PC Gamer weekly round-up
The big news this week was a surplus of information on Crysis 3 – but it’s stealth action FPS Dishonored that creeped in and impressed us with its old-school open-ended sensibilities. Elsewhere, our hopes for STALKER 2 were finally and tragically squashed, but new tidbits of information just might have slipped out about Half-Life 2: Episode 3.
We also took a closer look at Sniper Elite: V2, Guild Wars 2, Microsoft Flight, and TERA. Read on for a full list of this week’s biggest stories.
Sniper Elite V2 preview
![sniper_elite.wmv_snapshot_00.58_[2012.04.26_10.43.35]](http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2012/04/sniper_elite.wmv_snapshot_00.58_2012.04.26_10.43.35-610x297.jpg "sniper_elite.wmv_snapshot_00.58_[2012.04.26_10.43.35]")
Sniper Elite was, in the words of Rebellion’s CEO and creative director Jason Kingsley, a game “many more people have heard of than actually played.” The tactical thirdperson shooter was set during World War II, with the player sneaking and sniping his way through the Nazi army while trying to discover the secrets of the atomic bomb.
You’re peering down that same sniper’s gun sights this time around, but now World War II is drawing to a close. The Nazis are almost defeated, the Soviets have invaded Germany, and it’s V2 rockets that you’re investigating this time around – hence the name. “[The end is] the most interesting part of any war,” quips Steve Hart, Sniper Elite V2’s producer. “You’re just this lone wolf engaging two separate armies for your own gain.”
Sniper Elite V2: how recklessly can you play?
The Sniper Elite V2 demo on Steam is a fine little taste of gory sharpshooting fun, but I’m afraid I haven’t been playing it right. I assumed I’d be haunting the shadows of Berlin, stalking one or two soldiers at a time and waiting for mortar fire to cover my shots. Instead, the demo mostly features larger groups which I recklessly pelt with lead, giving away my position without a care. I can play it stealthier, but even on the hardest mode, it isn’t necessary.
Sniper Elite V2 demo out now
Sniper Elite V2 claims to feature “the most realistic simulation of military sharpshooting yet available” on its Steam page. The ballistics system takes “gravity, wind, velocity, bullet penetration” and “aim stability” into account every time you pull the trigger. Hit the target and you’ll get to see your victim’s demise in splattery detail via a hallucinatory slow motion death sequence. This gory epilogue peels back the victim’s skin to show organs popping and bones shattering from the impact of your bullet as it passes through your enemy’s squishy body. This feature is “not available in Germany.”
If that sounds like the sort of shooter you might like to shoot guns in, you can take a few experimental pot shots now in a new demo, available on Steam. The full release is scheduled for May 4. Yesterday we learned that the team deathmatch mode that it ships with will be exclusive to the PC, which is nice. Check out the official Sniper Elite V2 site for more.
Sniper Elite V2 team deathmatch coming to PC only
As reported by MP1st.com, Rebellion have announced in a forum post that Sniper Elite V2′s 12-player team deathmatch mode will be PC exclusive. Responding to queries on Twitter, developers Rebellion explained that they were able to include the mode for PC players because they’re self-publishing that version of the game, whereas the console versions are being co-published with 505 Games.
Sniper Elite V2 shoots a man in the eye through his own scope from quite far away
Sniper Elite V2′s kill cams will stretch every shot into a macabre, slow motion short film designed to show the bone-shattering consequences of every bullet. Ew. This one in particular shows how Sniper Elite’s carefully modelled bullet physics will reward exceptional moments of skill. Shooting a sniper through his own scope is surely about as impressive as a shot can be. We’ll have to see if Remedy can better it in future. It looks as though this is the first in a weekly series of grisly death cams. It’s out on May 4.
Sniper Elite V2 trailer shoots a man in the eye from quite far away
We were probably never meant to see what happens inside a man’s skull when he’s shot in the eye with a sniper bullet, but Rebellion are determined to show us. Producer Steve Hart told us that the skeletal mode is designed to give the player a greater sense of the consequence of pulling the trigger, “because sniping is such an intimate thing” he said, “it’s got an almost voyeuristic touch to it – you’re studying that person before you take that shot.” Before you ask. Yes, you can shoot a man in the balls. They’ve modelled that as well.
They’ve also released a series of decent screenshots, including and especially niceone in a ruined clock tower overlooking a flaming, bombed out city. Check it out.
Sniper Elite V2 CEO on self-publishing and moon sniping
We’ve already covered Rebellion’s decision to self-publish upcoming FPS Sniper Elite on the PC, but we recently had a chance to ask the company’s CEO and creative director Jason Kingsley about how it’s all going to work.
“I’m a great supporter of the PC as a platform, I always have been,” says Kingsley. “I’m always very disappointed when people talk about the PC dying as a platform, and then eight months later PC’s flavour of the month again.”
But, as a PC gamer and developer, Kingsley finds the current situation frustrating. Having worked with the likes of Sega on Aliens versus Predator and Bethesda on Rogue Warrior, Kingsley knows what it’s like to have a big publisher breathing down the back of your neck all the way through the development process.
Sniper Elite V2′s testicular animation detailed by dev: “sniping is such an intimate thing”
Flicking through my notebook on the way back from the Sniper Elite V2 preview event, I find a completely blank page save for the word “TESTICLES” at the top. Underlined several times. It was at this point that I stopped writing and started wincing. A wince that still occurs whenever I think about what I saw and heard at developer and publisher Rebellion’s HQ in Oxford.
You see, Sniper Elite Version 2’s first-person World War II sniping is gilded with a fully dynamic skeletal slow-motion animation system. Aim for an enemy soldier’s neck and their vertebrae will shatter. Shoot at the crown of the head and it’ll smash like an egg. Go for the heart and blood will fill their thoracic cavity. And, inevitably, you can shoot their balls off.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 Gamescom footage shows close combat marksmen
Here’s some in-game footage of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 from Gamescom. The footage is a mite fuzzy, but we still get to see the ambitious environments City Interactive have built using CryEngine 3. There is one frustrating moment, though, when the player can’t save a woman from being shot because his Xbox 360 pad he’s playing on isn’t precise enough to target her killer. We’ll be able to show console players how it’s done when the game’s out. No release date yet, mind.
Sniper Elite V2 trailer shoots a man in the neck from quite far away
It’s quite nasty when you imagine what a sniper’s bullet actually does to its victim. Wait right there! Put that imagination away! Thanks to this new new Sniper Elite V2 trailer, you don’t even have to pester your brain for a horrible mental image. It shows a man’s neck being shot through in slooooow mooootionn, and even provides a handy X-ray cam so you can see precisely which vertebrae is severed by the shot.
Originally, Sniper Elite V2 was only destined for a console release, but Rebellion recently announced that they would be self-funding a PC version, which is great news, because we PC gamers are much better at shooting men in the neck from quite far away than those stick-sluggish console types.
Sniper Elite V2 coming to PC
After an overwhelming response from PC gamers, Rebellion announce that they plan to self-fund a PC version of their upcoming sharpshooter sequel, Sniper Elite V2.
The shooter was originally destined for a console only release, now it will be coming to PC, and Rebellion say they’re determined to ensure that we won’t be getting a shoddy port. Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley has stated that the PC version “will be built specifically for PC to take advantage of the more flexible and powerful hardware, with strong support directly from Rebellion.”
