After seeing Jacksepticeye's video, SKYDIVE SNIPER | The Last Sniper VR (HTC Vive Virtual Reality), it came to me that there could be a new type of genre for VR. It has been done in many ways, shapes and forms, but not at a realistic standpoint. Hello Wandering Traveler and welcome to this thought blog!
It has been clear in many games, movies and even historical stories that Snipers are very brave in their profession. Although, it's a very dangerous job to accomplish to be entitled Badass Grampa. In many recorded wars, Snipers are the bane of the other side of the battlefield. They were the first target to attack since they can take out so many soldiers in a short length of time. Many snipers in WWII are dead since they were the primary target in battle and very few could tell their tale of bravery.
And to the standpoint of a video game, the position of sniper could be chose by anyone without a risk of death or the traumatic events to follow. SInce games, such as TF2, CoD, and even Unreal have made a terrifying name of the Sniper and made the famous line in gaming happen.
Games have brought this class of Sniper to a whole knew meaning and it seems to be the most skillful. And since VR has today's gaming to a new experimental state, Sniping may have a new name after VR.
The Last Sniper is the most realistic and the only one with a WWII theme. An old theme in a game, but it harkens to the war instead of the game itself. You are a dropped soldier in the middle of WWII and you are the only Sniper to bring hell on the Nazi scum.
In Jack's video, he states that the game is realistic. For what he witnesses in the game, he is almost right. The game has a lot of Ups, but some big Downs. One, that I noticed, was the repetitive enemies and with the same objective: kill any and all enemies in sight.
The game has one thing missing to make the game a bit better in my opinion, which was another sniper. No, I don't mean another player by your side. I mean an enemy sniper. An enemy that would have you think more about cover than the enemy putting you there.
Back in the Trench Wars of WWI, it was a big game of Who-Shoots-First. Soldiers on either sides have made tactics and gadgets to fool the other sniper. Mannequin heads with a helmet on a stick was on the bests out there. They even made a makeshift version of the fake head with their helmet on the butt of their guns. It was always a battle of trickery and foolery, just to expose the other for a clear shot.
A good example (to me) is Call of Duty World at War. The part where you enter the eyes of a Soviet Resistance Soldier, training behind the backs of the Nazi hordes. He tells you to find and kill your target, don't underestimate them, and don't be fooled by them. Although, this would have been a great moment to improve the AI to be more difficult on that point, they still made a good scene of a real battle between two Snipers, using the same tactics as the soldiers of the war and the same skills to kill the most wanted enemy in the battlefield.
This is what would have made The Last Sniper better. The stage where you are at a rooftop with Nazis overwatching the area, would have been a great moment to use those tactics. And instead of using the Helmet fool, you could use one of those rocks to throw up and fool the enemy and go in for the kill. Instead, you are met with the same thing: kill any and all enemies in sight. No new enemies, no new tactic, just do the same thing you did last mission. This doesn't make the game bad, just limits the replayablity. And this really matters for a game.
If any of you guys and gals out there are experimenting with the VR capabilities and thinking of making a Sniper Simulator, I suggest you do this with the game. And any of you guys and gals out there played this game? And how many of you out there own a Vive? You can tell me in the comments! And 'til next time...
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