Sniper Rust VR – Review

 

Written by: Mike F

Sniper Rust, I will refer to it as the inclusion of the “VR” is just as pointless as its plot – is a VR shooter that fails on almost every point of its genre, not just its name.

This is a personal gripe. Its like calling the latest “Spiderman”, “Spiderman Console” or “Spiderman PS4” seems silly doesn’t it? Unless you are ensuring that it isn’t confused by its pancake counterpart (which I can find no trace of).

Nevertheless, I first experienced this genre on Arcade machine Virtua Cop, which for the unfamiliar (or maybe just, NOT old as the hills) is a physical box you put tokens or coins into and you would point a plastic gun at a screen. Some of the later generations of this even included a pedal that let you bring your character in / out of cover to take shots.

Game Play

The above is relevant as “Sniper Bust” struck me initially as a stealth shooter. You get put out in the open with all the enemies out in the open, doing whatever they please.
I had assumed that my rifle was silenced, so as long as no one is aware of my kills, they wont be aware of me – as my ‘elite sniper’ character has weighed the risk of splinters and dirt to bullets and deemed the risk WAY to high and avoid the cover not 2 meters to either side.

I was wrong. After the first shot, enemies (being the dirty, splinter ridden fools they are!) run straight to cover and begin to return fire. Course, bullet holes are nothing compared to having to remove a splinter, so I stay rooted to the spot.

I found that a feature listed on the Steam Store is: “New cover mechanics – catch your breath and stay out of sight by ducking behind crates, barrels, and pallets. When the bullets stop, you go.”

I looked for that in game, I really did. None of the keys work – now before you rightfully say that I needed to MOVE over to the cover, I hit back with this:

If “Seated” was truly an option, then I should be able to move the character with the controls, which I cannot.

Another issue with the “standing and shooting in a field” is that your aim is very hard to get right. I don’t pretend to have any aptitude in the aiming department, however I know Snipers don’t shoot standing, I’m pretty sure most of them lie down, or find a point to rest their rifle on.

Here, I did extensive research on it, here is a picture of said research. Should you need the link to this site, please leave a comment and I will be sure to post it to you asap.

 

Overall

The experience is harsh. No options to change Video / Graphics settings, or even to adjust VR Comfort (not that I could find at least).I can live with this, as getting past the first level was so painful that I didn’t go back for more.

In fact, in my last session, I ran out of bullets and had to reload – but I was unable to – nothing worked – even with my ammo counter showing I had two bullets ready to go.

 

 

Conclusion

If you are a fan of this genre, there are A LOT of better choices out there, even for the price tag of £7.99 on Oculus / £7.19 on Steam.

I recommend that your money is better spent elsewhere.

 

Score: 1/10 (only because it ran reasonably well and the graphics where decent)

Let us know in the comments below your thoughts on the game if you have it or were thinking about picking it up!