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Genre: Third-Person Action Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: Pandemic Studios Players: 1

By Keith B (5th Jan 2010)

I’ve always wondered why video game characters from Ireland are thin on the ground. That’s because I happen to be Irish, and I think the foul mouthed, drunken stereotype would suit gaming well, at least occasionally. It also happens that I’m right, because playing as protagonist Sean Devlin in Pandemic’s swansong The Saboteur ultimately provides a rewarding experience despite being far from perfect in execution.

Try and keep from yawning as I explain the premise behind the title, which uses two of the most overplayed cards in the deck of game developers. It’s set in World War II, and it’s a sandbox title. Now, either of those two facts would normally send me off on a tangent as I kicked over tables in frustration at the predictability of the gaming world, but strangely enough it doesn’t. It could be the wonderfully recreated Paris in the early 1940s that kept me entertained or the blend of many genres that you play across, or even the kick-in-the-balls difficulty of some sections, but whatever it was, it managed to keep this from slipping around the u-bend of mediocrity.

Devlin is a race car driver, employed by an Italian, who travels to Paris to race. He inadvertently becomes swept up in a conflict with prominent Nazi Kurt Dierker, and so begins his story of destruction as he fights to liberate Paris from the clutches of the Nazi war machine. Devlin’s unclear history from Ireland lends him some credibility in the role of an urban terrorist and the early plot threads help give it an iron-clad believability.

Through the campaign the player must cause mayhem among the Nazi ranks, often achieved through subterfuge and terrorist antics. Blowing up fuel depots and a wide range of other installations core to the story are the bread and butter, but acquiring cash for the game, called contraband, can be achieved by blowing just about anything belonging to the Nazis to pieces. New weapons, explosives and ammo are available to buy from black market dealers across the map, and so too are vehicles.

Paris itself is a pretty place, and throw in the wonderful tapestry of colour against the monochromatic greyness of suburbs controlled by the Nazis and it is a sight to behold. Initially, most regions of the map are displayed in black and white, with the only splashes of colour the yellow light in the windows of buildings, and the red of the Nazi arm bands and vehicle insignia.



Complete enough missions and you can help liberate the sector, allowing for some general support when you travel through in the form of freedom fighters who will come to you aid should the Germans be in pursuit. Liberating a sector also floods the game world in colour, banishing the greys and allowing Paris to come to life. The colour, or lack thereof, allows you to see at a glance what sort of reception you’ll get for detonating a bomb, but also provides a good base for some wonderful cinematic moments not unlike Sin City or the scene with the young girl in the red dress in Schindler’s List.

Underneath this colour scheme lies a variety of game modes which players will utilise. There is plenty of driving to be done, with matching radio stations to suit the era. There is a hefty slice of Assassin’s Creed influence as Devlin uses the rooftops to infiltrate bases or escape the Germans. The combat comes quick and fast, and actually comes out as a star, having more weight and responsiveness than other sandbox titles out there, including GTAIV. The weapons are effective, the animations are detailed, and even little touches like allowing the screen to go very, very red before dying all provide a base for some thrilling moments.



True, not all the mechanics of the title are flawless – the driving takes some time to get used to, the climbing is often a stop start affair – but blending so many of them together creatively deserves more praise than Pandemic will ever get. While Altair/Ezio may scale buildings quicker, it’s easier to pick an effective path through The Saboteur courtesy of a system which dimly illuminates path options on the face of a building. Clunking around in a clapped out family car isn’t fun, but after one of the Perks activates then you’ll often be in the seat of a sports car, which is much more fun.

The Perks system is innovative too, perhaps borrowed from Modern Warfare in theory but not execution. As various objectives are completed the game rewards the player with bonuses to play. Headshot enough Nazis and Sean’s rifle sways less when zoomed in. Blow up enough towers and tanks with dynamite and it then takes a shorter time to set up a trap. Each of the Perks are gentle in implementation but over the course of a playthrough they become real assets.



The story itself is the biggest plus, because rather than prop itself up on wobbly stilts of predictability (other than setting, I agree) by having an American hero, who happens to be trained in all manner of weapons not unlike Steven Seagal, The Saboteur never tries to be too full of bravado. Yes, the player can unleash destruction at will but the quasi-Irish voiceover gives a real sense of newness. I can let the accent slide somewhat because living in Australia has taught me that often non-Irish people have a little difficulty in understanding my brogue, and the absolute effectiveness of the colloquial language seals the deal.

Even when there are elements that point to a rushed job, desperate to see the light of day before the closure of the studio, these in turn lend a nostalgic feel. The 8-bit loading screens are something I haven’t seen since the heady days of my C64 but strangely made me feel right at home.



It’s a tragedy that this has come out when it did. Pandemic’s closure means that the developer will never get the acclaim it deserves, and as a result The Saboteur will probably never land in enough consoles to get the praise it deserves. If it had arrived out in the middle of 2009 instead of at the end, could it have helped save Pandemic? Who knows? All I do know is that, despite the complexities of weaving so many game styles into a cohesive whole, this is a game that has surprised greatly, and on that basis, it’s worth investing in.

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