Customer Reviews

The Saboteur

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

An Irish dynamiter, blowing up Nazis. In an "open world" Paris of the 1940s. What could go wrong? Well, not much, actually - apart from a slight lack of polish in a few places (the enemy A.I. for instance, although on the PC that's fully adjustable at the file level). This PC game is a lot of fun for someone who's never played GTA or Assassin's Creed (both games which The Saboteur borrows from). The art direction is excellent and is consistently imaginative, although the lack of forced PC anti-aliasing and the chunky on-screen interface both detract somewhat from your view of the beautiful game-world. The sharp and funny script is written in the style of a 1940s pulp novel (think Doc Savage), and the black and white graphics and art-deco models certainly help to evoke the period. Period 1940s cabaret and jazz music is used. Dialogue is suitably hammy and over the top, but some of the accents can be strained. The game's "open world" is genuinely large (12 square miles in total, with 1940s Paris recreated in about 3.5 square miles) and genuinely free-roaming. The game installed perfectly and ran perfectly for me on Windows 7, with excellent frame-rates even when all eye-candy was set to maximum. Talking of eye-candy, there's plenty here of the young female variety - this is a game that's resolutely targeted at a male audience. Your hero hides out in a classy brothel, venturing out for a wide variety of stealthy "quiet in, noisy out" missions. Hardcore gamers may have seen all The Saboteur's elements before, but for those who have never played GTA or the mass of me-too WWII shooters, and who have been attracted to The Saboteur for its novel premise and unusual visual aesthetic, the game is an engaging and genuinely fun experience.

Just a quick note for those worried about picking this game up to play with their ATI card. It absolutely DOES work once you download the 1.03 beta patch. In fact, it works so well I've been playing it every waking second since I picked it up last week. It's so immersive and addictive it's actually cutting into my work productivity.

I did have to turn some of the video settings down to run the race portions, and I've had a -very- occasional crash (once per 48 hours of solid play, on average), but that's better than some recent games with full support.

I'm not usually a fan of sandbox games. The only GTA game I could finish was 4, because the idea of a hoodlum protagonist just didn't appeal to me. I was drawn to the game for the stealth action aspect, which has not disappointed. This game is much more forgiving than Hitman or Death to Spies, but is no less fun. The use of color and environment really adds to the atmosphere.

In short, if you're at all a fan of stealth action or sandbox play, this one is definitely worth checking out. And if you have an ATI card, just google "saboteur beta 1.03 patch." It's a small, fast and easy to find download. One click install.

This game offers an excellent open environment in occupied Paris. Graphically, the game is very nice (though a little short of Mafia II's excellent graphics), although I love the artistic touch of making the heavily occupied portions of Paris in black and white, and the parts that have been somewhat freed are in color. The gameplay is a mixture of driving (primarily) and shooting, stealth, climbing buildings, etc. It's a lot of fun to drive around the city, kill Nazis and shoot down German Zeppelins.

The Saboteur was a decent diversion, though not quite what I expected. I'm a big fan of the Hitman series, and I thought that this game would be similar, given the title. While there are a number of stealth missions, the Saboteur is primarily a standard third-person shooter with some stealth elements thrown in. Once you realize this, you can accept the game for what it is and have a bit of fun with it. However, if you are expecting this game to be about something other than firefights and explosion, then you'll be disappointed.

Gameplay: The Saboteur is a mix of various gameplay mechanics. It wants to be a stealth game (like Hitman), an urban sandbox (like GTA3), and a shooter (take your pick). Nonetheless, it does not bring all of these elements together successfully. Sean Devlin, the main character, is interesting and comical enough, and the world in which he lives (WWII Paris) is certainly big and well realized. However, the game does not really let you consistently roleplay Sean as a shadowy saboteur working for the French resistance. Most mission degenerate into a run-and-gun frenzy, even if you try to keep things quiet and secretive. Actually, the game just feels more natural when you are just unloading on Nazis, despite its half-hearted encouragement of the stealth approach. Again, once you get past the hopeless idea of playing this purely as a stealth game, it seems to make more sense, though it hardly distinguishes itself from every other WWII shooter out there.

There are some roleplaying elements in the Saboteur. Sean is more anti-hero than anything else, and his wry humor, gratuitous profanity, and uncanny exploits help to flesh out some of the characters around him. While Sean himself does not noticeably improve over the course of the game, he can unlock various weapons, perks, upgrades, cars, and other things. And there is a good deal of stuff to blow up, from watch towers and fuel depots to tanks and military installations. However, outside of the story missions, just blowing up random things around Paris gets old after a while. The only real payoff is a few dollars here and there and the colorizing of the black-and-white landscape, which is a nice effect. On the PC, the game controls are what you would expect for a shooter and work well. I found the in-game map screen to be a bit wonky, but no big deal.

