Sniper Elite v2 brings the 1945 Battle of Berlin to the Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and the PC. Rebellion Developments, who are an independent video game developer from England, have remastered their Sniper Elite v2 game that first appeared on the Xbox 360. It’s interesting to see games like this coming to Switch. I’ve never played so many 3rd person action games on Nintendo consoles, especially ones with slow-motion x-ray bullet kill cams!
A Unique Twist on World War II Games
You join the war quite close to its ending. Usually, World War II games have you playing from the start of the war, not the end. Here, the story is inspired by real-life events that occurred leading to the beginning of the Cold War.
The player takes on the role of Carl Fairburn. He’s an American OSS agent who is sent to complete his mission, by any means necessary. Your task is to take out the German scientists that were responsible for creating the V2 missile before Russian forces go in, capture the scientists and use their knowledge to create their own weapons. You will be taking out both German and Russian forces that get in your way, along with obliterating pretty much anything you want. (Destructible environments are fun!)
Hold Your Breath to Help Steady Your Aim
There are multiple difficulty settings to choose from when you start a mission. There’s ‘Cadet’ for a light challenge with no bullet ballistics, ‘Marksman’ for a fair challenge with simplified bullet ballistics and unforgiving enemies, or ‘Sniper Elite’ which warns you that you are in for a tough fight with realistic bullet ballistics and deadly enemies.
Players can also set up custom settings where they determine the enemy skill level, ballistic realism, and tactical assistance. I had my file set to Cadet since I really don’t play tons of 3rd person shooters. I figured I would need all the help I could get.
There is a multitude of achievements you can unlock during gameplay. If you want to add more tasks to your game, you can also try to find and collect the 10 gold bars that are in each level and destroy all the wine bottles.
Challenge Yourself to Be Creative
My favorite part of the game was trying to be creative with the kills. Sure you could just do a headshot, but sometimes it’s more fun to try to shoot the grenade on the soldiers’ belt and watch the ensuing explosion takes out more than just one guy. Bridges and other structures can also be taken out and destroyed with a well-placed shot at explosives that have been attached to the sides. You could also just wound the soldier so it lures other soldiers to come and see what’s happening or even booby trap the body.
For the Switch version, I mostly played with the two joycons in the holder. I tried it out handheld a few times when I was away from the TV. If you play it handheld you have the option to use the touch screen to help with aiming. This was particularly useful when using the pistol since it doesn’t have a sight on it like a sniper rifle.
If you are playing handheld be sure to go in the options to enable the motion controls. Sniper Elite v2 rewards accuracy in your shots with showing your shot in slow motion hitting your target. You have the option to turn these off in the settings if you find it’s happening a lot and disrupting your gameplay.
Sniper Elite v2 offers a few different ways to play the game. It not only has singleplayer, but also cooperative game modes. You play the missions together with the second player acting as a spotter. For multiplayer, there is both online and local play. Chances are you will only be able to play locally. I was never able to find anyone else online to play with.
Will You be Stealthy or Run in Guns a Blazing?
There are multiple ways to play the game. You can run and gun, destroying everything in sight. Or you could go the sneaky stealthy route trying to take out your enemy as quietly as possible. You even have the ability to throw rocks to distract your enemy and get their attention. This works great if you want to get past them or sneak up behind them. Using the pistol would be an option since it’s quieter and won’t alert all the other soldiers. If you ever happen to forget your objective you can always hit the [-] button on the left controller to list your objective for that level.
If you are looking for a 3rd person action experience for the Switch, Sniper Elite v2 might be the game for you. Especially if you are interested in World War II era games. If you already have this game on the 360 you may want to hold off until it’s on sale.
The main difference, apart from updated visuals, are the optional motion controls on the Switch. Despite the updates, it still looks like a last gen game. As a heads up before you start to play, be sure to turn on the subtitles. Unless you speak Russian and German you’ll be very confused when everyone starts talking.
