I am a huge fan of the Sniper Elite series; I mean it is bat crap crazy with the kill camera and x-ray kill shots but under the surface lies a very deep and competent shooter that has evolved greatly over the years. The full evolution came in the form of 2017’s Sniper Elite 4 which brought in a much larger world with far more player freedom in how you could complete the mission objectives and a story mode that was fun and rewarding. So, it was with some surprise to learn that Rebellion were going back in time to remaster Sniper Elite V2, albeit a fan favourite, it is still taking players back to how the series was in 2012. It was time to step back into the shoes of Lieutenant Karl Fairburne.

Sniper Elite 2 is set in the final days of World War 2, our hero Lieutenant Karl Fairburne is an American OSS officer and highly skilled sniper who is inserted into Berlin in 1945 with the mission to prevent the Soviets from capturing the Nazi Scientists responsible for designing the V2 rockets, something the US themselves would rather learn from the scientists. The story makes good use of actual historical WW2 operations and even mentions Operation Paperclip which is such a clever way of inserting this story-line into real events without having to alter them to make it work.

What I loved about the Sniper Elite series is that I always considered it the HITMAN of WW2, two game series I held in high esteem back then and still do with the modern games having evolved so much. Fairburne is ultra-deadly, trained to complete the mission no matter the cost and with no help if necessary. He is a very believable character in this world which helps with the immersion which is something this remaster manages to enhance by improving all the visuals for levels and the world. This game does look amazing thanks to the work done to bring the visuals more up to date but it also falls into the trap that many remasters fall into, making it look prettier but not reworking the gameplay.

The sniping physics are some of the best you can find with this series, and even in this early entry to it, the depth in setting up a good kill shot is very satisfying. When all the different systems come together and you can pull off an exceptional sneaky mission by utilising stealth or setting clever traps in order to protect your position it is simply rewarding on a whole new level but you can also just go full arcade run and take out all the enemies around you instead. How you play will determine the score you can get, with more thought out kills scoring more than just ploughing the road with a Thompson machine gun. It was one of the first games that I remember actually using bullet drop as an element to every sniper shot and it certainly elevates trying to get that final kill shot on the target of that mission. Not to mention what it takes to reach and create that opportunity, often having to avoid patrols or strategically taking out guards who could get in the way.

Where this remaster does fall down is where as I said, so many recent ones also fail on, is that the issues the game originally had still remain, despite this version clearly being based on one with all the patches over its life. This is one of the frustrating things about remasters where giving it a shiny new coat of paint and repackaging is seen as good enough. The controls can be clunky at times and there is still an issue with crouching to be stealthier can lead to getting stuck on scenery, which not only happens to you as the player but also to AI characters which is admittedly rather amusing to see whilst zooming through the sniper rifle. The AI can also be very hit and miss to how smart they are where at times they can spot you with the slightest margin of view and other times you could stand there playing charades and they will not notice you at all. The AI can also break its own rules such as when you fire a shot, naturally it can be heard by enemies in close range which will make them actively search for you but if one of their snipers sees you and starting pinging off shots at your location, some enemies wont even consider it something worthy of their interest to look into.

So visually, this game looks really good compared to the original but the issues and linear gameplay make it feel incredibly dated and whilst playing all it made me want to do was reinstall Sniper Elite 4 and play that instead, which I did. This has released with all the DLC included and the new photo mode is a nice new modern feature but unless you are a die-hard fan of the original Sniper Elite V2, I can only say you should check out the more recent game which can be found cheaper than this remaster and is actually currently included in the Xbox Games Pass and is just far more entertaining to play through in just about every way.

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is another example where the original would have benefited from a full remake rather than just giving it a pretty makeover as it still has playing issues which detract from the playing experience even if they have improved how  the overall game now looks. V2 is still very playable but if you have played Sniper Elite 4 then this will feel incredibly out of date from a gameplay point of view whilst this remaster is slightly redeemed by the co-op mode and the always fun X-ray kill cam views when you pull off a fantastic sniper shot, it still struggles to look anything but dated.

