactical planning. You use the ambient sounds to mask your shots – silencers on snipers weren’t around then silly. A rock in the right place will lead the enemy right into your sights, and out of view of their friends. You can move bodies so others never find them and even place down trip mines that’ll blow the socks off  of anyone looking to getcha’ in the back.

Yet even though I found myself striving to complete the mission undetected, I really couldn’t do it. Maybe I’m missing the point of that mission, and you are meant to be caught – it is in broad daylight after all. I still found myself using the rock quite a bit. It was with this that the evidently unintelligent AI lined themselves up for an  easy triple kill. Why three men would run towards a pebble that moved when they are surrounded by crumbling buildings is something I’ll never know.

As for graphics; they are good. Buildings look a bit cardboardy at times and some character movements look terrible on rough terrain. yet through this, we see a game with great potential. The games developers Rebellion don’t have the huge budgets of DICE and Infinity Ward however they’ve gone with what beats budget any day – intuition.

The kill cam is a great idea and it really adds to the experience. Difficulty levels could be more diverse. I’m getting enemies that can’t shoot on easy, and enemies that can shoot on Elite. When you aren’t meant to be shot, it would help to make the game harder in different ways.

The sound certainly excels in its own right. Tunes have an authentic feel and can add to the moment at times although when you are trying to match your shot with the surrounding sounds, the music can be a damn annoyance.

Over Sniper Elite V2 has a huge amount of potential. It could be great fun to play and its success certainly depends up how well other missions are designed. You can pre-order it now or try out the demo for free. Release is firing up 4th May. Could it be your bullet that changes history?