SNIPER ELITE VR
A series that rarely misses
The familiar clunk-clink of our rifle’s bolt as we reload has never felt as real as it does now, because we’re holding the gun. The familiar action of Rebellion’s sniper-stealth series plus PS VR feels like a match made in shootery heaven.
Playing as a partisan soldier in the Italian Resistance, you must fight back against the Nazis the only way you know how: down the scope of a sniper rifle. Far from being a standard virtual-reality wave shooter, Sniper Elite VR features an original campaign that takes us back to Rebellion’s nostalgic comic-book take on World War 2.
Playing in first person, you get to go through the actions of loading and lining up perfect shots, which still come with the series’ trademark X-ray Kill Cam. It’s reimagined for PS VR, allowing you to ride the bullet into the enemy’s brain. Has a shooter ever got us so close to the action?
ON TARGET
When you’re not dealing death from a distance Sniper Elite VR offers the same style of map design as previous games in the series. You can explore missions in free movement (with a depth of options to personalise the experience to avoid any notorious VR sickness) to find new tactical possibilities. This means, as with the non-PS-VR games, there are more ways to take out the generals.
Silenced pistols can be dual-wielded, ensuring stalking a target from the shadows for close-up kills is as gruesomely satisfying as popping a groin shot from 200 metres away.
In the demo we see all the tools of an elite sniper being used to pick off enemies from distance, the gap closed with well-aimed pistols, and, when necessary, the machine guns being brought out to rattle through squads of Nazi foot soldiers, and even explosives used to even the odds.
It’s impressive how Rebellion, with co-developers Just Add Water and Coatsink, has managed to translate the core grind of the Sniper Elite series into virtual reality. The game apes the look of the series perfectly, and could well be one of the best shooters you’ll play on PS VR.
Outside the campaign the game will embrace the arcade nature of the format too, with additional challenges, mission rankings, shooting ranges, and leaderboards taking us back to the days of Konami’s Silent Scope. This shooter’s on target.