Possibly one to pick up when it lands in the bargain bucket or sales window but sadly Sniper Elite V2 Remaster needed more fine tuning than just a fancy new coat of paint.

I am always a fan of developer teams building up to a release date of their game by posting developer videos that show how the game is coming along as well as sneak peaks at what to expect. Those videos showed just how passionate Asobo Studio are about their debut game and you can see how it translates into the game with some amazing emotive storytelling and world building I have seen so far in 2019 in ‘A Plague Tale: Innocence’. Which is certainly not what I was expecting when first firing the game up and seeing a main menu screen covered in thousands of rats!

Seeing those thousands of rats on the main menu really sets the tone of A Plague Tale: Innocence with the story set in Medieval France as a country at war with England but also at the very beginning of the Black Death epidemic as well. This is a country in crisis and turmoil which is why the opening chapter is so striking. The story opens with Amicia, daughter of a French Lord, accompanying him through the grounds of their estate on a lovely and peaceful day with the sun shining and countryside looking beautiful. The player learns that Amicia is unhappy that she spends so little time with her father due to his obligations to manage his lands as well as being very distant to her mother who is looking after her younger brother Hugo is has a mysterious illness. With very little effort and in a very short amount of time, the player is able to really connect with Amicia as someone who feels quite alone despite being the daughter of a Lord.

Her father then sends her to give a message to her mother that he wants to speak with her, and take Amicia back to her family home where she is welcomed by all the servants who themselves are all hard at work doing their daily tasks. Everything is rather peaceful and lovely and seemingly away from the troubles in the country. I loved how the pace of this opening, which also serves as the tutorial to the game, manages to immerse me right away in the life of Amicia which is vital as her entire world is about to collapse. The Inquisition arrives, charged with finding those who may be afflicted with Plague and to essentially stop the spread by any means necessary but their mission here is different, they are looking for someone, Amicia’s Mother and brother Hugo. As Amicia runs to her brother’s room, we see the soldiers of the inquisition interrogating the same staff that only minutes before were just going about their daily routines and yet now they are being beaten, questioned and then killed by these strange soldiers.

Soon it becomes a race for Amicia to take Hugo and escape the home, in doing so Amicia witnesses the death of her Father, fighting to protect his family and killed by the head of the Inquisition Force Lord, a brutal and uncompromising force of nature who will accomplish his orders by any means necessary. The opening chapters not only establish Amicia as the hero but at the same time makes sure that the player and the audience is fully aware that this guy represents the evil villain of the story. The story telling is just so powerful and beautifully paced in this opening that by the time Amicia and Hugo have managed to escape, as a player you have genuine fear for them going into the world alone, and hunted and not knowing why.

The story itself is broken down into chapters which really deliver the story for the player in just the right pace for storytelling as it enables for true moments along the way for Amicia and Hugo. The chapters never feel too long or too short, delivering the right amount of impact for each level of this dark terrible world. It also allows for some clever rest points as cutscenes take over to tell the story with some beautiful animation and visuals that are sublime at helping to tell the story just as much as the dialogue between characters. As beautiful as it can be it also does not shy away from recreating what a city that has succumb to plague would look like in medieval time and it is very bleak to see. Rotting bodies all covered in flies with homes in villages marked with a giant white X to serve as a warning to others that the Black Death has taken them is just so visually striking on screen after you first spend time with Amicia at her home in the bright and peaceful lands she calls her family home. It is often brave to use such horrific and dark real historical events in a video game to tell a story but here it is so vital to the how this story needs to be told.

Then you have the rats, the thousands of red eyed rats that swarm like a water can flood an area. They are creepy and sinister and they just continue to get under your skin the more they appear on screen with incredible audio effects that especially through a good headset just honestly got to me and added so much atmosphere. I also love how the voice cast absolutely nailed their performances when it came to these critters as there was real tension and fear in their dialogue exchanges when having to deal or avoid the rats, making them a real danger to the characters in the gameplay moments of the game.

