[360/PS3/PC] The Saboteur Review

[AgtFox]

The Saboteur Review

Title: The Saboteur
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
Developer: Pandemic Studios (RIP)
Publisher: Electronic Arts
ESRB: Mature
MSRP: $59.99 (360/PS3), $49.99 (PC)
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek

What's Hot: Graphics are nice; hits its stride after initial awkwardness; music, especially theme song, is top notch for era; voiceovers are well done; reminds me a lot of Mercenaries 2

What's Not: Early play doesn’t separate well from recent games that share gameplay mechanics; main story is disjointed in its pacing; not a big fan of the black and white to color mechanic because b/w areas can be tough to navigate

I’ve been playing around with The Saboteur for roughly three weeks now. Real life stuff, the holidays and my initial reaction to the early parts of the game kept me from getting through it in a week. Had I written a review based upon my initial thoughts, I would not have been kind to this game. Having just come off of playing Assassin’s Creed II and jumping into this game, its similar gameplay mechanics felt almost Draconian in comparison to Ezio and his exploits. The climbing mechanic and overall animations of the main character, Sean Devlin, just didn’t seem as smooth to me. The story was also paced slowly in the early going as you learned all of what The Saboteur entailed. Somewhere along the way, the game started to hit its stride with me and I started to enjoy it, separating it from games like Assassin’s Creed II and Batman: Arkham Asylum in my mind so I can give it a proper perspective. In the end the game was good and fun, just not great or fantastic.

Fitting that The Saboteur is Pandemic’s swan song as a developer. Sure, the company name still lives on at Electronic Arts like the Origins of yesteryear, but it just won’t be the same. Also fitting is that as I look back at Pandemic’s work I start to notice that for much of its recent game output it seemed as if their game came out after one in the same genre that outclassed it and made Pandemic’s game seem outdated. Last year’s Mercenaries 2, even though I liked it, paled in comparison to the earlier releasing Grand Theft Auto IV. The Lord of the Rings: Conquest was a total failure and now The Saboteur is left to survive, as previously stated, in a post-Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II world. Maybe EA planned it that way because this game has been delayed much like Mercs 2 was. In some ways the writing was probably on the wall long ago at Pandemic. There is fun to be had in this game, however you need to separate the previous games from your mind in order to enjoy this game. The early play in the game may make you want to turn it off, but if you persevere you will find an enjoyable game once you reach the end.

This is the story of Sean Devlin, mechanic turned race driver from Ireland. He’s entered in a race and is leading near the finish when a cheating Nazi driver named Kurt Deirker knocks Sean out of the race and wins. Sean and his friend Jules decide to get a little revenge by driving Deirker’s car off a cliff. They are captured and treated as spies with Deirker asking them what they know. Of course, neither Sean nor Jules know anything and Deirker shoots Jules dead. Sean escapes and revenge is on his mind. He joins up with the French Resistance in 1940s Paris and the meat of the game begins. Paris is Sean’s oyster in this open world game as he moves from the main storyline as well as side stories.

There are a lot of similarities between this game and Mercenaries 2. The map idea where everything centers around people you meet is here. This means the map shows you available missions in certain sections of the map that a character’s base of operations is in. Any main storyline mission highlights the name, represented by two letters (like Skylar the European spy is noted as “Sk”), in gold. At any point you can choose to take up side missions from other characters and it is nice that you can continue playing the game even after the storyline is complete. This just means you don’t have to do all the side missions if you don’t want to and can save them for later.

The other huge similarity between the two games is that the name of the game is basically blowing up as much as possible. Since this game is set almost 70 years ago, the technology isn’t as advanced and the weapons not as sophisticated. Sean relies on blowing things up with dynamite and the like. There are tons of places around the map where Nazi watchtowers and the like are located. Have Sean plant a bomb and watch them crumble and blow up. Doing this along with completing missions nets Contraband points, the monetary system in the game. With it you can buy new weapons, fill up ammo and upgrade several different things at various Black Market areas that are usually close to main character hubs. As in many open world games, Sean can steal any car that he wants. If you want to use that car later you have to park it in one of the garages. Then you can just go up to the mechanic in front and choose which car you wish to use.

One different thing The Saboteur brings to the table is its use of color. At the beginning the map is mostly in black and white. As Sean completes missions and the general area starts to back the Resistance, an explosion of color will take over the area. I know there are some fans out there of the black and white idea, but there were many times where it was difficult to see ropes and the like for Sean to grab onto. I think it is a cool artistic choice, but I do think Paris in color is a lot better than Paris in black and white.

Special note is given to the fact that there is a code that comes with a new version of the game which will unlock nudity. This code doesn’t unlock nudity throughout the whole map, but just at Sean’s base of operations: The Belle. The Belle is a house of ill repute and as Sean leaves his room he moves into the girl’s dressing area where you will see a lot of exposed breasts. It’s a cheap thrill mind you, but it will cost you $3 (or 240 Microsoft Points) in order to unleash the nudity. Sean is quite the ladies man as well, maybe it is the Irish accent or the way he nonchalantly puts tons of swear words in what he says. Sean has a heart for all his special ladies though, but I was disappointed by the fact of Sean telling a girl to say how she feels later and it not happening after the final curtain call.

