[h1]The game has reasons to have such reviews.[/h1]
I've put together this little compilation of the most widespread and personal complaints about the game in one place. The list will go from the most to the least critical issues: Maps, Movement/Comfort, Local AI, Firearms handling, Cosmetics and Achievements.
[h3]Map variety:[/h3]
There are 19 levels in total, but with one huge caveat: the majority of levels are reused throughout the game, with changed gameplay focus. For example, one level in this game got used 3 times in different settings. Most levels are going to repeat at least once, leaving you with around 7-9 unique maps. Therefore, some people see a lack of unique objectives throughout the levels.
Some grind in progression:
Level progression is locked behind a star system. You need an N-count of stars to progress. The stars are received through mild and boring tasks, so unlucky folks eventually have to revisit the same levels with the same repeating maps.
[h3]Movement[/h3]
BOUNDARIES:
There's widespread concern about cover and awkward positioning in this game.
Imagine a simple scenario: you took cover behind a stack of boxes and one box to your right. You might not clip and be far away from an object, but the game will completely black out your screen until you move yourself. It also can happen randomly to you, so you end up moving out of your cover while trying to fix yourself. It is an unintuitive, annoying feature.
Collisions:
Your firearms don't have world collision, you can't mount them. Yet the game doesn't let you position yourself weirdly without blackscreening you, which I think is particularly bad for a game about sniping, as well as your own comfort.
[h3]AI[/h3]
The certified #1 dumbasses of VR, easily some of the worst AI out there.
Perception of player:
Those very ambitious guys can try to shoot you through a 20 cm concrete wall for days without success.
Once you trigger their detection, they seem to know your exact location at any given time, so they may continuously try to shoot you through everything.
Precision:
They can shoot precisely at any distance, from anything they handle, with only their heads exposed out of cover, which means they can peek their heads for 1-2 seconds from cover, hit you and take cover again for nobody knows how long. Pure ragebaiters. Also I don't think they have aim time. The instant you enter their sight, they will start shooting (if you're discovered).
Animations:
They have pretty snappy, near-instant animations which will make them much harder to hit.
[h3]Firearms Handling, Aiming & Ballistics[/h3]
Sluggish Inertia:
The firearm handling feels too smooth for people who played a lot of VR. It feels as if your hands are moving through thick liquid. As a result, weapons feel sluggish, unresponsive and hard to maneuver.
Hand Offset:
Some guns have issues with your hand on the handguard. The handguard often sits higher than your real hand, which can give you a sense of discomfort.
Motion Smoothing:
Good luck with shaking when you're aiming through a scope, there's no way to get any kind of stabilization. Steady aim is pretty difficult if we add wind to the projectile.
Absurd Pistols:
Pistols... You'll feel like a freaking medieval archer with a pistol in your hands. Actually, I'm sending my apologies to archers, since the arrow will have a much flatter trajectory than pistols in this game. Absolutely useless, low damage stuff.
SMG spread & recoil:
When you shoot with an SMG, it feels as if you're trying to gamble with an enemy rather than aim. It creates a wide cone of bullets, which then get blown by the wind to the side. Recoil on them is done in a pretty weird, uncontrollable way. Nothing critical, but worth noting.
[i]Quick recommendation: Don't play this game on the hardest difficulty. You will be very, very upset with the wind mechanic. SMGs and pistols become basically useless after ~15 meters, because they almost perform a 90° turn to the side in the air. You will struggle to hit anything. Even your primary rifles are going to feel toy-like with those "authentic difficulty" ballistics. There's ridiculous horizontal bullet drift. Probably it's a good idea to turn off most of the ballistics for a pleasant experience.[/i]
[h3]Cosmetics[/h3]
Dark Optics:
Your optics can be too dark sometimes in a really bright environment, so you may struggle in attempts to find an enemy occasionally on some maps.
HUD elements you can't remove:
You can't turn off help with reloading. You'll always see a white circle even on your handguard when reloading.
Mechanical Inaccuracies:
If you're a bit of a nerd and like to stare at guns, then you're gonna throw up looking at how they function in-game. A good amount of them have some type of visual issue. I'll name a few:
STG44: Features a static, closed dust cover. Spent casings are spawned somewhere outside the gun for some reason.
M1911: Looks like an oversized toy. Lacks a functional slide catch that you can release by pressing a button.
Bolt-Action Rifles: Bolt actions usually clip through the cartridge, while the cartridge itself remains static and hovers inside—it doesn't even move with the bolt.
Full-Auto Animations: On select automatic firearms, the bolt cycles backward upon firing and then instantly teleports to the fully closed position once it hits the rear buffer rather than playing a smooth return stroke.
[h3]Achievements[/h3]
They are mostly fine, except for a few.
Grind: One achievement requires you to grind for ~5-8 hours on the same level over and over again with different rifles to master them. If you wish to 100% the game, you need to suffer.
Frustrating Difficulty: There's another achievement which requires you to beat the game with nerf-gun ballistics (so-called Sniper Elite difficulty), which is a very frustrating thing to do.
The developers released hotfixes for around 4 months after release, then went radio-silent with QOL and bug fixes. Those issues are going to persist.
Well, that should be it from cons.
The good sides of that game are covered by someone more enthusiastic than I am.