Graphics: The game looks good. It has a very stylized feel and nicely captures the atmosphere of the time period. Character models and animations are well done, and Paris is beautifully portrayed. There is a lot of attention to detail, and nothing comes off as sloppy in this department. Note: There is some female nudity in the game, but it is not presented in a raunchy way.

Audio: The game has a great soundtrack, and the character accents are very convincing. Also, sound effects--such as gunfire, explosions, and car engines--are all what you would expect. No problems here.

Technical issues: The game comes with a thin manual, though it is functional. There are a lot of in-game tips, so no one should feel at a loss for how to play. I did experience about 5 crashes and freezes during about 30 hours of gameplay (even using the latest beta batch). However, I am not sure whether it was the game's fault or whether it was due to some recent overclocking that I've done to my CPU. Anyhow, the game was largely stable. Also, the DRM system consisted of only a disk check--none of the online authentication foolishness that you find in many PC games today. Finally, I just hated the checkpoint save system, and the game loses a star for this needless frustration.

Value/Replayability: I picked up this game for less than $10, so I feel that I got good value. It might be worth another playthrough in the future, but it is merely a decent game overall. As long as you don't go into this thinking that you are going to play some ultra-smooth character who does all of his work in the shadows, you might otherwise enjoy at least parts of this game. Bottom line, the Saboteur is mostly just a stylized shooter with some limited stealth gameplay.

Pros:
+Graphics and atmosphere
+Music
+Car collecting
+a few of the missions
+Nice selection of weapons
+Reasonable DRM

Cons:
-Not much stealth required or allowed
-Checkpoint save system
-Gratuitous profanity
-Possibly a few bugs

Overall score: 3.5 stars

Complaints:
-They didn't go far enough with some of the aspects, occasionally you feel like you're playing a mediocre shooter, a bad racing game etc.
-Kind or frequent clipping issues, and damage to car disappears and reappears frequently.
-A few more vehicles would be nice- other motorcycles without a sideccar, planes, boats.
-BIGGEST COMPLAINT-Terrible camera control when driving, seriously, you stare down at the car to the side or even behind the car for 50% of the time especially when driving fast. I always had to switch to 1st person so i didn't crash because I could not see what was coming any other way.

Despite these it's still a lot of fun, read on for what I liked:

The game runs fine on highest settings on a homebuilt with an AMD phenom processor, nvidia 9600gt, 4gb ram, vista 64bit. A few crashes, maybe 5 over the entire length of the game. I played to 100% completion, which takes some time. The feel is similar to a gta game, but instead of a criminal you're killing nazis. Being the good guy is a nice change for the genre. It's also a lot like assassin's creed with climbing, finding viewpoints, hiding from alarms etc. No haystacks to jump in sadly. Graphics are nice, especially some of the car models. It runs smooth, even with twenty people running and shooting. Damage to cars is extremely unrealistic, as is their handling on dirt roads, but it makes the game easier, and maybe more fun. I was dissapointed in the lack of planes or boats to drive, but there are quite a few street cars, tanks, and some race cars. The map will tell you where all "freeplay" objectives are. It's actually fun to do them, not like typical collection side missions in gta. If there's a nazi V-2 base with sniper towers, AA guns etc., you can scout it out, stealth kill a patrolling guard, steal his uniform, sneak in and plant some explosives, and blow the place. Then escape from pursuing troops. It may grow tedious for some, but a lot of the freeplay targets throughout the map give unique situations. There's also a perk system based on accomplishments in the game, like getting 10 "double kills" with a sniper rifle. These unlock new cars, guns, or skills. I enjoyed it, and now that the price has dropped it's definitely worth it.

