The Saboteur

The Sabouteur from Pandemic Studios is a third person open-world action game set in Nazi occupied Paris during World War II. You play as Sean Devlin a rough Irish racing mechanic whose hell bent on revenge. With the help of the French Resistance and an arsenal of weaponry, Sean goes after the Nazi occupation, in particular Officer Kurt Dierker who destroyed his life.

• Alex Decker June 25, 2012 360

  ****

  The Saboteur Xbox 360 Review
  The Saboteur is an exciting open-world action adventure game from the now closed developer; Pandemic Studios. This was to be Pandemic's swan song before being closed down in late 2009. I'm happy to say however, that Pandemic Studios goes out with a bang, literally; despite some small quirks and a few gameplay elements being slightly underdeveloped.
  You play as chain -smoking daredevil; Sean Devlin as you attempt to hunt the man who killed your best friend, and to get revenge on what he has done to you. Early on in the story Sean competes in a race and is stolen victory from the German and eventually known Nazi, named Kurt Dierker. From here Sean attempts revenge on Dierker by destroying his prized Grand Prix car, however things go wrong and Sean with his friend; Jules are captured and interrogated. Jules is later murdered by Dierker and hence forth, Sean swears revenge on him. Overall I found the story to be an epic and an exhilarating story of revenge and I greatly enjoyed the action-packed start to the game. This engrossing beginning really does set the tone for the rest of the story, and I enjoyed it a lot.
  Furthermore, Sean's character is based on a man named William Grover-Williams, who was a government spy during the Second World War. The idea that I was playing as a real person in history really made me want to see what would happen to Sean, and I found myself not being able to put down my controller, only if to see what would happen next.
  Whilst playing the game you will also become wrapped up within the French resistance, as their leader Luc, promises to help you in your quest to kill Dierker. The resistance is heavily reliant upon you throughout the course of the game as you help push back the Nazi invasion force that has occupied Paris. The resistance headquarters serve as the game's introduction to every mission and more side missions will become available to you as you progress through the story. Within these hideouts there will also be arms dealers who will sell you all sorts of different weapons; which will become very useful to you as the game progresses.
  Your time playing The Saboteur will be split up into three sections; driving, combat and sabotage. The driving in this game, I feel is very underdeveloped, and it will leave you wondering just how long the developer spent on implementing it into the game. The driving seems clunky and feels unresponsive at best, as you will almost have to fight with the controller to get a car around a corner. This wouldn't be a huge problem if the game didn't rely upon driving so heavily throughout the entire course of the story. The problem however, is that driving takes up about a third of what you'll actually do within the game; and the only other alternative option of transport besides walking is to climb buildings. Now I know what you're thinking; climbing buildings may sound exciting in theory but in truth it is the quite the opposite. Climbing is not intuitive and is boring to do. Unfortunately Sean's climbing actions also look strange and unnatural, and it is clear that the developer didn't polish this part of the game to its highest potential. Thankfully though, these are the only things wrong with the gameplay and the remainder is a whole tonne of fun.
  Gunning down enemy Nazis, whilst their striking red blood oozes out against the depressed black and white artistic style, is incredibly satisfying. However if you're a more hands on kind of player Sean isn't afraid to get his hands dirty either. During combat you will be able to pull off boxing combos as well as my personal favourite; silent takedowns, as long as you have stayed out of sight from the enemy. To make stealth takedowns easier to do for the player, there are also disguises to dress in that can be stolen from unconscious Nazis. I found disguises to be an exceptionally useful tool within the game, and there is nothing like seeing the sheer shock on an enemy's face when he is out wittingly killed.
  This game is called The Saboteur for a reason. Throughout the course of the game Sean will have access to an awesome arsenal of explosives, ranging from grenades to dynamite and eventually, RPG's. This leads on to another interesting idea that The Saboteur implements well, and is something that is at the core of the gameplay experience. Littered across an artistic vision of war time Paris are hundreds of free-play events in which you may partake in. These range from killing Nazi Generals to destroying Nazi propaganda speakers. Some of these free-play targets add a touch of realism to the world that you play in. This is because it creates a sense of what it would have felt like at the time of Nazi control. Completing these events earns you currency; or contraband as it is known in the game, that you can buy additional weapons, upgrades or bonuses with.
  The Saboteur's gameplay is extremely good, not only due to its satisfying combat or its exciting explosive scenes. The Saboteur gives you choice and this will probably lead to you and I to complete missions in completely different ways. Although the over-arching story will still play out in the same way, the choices you have in how you approach the missions offer a lot of added replay value. Throughout the game you will also unlock perks for Sean to utilise. These are unlocked by doing specific challenges and this also encourages replay, as the rewards for completing these challenges are often very worthwhile.
  One of the first things that you will notice when you start playing The Saboteur is the visually stunning world that you are in. One of your goals in the game is to liberate Paris from the grip that the Nazis have upon it. Whilst Paris is under Nazi control, the whole world will appear in a dull, depressing black and white façade until liberated; when all colour will return. I found this idea to be very innovative; as it really gives you a feeling of how hard life must have been for the people of Paris at the time. Colour transition is seamless between liberated and captured areas and impressively does not slow down the frame rate. However sometimes frame rate can drop when the chaos is high and bullets are flying. Gratefully though it does not happen frequently enough to make this a very distracting fault.
  Sound is very good in The Saboteur; cars sound authentic and the music that livens up the car journeys is well chosen, which portrays a distinct 1940's feel. Voice work on the other hand is below par. All but a few of the characters within the game are voiced with stereo-typical sounds and accents, and this makes the characters seem fake and un-interesting; causing the player to have no connection to any of the main protagonists. Explosions on the other hand sound terrifically frightening and guns sound incredibly powerful making gunplay tense and exciting.
  To conclude The Saboteur is a great way to say goodbye to a developer that has now proved that it can make great games. The Saboteur is one of Pandemic's best titles and I have really enjoyed my time playing it. Gameplay is for the most part enjoyable and entertaining; and the story will have you wanting to play on and on. Paris is aesthetically pleasing and The Saboteur has a fantastic art style. It is just a shame however, that everything can't come together to make what would have been a very special game. If you like a good story along with some top class action then you should definitely check this one out, as it will surely not disappoint.
  

