If It’s Not Broken, Don’t Fix It!
I’ve had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the Sniper Elite series. I played through Sniper Elite V2 and most of Sniper Elite III before I, well, got kinda’ bored. I dabbled a little with Sniper Elite 4 and have never touched Sniper Elite 5. I only mention this because, from what I can see and what I have played, Sniper Elite: Resistance, in all honesty, hasn’t changed that much from Sniper Elite III, let alone whatever was in 4 and 5.
So, the question is: “Is that a bad thing?”. In short, no. The series has a new protagonist for Sniper Elite: Resistance named Harry Hawker, so Rebellion is at least trying to change the formula a little bit. Harry is in contact with the French Resistance to carry out a number of missions to discover another plot of the German’s secret “Wonderwaffe” weapon. The plot is as predictable as expected, but what isn’t expected is the awful voice acting to accompany what scant little thread of a story there actually is.
The voice acting for the French resistance fighter characters is so bad that it feels even too bad to be in the old BBC sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo. I’m not French, but I wondered if I was, would I actually be offended by this portrayal of my accent? Harry Hawkers’ English accent is at least authentic, but it just doesn’t feel suited to the role. In all cases, it literally feels like they saved some money by grabbing someone from the Rebellion office to comprise the roles.
That aside, you probably didn’t come here for the story but for the sniping, and as always, this is where the game excels. The maps for each stage you play are fairly large, and if you play the game looking to find all the in-level collectibles or to be stealthy, it can take up to an hour and a half or more to complete missions.
I was surprised though at how detailed the maps and graphics were. The buildings especially look very well rendered and weathered. The layout of the maps is also interesting as there are always secret paths to find or new routes to unlock if you take the time to find them.
The main character movements are okay but occasionally awkward; for example, trying to hang or climb off an edge and then go left or right. The game also suffers from a clumsy radial menu to access equipment. On paper, it sounds okay (hold L1, move the icon to what piece of equipment you want, then release), but in the heat of the moment, I kept finding I was fumbling with this system and wished for a simple button press to, say, access my grenades.
However, those gripes aside, what you are left with is a beautifully rendered and interesting map for each level full of interesting and tactical ways to not only achieve your objectives but to reach them too. When you are in a good spot you want, for example, you then get to do what you paid the price of the game for, and that is snipe.
I must have killed thousands of Germans in the Sniper Elite series, but it’s still not boring to watch a cinematic of your bullet flying from one side of the map to another and then see in graphic detail what that bit of lead does to the unsuspecting foe. With a morbid fascination, it’s remarkable that no two shots ever seem to inflict the same kind of injury or death. It’s the calling card of the game, and it’s still fantastic and satisfying fun to accomplish.
So, with a mix of close-quarter kills, medium-range kills with your sub-machine gun or long-range ones with a sniper rifle, you thin the numbers out to reach or find the map’s objectives and then move on to the next. You could also play the game in more of a Hitman style, complete stealth way, which is eminently doable but a lot harder to achieve and requires a lot more patience.
Located around each level are upgrades for your weapon and collectibles that unlock propaganda missions with their own rewards. These propaganda missions aren’t that exciting, but they are worth it to get the rewards to make the next level just that little bit easier. There is also a basic RPG element to the game where you unlock skill points to improve three types of skill trees for your character.
Playing the game is huge fun. I would attempt to play the game stealthy, inevitably fail at some point, then just go on a slaughter festival. If, like me, you find one of the rifle suppressors early on, this then makes it much easier in later missions to snipe enemies without being detected.
Then, we have the game’s X factor, Invasion Mode. This mode is where a real person can spawn in your single-player campaign disguised as an NPC and hunt you down. It’s extremely unnerving to know a real human is somewhere in your game and utterly thrilling because of it. To rub salt into the wound, Invasion Mode is automatically set to “on” when you boot up the game, so you will have to manually turn it off if you wish not to use this feature.
You can also have this mode set to invite only. What can be more fun than chatting with your friends in the game, with them knowing any one of the NPCs they see could be you? This mode is so well thought out that there is even a progression tree for players to climb if they invade other players’ campaigns. As previously mentioned, some levels can take up to around an hour and a half, and if you wait until the last objective as an Invasion Mode NPC to take out your enemy, all their hard work will be lost. That does feel a little cruel but hilarious at the same time!
Playing an NPC is also quite hilarious as you have to think like one in order to not stand out. There are ways to make it a little easier to be an NPC (not that I’m going to give those tips away), but in short, Invasion Mode puts so much life into the game even after you have completed the campaign.
The other modes that also attempt to add life into the game don’t hit the mark that well. Multiplayer has three modes, which are all just variations of team deathmatches or free-for-all. The maps and spawn points aren’t laid out well either. A lot of the successful players don’t even use their sniper rifles and just run around with submachine guns. They can do this as the player can run faster than a rifle can track them.
What would be a game changer for multiplayer would be to have some objective modes. Domination, Sabotage, or a Search and Destroy mode not only would make the multiplayer more fun, but it would also fit with the tactical side of what the whole game is aiming for.
Finally, the game’s audio is adequate. The in-game sound effects are very standard but effective. I just wish the actual sound of the sniper rifle would be more authentic to what it actually is. The bang of a rifle shot has sounded too clashy rather than the powerful boom it should be. However, the boom of explosions of barrels or vehicles is really excellent.
Summary
If ever there was a poster child for the core mechanics of the game carrying everything else on its shoulders, then Sniper Elite: Resistance is it. The game has laughable production values, a sloppy attempt at multiplayer, and technically feels like it’s been designed for the last generation of consoles. However, it hits the mark where it counts, and that is in the tremendously rewarding and fun gameplay.
Whether you are new to the series or a returning veteran, the actual act of sniping enemies from across a map in glorious, slow-mo, gory detail never gets old. Combining that with the tactical element of how you can vary the way you play each level, alongside the incredible Invasion Mode, means that it’s still a hugely enjoyable experience.
Developer: Rebellion Developments
Publisher: Rebellion Developments
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC Windows
Release Date: 30th January 2025
