The Saboteur

Just when you thought every conceivable way of killing Nazis had been represented in videogames, here comes the Saboteur adding hit and run, car bombs and a number of other vehicular and explosive methods to the list. But Nazi killing isn't the only familiar ground that the game treads. The Saboteur feels like a mash up of a lot of different games but lacking the polish of its predecessors.

The titular Saboteur is Sean Devlin an Irish ex-racecar driver turned demolitions expert in Nazi occupied France. After a tragic encounter with the Nazis (really, is there any other kind?) that ended with the murder of his best friend, Sean finds his way to Paris where he's recruited by the French resistance to blow up stuff and eventually extract revenge on the murderer, a Nazi soldier and fellow racecar driver, Dierker. Not that the plot matters all that much. As you progress through the game, you'll meet more Resistance members and British secret agents who will give you missions which only occasionally forward the plot.

Most of the missions give you the option of completing them one of two ways, either stealthily or by killing and destroying everything in sight. Choosing the more destructive route is by far the most satisfying. You obtain an array of different methods of destruction, from various guns, grenades, explosives and even the ability to ram a car into an object and jump out of it at the last second before it explodes. The stealth elements in the game, however, flirt with being frustrating more than satisfying. While you can steal various Nazi uniform, there isn't any difference between a grunt's uniform and an officer's uniform as apparently Sean stands out like a sore thumb. Nearly every action you take besides walking alerts the Nazis around you to your presence which makes going in stealthily disjointed and less fun.

Besides destruction and stealth, the Saboteur borrows heavily gameplay mechanics from other games. The game features sandbox type gameplay and the ability to carjack vehicles (who wants to drive a Nazi tank?) like the Grand Theft Auto series. And you have the ability to climb buildings and run along the rooftops to avoid Nazi persuit, much like the Assassin's Creed series. Except the Saboteur doesn't do the latter as well as the series it lifted the mechanic from. Climbing buildings is slow and tedious as you hit the jump button in order to climb two or three inches of virtual wall. Combat also has a similar feel. Aiming your weapons is a little too loose and who knows where your grenade will end up after you throw it? Maybe part of the "fun" is to see if you can throw a grenade without accidentally blowing yourself up?

What is particularly interesting about the game is its art direction. When you first enter an area, it is rendered in black and white, with a few splashes of color from the odd Nazi banner or shiny blue convertible. As you liberate certain areas from Nazi control, color will bleed into area, turning what was once dark and dreary into something vibrant and colorful. It's a great idea in theory but I found it harder to navigate Nazi controlled areas (not just because of the Nazis) because some topological features were hard to distinguish in monochrome.

Don't get me wrong, the Saboteur isn't a bad game. It just could have used a bit more polish to shine out all the dull spots. There's the making of a good game in there somewhere (or three or four games if you count all the games that it borrowed from) but all the minor annoyances and neglect ultimately add up to the Saboteur being less satisfying than it could have been.

Rating

Recommendations

Assassin's Creed 2 - Likewise, if you want to navigate the rooftops of a historical version of a European city, but do it more fluidly, Assassin's Creed 2 is your game.