Sniper Elite V2 is a tactical shooter game developed by Rebellion Developments and published by 505 Games for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, and PC. It is the sequel to Sniper Elite, and the prequel to Sniper Elite III.
Gameplay[ | ]
Sniper Elite V2 is a third-person tactical shooter that emphasizes a less direct approach to combat, encouraging the player to use stealth and keep their distance from enemy soldiers. Most of the single player campaign missions provide multiple routes for the player to take, including multi-story buildings and side streets, to get vantage points and to hide from pursuing enemies. Set in World War II, the player character utilises appropriate weapons for the era. The sniper rifle is the primary weapon throughout the game, with a variety of submachine guns and pistols available as side arms. In addition to hand grenades, the player can deploy tripwire booby traps, anti-infantry land mines, and dynamite. Binoculars can be used to tag enemies in view, displaying their position and movements to the player. When using the sniper rifle, certain elements can determine the outcome of a shot, taking realistic ballistics into consideration such as wind direction and strength and bullet drop potentially altering the shot through the scope. Bullets can ricochet off surfaces or targets and strike others. Different postures, including crouching or lying down on the front, can also steady a shot, and the player character also has the ability to take a deep breath which from their perspective appears to slow down time. Another key ability is that when the player character is spotted, their last movements and position to the enemy is shown as a white-outlined figure, potentially allowing the player to escape that area while enemy soldiers fire at the wrong target.
A major feature of V2 is the "X-Ray Kill Cam" where a successful and skilled shot will be followed in slow motion from the bullet shooting out of the sniper rifle to the target where upon impact the player will be shown an anatomically correct X-ray style reveal of the body part being hit and the damage the bullet causes to the target's organs and bones. Sniping can also be used to shoot the enemies' own grenades, killing them and anyone nearby. This method can also be used against military vehicles by targeting fuel tanks and valves, and can even detonate fuel canisters and artillery shells marked with red paint. The game will also measure notable shots by briefly displaying distance and other factors like whether it was a head shot or moving target.
Plot[ | ]
The protagonist is U.S. Army Second Lieutenant Karl Fairburne (Tom Clarke-Hill), a German-American OSS operative and skilled sniper who is inserted into Berlin in 1945, during the final days of World War II. The game starts with Fairburne discussing Operation Paperclip and its predecessor, Operation Overcast, as the United States makes an effort to recruit the top scientific personnel of Nazi Germany with offers of employment. Fairburne is tasked with tracking down key individuals involved with the development of the V-2, which pits him against both the fanatical German forces defending Berlin and the invading Soviet forces who are eager to recruit the scientists to their side.
The campaign's first mission has Fairburne assassinating German Major-General Hans von Eisenberg as he meets with a Soviet agent to defect to Russia. He escapes, and is given a new target: Dr. Gunther Kreidl, an expert in rocket engines who is being escorted out of the city in a military convoy. After laying an ambush, Fairburne eliminates Kreidl and obtains documents revealing the location of Germany's primary V-2 production facility, where Kreidl's three colleagues are hiding. Fairburne infiltrates the facility and destroys it with C-3, but finds no trace of the scientists. He manages to overhear a radio message revealing that one of his targets, Dr. Efram Schwaiger, has been caught trying to defect to the Americans.
American intelligence informs Fairburne that Schwaiger has been taken to a detainment camp at the Opernplatz. To distract the Germans, Fairburne provokes the Soviets into attacking German defensive positions at an abandoned museum knowing that reinforcements will be sent to defend them. He then locates the camp, shoots a German officer before he can execute Schwaiger, and covers the scientist as he flees to safety before holding off Soviet troops sent to capture him. Schwaiger is mortally wounded in the crossfire and with his dying words states that "Wolff has a plan" involving "Tabun". Not knowing what to make of this information, Fairburne proceeds with a mission to assassinate his fourth target, Colonel Müller. After surviving a large German ambush while recovering his equipment, Fairburne infiltrates a flak tower and kills Müller with a long-distance shot.
To find his last target, Dr. Wolff, Fairburne raids a Soviet field HQ. He obtains intel revealing that "Tabun" is actually a nerve gas developed by German scientists, which Wolff and the Soviets intend to load onto V-2 rockets aimed at London. With no idea where the launch will take place, Fairburne goes to Wolff's private office near the German war ministry to look for clues. He finds a notebook revealing Wolff's plan to escape on a Soviet airplane and a tattered map detailing all V-2 storage facilities and launch sites. Arriving just as the Soviets are fueling one of the rockets for the attack, Fairburne destroys it by detonating its fuel supply. He then fights his way back to the Brandenburg Gate, where he had assassinated von Eisenberg only a few days earlier, and where Wolff is about to escape with a Soviet escort to the airfield. With a single shot, he kills Wolff as the doctor speeds away, causing his car to swerve and flip over. As the Battle of Berlin comes to an end, Fairburne notes that the war may be over, but a new conflict is just beginning, and that his actions have made him its first soldier.