Throw in the WW2 backdrop and it’s essentially an exercise in nostalgia for a bygone era of console shooters. Sniper Elite VR plays very much like a mid-tier console shooter: modest length (5+ hours depending on difficulty and skill), pleasing production and the usual gamut of mission types that you’d expect any campaign to cycle through. Thank god the thing only puts in an appearance in a handful of levels, then, because Rebellion’s long-running series - here co-developed by Just Add Water - feels wholly refreshed with any other rifle (or other firearm) in your hand. It’s a dangerous reminder that, without Sniper Elite VR’s invigorating physicality, without the dependency on player skill and consistent performance, the game wouldn’t be all that memorable. And so a game of lethal precision turns more into a round of bowling at a drunken birthday party sometimes you’ll shoot straight, most of the time it’s going in the gutter, but you’ll get to the end all the same.

It also makes you sloppy, tempting you to pull the trigger safe in the knowledge you can course-correct any mistakes with the next round a moment later. But the Gewehr’s ability to unload multiple rounds without interruption makes it an attractive alternative to all of that exhausting manual labor.

Sniper elite 4 levels