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I fancy myself a pacifist. I’m kind of hippie in the sense that I don’t believe in violence
unless it’s carefully orchestrated and involves submission holds. But the first time this
happened...I, like, reflexively pumped my fist and shouted, “*** yeah.”
It’s been almost a year to the date since we reviewed the original Sniper Elite for
the Nintendo Wii, a lazy port of a game that wasn’t that great to begin with. But this...man,
this is something else entirely. I’m not going to tell you Sniper Elite V2 is an incredible
game or anything, but when it clicks, it’s a really satisfying and unique shooter.
Sniper Elite V2 is set near the end of World War II. You play as an American sniper charged
with taking down key figures in the German missile program. So there’s an interesting
story in theory, although it’s never really told all that well. But where the game scores
major points is the whole “taking down key figures” part.
Unlike a lot of other military shooters, Sniper Elite V2 is designed entirely around a single
style of combat—sniping. You don’t just charge into the battlefield and shoot your
enemies in the chest with a shotgun. You scope the area from a distance, you sneak in, you
find a shady spot, you take people down completely undetected.
Or at least...undetected for as long as possible.
Of course, that was the case with the original Sniper Elite, as well. But V2 makes everything
better. The game controls easier, the stages are more interesting, kills are more satisfying.
For example, you can actually use a dead enemy to distract another enemy. And when he runs
over to see what happened...game over, pal.
And that leaves me open to take down the last two enemies...with one bullet. Three down,
none alerted. That’s the essence of V2, and at times, it’s really rewarding.
And in fact, compared to the first, V2 almost feels like a whole different game. It’s
more cinematic, production values are way better and it also makes some nice changes
to the core gameplay. Your health regenerates automatically this time, and it also adds
some checkpoints. That makes V2 a lot less frustrating than the first Sniper Elite.
Despite fixing a lot of the original’s issues, it also keeps the things that made it so interesting.
In particular, the bullet physics that are added to higher difficulty levels. They’re
back, and if you’re good, you’ll love them. And of course, the slow motion bullets
are back...and they’re more horrendous than ever.
Now, this isn’t one of the year’s best games, but it is a really good one. The sniping
is incredibly satisfying, especially when you manage to eliminate an entire group without
being noticed. Sniper Elite V2 is a smart little tactical shooter, and uh, if you like
anatomy...ugh...get over here.