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Sniper Elite: Resistance Review

Sniper monkey

The world is as divisive as it has ever been, profits winning over understanding as a poorly dressed, awkward tyrant ascends back to the forefront of the political landscape. Who’s to say whether Rebellion planned its latest addition to the Sniper Elite franchise at just the right time, but kicking the crap out of pure, unmitigated evil sounds all kinds of perfect right now. Even more so if it involves shooting Nazis in various and often-times explosive ways.

Sniper Elite: Resistance plays out a story in parallel to that of 2022’s Sniper Elite 5, putting you in the shoes of Harry Hawker, an agent of the Special Operations Executive, under orders to help the French Resistance uncover a deadly plot to unleash a new weapon that could win the war. Pop a few heads, maybe some other appendages, and put an end to their dastardly schemes. Resistance delivers on the blood-soaked promise the franchise has always provided, the core concept of sneaking through enemy camps and eliminating oppressors still as entertaining as ever with its x-ray slow motion kills and open sandbox levels, but it’s not without its caveats.

Don’t be suspicious…

Sniping is, of course, where Sniper Elite excels. The opening mission provides plenty of opportunities to take out targets from a distance, running you through the ropes of mechanics in the process, but on the standard difficulty settings it won’t take you long to figure it out. Use the ‘empty lung’ mechanic by holding the corresponding button (R1 on PS5) to steady your breath and slow down time, adjusting the crosshair until it goes red to confirm a potential kill shot. Most players should take to it like a duck to water, but there are more realistic settings that can adjust it to suit your playstyle. Realistic, for example, turns just about every helpful visual setting off, including the HUD. Yikes, but hey, if you like to stress yourself out, go for it.

Despite the marketing campaign, you won’t always be pulling off trick shots from hundreds of meters away. Most of my time was spent poking around tight corners, waiting for the right moment to stab a few soldiers in the back and dumping them where they can’t be found. My previous experience with Hitman 3 taught me the ropes of using cover to your advantage and tagging everyone in sight to keep track of their movements— trust me when I say the binoculars are your friend. There’s no reason why you can’t go all guns blazing if you truly want to, but the satisfaction in pulling off heist after glorious heist from under Nazi noses cannot be understated.

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Every mission differs just enough to make them entertaining, from a sleepy little town periodically interrupted by the sound of a bell tower, to a rain-drenched fort by the sea. Each area provides plenty of different paths to take to each objective, leaving it open to you to interpret what to do next. From a sniper’s perspective, you can use the environment to mask your shots (the rumble of a nearby storm, for example), otherwise you’ll be crawling through tall grass and around buildings by the cover of darkness to reach your target and creating your own distractions. On average it can take close to an hour to scope it out (pun intended) and complete every available objective, mostly involving the elimination of certain targets (human or otherwise), and the game sets you up in its sandbox in such a way that you can complete said missions in any way and any order.

I’m sure he will walk that off

Sadly, despite a healthy dose of entertainment, Sniper Elite: Resistance does feel a little dated. The franchise hasn’t greatly evolved with each iteration compared to the equally entertaining Hitman series, though there’s been a greater layer of exploration and sneaking in recent years. It’s a case of ‘if it ain’t broke’, which leads me to believe this may have been planned as DLC for Sniper Elite 5 but given an extra dose of development time to flesh it out. Whether true or not, it’s clear that the changes made are kept to a minimum, feeling more like a PS4 port than a true next-gen experience.

There’s some visual flourishes to appreciate within Sniper Elite: Resistance’s presentation, especially when it comes to explosions and lighting. Maps set under the cover of darkness are far more ambient compared to their daytime counterparts, various weather effects splashing shadows across every surface. It’s easier to explore too, using shadows to your advantage or noticing soldiers around corners as their flashlights come into view. Unfortunately, there’s plenty of bland textures to spoil that view and character models lacking layers of detail. But despite the engine feeling stuck in the past it’s the core moments that matter (i.e. slow motion and x-ray kills) and these manage to get the job done and remain an important staple of the Sniper Elite brand.

If you thought usual Sniper Elite protagonist Karl Fairburne was a one-note lead, Hawker doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel. His scruffy character model feels patched together, though maybe that was an attempt to layer realism over blandness, not every World War 2 hero could be considered lead Hollywood material after all. Hawker, however, sounds like a Jason Statham body double at the best of times, his gruff Cockney dialect constantly commentating on your success or failures. You can unlock other characters once you complete the main campaign, but none of them provide any extra incentive and remain largely uninteresting.

I can’t tell the difference

There’s also some weird audio mixing that confused me on multiple occasions. Ordinarily it’s fine, especially the environmental effects when masking your shots, and I highly recommend playing any of the Sniper Elite games with a headset so you can clearly hear where footsteps are coming from. But on more than one occasion the game decided to jump scare me, as a soldier questions what they just heard causing me to look around in confusion thinking they are next to me. In reality, they’re meters away or even downstairs, but there’s no differentiation half the time, no muffled audio to confirm they’re far enough away to not be a concern, and it freaked me out way too often.

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Final Thoughts

There’s still plenty to be grateful for if you’re a returning Sniper Elite player. Many fan-favourite game modes return, including the abundance of multiplayer options and the Axis Invasion mode that allows you to infiltrate another player’s campaign to hunt them down. The only new mode introduced here is Propaganda Missions, where-by recovering hidden posters across the main campaign unlocks the same maps with time sensitive scenarios that reward faster results. It’s a nice diversion that adds a few extra hours of gameplay, but from the perspective of a new entry in the series, Sniper Elite: Resistance remains light on new ideas and still at full price despite recycling much of its smarter concepts.

Reviewed on PS5 // Review code supplied by publisher

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Sniper Elite: Resistance Review
Resistance is fine, actually
Sniper Elite: Resistance is a reasonable continuation of the franchise, its sniping highs remain as amusing as ever thanks to some neat environmental gameplay, but much of its content rehashes what came before instead of evolving the series concept for a true next-gen sequel.
The Good
Sniping remains an enjoyable watermark
Campaign holds some creative moments
Killing Nazi’s in fun ways never gets old
The Bad
Feels visually dated in places for a modern console release
Occasionally weird audio glitches
Much of its best modes are recycled from previous entries
Story and characters aren’t memorable
7.5
Solid
  • Rebellion / Wushu Studios
  • Rebellion
  • PS5 / PS4 / Xbox Series X|S / Xbox One / PC
  • January 28, 2025

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review
Resistance is fine, actually
Sniper Elite: Resistance is a reasonable continuation of the franchise, its sniping highs remain as amusing as ever thanks to some neat environmental gameplay, but much of its content rehashes what came before instead of evolving the series concept for a true next-gen sequel.
The Good
Sniping remains an enjoyable watermark
Campaign holds some creative moments
Killing Nazi’s in fun ways never gets old
The Bad
Feels visually dated in places for a modern console release
Occasionally weird audio glitches
Much of its best modes are recycled from previous entries
Story and characters aren’t memorable
7.5
Solid
Written By Mark Isaacson

Known on the internet as Kartanym, Mark has been in and out of the gaming scene since what feels like forever, growing up on Nintendo and evolving through the advent of PC first person shooters, PlayStation and virtual reality. He'll try anything at least once and considers himself the one true king of Tetris by politely ignoring the world records.

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