"The Saboteur" Review

The Saboteur

I think Brad Pitt’s character in Inglorious Basterds said it best when he said:

“…we're gonna be doin' one thing and one thing only...killin' Nazis.”

For the most part this is apropos for what you will be doing in Pandemic’s The Saboteur. However, unlike Tarantino’s remake the game may fail to keep you entertained for the duration, and you just may find yourself giving up the fight not long after you begin.

You play as Sean Devlin, an Irish Bruce Willis protagonist who you'll quickly find out is one marshmallow short of a full box of Lucky Charms. Sean would rather spend his time getting drunk off his ass and banging dirty French whores than get involved in a war that doesn’t concern him or his country. But like most game clichés a certain tragic event happens to Sean which leads him to his inevitable involvement in good ol’ WWII.

One night as he is wallowing in self pity over said tragic event and about to curl up in a bottle of whisky, he is approached by a member of the French resistance who calls him out for being a coward because Sean chooses to drink over choosing to fight. Surprisingly, instead of decking Frenchy on the spot Sean takes the stranger’s words to heart and starts on his path of resistance.

Contacts are presented GTA-style with letters appearing on your map to represent story missions. Once accepted you’re free to carry out the mission any way you see fit which basically boils down to just two options: Stealth or guns blazing. While the latter is certainly more action packed it can rapidly devolve in to a chaotic mess often leading to a quick death. Most of the time the best course of action is to sneak your way in which usually involves going undercover in a Nazi uniform. Generally you are able to sneak in wherever you need to go, but getting out usually consists of hauling ass or fighting your way to freedom.

The stealth elements are handled fairly well as you can knock out any Nazi soldier or officer and don their attire. Once Sean is disguised he can carry his weapon out in the open without raising suspicion (which you can’t do when you are dressed in civilian clothes). You can bypass a lot of curious looks and raised eyebrows from any nearby Nazis provided you don’t get too close. If you do get too close no doubt the Guinness sweating from every pore of your body would be enough to tip them off that you are not a native from the Fatherland, and your alarm rating starts to rise. Raise it too high and you set off an alarm and, much like David Blaine’s career, the disguise you were wearing magically vanishes and you’re back to civilian clothing.

The ease of escaping the five levels of alarms is relative to the severity. All you need to do to escape is get outside of the alarm radius (think GTA IV) or find one of the many hiding spots which are conveniently placed all over the city. However, the bigger the alarm the larger the radius grows and, thus, the harder it is to escape quickly. Each progressive level of alarm determines how aggressive the Nazis are towards you. Level 1 is the easiest and least threatening compared to level 5 where they basically send half the German army after you including tanks and machine gun strafing aircraft. But the strategy is always the same: Escape the alarm radius or find a hiding spot.

The game initially starts out in black and white with select items highlighted with a splash of color to give it a visually striking presentation. Successfully completing certain missions brings color back to that part of the map, and also liberates that section from overt Nazi oppression. This is one novel concept of the game that is pretty cool in both concept and execution. The color flooding back in is an obvious inspiration from the 1998 remake of Pleasantville. Unfortunately Jeff Daniels and Tobi “Call me Spidey” Maguire do not make a cameo in the game.

Outside of the core story missions there is a lot to do in The Saboteur and that is no exaggeration. In the game you use contraband to buy new weapons, ammo, repair vehicles, etc. on the Black Market. In order to get contraband you have to complete side missions (called “ambient freeplay events“) such as blowing up enemy sniper/guard towers, anti-aircraft guns, radar sites, missile sites, fuel depots, et al. and generally pissing in the Nazis’ Cheerios bowls every chance you get by causing havoc and mayhem wherever you go. You perform these freeplay events at your leisure and can freely roam around the entire map tackling them at will.

Normally the inclusion of side missions isn’t a bad thing as it allows the player to break the monotony and tunnel vision of completing story mission after story mission, but The Saboteur takes this concept and runs with it. Many times the freeplay events mimic the story missions just on a smaller scale (i.e. go here and destroy this target or assassinate this general, etc.), but you’re essentially performing the exact same tasks all the time. So when you play the freeplay events as a “break” from the story missions you’re really not getting a break from anything since the freeplay events are microcosms of the story missions themselves. And here’s the best part: Someone at Pandemic thought it was a good idea to include over 1000 (1338 to be exact) of these freeplay events to complete all over Paris. Joy! I don’t care what you’re doing, but doing 1000+ of anything can get boring really fast.

If The Saboteur does one thing right it’s killing Nazis. The game comes across as a combination of various games that borrows heavily from a veritable “Who’s Who” of third-person games before it: Grand Theft Auto III, Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted, Hitman and Mercenaries just to name a few; the last of which should not come as a surprise considering that Pandemic developed Mercenaries as well. And while the game handily cherry picks game-play elements from all of those strong franchises, the sum of its parts amounts to little more than moyenne (that’s French for “average”). There is nothing wrong with the execution of all of these elements which combine and work flawlessly in the game, but you can’t help getting a strong sense of déjà vu while playing it to one of those other games mentioned above. The narrative tries to pull you in--and to a degree it succeeds--but more often than not the repetitiveness will start to whittle down the resolve of even the most ardent completionist, and it might start to overrule any fun you are having.

In the end The Saboteur ends up sabotaging itself with its overabundance (and over reliance) of ambient freeplay events. What should be used to help break up the monotony of the game ends up being the most monotonous part of the game instead. While it’s by no means a bad game, doing the same freeplay events over and over can start to feel old after a while. It’s no wonder the developers included a trophy for climbing up and subsequently jumping off the Eiffel Tower -- because that’s exactly what you’ll feel like doing after completing this game 100%!*

(*Please don’t jump off the Eiffel Tower. That would not be good.)

Summary:

All-in-all The Saboteur is a good game for what it offers. The wealth of things to do outside of the core story missions is plentiful almost to a fault, and it will keep you busy long after the main story is over. It’s really up to the individual to decide when they’ve had enough. The game-play and mechanics are pretty solid and work together very well from the loose stealth options to the rooftop parkour and the many fire fights you will engage in. Plus, who doesn’t like killing Nazis? This game is definitely recommended to open-world, sandbox enthusiast as well as third-person shooter fans.

Essential Facts:

-Lots of ambient free play challenges to complete will keep you gaming long after the story ends
-Unique artistic presentation really gives the game a distinct look that really fits the theme of 1940 era Paris
-Liberating sections of Paris and infusing color back in to the world is satisfying and a stylized mechanic
-Tight, responsive controls
-Trophies are relatively easy and mostly require investing time to earn
-Voice actors’ accents often sound fake and sometimes clichéd

This game is definitely recommended for open-world, sandbox enthusiasts as well as third-person shooter fans and gamers looking to score an easy platinum.