Sniper Elite

[JTurner]

Another Rebellion title out next week, but is anyone else thinking of buying it? It looks a lot more interesting than the usual WW2 titles, being that it crosses over into the cold war, and may actually involve more than mindless blasting. Has anyone out there played a demo? I've only read a couple of previews in Edge.

[Bico]

World War Zero was okay (if a little rough around the edges), so I might give this a go.

[The Amstor Computer]

From the preview and in-game vids I've seen, it does look pretty nifty. I hope Rogue Trooper gets a bit more of a publicity, though.

[Max Kon]

it looks quite cool. i might make it my yearly purchase

[Rex Banner]

I thought it looked rather good. But alas, I only have a 'cube & it's not available for that.

[The Amstor Computer]

Matt --

I love my GameCube, but the PS2 is so cheap now - and it has such a decent library of cheapish titles - that it's definitely worth a look.

[The Amstor Computer]

Bump!

Just playing the second level right now... some thoughts:

Graphics on the PS2 are a little ropey, especially for a late-period release. Lots of lo-res textures, and some iffy framerates. Could be worse, but it certainly doesn't look as good as I expect a current game to look.

There are some control peculiarities, most notably the feeling that the character is skating on ice, and sliding from hiding place to hiding place. The controls for sniper scope are pretty decent (though the gunscope game interface has been around for so long that I would be very surprised if this was mucked up) but there are apparent problems with registering buttonpresses to switch into and out of this mode, as well as the binocular view. I don't think this is just my pad, and it's irritating when you need to switch views quickly.

Although the sniping is generally well-conceived - I particularly liked the tactic of waiting for artillery shells to impact so that your gunshots would be drowned out - it just doesn't quite feel right. Moving from hiding place to hiding place is good, but the game feels too fast-paced. There's none of the slow burn of settling your sniper into a great spot and waiting for the perfect shot - you dash from here to there, almost always at street level, simply stopping long enough to open the scope, steady your aim & fire.

I did like the bullet cam - a satisfying little payoff for having the patience to set up a perfect shot.

At the moment, I'm feeling that the game is much like Dredd - you can see what Rebellion were aiming for (pun not intended!) but the execution just isn't right. When I'm given tripwire grenades, a ruined city and a target to kill, I'd like to be able to set myself up in the ideal spot, wire the entrances and settle in to wait for my target. Here, I'm more likely to be running through near-empty streets, hiding behind a crate to pick off the odd soldier...

[The Amstor Computer]

Bumping again...

I played through the Reichstag level last night, and nearly got to the point of putting the fucking joypad through a wall.

Bollocks level design that forces you into a gunfight with half-a-dozen enemies, despite telling you that an assault by other forces at a specified time will cause a distraction? Check.

That assault actually being triggered not by the clock, but simply by your character moving past a certain point? Check.

Carefully picking off enemies near an AA gun so that you can progress, only to move past a landscape feature and trigger a cutscene that ends by throwing more enemies at you from out of nowhere? Check.

Hopefully later levels will be an improvement, but that one was a mess.