That gameplay really comes in the form of stealth with some optional and at other times nonoptional combat. The Stealth is a clever one as for most of the game, Amicia is tied to Hugo so is constantly having to look after him in every situation they encounter. This is accomplished by the need to always hold the hand of Hugo when moving and particularly when having to avoid enemy encounters. This shapes how you handle the stealth sections as you always have the feeling that you as the player are protecting Hugo more then you are protecting Amicia. You are able to command Hugo to wait, and later when other characters join to work with Amicia, but with Hugo if you go too far away from him, he acts like any scared little five year old boy and he will panic and start to call for Amicia which can raise the alarm which means keeping him close is usually the only way to complete a section.

The game also has combat in the form of Amicia’s skill with a sling shot, which can be used to take out enemies. This can feel clumsy at times but thankfully there is a crafting and upgrade system to improve her skills such as making the slingshot stronger so it takes less time to aim at the target and improving the time it takes to throw another shot. I really liked how Alchemy plays a role in that as you progress through the story, Amicia learns or is taught how to craft new ammo types to use such as shots that can start or light fires which is handy when dealing with the rats but also ammo that can put fires out, which can be used strategically later in the game. Upgrades and is capable through collecting materials which are conveniently lying about all over the place and via a workshop table, upgrades can be made to Amicia’s equipment such as improving her slingshot but also the ammo pouch and material pouch. I really enjoyed this aspect to the game and it certainly did help in preparing for the later chapters.

Where this game does fall down for me is just how unforgiving of mistakes it can be, something what in the final chapters of the story can lead to frustration more than enjoyment, with one sequence in particular just yanking me right out of the experience in a bizarre and unwelcome way but will come to that a bit further on. Being seen will often lead to being caught and killed and whilst the game does have a very good checkpoint system as though it knows when a certain section could prove tricky, I did find that there were moments that just seemed unfair such as guards being alerted and staying alerted even though I had successfully broken line of sight and hid. This caused me to actually restart at checkpoints quite a few times just to reset a sequence in order to have a fair crack at it.

The moment that frustrated me the most came in the form of the final boss battle, and did so for many reasons. This game is full of powerful story telling and allowing the player to make it through the game without being too annoying with puzzles that are very straight forward and using a trial and error approach so the player can lean from mistakes. But this boss battle completely broke the immersion for me as it simply broke all the rules of the world, I had spent hours learning to use and follow. The slightest mistake and I was forced to restart the whole fight and even when the battle just became more stupid then challenging, all I could see was that someone along the way suddenly felt that the game needed a big fight despite the combat aspect really being kept to very minimum moments along the way, some of which are completely optional and stealth can be used instead of taking guards out. This battle annoyed the hell out of me and instantly reminded me of the final Joker battle in Arkham Asylum where Rocksteady admitted they just ran out of time to do something really big to finish on and for this game, this battle just felt forced instead of something to battle, defeat and then celebrate to close the game and almost soured my enjoyment of this game.

This is a game that only surprised me on every level and bar one silly boss fight that tainted the experience a little, this is a game and a story that will stick with you long after the credits end. It has so many themes such as family devotion, friendship, sacrifice and how they can be beacons of light in a dark world. With the setting and backdrop of the Black Death, you see how horrible it must have been to have no hope at all of either surviving the plague itself or the fear it created in people who would go to any extreme in order to eradicate it. Amicia is such a wonderful character who has so much pressure and responsibility forced upon her and really grows into a strong and capable woman because of what is at first expected from her as Hugo’s big sister to ultimately wanting to protect her family no matter what.

I came to genuinely care about Hugo and had the instinct to make sure he was nearby even when the game did not call for me to do so, that is how well the game pulled me into the story and I hope it will do for others playing this. A Plague Tale: Innocence has instantly become a highlight and GOTY contender for 2019, the visuals, musical score, voice acting and cast all come together so beautifully that even with that outright stupidly designed final boss encounter that sullied it a little for me, this is a story I really hope gets the recognition it deserves. It has some faults but otherwise this is a story and gaming experience that deserves to be played.

I now really do not like rats!

