14 DAY TRIAL // 
The people at Rebellion announced some time ago that they were thinking of launching a Remaster of one of their crown jewels, namely Sniper Elite 2, and the general public was excited to see the goodies that were to come.
Some things shouldn't change
Normally when you replay a game you haven’t touched in a few years, you have a tendency to remember it far better than it actually was, because that’s how we are as human beings, but when I got my hands on the Remastered version of Sniper Elite V2, something seemed a bit off.
Because I wanted to do the review justice, I also got my hands on the original Sniper Elite 2 and made a side-by-side comparison to see just how much of a “remaster” it was. I played through a couple of missions and even tried my hand at a few online matches and I swear on my Steam account that I could not find any visible difference between the two versions, so I went out to read their announcement articles to see what was I supposed to be looking for precisely.
Legend says it looks better
One of the aspects that really disappointed me were the so-called “Remastered Visuals”, which looked almost exactly like the ones from the old version of the game, with just a few minor tweaks which you could only really notice if you played the two games side-by-side in split-screen. I didn’t see any differences at all between the original and the remastered version’s “Ultra” settings, except for maybe some lighting elements, extra foliage (which is only noticeable in certain missions), and a bit of motion blur. Sadly enough, I was disappointed that a game re-released in 2019 still made Lieutenant Karl Fairburne look as if he had hair that looked more like it was a diving helmet that got a fresh coat of wax.
*Sarcasm warning ahead* The only thing I did notice was that when I tuned up all the video settings to the highest settings, I experienced a massive drop in FPS, which is a problem you can only solve by restarting the game.
Say “Cheese!”
Since the "X-Ray Kill CAM" was probably the most iconic feature introduces in the original Sniper Eliter V2 release, it would have been foolish of the developers not to do something to amp things up a notch with the Remaster, and that’s how the Photo Mode came to be.
The Photo Mode they talked about was OK, especially if you did manage to catch those sweet and gory Kill Cams, and the fact that I could do adjustments of camera angles and frame-by-frame shots was great since I do love bragging about the headshots I made. The photo filters are also a neat touch, and they do make for some really great meme material.
At first I noticed that indeed I had all the missions unlocked, so they did keep their word when they said the remaster had all DLCs, but then again that would make Sniper Elite V2 Remastered more worthy of the name “Sniper Elite V2 - Complete Edition” above all else.
Snipers galore
Probably the biggest change brought to Sniper Elite V2 Remastered was the revamp of the Multiplayer and Co-op modes, as they now allowed you to gather around with up to 15 other players and go head-to-head in 7 different game modes, including Deathmatch, Distance King, Dogtag Harvest and Capture the Flag.
While this idea is probably the best one that they had regarding the Remaster, you can’t exactly take advantage of multiplayer games because not a lot of players are even online, and it becomes extremely hard to fill up a single lobby at certain times.
That’s not the worst of it, since if you’re a new player to the series and you decide you want to try some online matches, you will become cannon fodder for everyone else, because the multiplayer lobbies seem to be filled with veteran players from the pre-Remaster era.
A silver lining
A game should be played because it is enjoyable, and in the end, Sniper Elite V2 Remastered features the same gameplay elements people fell in love with when it was originally launched in 2012. The X-Ray Kill Cam still looks and feels phenomenal, and the damage your bullets can do to an enemy’s bones and organs looks just as visceral and cringe-worthy as always, especially when “soft spots” are hit.
All of this is further emphasized by the realistic sound effects, such as the bone-crunching moment the bullet penetrates the enemy’s skull. Speaking of sounds, the developers really managed to improve on the game’s audio more than anything else, since now you can feel that there’s a much more dynamic range, and the gunshots sound much more deep, rich, and full.
The Good
- The gameplay that stayed the same
- Photo Mode that goes well with the X-Ray Kill Cam
- All DLCs included
- New playable characters
The Bad
- Unnoticeable visual improvements
- Scarce and elitist online community
- Co-op not available for the DLC missions
Conclusion
Veteran players, however, will be disappointed by the game, since it brings next to nothing new to the table, except if you have an eagle-eye for subtle visual details, a monster PC to back it all up, and a 4K monitor.
Overall, the game’s remaster is average at best, and the only demographic that will truly be interested in it is the one that grew up with the original and want to relive their glory days sniping Nazis, zombies, and Nazi zombies.
