The Saboteur review

The Saboteur is a game that was released in 2009 by Pandemic. It is a game that most people haven't heard about and didn't get the respect it needed.



Chasing Dierker though a blown up Zeppelin

    It is set during World War 2 in a Nazi controlled Paris and you play as Iris race car driver Sean Devlin. Sean is about to win a race when his nemesis, Dierker, shoots his tires causing 1st place going to the Dierker. When Sean sets out on revenge he finds that Dierker is actually a Nazi which results to the torture and killing of Sean's best friend, Jules. A revenge filled Devlin then joins the resistance against the Nazis in Paris. The story is filled with many characters with many diverse ascents. This characters are all unique and  adds to the story. Sean enters Paris with Vittore and Veronique. Veronique is mad at Sean because of Jules death and their relationship will change throughout the story. The only problem is that the voice over for Veronique does not do a good performance. There are many more characters like Luc, Skylar, and Bishop and they are all unique with good dialogue. But you can't enjoy a game without a likable protagonist. Sean is that and even more, he is a jokster and a cool main character. The story is a good length not being to long or to short, and is overall good with a few shortcomings. One problem is that the ending seems to wrap up to quick. I was hoping for an epic moment at the end, but I did not get it.
  The gameplay focuses on sneaking, climbing, shooting, and blowing stuff up. The controls to do these actions are pretty good except that I always found myself throwing grenades instead of sneaking. Using stealth is a optional way to get through a mission. There are so many ways to get to your objective and that's one thing I really liked about the game. Sean can sneak in a Nazi camp place a bomb then run like hell to the exit. You can put on a disguise and sneak in that way or even enter from the rooftops. There are many opportunities to use stealth but a lot of times it is easier just to shoot everyone. Sean can climb on any building in Paris. To do this just press x and Sean will go the nearest hold. Climbing doesn't take that long but the animations for it are not that good, same thing for jumping. The shooting is easy and fun. You can either use cover like a regular person or run around like a crazy man shooting randomly. You can take many shots before you die and your health regenerates very fast. I played the game on normal and I'm sure it's not that easy on the harder difficulties. There are also many weapons at you disposal. You get the weapons by picking them up or buying them at the black market. The explosives are easy to use and that's good because blowing stuff up is the main thing you will be doing throughout the game. The only problem is that sometimes It wont let you place dynamite on a target when you clearly can. Then you have to move around until the game lets you place the dynamite. This can be bad when you have a million Nazis shooting at you while you do this.

 

Paris is a great setting for a free roam game. The main highlight is all the historical buildings. When you are in a Nazi controlled area everything is black and white except for a few colors like red. Some may argue that this looks better then the colored sections. After you do some missions and blow stuff up, the Nazis will lose control and the area will be colorful again. It's actually a cool and unique idea. You get around Paris by driving and there are many cars to choose from. It reminds me of LA Noire because most of the time you drive like a crazy person. There are Nazi checkpoints where you have to be normal to get past or ramming through the gate is always another option. There are Nazi targets all around Paris for you to destroy. Destroying these will give you money to spend on guns and other stuff.

 

This game is very underrated and deserved much more attention. There are a whole lot of glitches  and the AI is very poorly designed. But overall this game is just a fun experience; The Saboteur gets a 9.0. I got this game not long ago after reading about it. I got it to give me something to do while I was waiting for The Last of Us. It is a great game if you are bored and wanted something else to play.(like me) Plus it is only 10 dollars at GameStop.



The Aurora is Sean's baby