Sniper Elite: Resistance Review

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review – A Modest Detour

A second trip to France feels all too familiar.

It’s been two decades since the Sniper Elite games graced our systems, and it’s hard to ignore how much the series has grown from its humble beginnings on the PS2. With every entry, the action has often found a way to shift to an exciting new setting. The last game, Sniper Elite 5, took things to France. Now, three years on, Sniper Elite: Resistance is here but without a number attached to it for the first time. That makes sense, as Sniper Elite: Resistance feels like a carefully considered expansion to Sniper Elite 5 rather than Sniper Elite 6. Which comes with it’s pros and cons.

I’ll mince no words here, Sniper Elite: Resistance does little to differentiate itself from Sniper Elite 5. The game ditches series stalwart Karl Fairburne in favour of a British SOE agent named Harry Hawker. Harry is on a mission to destroy a weapon that, if left unchecked, will help the Allies move into and occupy France. If you’ve played any of the Sniper Elite games so far, you probably have a good idea what to expect with Sniper Elite: Resistance. The setting feels authentic, but it’s such well-trodden ground that it’s more than starting to wear out its welcome. Even Harry, who only behaves slightly differently from Karl, doesn’t feel like a distinct enough switch-up to keep things fresh.

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review

But, like its predecessor, Sniper Elite: Resistance is a much better game than the story it’s trying to tell. Resistance still carries over its open-level design philosophy, which I liked so much about Sniper Elite 4 and Sniper Elite 5. Harry is essentially dropped into each mission, which feels like a mini open world, with objectives to complete in whichever way you see fit. It feels a lot like the modern HITMAN games, in a way, and it is a perfect fit for a game like Sniper. It’s good to see that the team at Rebellion haven’t shaken up too much of the formula.

The crux of the experience is, as you’d expect, sniping. Much like the previous game, Resistance provides players with all kinds of customisation for the difficulty of their experience. If you want a traditional, more arcade-like shooting experience, you can opt for that. But deeper in the customisation, you can set all kinds of parameters for how bullet drop distance works, whether you consider wind when firing your shots or more. I said it before with the previous game, but this system is great because it feels like the best of both worlds. Those wanting a more simulator-esque experience can adjust things the way they want, but those wanting a chiller videogamey experience can opt for the other end of the scale too.

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review

Of course, the X-Ray kill camera returns, too, and with that, the ability to customise how often they do or don’t trigger. For those who’ve never played a Sniper Elite game, it’s easy to see how this is almost a trademark feature of the games now. The X-ray kill camera triggers whenever you line up the perfect shot. It sees the camera following your bullet and shows you where it pierces your target, usually cracking bone or rupturing an organ (but often both). It’s a macabre system that I’ll never grow tired of, even after playing five of these games with it. The system does apply to melee attacks and sub-weapons, too, though nothing is quite as satisfying as getting one of them with a sniper rifle from a long distance.

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That being said, for a game named Sniper Elite, it’s encouraging how viable Harry is both up close and at midrange. You’re doled out with a whole bunch of weapons, including pistols and assault rifles, and they feel just as good if you’re up for playing the game like a traditional third-person shooter instead. While it might not be as viscerally satisfying, it’s a great notion that the game gives players the freedom to complete missions in whichever way they see fit.

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review

The big new addition here is the Propaganda Missions. These are unlocked by finding a poster in each of the main missions and allow you to play as a member of the Resistance on the same map, though at a different period of the war. These propaganda missions come in three flavours – Stealth, Combat and Sniping – where each has you taking down your targets in specific ways to get the best points. Once again, more points mean more experience, which means Harry can unlock more weapons to take into future missions.

From the get-go, it’s obvious that the propaganda missions are built to be replayable, score attack-style experiences designed to entice players to spend more and more time with them. While I appreciate the idea, the missions feel like a cheap way to recycle a map that’s already been created rather than a challenge I wanted to repeat repeatedly. There are some interesting ones – one has you posing as a member of the Allies to sneak around – but otherwise, they feel like side quests in every sense.

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review

As mentioned, the objectives you complete and how you complete them will often feed into your final score for each mission. Each thing you do in Sniper Elite: Resistance usually earns you XP, which can then be used to level Harry and his abilities. His abilities are spread across three skill trees, which can improve his scavenging abilities, health or even sniping proficiency. It’s a simple system that borrows heavily from Sniper Elite 5, though it doesn’t offer much new either.

But whether you’re playing by yourself or with friends, Sniper Elite: Resistance has you covered. The entirety of the campaign can be played in co-op, which dovetails cleverly with the game’s open design approach. Often, it’s much more efficient for you to split up and complete objectives independently, but you can also opt to just cover your primary player while they do everything, too. If playing co-operatively isn’t your thing, you can invade another player’s game, sniping them at a distance. It can be fun to grief other players, and they’ll even earn more XP if they take you down. It’s a clever take that I appreciated in Sniper Elite 5 and appreciate just as much here in Resistance. You can turn this option off, too, though, if it’s not your thing.

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review

Other competitive multiplayer options are here, too, if that’s more your thing. I’ve never been one to dabble in these in the Sniper Elite games, and that doesn’t change with Resistance either. But there’s something to be said about how feature complete Sniper Elite: Resistance (and most of its predecessors) feel as an overall package. There is something for everyone here with these modes, whether you want to play with your friends, by yourself or just against random people on the internet. Resistance has you covered.

From a presentation standpoint, while the game looks very similar to Sniper Elite 5, it feels like a visual step ahead. The lighting especially lends itself to creating these spectacular skyboxes that are so beautiful you almost forget you’re in the middle of a warzone. As a bigger picture, Resistance is a looker. When you get closer, however, some of the facial animations can be wonky, and some of the models do feel a bit like last-gen, though this makes sense as the game is also still on last-gen hardware. From a performance perspective, the game is rock solid, though. While I couldn’t formally test it, the game seems to be running at 120fps with very strong image quality on the PlayStation 5 Pro with no slowdown.

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review

And while the game features a brand-new campaign, something about Resistance feels all too familiar. Perhaps it’s because the setting this time still feels like the setting from Sniper Elite 5, as most of the Sniper Elite games take the action to an entirely different locale each time. So, while everything here is almost identical to the previous game, this is still a brand-new Sniper Elite campaign to play through. And for fans of the series, I think that might just be enough to get them over the line.

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review
Conclusion
Sniper Elite: Resistance offers up just as much, if not more than Sniper Elite 5 did. But despite a new campaign, a new story and a new protagonist, it still doesn't take enough steps to right any of the notable wrongs from Sniper Elite 5. But regardless of its shortcomings, Sniper Elite: Resistance is a fun and satisfying shooter. Just don't expect it to do much more than the previous games.
Positives
Satisfying As Ever X-Ray Kill Cameras
Great Selection of Modes And Difficulties
Negatives
Setting Feels Too Similar To Sniper Elite 5
Propaganda Missions Are Just Okay Side Quests
New Story Feels Done To Death Already
7.5
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