Reviews Videogame / SniperEliteV2

VideoGame Fetch the Diazepam

Sniper Elite V 2 has been sitting in my steam library for months, untouched and uninstalled as a consequence of my anti-antediluvian laptop being unable to run most games beyond four frames per second. Finally, after much anticipation, I got hold of a machine that can run the game. What do I think? Well...I think I was better off with the game stuck on the other side of the fence.

V2 is not a bad game by any stretch. As far as gameplay goes, it is quite fun. There is something extremely rewarding about placing a bullet between someone's eyes or bollocks from a hundred paces, and even after eight or ten hours of constant nut shattering gunfire I was still enjoying the highly gratuitous, cathartic slow-mo kills. It does get frustrating however - there are difficulty spikes in which you have to depend on a dodgy cover system and wimpy submachine guns - peashooters which are only powerful enough to tickle the SS, and perpetually lack ammunition. Also, enemies have a tendency to spawn in from nowhere. I've seen it happen, and it totally undermines the whole tactical shooter aspect the game is selling itself on. Why bother planning ahead, scanning for enemies and finding a suitable position, when a couple of Red conscripts magically appear before your eyes once the shooting starts?

My real problem with the game though is the plot. You play as an American OSS sniper, on a mission to eliminate Germany's top rocket scientists before they enter Soviet custody. The plot is very meagre, which is just as well because what's left is actually kind of insulting. It turns out - and I'm going into spoiler territory here - that the Soviets are colluding with the a Nazi scientist to launch a super nerve gas attack on London. Why they are doing this is never adequately explained, and it is hard to see how they would benefit. The fact that you end up massacring your Soviet allies is bad enough, but the ridiculous gas attack seems to me to be kind of disrespectful to the millions of Soviets who died fighting the Nazis in real life.

I came away from the game after having quite a bit of fun, but the idiocy of the plot and the poorly designed close quarter fighting make me reluctant to ever play it again. V2 beats its predecessor, but it is only a rental title at best.

Videogame simple fun

This game is not going to win any awards. It doesn't have any great voice acting or memorable characters or intriguing story. The entire point of this game is to just snipe people. That is all it is for and it does it quite well. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but would definitely get it on sale. Simple, fun and satisfying