I’ve always been a fan of fighting at a distance and striking where my opponents can’t hit me. So when Sniper Elite Resistance was announced, I was elated. There’s a certain charm of waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger on an enemy three hundred meters away that never gets old.
Sniper Elite Resistance is a stealth-action game developed by Rebellion. It’s not one of the numbered entries to the franchise and instead is released as a standalone. You take the role of British elite commando, Harry Hawker, who’s tasked at sabotaging Nazi efforts in France.
If you’ve played Sniper Elite 5 before and have seen the promotional material, you may be curious about what Resistance does to make it worth it as a standalone release. Is it worth buying if you loved the previous games? Read this review and find out.
Sniper Elite Resistance does have one significant thing that sets it apart from Sniper Elite 5. You’ll notice that the map designs are smaller especially compared to the previous entry. I initially thought this was a bad thing but after playing the game I can see its own charm for having a more condensed level design.
While I wasn’t too restrictive about when I fired my rifle in the previous game, Resistance had me thinking twice before pulling the trigger. A smaller map comes with easier ways to generate noise. And firing your unsuppressed sniper rifle is bound to alert the compound. There was a level I went through for thirty minutes only ever firing my gun once due being surrounded by enemies.
Come to think of it, the gameplay loop of Sniper Elite Resistance reminds me of the Hitman games. The levels are clearly meant to be replayed over and over again. There are optional objectives and hidden goodies to find. Though you can’t really engineer your own way to kill your target. And unlike Hitman, your job isn’t just to go in, kill your target, and then leave.
Not all of the smaller maps are to Resistance’s benefit, however. Some maps ask you to get a little too close to heavily guarded areas in order to complete your objective. This hampers your ability to do any aforementioned sniping. Resistance has you playing more as a saboteur in terms of gameplay objectives.
There was one level that asked you to infiltrate a hotel to find documents. I didn’t have fun with this level thanks to its incredibly narrow hallways filled with Nazi soldiers and the fact that the map just wasn’t interesting. Thankfully Rebellion more than made up for it with its more open map in the succeeding mission and an even more interesting one after that.
One of the levels in Sniper Elite Resistance has an interesting gimmick which I felt Rebellion should utilize more. A rain level in a thunderstorm to mask the shots of your rifle felt like such a cool addition. I can’t help but feel it’s a missed opportunity to not add some sort of dynamic weather for each of the nine missions in Sniper Elite Resistance which would’ve made them more interesting to replay.
There are also some issues I noticed when it comes to maps. Rubberbanding issues would sometimes happen near staircases for some reason. And I can’t figure out why Harry can’t climb over some waist-height boxes in hallways and I have to find another way around.
If you’re new to Sniper Elite, then the moniker can be a bit misleading. Your job is more than just to take out targets from a long distance. In fact, your mission objective at times can require you to get in up close. Think of yourself as a saboteur. Whether it’s sabotaging enemy equipment loudly or sneaking away some documents from some high-ranking SS officer’s desk, you’re essentially part spy-part assassin.
You can play Resistance loudly and more aggressively, though due to the smaller maps, you may have a bad time if you do so. You’re deep into enemy territory and a single mistake can quickly put you down. Slowly moving around and planning your movement in advance is the most optimal way to play.
Sniper Elite Resistance isn’t just a sniper’s shooting gallery. This will require strategy and some thought. There are plenty of ways you can use the environment and the tools you have at your disposal to complete your mission objectives. You’ll have plenty of tools at your disposal such as landmines to take out pursuing enemies, decoys to distract and tag, and bottles to lead enemies away.
Speaking of fresh, Resistance has a new protagonist. Harry Hawker may be a name familiar to you if you’ve played co-op before but this time he isn’t under Fairburne’s shadow. Unfortunately, he’s just as one-dimensional as the franchise’s poster boy. If anything, I couldn’t stand his accent even if he’s slightly a bit more lively than Karl.
If you’re interested in story and characters, Sniper Elite Resistance isn’t anything to write home about. Nazis are occupying France much like the first game and your job is to make it really difficult for them to do so. You once again work with the titular resistance to make this happen.
The appeal of Sniper Elite has always been its gameplay. The story and characters are negligible. There’s a small exposition of why you need to do your objectives at the start of each mission but nothing will really get you invested in its cause. And so far, I think that works just fine. Not every game needs to have a strong narrative. In short, Sniper Elite Resistance is fun and easy to dive into without having to care too much about what’s going on.
Sniper Elite Resistance places a bit of emphasis on its multiplayer. Quite a few of the weapon unlocks require playing online. If you’re planning on unlocking everything for your arsenal, then you can’t be strictly single-player. While I don’t have an issue with this too much, I did wish multiplayer exclusive unlocks were limited to cosmetics only.
Axis Invasion makes its return and it’s just as intense as ever. Another player can invade your game in an effort to hunt you down while you’re completing mission objectives. You won’t know where they are unless they do something loud or use one of the invasion phones to pinpoint your location. The same goes for them.
Axis Invasion was one of the best additions to Sniper Elite 5 and I’m glad to see it make a return to Resistance. However due to the smaller maps this time around, the invading player seems to have more advantage of really messing with your run. Thankfully you can turn it off if you don’t want anyone to invade your game.
If you have a friend with you, then you can also bring them on missions with you for full-on cooperative play. It works the same way it did in Sniper Elite 5 where you’re able to go together to watch each other back or split up to complete objectives faster.
Enemy AI themselves are competent enough but they do have a tendency of being stupid. When alerted, they’ll immediately raise an alarm nearby if they spot you and search thoroughly around the area for where you might be if they lose sight of you. However, they can quickly forget they’re looking at you in the first place and go back to regular patrol despite the fact that their dead friend’s corpses aren’t even cold yet.
There are different enemy types and you have to prioritize which ones to take out and which ones to avoid. Snipers and lookouts are usually the first on your list since they’ll have a wide view of the area. You can also choose to simply knock out soldiers instead of killing them which rewards you with bonus XP if they aren’t woken up at the end of the mission.
Upon completing objectives and dealing with enemies, you’ll gain XP which you can use to unlock skills. Yes, the skills from Sniper Elite 5 make a return and I don’t think they really made any additions here. It’s still the same skill tree from the previous game which allows you to mark enemies shooting at you, use your secondary when downed, and etc.
If something isn’t broken, then don’t fix it. It’s more in line with what you can expect from Sniper Elite Resistance, which is more open-world Sniper Elite It’s not a main entry into the franchise so it can be forgiven for that but you could be forgiven for thinking that this whole game could’ve been an expansion to Sniper Elite 5. While the game is on Game Pass for subscribers, it’s also a full-priced game. In fact, it’s probably because Resistance is considered its own game that we even got it in Game Pass in the first place.
The question is whether it’s worth it buying. If you’re a fan of Sniper Elite as a whole, then the answer is a definite yes. Go ahead and pull that trigger. Though if you’re on the fence because the fifth game didn’t really win you over, then Resistance isn’t going to do anything different. It follows the same formula but does have some added mechanics to help make this entry feel fresh.
This review is based on a PS5 review copy provided to us by the developers/publisher.
Sniper Elite Resistance
Sniper Elite Resistance feels like a game you've already played. It's solid gameplay, gorgeous graphics, and mechanics are all borrowed from Sniper Elite 5. However that doesn't make it stale. More of a satisfying dessert after a good meal.
The Good
- Sniping feels as good as ever
- Plenty of tools to be creative
- Axis Invasion is incredibly intense and fun
The Bad
- Some weapon unlocks rely on multiplayer features
- Feels more like an expansion for a full priced game
- Smaller maps aren't as interesting as the ones before
