The PS2 era saw
a lot of weird releases, particularly in Europe. A few tiny publishers sprang
up and began localising some very obscure games for Europe and selling them at
budget prices. The vast majority of these games were taken from the Simple range
of Japanese games. These were a series
of low budget games published by D3 Publisher. The PS2 series was named Simple
2000 because each game sold for 2000 yen, the PS1 series similarly was called
Simple 1500 again due to the price point. While some absolute classics were released on
the series (Global Defence Force, which had a European release, is superb; I
really should review it soon), the majority was pretty terrible. The Sniper 2 for
the PS2 is a very good example. Unleashed on unsuspecting European gamers by Midas
Interactive, the supreme masters of publishing crappy Japanese games, The Sniper 2 is
now also available on the European PSN store.
The first Sniper
game was released on the PS1 and unfortunately/fortunately never got a western
release so it’s a good thing that there’s a plot in the intro. The plot
overview shows the first games most ‘exciting’ moments in all their low budget
PS1 ‘glory’ (I’ve a feeling I may run out of inverted commas before this review
is finished). And what a story it had. To summarise Harry, a fire fighter, while
saving a girl named Melissa stumbles across a Mafia counterfeit ring and as a
result loses his job and his girlfriend is killed by the Mafia. He then trains
to be top class sniper and returns to the city to exact his revenge. While on
this vigilante crusade Harry is contacted by an informant named CA. CA gives
Harry information on the Mafia to help him out. After he kills the Mafia boss he
finally meets CA. CA was Melissa, the girl he saved at the start. She also
possesses (wait for it) the memories of his murdered girlfriend.
Who wrote this
shit?
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| Nope this isn't in game, it's the CGI intro. It looks even worse in game. |
Anyway the game
starts after these events. Harry and CA are on the run and pick up a guy named
Stanley whose car has broken down. They go to a diner of Stanley’s choosing and
then all hell breaks loose. They come under attack by Mafia, there’s another
killer (Harry knows he’s a killer because he smells the same as he does, as you
do) and the waitress turns out to be a CIA agent. What transpires afterwards is
another load of old nonsense involving the Mafia and bio weapons.
The game is separated
into about 12 stages full of sniping fun. The sniping gameplay isn’t all that
bad. You can move about (extremely slowly) in a very limited sniping area and
can zoom in to take your shot. Your rifle has 3 levels of zoom and sways making
each shot a little more difficult to take. You also have to take into account
the time it will take for the bullet to reach your target making moving targets
quite a challenge. While the gameplay is solid if uninspired, the stages are
where the game shows its low budget origins. Most stages only require you to shoot
one target. This means most can end in roughly 5-10 seconds. Each one is
bookended by lengthy nonsensical cutscenes and loading times. Even more
ridiculous is that each stage is begins with the opening credit sequence and
ends with the closing credits. At first I thought the game was just horribly
broken until I realised that they were going for an episodic feel were each
stage in the game was supposed to represent an episode in a TV series. Very
clever, except for the fact that each stage can last maybe 10 seconds! What
were they thinking!
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| A beautiful vista in low poly land. |
Later stages
just get frustrating. One involves setting off a fire alarm and killing the
target as he runs out of a nightclub. Your only clue to who the target is is a
black and white photograph of his back at the start of the level. The fact that
all the male game models are near identical other than the colour of their
clothing makes this stage a frustrating exercise in trial and error. Another
involves shooting out the tires of a speeding limousine and then killing the
target as he escapes. Actually landing a hit on the tires is nigh on impossible
at the speed it travels. And don’t get me started on the stage that requires
you to take out security cameras.
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| Here's your brief for the nightclub stage described above |
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| Can you see the target in the crowd? It's like 'Where's Wally' at a Where's Wally convention. |
Each stage only
lasts at most 3 minutes, some as I said can be completed in 5 seconds and there
are only about 12 stages in the game. I’m amazed that they actually managed to
make a whole game and sell it when there’s so little content. If you skip the
cutscenes and don’t get stuck for too long on some of the more frustrating
areas then you could have this game finished off in about half an hour. However
once you finish the game, something else is revealed, the game has two
branching paths where you need an A+ or higher rating to access them.
Accessing these
drove me demented. I tried the first stage and killed the first enemy in as
quick a time as possible. Then I did the same with a head shot. I couldn’t get
higher than a B-. I trawled the internet and found out that your ranking isn’t
based on how well you do. If you wait until there are less than 10 seconds left
on the clock to kill your target you are guaranteed an A ranking. I’d love to
slap the designer that thought this would be intuitive and not bother explaining
this at all in the game or in the instructions.
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| 'Dramatic'. The true power of the PS2 'Emotion Engine'. |
I’m sure you’ve
noticed the ‘wonderful’ visuals in the screenshots throughout the review. It
really does look that bad. Even with the low polygon count and low resolution
textures the game still has the audacity to experience slow down problems
making some missions take even longer than they should. Special mention should
also go to the out of place jazz music used throughout the game.
You really know
you are getting a complete turd when even the publisher can’t be bothered to
try and make the game sound appealing. Here’s the PSN blurb the publisher has
up to describe the game:
“Get ready to
experience the most bizarre, eccentric and maddening game ever created!
Featuring a truly off-the-wall storyline, unbelievable character stereotypes
and one-dimensional gameplay, The Sniper 2 has earned its place amongst the
stars as a loveable cult classic.”
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| This stage can also die screaming. |
You’re probably
thinking that you should avoid this game since even the publisher can’t bring
themselves to lie about its quality. However I recommend you definitely try
this game out. Sniper 2 is a hilarious experience in the same way that terrible
horror movies are enjoyable. It’s a total train wreck of a game but the story,
acting and just plain crappiness has somehow managed to make this game
transcend terrible to become almost enjoyable again. Play it with a group of
friends with a sense of humour and prepare to laugh your ass off. Even if you
hate it it’s so cheap you won’t feel out of pocket.
Screenshots stolen from: http://superadventuresingaming.blogspot.ie/2012/03/sniper-2-ps2.html
Check out the
fan made trailer:
