Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is Rated M.
If you are younger than 17 years old, please ask your parents before reading this review and playing this game.
One would expect a remastered edition of a game to maintain the most appealing elements of the original game while also improving its visuals to be on par with modern standards. Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is thus an incredibly faithful remaster, for better and for worse.
For those uninitiated, the Sniper Elite games are third-person World War II shooters that place you into the shoes of a renowned American sniper (as well as various other characters) as he attempts to infiltrate enemy territory and thwart Axis plans. The physics of the actual sniping is customizable, ranging from basic point-and-shoot to incredibly realistic, incorporating factors such as bullet drop and wind speed/direction.
For longtime fans of the series, you know what you’re getting here. The gameplay is incredibly familiar to anyone who’s played the other games in the series, and that familiarity allows veteran players to easily jump in and enjoy the missions in the way they want to approach them. For those new to the series, while there might be a slight learning curve, the customization and difficulty options make overcoming that hurdle as quick and painless as possible.
While the campaigns in the Sniper Elite series are never incredibly long, there is more content available than simply replaying old missions to unlock new weapons. Every DLC mission from the original game is included in this package, so everyone can experience the pleasure of killing Hitler by sniping him in the testicle (because this game is historically accurate).
Being a remaster rather than a remake has its drawbacks, however, and this holds V2 Remastered back from reaching the same heights as later entries.
Rather than the item-based healing that is present in Sniper Elite 3 and 4, this game opts for the classic Call of Duty regeneration system. While auto-healing is simpler in theory, it has the effect of reducing the player’s overall heath and making it harder to heal when necessary. Having full control over when and how much you heal in later entries added another layer of strategy to the gameplay while making gameplay more forgiving of mistakes. So if you are accustomed to having it, this game can feel like it’s missing an essential feature.
The lack of the Sniper Elite 4 camouflage system also makes stealth needlessly limited. Not allowing the player to hide in the available foliage leaves ducking behind cover the only hiding option. This, in turn, necessitates more available cover, which then causes the game’s levels to feel inorganic. If there’s a substantial number of random boxes to hide behind, it seems as though they were placed there to allow you to sneak into that area.
These are minor complaints, though, and would prevent Sniper Elite V2 Remastered from accurately representing the early series. In spite of those shortcomings, the original version of this game was a fun and thoughtful experience, and that extends to this remastered edition. I feel comfortable recommending this to any fan of console shooters, especially with the Switch version’s added benefit of sniping on the go.
What do you think of Sniper Elite V2 Remastered? Will you buy it? Have you already? Let us know in the comments!
GAME: Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
DEVELOPER: Rebellion
PUBLISHER: Rebellion Interact
ESRB: M for Mature 17+ (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language)
MSRP: $34.99 US
OBTAINED: Code provided by developer/publisher for press purposes