Sniper Elite: Resistance Review: Everyday Life of British Saboteurs

The Sniper Elite series is dedicated to soldiers who operate behind enemy lines during World War II. Resistance is a spin-off of the fifth part. Its action unfolded in France during the German occupation, and the main character was British special agent Harry Hawker. In this article, we will tell you about all the pros and cons of the new game, and also help you decide whether it is worth spending your time and money on it.

Although long-range rifles with optical sights are found in every second shooter, only a few indie games are dedicated to the sniper profession. At best, we will be offered one staged mission, as was the case in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The reason is clear — in reality, people who are tasked with eliminating a target from a long distance have to sit in one place for hours. At the right moment, they make a single shot and immediately change position. In a video game format, such gameplay would be boring, so it is mixed with other mechanics. For example, Sniper Elite has many other ways to eliminate enemies, from a pistol with a silencer to using explosives.

However, shooting from a sniper rifle has always been the most interesting thing the series has to offer. We are shown the flight of a bullet in slow motion, like in the first Max Payne, and the consequences of a successful hit are demonstrated using an X-ray camera. Something similar could be seen in the latest parts of Mortal Kombat during special attacks. In Sniper Elite, we watch as the enemy's internal organs burst, bones crumble, and blood splashes like a fountain.

Unfortunately, not all parts are worth attention. The very first game from 2005 turned out to be boring, the sequel suffers from excessive linearity and forced action episodes, and the threequel has obvious problems with artificial intelligence. It was only in Sniper Elite 4 that the original concept was brought to fruition. It turned out to be a full-fledged saboteur simulator, with a working sandbox and a lot of opportunities to achieve the goal. And the fifth part pleased with large locations and new skills of the main character, for example, the ability to stun enemies instead of killing them.

In addition to single-player campaigns, these games offer cooperative and multiplayer modes. During the joint playthrough, the second character was Harry Hawker. He was made the main character Sniper Elite: Resistance.

World War II is a great setting that can be the basis for a variety of stories. Unfortunately, the Sniper Elite series does not use this potential in any way. Resistance takes place at the end of the war in German-occupied France. According to the plot, the Nazis have a secret superweapon that can disrupt the future Allied landing in Normandy. The main character needs to find it and neutralize it. Note that something similar was already in Sniper Elite V2, in which the V-2 ballistic missiles played an important role.

Harry Hawker is a fighter of the British special services. He actively cooperates with the French resistance and receives valuable information from them. In fact, everything comes down to simple assignments such as destroying anti-aircraft guns, searching for documents and eliminating high-value targets. And the presentation of the script does not correspond to the modern level. Between missions, we see short videos and dry briefings. The only thing worth noting is the intro with the stylization of an archival chronicle.

But the locations deserve special compliments. Medieval castles and churches here are adjacent to expensive hotels and luxurious libraries. And the bright sun and warm colors seem to remind us that we are in front of friendly France. But the situation is overshadowed by the presence of the Third Reich. In addition to patrolling soldiers, you will see characteristic symbols of Germany of those years, for example, flags and propaganda posters. It turns out to be an interesting dissonance between beauty and a sense of horror from the occupation. Unexpected associations arise with the underrated game Saboteur, the action of which took place in Paris during the Second World War.

A typical mission in the new Sniper Elite looks like this: we are dropped off on a newcations, give a list of primary and secondary objectives, after which you can act independently within a small open world. Your mission is to complete the assigned tasks. You can distract enemies with a whistle, then carefully bypass them, eliminate them with non-lethal techniques or eliminate them with precise shots from a long distance. A pistol with a silencer and a rifle with an optical sight are used.

Although the game cannot be called a full-fledged sniper simulator, when firing at a long distance, it is worth making an adjustment for the distance to the enemy. After the first shot, it is advisable to change position, because the Germans can calculate the place from which the aimed fire was conducted. You have subsonic cartridges and silencers at your disposal, but if the Nazis have already gone into a state of alarm, they will be on guard and will hear even a quiet sound. As before, in some places you can adjust to extraneous noise. For example, if you pull the trigger in time, you can muffle the shot with the ringing of a bell.

You can also act more dirty, for example, kill an enemy and plant a bomb on the corpse. If other fighters notice the body, they will decide to figure out what is going on and immediately become victims of the explosion. The main thing is that you are not seen. Otherwise, an alarm will be announced and a boring shootout will begin. Sniper Elite is clearly not designed for open clashes, so it is better to play it "by the rules" and act unnoticed. The developers themselves encourage careful passage, in particular, they give additional experience if you stun and do not kill enemies, but only temporarily neutralize them in close combat or with the help of non-lethal bullets.

The game also has pumping. However, most of the skills are focused on shootouts, so you most likely will not need them. The only useful things are the increased concentration time when aiming and additional pouches that allow you to carry more items.

Resistance can be criticized for some monotony. It lacks unexpected gameplay situations, non-trivial tasks or tough conditions that would force you to act in a new way. In fact, we are forced to entertain ourselves and experiment with the capabilities of Sniper Elite to make the game more interesting. The artificial intelligence of the enemies causes conflicting emotions. They skillfully calculate you after a shot from a long distance, try to go around from different sides and surround you. At the same time, the Germans easily lose sight of the main character, after which they return to their posts. It will not be difficult to outwit them.

If you want your opponents to really throw down a serious challenge, you can turn on the "Invasion" mode. It opens up the possibility for other players to invade the location where you are performing another mission. Something similar was seen in the Dark Souls series. Only here you will have sniper duels with living people who can also shoot accurately or act outside the box.

In terms of mechanics, Resistance almost completely repeats what we saw in the fifth part. In fact, we have a set of additional levels, which is designed primarily for fans of the series. If you are already tired of the Sniper Elite gameplay, then you can pass by.

However, I would like to draw your attention to one important point. Recently, representatives of the stealth action genre have become less and less common. The last Hitman hit store shelves 4 years ago, and now the developers from IO Interactive are busy with a game about James Bond. A reissue of the original Splinter Cell, if it comes out, will be very far away, especially considering the difficulties that Ubisoft has faced. A remake of the third Metal Gear Solid is promised to be released this year, but it is still a big question how it will turn out.

As a result, Sniper Elite remains almost the only modern stealth action game. Fans of the genre simply do not have a worthy alternative.

***

Resistance is perceived as an attempt to build on the success of the fifth part of the series without large investments. Fans of the franchise and connoisseurs of stealth action games will certainly be satisfied, and everyone else will perceive this spin-off as a self-repetition, which can be safely skipped.