The Saboteur is the first game I have played on the Playstation 3 and quite honestly, this was a great introduction. The game is set in 1940’s Nazi occupied Paris and you play the role of Sean Devlin, an Irish racer with a bit of a chip on his shoulder when it comes to the Nazis. After losing a race to a German driver, Sean decides to get some petty revenge, which results in a personal loss. This in turn puts Sean on a path of further revenge, whilst also helping the British and French resistance.
As far as the story goes, it is not The Saboteur’s strongest point, nor is it an exceptionally unique plot. That being said, it would appear that the developers were aware of this and embraced it. Some of the conversations Sean has with the other characters are actually quite funny, which in my opinion, makes the experience even better. Speaking of the characters, they are all pretty much your typical World War stereotypes- martyr like resistance leader, female British agent with a posh accent and young woman instantly attracted to the rebel. But like with the story, the developers embrace these stereotypes and just go with it. I think if you want a game that revolutionises the World War II setting, then you will be sorely disappointed but if you want a story with a few twists and turns and a lot of action, then this game will definitely suit you.
As far as looks go, The Saboteur is definitely a game of its generation. It certainly doesn’t push the PS3 to its limits. However, its use of colour definitely makes it stand out. In the Nazi occupied areas of Paris, everything is in a mixture of black, white and grey with just a hint of colour; whilst in the ‘inspired’ areas the game is in full colour. I honestly like this use of colour and adds a bit of a visual to your progress as you complete the free play activities and side quests.
The Saboteur is an open world game, which means it has its fair share of activities. Most of these activities involve you blowing some structure up or taking on some Nazis. There are plenty of these activities, enough to the point that you will feel like the developers are padding out the game time, in order to compensate for the short story. Still, the side activities are quite fun and I never found myself bored of them. In particular, I enjoyed trying to work out how to reach the sightseeing locations, which almost made the game feel like it was a puzzle platformer.The only activity that I did not enjoy as much was the racing, as the controls for the cars were appalling. I often lost the race due to my car spinning out of control. Fortunately, there aren’t that many races and only two of them are mandatory for the story.
I did come across some bugs and glitches, some of which worked in my favour, such as some of the tanks dropping on the heads of the soldiers that guarded them. However there were also a couple of occasions where the game would freeze and require me to restart my console. These issues, although sometimes annoying, did not ruin my experience with the game.
Overall, I feel like The Saboteur is a hidden gem that was initially forgotten due to the other games that were released at the time. It may not reinvent the action open world genre but it does enough to feel like a unique and individual experience. I would especially recommend The Saboteur to fans of the Assassin’s Creed series, especially if you wanted to know what an Assassin’s Creed game set in World War II would be like. If you own a PS3, Xbox 360 or play on PC I recommend you try out The Saboteur.
