The Saboteur

The Saboteur, Pandemic Studios' final game, is incredibly odd. While on the surface it may seem like your average sandbox, third-person shooter, inside is a game that is very confused as to what it wants to be. Along with gameplay mechanics similar to Pandemic's Mercenaries series, The Saboteur adds very interesting sneaking and climbing components to the mix. The end result is an eclectic mix of different game genres that is excellent in some instances, but disappointing in others.

The game's story follows Sean Devlin, an Irish racecar driver who is slowly making his name known in the French racing scene. With stirrings of war brewing all around them, Sean makes his way into nearby Germany for a racing competition, along with his friend Jules, his employer and father figure Vittore, and Jules' sister Venorique. Upon arriving in Germany, they learn that Kurt Dierker, the German champion, has entered the race and will be the man to beat if Sean hopes to take home first place. Things turn in Sean's favor near the end of the race, but a bit of sabotage by the German driver quickly diminish any hopes of his winning. The revenge Sean seeks afterwards ends up killing Jules, and the rest of his team escape to refuge in Paris.

Months later, war has broken out all across Europe. Sean finds comfort in drowning himself in alcohol for Jules' death, but his daily routine is soon broken by a French Resistance soldier named Luc. Recruited into the Resistance, Sean hopes to make up for Jules' death by fighting against the Nazi occupation in Paris. Soon, British Intelligence becomes involved, and Paris becomes a battleground against German tyranny.

From here, a wide array of weaponry and mission objectives are laid at your feet. There are numerous Nazi installations across Paris and its countryside to demolish, German officials to assassinate, traitors to silence, and prisoners-of-war to free. Your most important weapon in the fight against the Nazis is TNT and, believe me, you'll be using a lot of it. But, most of the fun comes from trying to get close to important targets without arousing suspicion from nearby German soldiers. Two very interesting mechanics this game throws at you are the “area of suspicion” and “restricted area” locations on the map. Areas of suspicion show up as large, yellow circles, and entering one of these areas raises how much attention enemy soldiers are showing you. Staying too long causes the soldiers to attack you, but you can quickly make your way in and out of these areas to stay on the right side of the law. Areas of suspicion can also be created by audible gunfire and explosions, but will disappear over time. Restricted areas are designated by barbed wire on the map, and if an enemy sees you within a restricted area they attack you.

To avoid raising suspicion on yourself, however, you can wear the clothes of enemies you have killed. Disguising has the benefit of letting you walk through heavily guarded areas without drawing attention, but it almost feels as if more attention is put on you in certain situations. A circle around your character on the map shows up whenever you are disguised, and if any soldiers are within that circle for too long, they spot that you aren't really one of their own, and begin attacking. There's an option of walking slowly to look more like a German soldier which also makes the circle of suspicion smaller, but you can still be found out by walking too close to an enemy. This struck me as odd because if German soldiers weren't allowed to run, the war would have ended much sooner than it did. Unfortunately, the disguising mechanics are so annoying and time-consuming that it's almost easier to just rampage through every mission instead of sneaking.

But there are things that The Saboteur does well. There is a surprising variety of ways you can tackle each mission, whether your forte happens to be stealth or all-out offense. Want to blow up a nearby guard tower and sneak by when the guards are looking for the culprit? Go right ahead. Feel like climbing a nearby building and sliding along a wire to the objective? Sure, that works too. How about rigging your car with explosives, driving at full speed towards the entrance, bailing at the last instant, and then gunning down any enemies left in the carnage and confusion? A little complicated, but also very satisfying. Add to that the ability to call in Resistance reinforcements, and you have a ton of different options to use in completing your objective.

The “black and white to color” mechanic was the most impressive, and it was cool to see areas you've given hope begin to fight back for themselves. Nazi presence in these areas is also lessened to an extent, making it easier to escape from them when things heat up. Another part of the game that I really enjoy is the Perks system, where completing certain challenges gives Sean different offensive skills and also makes better vehicles and weaponry available.

The Saboteur's greatest problem is that it's a jack of all trades, but master of none. It offers an amazing range of objectives and activities to take part in, none of the gameplay mechanics are executed in an above average way. Disguising is fun when you first gain the option, but it quickly becomes more of a chore than it needs to be. The Assassin's Creed-esque climbing mechanics are not helped by the comparison, and many times you'll be asking yourself why Sean can't make certain jumps and misses ledges occasionally. The disguising mechanics help you become a bit more immersed in the espionage atmosphere of the world around you, but become incredibly annoying and tedious in crowded areas. Lastly, the cover system is intuitive, but mostly at times when you'd much rather not like it to be. During a few firefights, Sean getting stuck on a random box or pillar is what contributed most to dying and failing the mission.

While The Saboteur is a great example of sandbox gameplay and third-person shooting, a few of the more unimpressive aspects of the gameplay could have done with a bit more polish. Also, being released alongside bigger, more impressive games doesn't do it any favors. There are a huge amount of objectives and challenges you can complete after the games climactic ending, but a few odd glitches and frustrating game mechanics may keep this one on your shelf, just short of greatness.

Likes

• Black and white changing to color to represent hope rising in the city's inhabitants.
• Perks system is fun and offers some interesting additions to the gameplay.
• Variety of mission objective and ways you can accomplish said objectives.

Dislikes

• Doesn't really add anything new or inventive to the genre.
• Frustrating sneaking and cover mechanics.
• Abrupt ending after the amazing, climactic build-up.

Review Score

/

The review scale at LevelFortyTwo is between 1 and 5. A score of 5 is considered an amazing game, 4 is a well-done game with only minor issues, 3 is in the middle; not great, but not bad, 2 is a very problematic game, and 1 is absolutely terrible.

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