Speaking of sound, it is a high point to note that the voiceovers are well done and the licensed and original music contained in this game is phenomenal. The theme song is quite catchy and fits the era the game is set in. The licensed music, especially stuff by Ella Fitzgerald, just fits in so well with the game. I’m usually not much of an old music connoisseur, but this game certainly has the sound and music to propel it beyond the normal video game feeling.

So, what’s my final thoughts on The Saboteur as a game? Early on I wanted to throw my controller out the window after failing several times on different missions and not being able to make Sean do Ezio-like moves. As I continued on and jumped over the hump, I started to enjoy the game and the story started to interest me. This isn’t to say the pacing of the story doesn’t change gears regularly, making it a little off-putting, but the last half of the game is far better paced than the first half in my mind. In the end, The Saboteur is a good, but not great, game. Had it come out before other similar games this year it probably would have thrived, but coming out as a footnote to the year, genre and Pandemic as a developer I simply can’t recommend it for purchase unless you can find it cheaper than its original $60 price. There are better games out there that deserve your possibly tight money other than this one.[/I]

Score: 3.5 out of 5 CoGs


Loren says, “You will probably enjoy the early parts of the game far more if you haven’t played Assassin’s Creed II before this one. Once the game starts to hit its stride it becomes more like Pandemic’s earlier game, Mercenaries 2, and becomes a fun romp all the way to the end. There are better games out there, but this is a good pickup at a lower price point.”

*Note - Review based upon the 360 version of game

[Karak]

Thanks for the review. Trully a better game than I thought it would be.

[DoctorFinger]

Glad this one turned out okay.

[JayK47]

Thanks. I will be renting this for 360 and may eventually pick it up for PC. If it is anything like Mercenaries 2, it will be $5 in a few months and well worth it.

[ElektroDragon]

Looking forward to the $9 bargain bin on this one. It will probably be there before Gamefly manages to send me a rental of it. I swear they only buy 10 copies of each new game.

[Dukefrukem]

Originally Posted by Karak

Thanks for the review. Trully a better game than I thought it would be.

my thoughts too. I was able to get a jump on this on my goozex WANTED list, so in the next couple of days I should be getting this.

[Kielaran]

I am looking forward to picking this up on a bargain later.

[torrefaction]

I genuinely hate any comparison to AC. AC didn't make climbing a game mechanic or thoughtful at all...it was just something your character did. Saboteur requires planning and thought as to where you go, but never seems to hinder your ability to get there.

Also, you blow shit up.

[The Continental]

Gamefly finally sent me a copy and while I agree with all of the gripes mentioned in the review, I think the review might be a little too kind its comparisons to Mercs 2. While Mercs was admittedly rather shallow, the massive scale of the destruction in the game made it a sand box that was very easy to lose yourself in and offered ever more incentive to unlock the next biggest bomb to see an even bigger explosion.

I'm only a few hours into The Saboteur but at the moment it feels more like a lackluster GTA clone (minus the quality of missions and level of detail in the game world) than anything comparable to Mercs 2. If anything I'd compare it more to Red Faction: Guerilla but without the GeoMod destruction. I guess I'm still waiting for the "hook", the gameplay mechanic that makes this different from every other mediocre open world title in existence. Mercs had destruction on a massive scale, Red Faction: Guerilla had destruction on a smaller scale but with a really fun physics system to make it interesting. The Saboteur has what? An underwhelming climbing system?

Am I missing something here, or did I come into this game with misguided expectations?

[Karak]

Originally Posted by The Continental

Gamefly finally sent me a copy and while I agree with all of the gripes mentioned in the review, I think the review might be a little too kind its comparisons to Mercs 2. While Mercs was admittedly rather shallow, the massive scale of the destruction in the game made it a sand box that was very easy to lose yourself in and offered ever more incentive to unlock the next biggest bomb to see an even bigger explosion.

I'm only a few hours into The Saboteur but at the moment it feels more like a lackluster GTA clone (minus the quality of missions and level of detail in the game world) than anything comparable to Mercs 2. If anything I'd compare it more to Red Faction: Guerilla but without the GeoMod destruction. I guess I'm still waiting for the "hook", the gameplay mechanic that makes this different from every other mediocre open world title in existence. Mercs had destruction on a massive scale, Red Faction: Guerilla had destruction on a smaller scale but with a really fun physics system to make it interesting. The Saboteur has what? An underwhelming climbing system?

Am I missing something here, or did I come into this game with misguided expectations?

Yep you are missing it. And I don't mean that in a bad way. But if you have played it to the point you say and it has not grabbed you it is time to move on. Many parts to games grab people, the timeline, the actions, the interactions, the mechanics, hell even sound and graphics. A couple of those probably just didn't grab you.
Case in point I did not love Uncharted 2. I beat it but the mechanics, the areas did not grab me. Games have to grab something in your head that cause you to want to play them.