Snooker is one of those sports that is loved by dedicated fans but overlooked in favour of the more pub friendly Pool table by most people. In fact, over the years, whenever I have had to explain the difference between Call of Duty and Battlefield series, I always say that Battlefield is the Snooker to CoD’s Pool. It is a sport I used to play with my dad and into my early 20s and I still have my official John Parrot Snooker Cue in a case somewhere…gathering dust! But over the years I have really enjoyed playing the video game version of Snooker which for me began back in my Amiga days with the exceptional Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker and it became my benchmark for snooker simulator games from that moment. Now it is also hard to believe that it has been almost ten years since an officially licensed Snooker game was released, especially on console but now we have Snooker 19. Only question is can it hit a 147 or accidentally pots the white instead?

I was fortunate enough to discover this game during my time at EGX Rezzed back in early April in the ID@Xbox area, it was tucked away in the corner amongst some of the best indie games coming out this year, and it was interesting to see who was gravitating around its demo stand, mostly dads really. I patiently waited my turn and right away I was taken back by how visually stunning this game looks from the ball physics and animation to just the recreation of tournament quality table and players, it really could be easily mistaken for a televised match at times. The presentation and attention to detail really is quite remarkable and I certainly tip my hat to Ripstone and Lab42.

Snooker 19 has a good deal of modes for players to enjoy from the standard Exhibition matches and online Multiplayer that you would expect, but what did come as a nice surprise and something real die-hard fans of the sport will appreciate, is that it actually has two types of Career Mode. The first is the 2019/20 season where you can select anyone of the 128 already Pro players which is pretty much making this the FIFA of Snooker games already with that size of a roster. The second is a really nice touch in my opinion, and that is the option to instead, pick one of the many rising stars of the Snooker professional world and attempt to take them to the big leagues.

The only real downside to both Career Modes is that there is currently no option to create your own snooker player, which would have been so much fun to create your own and guide them through the rising star mode and then into the pro player mode. To be fair to this lack of option in the game, the roster of players you can play as is pretty huge, but it still is a shame not to have a create a player option.

When I played the short demo at EGX Rezzed, the one concern I had was the gameplay via controller. Snooker 19 does a solid job of making what would normally be extremely straight forward with a mouse and keyboard system, into something very user friendly for controller although it will take some time to get used to. There is a real effort to make playing Snooker 19 feel as much like actual televised Snooker as possible, which means the top down view of a TV broadcast is the default view as you work to set up the initial shot. It is only when you move into the second stage taking the shot, does the game move your view to behind the ball, something Snooker games of yester year would do from the off. It features a good few aim assist options for players of all skill types so lining up a shot and knowing there the cue ball is likely to go is a great help as is the ability to add spin to a shot and how much power to use. It does take some time to adjust too, which is where a practice mode would really come in handy but sadly this is not included in the game.

Where the game falls down a little for me comes in the form of the opponent player’s AI, which the developers have been pretty vocal about putting across that each player in the game is a true representation of their real-life counterparts in terms of their playing style and skill. This can translate in the game as a very sudden god like performance by your opponent, even on easy difficulty which can have you the player just sitting and watching as the AI player knocks out amazing high break scores or pulling off insanely accurate ‘snookers’. For me this was rather humiliating as I would often watch a frame play out as if I was actually just a bystander watching the match on telly. This led to some very non fun, painfully slow and embarrassing matches which would sadly, cause me to have to quit the match in order to try again and hope the gaming gods took some mercy on me. This did not happen all the time and was very much dependant on which player I was facing but even after many years of suffering the overpowered nonsense of super star FIFA rated teams online, it just felt more personal experiencing it in a nice game of Snooker.

Snooker 19 is very much a simulation of the sport with very little arcade feel to it, this really makes this a great game for the devoted Snooker fan and less of a must play for any casual fans out there. It recreates the television experience as much as a video game can but the animation and look of some of the roster of professional players can be less than realistic, sometimes to comedic results. The game would have benefited from a dedicated practice room and it would have been more immersive if you could create your own snooker player to challenge the real players on the impressively large roster.

But I admire what it tries to do and having the official licensed tournaments and players gives it real authenticity, helped by the fact there is no other Snooker game to rival it, this will deliver the Snooker gaming experience you would want if you are a dedicated fan of the sport.