Do you ever see those games on the shelf that never really draw your eye? The kind of games that just seems to be there to fill the gaps between the newly released games and the best sellers. The ones that go ignored because you don’t know anyone who has played them, or even mentioned them for that matter. Well that’s what The Saboteur was for me, just another game padding out the shelf of my local store. That’s when i thought to myself, maybe I should give this game a chance, see what it holds for me. This could be a hidden gem that has just become missed, or maybe there is a reason why no one is playing it…
I knew nothing about this game. I had a quick glance at the case to see what it was about but essentially I was going in to it blind. The case said that the game is set during World War 2 and has a film noire theme. You play an Irish rebel, named Sean Devlin, helping the French resistance liberate Paris, changing the game from black and white to full colour as you free areas from Nazi rule. The first cut scenes played through and as I expected the characters are all stereotypes. The Irish are drunks, the Germans are sadists and the French all smoke cigarettes and drink wine. But as I said, I expected this so I pushed on.
The game centres around Sean Devlin, some dodgy character who fled from Ireland for reasons unknown and is now a Grand Prix racer in Europe. After being cheated out of a win by a German rival racer, Sean and his friend Jules get some payback by trashing his race car. Little did they know this rival racer is also a Nazi captain who captures them and, mistaking them for spies, has Jules and all his family killed during the invasion of their town. Sean and Jules’ sister escape to Paris then 3 month later, here we are at the start of our heroes journey.
The first bits of gameplay started and I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was a sandbox game in the style of Grand Theft Auto. So the first thing I did (just like any GTA player would) was steal a car, drive down the pavement through as many people as I could and find a weapon to start a shoot out with. Strangely, this all handled really naturally. The controls felt smooth and the driving, fighting and shooting all handled really well. then as the game progressed it started adding more and more features, turning it into more than just a 1940’s generic GTA-styled clone.
Lets start from the top. There is a well thought out, yet simple, stealth element to the game using suspicion, disguises and distractions that affect the AI. There is a weapon shop which supplies guns, bombs, ammo and upgrades, and the currency is earned by destroying watch towers, armoured cars and Nazi transport bridges. black market garages where you can store, access and upgrade any vehicle you have dropped off there previously, There’s a perk system with abilities that are unlocked by completing certain tasks, like killing 10 enemies with grenades or destroying watch towers or bridges with dynamite. I have to say my favourite element is the fact that the free roaming isn’t limited to the streets either. For some reason your is able to climb buildings and jump across rooftops similar to Ezio from Assassin’s Creed. Maybe with a little less grace, but never the less this allows you to infiltrate areas, find sniper points and generally have more fun travelling through the city than just driving around everywhere.
I was sceptical when I decided to review this game, thinking it was just going to be another third person shooter or a bargain bin fodder, but it turned out to be loads of fun. I barely got through half of the gameplay features that make this so much fun and I haven’t even finished playing it all the way through. I’m having so much fun running across the rooftops, blowing stuff up while being chased by Nazis. If you see this, pick it up and play it. I can’t believe i almost missed this game. I won’t be making that mistake again.
Written by Daniel Estephane
If there are any more games like The Saboteur that you feel has gone a miss then please feel free to comment below and maybe we will have a blast on it and do a little bit of a write up for it
SET IN STONE GAMING 