This is a 'sandbox' game much in the same style as Grand Theft Auto or Mercenaries. You control a character who is undermining the Nazi presence in France by blowing things up, running missions for the resistance, and otherwise being a pain in the butt for those 'jackbooted arseholes'. The graphics are good, but what really stands out is the gameplay. Rarely in this game was I aggravated due to control issues or clipping. There is a lot of polish in this game. I have not experienced any crashes during gameplay (once in awhile if I exit to windows) and there is so much to do in this game so it's always interesting. A majority of the side missions consist of blowing things up; however you can approach your targets in a number of ways, and some are harder than others. You can earn perks for your character which is similar to 'leveling up' and it provides you with abilities such as 'no knockdown from explosions', or 'steadier hand when aiming with sniper rifle'. You also can earn the ability to call in resistance fighters to help you if things get sticky (and they always do). You can drive a number of different cars including tanks, motorcycles, and racing cars, all of which, once you jack them, can store in your garage to be called into service whenever you want. The controls are great, the driving is alot of fun, maybe a bit unrealistic, but fun nonetheless. This is a worthy title to add to anyone's collection with good graphics, great gameplay, tons of things to do, and yes, there is lots of nudity, if that's your thing.

This game is a blast. Even after the story line is done with there are still over 1,000 different objectives. You can play for 10 hours just clearing objectives and find that a small portion of the map was actually cleaned of Nazis.
The game play and graphics are quite good and each scene is different from the last. The controls are the same as any first person shooter and fit very nicely into the game. There is an extreme amount of freedom in how you can play each mission. Guns a blazin or clean and quiet, or maybe a combination of both. Think of this game like GTA and Assassins Creed based in Nazi occupied France. Definitely goes into my top 10 games of all time. Have fun with this one.

I browse occasionally for cheap games that look like they might be fun. I picked up this gem and I'm glad I did.

If I had to sum up the game in a phrase, I'd say its Grand Theft Auto in WW2 Paris. But its really much more than that. It has a solid plot, with great characters and just a touch of film noir.

While the combat is fun and challenging, the driving is tight, and the cut scenes are very cool -- its the missions that are really the heart of the game. You get a series of missions that involving sabotaging the German invaders in occupied Paris. The missions range from assassinating a high ranking general in a guarded compound, to bombing a railroad bridge, to rescuing your fellow insurgents from prison camps. The missions all build on one another in a plot arc that culminates-- well I wont ruin it.

Along the way you acquire faster and cooler vehicles, evade the SS, rescue damsels in distress and become the most wanted former IRA member in Paris. What could be better?

5 Stars.

I'd say the "GTA with Nazis" analogy is pretty much spot on - and it does make for a very fun game. If you've had a rough day, there's nothing like getting home and laying the smack down on a group of sour-krauts then running away cackling and insulting them in an Irish accent (yeah, this game does inject some humor into it as well). Even if you don't play this game for the main story line, you can have a blast just wreaking havoc - and you really can't feel sorry for the antagonists in this particular instance.

Anyway, I'd played this on the PS3 a year or two ago and loved it, so I figured I'd download the bargain basement priced PC version today ($7 - hard to beat). Glad I did. Looks even more striking on this platform, obviously, particularly so if you know how to force advanced settings. Regardless of platform, I love how they darken/gray out areas that are Nazi controlled and give color back to those you've liberated (and not just on an overhead map - they do this with in-game visuals). It really delivers a sense of oppression/relief, and this is done in excellent fashion.

Performance-wise, it downloaded smoothly and runs great on my PC. I know others have had issues even launching the game, but I had to problems at all to this point. Side note: I'm not denying others have had issues, rather I'm just reporting that personally I've had no troubles - my sympathy to those that have - it's just good for potential buyers to also hear some of the upside (and let's face it, those with bad experience are much more likely to write reviews).

Would I recommend it? Absolutely, pretty much for any platform (PS3/Xbox 360/PC). And for $7, it's hard to go wrong. And remember, if it's not Irish, it's crap! (and Scottish isn't half bad either - but then again, I've a bit of both in me, so I might be biased)

The technical side of the game gets a 4/5 stars for the slight hitch with Nvidia graphics cards. The game simply crashed whenever I tried to play at first. However, there is a freely available patch to correct this issue, and once applied, the game runs perfectly well.

The game itself also gets a 4/5 for me. It is a reasonable enough GTA clone set in WW2-era occupied Paris. Let's face it, Nazis make the easiest villains...you can't go wrong taking them out. Why those chose to have the hero be an Irish car racer is beyond me, but the plot is only a small portion of the game. Each area of the game contains tons of Nazi targets to sabotage and eliminate. And the gradual return from black-and-white to color of zones of the city you have helped liberate from Nazi influence is a nice feature.

The graphics themselves are acceptable, and the missions are often entertaining (the fight on a flame-engulfed crashing Zeppelin certainly stands out as quite memorable!). The game never really clicked for me as oustanding or a must-buy by any stretch, but it is decent and definitely worth your time at the now reasonable price.