My review of Pandemic Studios’ The Saboteur is bittersweet. At the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Show in Los Angeles, I fell in love with the game as I was given a private showing at the Pandemic suite. There was something about the film noir art style that really grabbed my attention and I could not wait to play it. As time passed and news broke that EA had closed down Pandemic, I was really hoping that it did not cause any problems with The Saboteur’s final release.

STORY:
The story of The Saboteur takes place in Nazi-controlled France and casts you in the role of part-time race car driver, Sean Devlin. Like all tragic heroes, something very traumatic has happened in Sean’s life that he needs to seek revenge for. These are harsh times in the world and Sean has taken his lumps to say the least. He is living in the seedy, yet seemingly-safe world of a brothel where he sits every night drinking away his problems. The Saboteur is definitely a mature-rated game and, with the included DLC code, you can unlock crazy amounts of topless women in the game. It also unlocks more brothels as hiding places as well as the addition of private dances. I have to admit that I never saw the private dances nor where you can get them but I am sure they were there…

The game’s gripping story is its shining-light. When a game makes me want to keep playing just to find out what will happen next in the story, I consider that title worth playing. The Saboteur strayed away from the good guy hero and went down a grittier path with Sean Devlin. You never really knew if what he was doing was right but you knew it was a necessity to get things done. I felt really engaged with most of the characters, going so far as wanting to lash-out, physically, at others. While the ending fell a bit flat, and gave a bit of a tease at a possible sequel, I was very impressed by the entire story as a whole.

GAMEPLAY:
The Saboteur is a mix of Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s Creed. An open-world ready for you to explore and find things to do. If you are familiar with any of the aforementioned titles, The Saboteur’s controls should be pretty easy for you to pick-up. You start out following a set path to further the story but as you play many side-missions open up for you to explore. The great thing about The Saboteur is that there is always something to do. Throughout the city there are Nazi installations for you to destroy which will add money to your wallet. Destroying these locations will keep the surrounding areas clear of Nazi’s, so if you are having problems in a mission head right out and blow up that tower which always seems to snipe you.

There is another advantage to doing these side-missions and that is contraband. Contraband is currency in Nazi-controlled France and can pretty much get you everything from transit papers to new guns. As your stockpile of contraband grows you can purchase all kinds of upgrades from black market dealers. Not only can you purchase weapon upgrades but you can unlock special perks for Devlin. The perk system is an interesting semi-leveling experience added to the game. As you complete certain tasks you will unlock said perks that will upgrade your character. These perks can be anything from a top-tier sniper rifle to a bigger grenade killzone.

Transportation around France comes in the form of a ton of different cars. You can hijack them from just about anyone and, as you take cars, you can bring them back to your garage for storage. I had a lot of fun stealing Nazi transportation just to add it to my collection. As you get going in the game you will have the ability to set any of your cars as a ‘getaway car’ which an in-game NPC is used to have it delivered to you. This is a great feature, especially when you need one of those fast escapes!

Combat in The Saboteur is simple third-person action through and though. You can sneak up behind Nazis and choke them out or come in guns blazing. Be careful though as it is really easy to spring their alarms. There is an interesting disguise element to the game where you can steal Nazi uniforms, however I found this element a waste of time. It didn’t matter if you were wearing a high rank uniform you will still be spotted in about 3 seconds alarming the entire area. I found it much easier to just start blowing everyone away.

The last gameplay element I wanted to touch on was the game’s verticality. Some tasks require you to get up on the rooftops to destroy towers or even to escape the Nazis. This was very easily done, although there seemed to be a general lack of hideout spots. For the most part, I found myself just driving out of the alarm zone or running as fast as I could. It was pretty awesome to zip line into a Nazi camp only to drop and blow everyone away.

The only real issue i have with any of the gameplay is the camera. As with most third-person games, the camera is either your best friend or worst enemy. I found myself fighting with the camera on several occasions only to end up dead. I pray that one day developers will get this mechanic right so it wouldn’t be such a problem.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND:
The graphics in The Saboteur are fantastic. The city is a living, breathing reality and at times can stir up a bit of emotion depending on what part of it you are in. The landscape is huge, not only going through Paris, but to the German border towns as well. What I loved about The Saboteur’s graphics was the film nore vibe. When you are in a heavily controlled Nazi area you are living in a black and white world with only the red Nazi armbands bleeding through. You can really feel the despair about the city as every day citizens were being harassed. As you complete missions it is like a giant explosion of hope that ripples through the zones turning the landscape to color before your eyes. This was something I was thoroughly impressed with at E3 and I am glad they stuck with it in the game’s development.

The game’s visuals are a double-edged sword, however, as it is also where I feel this game was rushed to retail. While being beautiful overall, I encountered so many graphical glitches that some of them were game ending! Most of the cut-scenes had severe clipping problems where characters would be inside each other or inanimate objects! I encountered a nasty bug several times where, after a mission, every NPC in the game would just simply vanish and I would have to reload. These bugs are unacceptable and show that this game needed some more baking time before release.

The sound in The Saboteur was fantastic. The music of the time is really showcased with the likes of Nina Simone and Ela Fitzgerald blasting over the airwaves as you drive. The city sounds alive as you make your way through it with shouts coming from people or Nazis as you pass-by. Explosions and gun shots were on point and showed a great attention to detail.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The Saboteur is a great game that should be played by any adult gamer looking for an excellent story. While there are some bugs that made the game feel like it was rushed, it is a fitting swan song for Pandemic Studios as we know them. While its not perfect, it is definitely worth the 6 to 8 hours it will take you to finish the journey of Sean Devlin.

DISCLOSURE: Electronic Arts sent us an evaluation copy of The Saboteur for this review.