If you’ve been a fan of the more open-ended, larger maps with exploration in the recent games, you’ll be somewhat catered for here. The missions themselves are a good mix of linear, exploratory and sniper perch settings. It wasn’t gamebreaking by any means, but did leave it lacking some of its own identity. I’m fairly certain some of the locations and level design have been repurposed from previous assets also, which left VR feeling like an extension rather than its own distinct game. While it makes sense and is a more efficient design choice, it did give the game a more stale and overly familiar feel if you’ve spent a decent chunk of time in the mainline series. Rebellion have kept the anatomic detail too, so you can witness which organs you puncture, which is… nice.Įnemy types, designs and weapons have also been reused for VR from Elite 3 and 4. Seeing your shot up close crash into an enemy’s skull was delightful and grotesque all at once. In VR, it’s a refreshing delight on a gimmick which had become more familiar in previous entries. Bullet cam returns, tracking your shots destined to wreak havoc on organic matter.
On that front, Sniper Elite VR carries over many of the hallmarks that have made the series popular. We’re here to shoot Nazis in their organs and revel in the bone-busting violence of it all. But, let’s be honest, no-one is really playing a Sniper Elite title for excellent storytelling or devine narrative experience. More akin to bringing a pistol to a sniper face-off. It’s a strange contradiction to have an older voice actor speaking delicately about war as you pop a dude’s brain melon from 50 metres with a high caliber rifle and then follow up with a testicle shot (it’s Sniper Elite, of course you have to do some ball-busting).Įither way, the story is present but it’s lackluster and weak.
The voiceover is decent if somewhat at odds with the more arcadey feel of Sniper Elite. Between each mission you’ll be (apparently randomly) sat at different spots in a sunshine-hit home as our protagonist recounts his tale. You play as an elderly man retelling his story as a Partisan fighter during World War 2. It’s pretty boring and won’t do anything to invest you in the game, despite some attempts at a twist or a grander purpose. Instead you’ll have some narration in each starting load screen, tidbits throughout the level and a couple of lines at the end. There are no cutscenes or particular exposition dumps. Sniper consists of a series of missions, linked together through some very limited and uninteresting dialogue. But then, Sniper Elite has never aimed for those precise targets, more the general, gory ballpark. A masterpiece of warfare simulation, this absolutely isn’t. It comes with significant caveats however, in the shape of wonky movement tracking, poor stealth mechanics and at times dumbfoundingly stupid enermy AI. Sniper Elite VR is certainly an immersive and arcadey sniping experience at its best and worth a look for wannabe marksmen extraordinaires.