You are Sean Devlin, an Irish engineer and race car driver who has the misfortune of bumping into the wrong Nazi during a race. The consequences are dire: before the night is over, your best friend is dead and Germany has invaded France, forcing you to flee to Paris. Once there, you're quickly thrown into a cell by the French Resistance. It gives you an excellent opportunity to plan your own personal vengeance as you can sabotage for the German occupiers in a Paris that you can travel more or less freely in.
The format is a simple revenge story, but everything becomes more complicated as secrets, betrayal and love enter the picture. The story could have been really interesting if it weren't for how the characters were portrayed. I may have been spoiled after a series of titles with good voice acting, so it's hard to look past the fact that many of the characters sound like they were taken from the old comedy series, " 'Allo 'Allo!". They don't even seem to have taken the time to find a true Irishman to play the role as Devlin, and the same feeling arises when the game's French and Germans are portrayed. Boring, unnecessary, and perhaps a sign of EA's approach to the game and Pandemics future.
The gameplay is similar to Grand Theft Auto and other games with a mix of several genres: third person action and platform jumping, combined with stealth and racing. Many will surely be annoyed at the lack of realism. Sean is able to take a terrifying amount of bullets before he falls to the ground and when he decides to climb a building, it is impossible to stop him. If you have nothing against exaggerated abilities of our main character, there is not too much to complain about.
The Saboteur has components that make it stand out from the crowd - That can be found in the sabotage. The Nazis have found their bearings in Paris, which means that there are a variety of radio stations, guns, tanks, fuel depots, and even Zeppelins just waiting for someone to come and blow them to smithereens. This is done with a little dynamite, which you place in the vicinity of the targets. It can be very easy to get to them, but to access any important installation requires agility, violence and / or cunning. A smart way would be to get to the rooftops to see if there is a wire that can take you closer to your goal. Violence can also work if you make sure to equip yourself with enough weapons. Stealth is my personal favorite since it makes it possible to attack an unsuspecting German and steal his uniform. The disguise is not 100%, if you don't act like a German soldier they can easily spot you, but even if you do act like one, you can't go too near the enemy without being detected.
A game without the ability to unlock new skills and weapons systems is now exempt and The Saboteur hooks on the prevailing trend. As you pass missions, you gain access to cars and other vehicles to put to use when faced with tricky challenges, but it extends beyond gadgets. When you meet the specific criteria, you are given access to perks that give you better skills in melee, firearms, and so on.
To get through the game takes some time, at least if you are doing side-missions and random sabotaging. Pandemic claims it takes 12 to 15 hours to play through it for those who stick to the main story. True, although it obviously can be faster for those who rush forward. However, if you're planning on doing everything, time will just fly by. There are so many places to blow up it feels like an almost overwhelming task when you study the statistics and find that you have barely done anything. That the game lacks a multiplayer mode - That is no greater loss in terms of playing time, but given the opportunities which the environment and game mechanics offer, it still feels a bit dull.
The graphics are probably what The Saboteur received the most attention to before release. Not that it is particularly technically impressive, more thanks to the way that Pandemic has chosen to depict the struggle against the occupation forces. The areas controlled by the Nazis are almost entirely black and white. The swaying nazi flags carry the only color that is added in the parts of Paris and it is a simply brilliant way to set the atmosphere. The excellent music selection also helps create a very atmospheric world and were it not for the poor voice acting the audio would have been one of the strongest parts in the game.
There is no doubt that The Saboteur is a good game - the only question is how good. When I think of it, I can almost get a little depressed over the fact that it wasn't better than it is. The game has a huge potential and if Pandemic had just gotten a little more time to polish it, it could probably have become one of the studio's finest moments, if not the best.
