Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, the review

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered and its review arrive exactly seven years after the publication of the original game, a sequel capable of introducing so many innovations compared to the debut chapter (released in 2005) that it lays the foundations for what the series still represents today, namely a solid stealth shooter in which we play the role of an infallible sniper, Karl Fairburne, engaged on several fronts during the Second World War. It is interesting, for those who have lived the whole saga, to retrace its origins and understand how certain ideas and mechanics were introduced for the first time, see for example the very painful X-ray kill cams that illustrate in great detail the path taken by our bullets when they impact with German soldiers, piercing their skeletal structure and internal organs in a way that is as crude as it is spectacular. Similarly, of course, try again with the campaign of Sniper Elite V2 highlights the limits of an experience that in fact has not changed very much, which for some time now feels the weight of the years and lives in the hope of a qualitative step forward that has not been taken so far.



History and approach

As mentioned in the opening, Sniper Elite V2 Remastered tells the story of Karl Fairburne, an elite soldier on a seemingly impossible mission: to infiltrate the devastated Berlin of the final stages of World War II to get hold of the documents relating to a technology that could give the Nazis one last chance at victory. The engineers working for the Fuhrer have in fact developed a series of sophisticated ultra-wide range missiles, the launch of which could claim numerous victims among the countries of the alliance, making the conflict even more bloody than it has already been. The campaign is made up of eleven missions gradually more complex, to which three are added in this remastered edition DLC with extra assignments, one of which will see us eliminating none other than Adolf Hitler.



Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, the review

La duration total experience is expected over ten hours proceeding without beating around the bush, in line with this type of productions, but the compartmentalized structure reveals an old-gen connotation right from the start, overcome in the last episodes of the franchise by a much freer approach and airy. What the game proposes is in fact a series of situations that often refer to trial & error, since the stealth setting admits very few errors: let the enemy soldiers discover you and you will be quickly surrounded, without the possibility of defending yourself too much due to the continuous lack of munitions. In short, that is not the way to proceed: you have to carefully plan the actions, open fire with the sniper rifle only when an ambient noise covers the sound of the shot and use the silenced gun or the knife when you are close enough to the guards.

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, the review

Gameplay and structure

The approach used by Rebellion for Sniper Elite V2 Remastered therefore does not in any way distance itself from the original edition, proposing also in this case a fairly demanding challenge which, however, is part of a very linear and piloted progression. The developers tried to enrich these aspects of the experience later, for example in Sniper Elite 3 it was possible to create your own diversions while in Sniper Elite 4 you could move and approach missions in a different way, therefore playing with this remaster one inevitably has the feeling of taking a couple of consistent steps backwards on the front of the gameplay and level design, which is also quite limited.



Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, the review

The shooting, however, remains solid when you hold the sniper rifle, using the breath bar to stabilize the aim and giving life to the sequences to X-ray which we have already mentioned. The use of the silenced pistol and above all of the machine gun is much less brilliant and often imprecise, which must be activated with short bursts in order not to immediately lose effectiveness and waste the few bullets available. The equipment naturally includes some classic pieces for the series, such as standard grenades, dynamite to be blasted with a targeted shot and tripping mines, perfect for setting traps for soldiers who are about to approach our position. However, major problems remain with theartificial intelligence enemies, who often do not detect our presence even if we are stationed a few centimeters from their back: they perform a decent task as silhouettes to shoot from a distance, also striving to change positions and return fire, but the management of close encounters leaves a lot to be desired.

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, the review

PlayStation 4 Trophies

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered includes the beauty of forty-eight Trophies, distributed between the base campaign and the DLC included in the package. Most achievements revolve around performing specific actions: silently killing a certain number of enemies, landing a shot from a great distance, destroying specific anatomical parts, and so on. Then there are clearly the Trophies that are obtained simply by progressing in the campaign and completing the missions that make it up.



Technical realization

As pointed out in the trial of Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, Rebellion has done an excellent job on the level of remastering, which finds in particular on PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X (as well as, of course, on PC) an extra dimension represented by the option for enhance the resolution or performance. In the first case the game turns to 4K real and 30 frames per second, but frame pacing does little justice to this solution and gives the experience a general feeling of jerkiness that does not go well with the precision required by gunplay. It is therefore better to visibly give up some details and move on to 60 frames per second, which appear quite stable and give the game an edge, while reducing the charm of certain landscapes. In fact, the scenarios benefit most from the graphic improvements, ranging from replacing textures to enhancing the effects: the comparison with the original edition clearly highlights the differences, which however become more nuanced when you go to analyze the polygonal models of the characters, inevitably dated for angularity and animations. The sound sector takes up the good old dubbing in Spanish, seasoning it with the now classic soundtrack of the series.

Comment

Tested version PlayStation 4 Price 39,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

6.5

Readers (4)

8.3

Your vote

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered represents an interesting opportunity to revisit the episode that laid the foundations for the current connotation of the Rebellion series, despite all the inevitable limitations and anachronisms of a product conceived seven years ago. In this period of time, the franchise has taken some important steps forward in terms of freedom of action and level design, making the most of close firefights, which in the remaster unfortunately remain anchored to limp mechanisms and intelligence. mediocre artificial. The remastering work clearly enhances the scenarios and certain sequences, providing on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X extra options to play at 60 frames per second.

PRO

  • Sniping and kill cams still do their job
  • The package also includes DLCs
  • Technically a great remaster ...
AGAINST
  • ... but some elements show the signs of aging
  • Very linear and limited gameplay
  • Mediocre artificial intelligence
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