From all the way back on Page 8...
Le Saboteur said:
The Saboteur comes out next Tuesday!
Yeah, it did. And you played it. (For, like, an hour!) Something else must have caught your attention, because it sat around for, like,
four years before you bothered to give it an honest shake.
Need your memory jogged?
There's a lot to like about Pandemic's final effort. For starters, it's cavalier attitude is rather refreshing after a generation of heavy-handed paeans to The Greatest Generation? that began with
Schindler's List & later the 50th Anniversary of VE Day. You might say that it shares far more in common with the
nazispolitation sub-genre of pulp fiction that inspired Tarantino -- minus the Jewish fantasy -- versus
Army of Shadows or
The Sorrow and The Pity. In fact, it reminds me a little of
Spy Smasher.
It builds on this with an absolutely beautiful black and... grey Paris shot through with touches of yellow, blue, and red. Visually this adds to the immense sense of gloom and oppression hanging over Nazi-occupied Paris while the punches of color help to punctuate the horrifying reality of life under German control. For example, the sudden shock of red as a German patrol murders a group of suspected Resistance fighters does the required job of getting your attention. Come by later and those blood stains still decorate the walls and streets.
Unfortunately, that brilliant artistic decision is undermined by the fact that after an area is "Liberated" (or, inspired enough to fight back) color returns to that specific area. Intended to symbolize life and vitality coming back to that
arrondissement, it, instead, turns the City of Lights into a mud brown and rather fugly city. I would have preferred the absence of colors throughout the entire game.
Pandemic has dropped you into the pea coat and newsboy cap of Sean Devlin, an Irishman who was forced to flee that Emerald Isle for mysterious reasons. And boy-oh-boy is he ever an Irishman. Fond of whisky, women, and a good punch up, Sean turns up on the Continent in the company of the some fellow auto enthusiasts that run afoul of the Despotic Nazi Butcher after they drunkingly run his ride off a cliff into the waiting arms of Neptune. One of Sean's mates gets himself killed following this escapade setting in motion the overarching narrative of revenge and retribution. Now, the car was cool but nowhere near the level of the Red Skull's Schmidt Hydra Coupe.
Anyway, the gameplay is equally fast and loose. Sean can take a full clip of automatic gunfire before death becomes a pressing concern. Not a problem, though. Just stay out of sight for a couple of seconds and his health will completely regenerate. Enemies thankfully go down much, much easier which is good since the shooting isn't as fine tuned as it should be.
It should be noted that the stealth mechanic is completely broken. It's not even worth trying in most of the missions so far. I can beat down a
Wermacht officer in the middle of the street with zero consequence, but step a foot too close to a
Gestaposoldier, while disguised as a
Gestapo general, and the bullets are flying fast and free. You're better off meeting your objectives head on.
Still, dynamiting Nazi installations and vehicles is an absolute blast. Pun intended. I don't think I've dealt with the main story in the past couple of days. Instead, I've gone duck hunting, raced through the French countryside, and dynamited any number of German armor and Nazi propaganda stations. I've ever taken over a couple of German AA-guns and shot down several
zeppelin! So there's plenty to do outside of the main campaign for those so inclined.
I would say that I'm about halfway through the game at this point in time, and with above par voice acting, an amusing story, and a central mechanic that will never get old I'd give
The Saboteur a solid 7/10 so far.
Feel your bosom swell with patriotic fervor!
Aux armes, citoyens!