• Matthew Brew October 30, 2010 PS3

  ****

  Pandemic studios last game is one of the first sandbox games to be set in WW2, we have seen plenty of shooters set in this period, but this is one of the first sandbox games and gives a refreshing new point of view of the time period. Adding to this fresh appearance is the setting of occupied France, not on the western front fighting, but rather in the middle of occupied France and being part of the French resistance.
  
  Pandemic studios has since been closed down, and this being their last game has clearly had a lot of effort put into it. With a new perspective, GTA style gameplay and a love-to-love main character it has a promising formula for being a winning game. The main character, Sean Devlin: a foul-mouthed, Irish, former mechanic/racing driver, who after the invasion was trapped in France after racing there. The complex change of character is a fast paced one, within the first few hours of the game Sean has evolved from a mechanic to a member of the French resistance. The main object of the game is to liberate France from the Nazi regime, this is shown by the occupied areas being black and white and the liberate ones being returned to colour. The black and white dynamic of the game is an interesitng one and the graphics are unique and stylised and in a way appeal to me more than the in-colour ones, it almsot makes me wish the entire game could stay black and white.
  
  The game starts with a mission set after the German invasion, after France has been occupied, and starts the game with a bang. Literally. The invasion of a German power station with the assitance of the soon-to-be head of the resistance ends with a large, satisfying boom, caused by yours-truly. We then revert to three months previously where Sean is taking part in a race in France, we play through the race and jsut as we are about to win, a Nazi competitor shoots out the car's tyres and so removes us from the race. To take revenge Sean steals the Nazi's car and trashes it, of course in a particularily over-the-top stunt style by driving it off a hill. However this results in the Nazi wanting revenge, he captures Sean and his best friend and ends up murdering the best friend. This act is the main motivation for the joining of the resistance later in the game. The story then follows Sean's activities through the resistance and although fairly cliche has some nice action sequences. For the most part it's dark and overexaggerated when concerning the treatment of the French, which juxtaposes the brighter less serious aspect of the gameplay. A 8/10.
  
  The graphics in this game are fairly good, with rounded character models that all look a bit chubby and have a certain cartoony style. They look a bit more like the height of a PS2's graphics than ones representative of the PS3's capabilities. But overall they look ok, with the settings, buildings and cars looking reasonably good. There is occasional screen tearing and texture pop in but not enough to ruin the game. The graphics although not the best are good enough. A 7/10
  
  The gameplay of the game is basically GTA style where there is a large map and you can choose to simply roam around and blow things up, steal cars and have mindless fun. Or you can follow the various story and side missions around the game that are plentiful and varied providing a diverse game that will have a wide range of players. The main elements are third person shooting, driving and some vague elements of stealth. The thid person shooting works thanks to a good control scheme and the driving does a decent job of putting the player into a WW2 period car. The stealth mainly consists of hiding behind cover and waiting for the enemy to turn around and then sneaking up behind for a silent takedown, the most basic formula possible for stealth in a game. It also includes the element of after a takedown being able to steal the enemy's uniform and dress as a Nazi to sneak past Nazi squadrons, this however has been criticized by many as being ineffective as the Nazis are quick to spot that you are an imposter and soon the game ends up ending being more shooting. This is not a bad thing but it would have been nice to see a bit more diversity in the gameplay. However the shooting works so well, and is so much fun that it makes up fo the lack of diversity. Especially with Seans seeming immortality to bullets with life that quickly regenerates and never seems to run out it removes any possible elements of frustration with the game. This combined with a huge amount of varied missions demonstrates the accesibility and fun to be had in this game. A 9/10.
  
  Overall the saboteur is a very fun game to play, with a good shooting dynamic, an over exaggerated story, a gameplay formula that has been proven to work countless times before and graphics that represent the word fairly well. However its not without its flaws, the lack of diversity in gameplay and the near useless stealth mars the gameplay also, along with the driving controls eeling a little stiff it's not a perfect game.
  
  All together, An 8/10.

• The Saboteur 360PS3PC | 01:21 Play Trailer
• The Saboteur: E3 360PS3PC | 02:08 Play Trailer
• The Saboteur: Pub 360PS3PC | 01:55 Play Trailer