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Pandemic Studios have always enjoyed success when it comes to shooters, starting with Battlezone II in 1999, beginning the Stars War Battlefront series in 2004, introducing Mercenaries to the gaming world in 2005, as well as Destroy All Humans, and finishing with their last release before liquidation, The Saboteur. This is very much the swan song of a company that has delivered some brilliant games. In my opinion, Pandemic has finished their list of titles with a fantastic game.
Are You Sitting Comfortably? Then I’ll Begin...
The Saboteur, as the name would suggest, is a game of sabotage set in German-occupied France during World War 2. You take control of Sean Devlin, a car mechanic who has a skill for racing. Sean is based on a real person called William Grover-Williams, who was a Grand Prix race driver and also a Special Operations Executive. Sean enters the Saarbrücken Grand Prix in the year 1940, but is cheated of the win by a Nazi Colonel named Kurt Dierker. Sean decides to take revenge, by sabotaging the winning car with his friend, Jules Rousseau. Dierker catches Sean and Jules, and under the belief that they are both British agents, Jules is killed by Dierker during the interrogation. Sean however manages to escape, and from there on in, he is determined to kill Dierker. Sean is then recruited by a man called Luc, who is the leader of the French resistance. The story is great, but the only problem I have with it is the fact that Sean is Irish for no reason at all. It is as though they chucked that in last minute to add a bit of culture to the game, as it would be daft to assume an English man could stop the Nazis, despite the fact that William Grover-Williams was in fact English.
Revenge Is Sweet. Destruction Is Sweeter...
Now obviously, Sean doesn’t just go to Dierker’s house, knock on the door and shoot him, there is much more to do before you get to take revenge. You will be expected to do favours for numerous people, some which will be just side missions that give you contraband (the currency system that enables you to purchase weapons from black market dealers), whilst others will be essential to the main storyline. It’s not all about the missions though, as you have to remember, this is German-occupied France, and the Nazis are crawling all over the place. So how exactly do you get up to mischief with so many Nazis lurking around? This is where true sabotage comes into the game, where you must distract targets by blowing up key structures or propaganda, or blend into your Nazis comrades by stealing a uniform off the Nazi whose neck you’ve just broken. Yes, assassination is also a key element in this game, and it’s really nice to have a hybrid of assassination and sabotage.
It Doesn’t Matter If You’re Black Or White...
You may have seen screenshots of the game or video clips and noticed that the graphics seem to be black and white. Surely this is madness? A black and white game? It sounds bland, but it’s actually to do with the resistance in-game. If you revolt enough in a certain area, you will restore faith back to that particular area, and inspire the people. To reflect this, the colour is injected back into that area. You can then expect an easier time in that particular area, as there will be less Nazis. On the other hand, black and white areas reflect Nazi occupation, and you can expect a handful of trouble if you do anything wrong.
Grand Theft... Sabotage...
Despite the fact that they had nothing to with the game whatsoever, I can’t help but feel a touch of Rockstar and GTA whist roaming around in-game. Anyone who’s played the game will know exactly what I mean. Just like GTA, if you die, you’ll lose all your weapons. You’ll also have a garage to store your cars.
A Bug’s Life...
Overall it’s a game I’m glad I bought. On reflection, I can’t believe it hasn’t had more coverage. I did experience quite a few bugs, such as every character in the game disappearing after I had completed a mission, and also one of the characters running towards me backwards, and also facing away from me when talking to me during the cut scene. Another occurrence is when two characters that were supposed to be following me to a location, ended up a set of stairs somehow, and they began to run up and down these stairs. Sadly the only way I got them off the stairs was throwing a grenade, to which their programmed response was to run a mile. It’s not a very polished game, but it has enough sustenance to provide an entertaining experience. True it’s not the most challenging game I’ve played, and it’s not particularly long, seeing as I completed it within about 10 hours, but just like Grand Theft Auto, there’s more to do than just the missions.
So if you fancy roaming around Paris as an Irish mechanic who is on a vendetta against the entire Nazi army, this is a game for you. If on the other hand you’re looking for a pure shoot ‘em up game that’s fast flowing and action packed seemingly every mission, stay away.
