Sniper Elite: Resistance Review – Lone Hawk

Sniper Elite: Resistance – PC Review

Sniper Elite: Resistance from developer Rebellion could be the poster child for the mantra, “If ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The game carries on the mechanics as its predecessors, which will strike you as either a positive or negative. If you are a big fan of the Sniper lineage and want more of the same, this is the game for you. However, if you find the franchise getting stale, Sniper Elite: Resistance will only strengthen your position.

This time the setting is World War II occupied France. You play as Harry Hawker, an agent of the Special Operations Executive(SOE). Harry discovers the Nazis have created something called the Wunderwaffe. The word translates to – Wonder Weapon. This name is based on historical fact. It was a moniker created by the Nazi propaganda ministry to cover not just one but a whole range of weapons. Some saw fruition such as the V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rockets. Too few of the other designs were produced to be effective. They also were a drain on Germany’s resources.

The focus of this game is not on the front lines but deep in enemy territory. The story runs parallel to Sniper Elite 5, leading to criticisms that the game is really just a DLC. Hawker works with the French Resistance to prevent the new Nazi weapon from ever being used. The story may differ from previous games, but the sniping, stealth, and tactical combat remain. Of course, the iconic franchise X-Ray kill shots are also intact.

The strength of the Sniper franchise lays in the variety of game play styles you can use. You can be also stealthy as you wish, you can get your hands dirty, or you can do a mix of the two. There’s also a hands-off, sniper-focused approach, and you can also team up with a gaming buddy and approach missions as a team.

The Name Is Hawker. Harry Hawker

Hawker comes off as a mix of Indiana Jones and James Bond. He’s rated as one of the world’s most accomplished marksmen. He is a veteran of many solo missions. His family background has him well suited to venture into dangerous territories. Harry can speak –and understand to varying degrees — French, Hebrew, Russian, Yiddish, and German. Hawker’s closest friend is Morris Ahmed and as a radio operator, he serves as your guiding force through missions. He pipes in during missions to provide guidance and hints.

The game offers several modes of play: Campaign, Propaganda Challenges, Invasion Mode, and Multiplayer. The campaign comprises a prologue and seven missions. Each mission is a separate set piece where Harry must achieve a stated goal which stops the Nazis from releasing their ultimate weapon. Propaganda Challenges are smaller in scope. The additional seven missions test your skills in stealth, combat, and sniping. The challenges have time limits and a restricted number of weapons.

The Invasion Mode and Multiplayer let you pit your skills against other players. In the Invasion Mode, you can allow other players access to campaign mode where they can play as enemy snipers. Each player can gather intel about the other player to determine their position. The successful player will gain experience points to bolster their rank and open up more abilities and weapons.

The Multiplayer mode gives the expected variety of online matches such as Team and Squad Matches. There is also the unique No Cross mode. This mode prevents players from up close combat because of an invisible barrier. Further to that, players switch sides halfway through a match. Players can also tune matches to their preferences by setting up higher scoring based on the number of kills, kill distance, and points/skill.

Sniper Elite: Resistance Features

All in all, Sniper Elite: Resistance offers a very complete set of features. You can expect to complete the campaign in about eight to ten hours depending on your gameplay style. The game’s variety of gameplay options provides a decent replay experience.

For the campaign, there are a decent variety of environments similar to those in Sniper 5. They vary from a dam, French village, train station, underground corridors, and industrial factories. Sniper 5 players will also find many other features unchanged, such as the skill tree, perks, and the same enemies. The main villain is also generic.

On the plus side, the things that work well in Sniper 5 also work well in this game. There is a great weapon customization feature set. The game features a lot of Uncharted climbing. It also does a good job of setting up game progress by letting you figure things out.

Beyond the trademark X-Ray kill shots, the game also has the excellent tactical aids with the binoculars and scope options. The binocular vision is vital in formulating attack strategies. Doubly so, not just for the close up scrutiny, but the unrealistic ability to overhear conversations from far away. Realists will balk, but from a game playing perspective, this is a wise choice. It makes the game more immersive. This decision is much the same as being made for travel and/or battles in outer space. A realistic spaceship scene with no sound doesn’t have the same impact as one that does.

Platforms and Performance

Sniper Elite: Resistance is available on PC, PS4/5, Xbox Series S/X, and Xbox One. The version tested for this review is the PC version. My PC runs games at 1440P which is the current sweet spot. I’m running a AMD 7600X CPU with 32GBs of RAM and a AMD 7800XT GPU. This allows me to run the game with most video settings set at Ultra. I prefer to run games in native resolution with no frame generation.

At 1440P, frame rates run anywhere from 160 – 250 FPS. At 4K, frame rates vary from 65 – 90. However, at 4K there is noticeable screen tearing. While the environments are historically accurate, the graphics look last gen. This is because of use by Rebellion of their own game engine, Asura. Asura is not capable of the latest technology available, such as ray tracing. Overall, the game has a dated look because Asura has a more limited texture capacity.

Where the Asura engine excels is with the game’s large wide open environments. If you have a video card able to run the graphical settings at the highest settings, the image improves substantially. Textures are much more detailed and the lighting engine creates a very immersive experience. You will also get a crystal clear image.

Graphical caveats aside, Sniper Elite: Resistance is fun to play not only because of the various game modes but how you can approach missions. The developers also devoted significant effort to ballistics and weapons handling. Veteran players will feel right at home. New players will be delighted with the variety of missions. Both will be delighted with the options of how they can play them.

***Steam key provided by the game developer.***