Well you certainly lived up to your name.
There's no "vast difference" in playstyle between the factions. Aside from a couple animation differences favoring Empire on a couple classes, the playstyle is EXACTLY THE SAME.
And as someone else pointed out, of course playing a Sniper doesn't compare to playing a Commando - THEY'RE NOT MIRRORS.
Playing a Sniper does, however, directly compare to playing a Gunslinger - the *only* difference between the two is one uses a rifle and one uses two pistols, but their attacks/damage/range/everything is the same otherwise.