Overall Rating 7/10
Pandemic Studios have always enjoyed success when it comes to shooters, starting with Battlezone II in 1999, beginning the Stars War Battlefront series in 2004, introducing Mercenaries to the gaming world in 2005, as well as Destroy All Humans, and finishing with their last release before liquidation, The Saboteur. This is very much the swan song of a company that has delivered some brilliant games. In my opinion, Pandemic has finished their list of titles with a fantastic game.
Are You Sitting Comfortably? Then I’ll Begin...
The Saboteur, as the name would suggest, is a game of sabotage set in German-occupied France during World War 2. You take control of Sean Devlin, a car mechanic who has a skill for racing. Sean is based on a real person called William Grover-Williams, who was a Grand Prix race driver and also a Special Operations Executive. Sean enters the Saarbrücken Grand Prix in the year 1940, but is cheated of the win by a Nazi Colonel named Kurt Dierker. Sean decides to take revenge, by sabotaging the winning car with his friend, Jules Rousseau. Dierker catches Sean and Jules, and under the belief that they are both British agents, Jules is killed by Dierker during the interrogation. Sean however manages to escape, and from there on in, he is determined to kill Dierker. Sean is then recruited by a man called Luc, who is the leader of the French resistance. The story is great, but the only problem I have with it is the fact that Sean is Irish for no reason at all. It is as though they chucked that in last minute to add a bit of culture to the game, as it would be daft to assume an English man could stop the Nazis, despite the fact that William Grover-Williams was in fact English.
Revenge Is Sweet. Destruction Is Sweeter...
Now obviously, Sean doesn’t just go to Dierker’s house, knock on the door and shoot him, there is much more to do before you get to take revenge. You will be expected to do favours for numerous people, some which will be just side missions that give you contraband (the currency system that enables you to purchase weapons from black market dealers), whilst others will be essential to the main storyline. It’s not all about the missions though, as you have to remember, this is German-occupied France, and the Nazis are crawling all over the place. So how exactly do you get up to mischief with so many Nazis lurking around? This is where true sabotage comes into the game, where you must distract targets by blowing up key structures or propaganda, or blend into your Nazis comrades by stealing a uniform off the Nazi whose neck you’ve just broken. Yes, assassination is also a key element in this game, and it’s really nice to have a hybrid of assassination and sabotage.
It Doesn’t Matter If You’re Black Or White...
You may have seen screenshots of the game or video clips and noticed that the graphics seem to be black and white. Surely this is madness? A black and white game? It sounds bland, but it’s actually to do with the resistance in-game. If you revolt enough in a certain area, you will restore faith back to that particular area, and inspire the people. To reflect this, the colour is injected back into that area. You can then expect an easier time in that particular area, as there will be less Nazis. On the other hand, black and white areas reflect Nazi occupation, and you can expect a handful of trouble if you do anything wrong.
Grand Theft... Sabotage...
Despite the fact that they had nothing to with the game whatsoever, I can’t help but feel a touch of Rockstar and GTA whist roaming around in-game. Anyone who’s played the game will know exactly what I mean. Just like GTA, if you die, you’ll lose all your weapons. You’ll also have a garage to store your cars.
A Bug’s Life...
Overall it’s a game I’m glad I bought. On reflection, I can’t believe it hasn’t had more coverage. I did experience quite a few bugs, such as every character in the game disappearing after I had completed a mission, and also one of the characters running towards me backwards, and also facing away from me when talking to me during the cut scene. Another occurrence is when two characters that were supposed to be following me to a location, ended up a set of stairs somehow, and they began to run up and down these stairs. Sadly the only way I got them off the stairs was throwing a grenade, to which their programmed response was to run a mile. It’s not a very polished game, but it has enough sustenance to provide an entertaining experience. True it’s not the most challenging game I’ve played, and it’s not particularly long, seeing as I completed it within about 10 hours, but just like Grand Theft Auto, there’s more to do than just the missions.
So if you fancy roaming around Paris as an Irish mechanic who is on a vendetta against the entire Nazi army, this is a game for you. If on the other hand you’re looking for a pure shoot ‘em up game that’s fast flowing and action packed seemingly every mission, stay away.
Overall Rating 7/10