The Saboteur Review
Played on PC
Developed by Pandemic Studios
Released 4th December 2009
With how rapidly the video game industry is advancing and how many games are slowly becoming "classics" simply due to their increasing age and the vast technological difference between them and newer released titles, there was always one game that stuck out to me with how much people referred to it as an "underrated classic", an "unappreciated gem", and many other synonymous praises. That game is obviously this review's focus: 'The Saboteur'.
Released soon after the company's liquidation, 'The Saboteur' acted as Pandemic Studios' "swan song" as the studio was shut down soon after Electronics Arts acquired them. Despite the team's unfortunate end, the game managed to remain in people's hearts for a long time, even after their massive PC performance issues at launch. Aside from these problems and the criticisms aimed at its "poorly executed story", the desire to have this IP remade or, at the very least, remastered, is grand and after spending 12 hours in this game's world, I'm now part of that majority.
Story
The story of 'The Saboteur' is quite plain to play through. In the game, you follow Sean Devlin, a stereotypical Irishman race car driver who, after losing someone to the Nazis, escapes into Paris and vows to take revenge on them, joining the French resistance. The premise is fairly basic and inoffensive, taking similar strides other World War 2 games have with a resistance rising against the Nazis. The slight deviation into race car driving and its small but noticeable focus was interesting but did little to leave an impact on you. The occasional twists here and there aren't game-changing or mind-blowingly shocking but they did freshen up the narrative from going stale. The game's WW2 focus can be quite tiring, especially with how oversaturated the theme is in the gaming industry. There are significantly better WW2 games you could play in place of this like 'Wolfenstein' or the early 'Call of Duty' games, but with how much of a drought the gaming market is in with WW2 games at the moment, it could be the perfect time to engage with this cheap-thrills, high-action spy-thriller.
As a bonus and without spoiling anything, the final level/encounter felt like a work of pure artistry.
Gameplay
As a whole, the gameplay was quite entertaining. 'The Saboteur's open-world, mission structure, driving and shooting mechanics were very reminiscent of 'Grand Theft Auto', going as far as sharing a similar degree of lowkey-destructibility as the then-year-old 'Grand Theft Auto IV'. Because the game bares so many similarities to GTA 4, it ends up having similar flaws of feeling undeveloped or basic. Fortunately, this lack of depth isn't a potent issue as the shooting, cover system, driving and even parkour serve at the bare minimum a satisfactory experience.
On top of this, however, the game does take strides in implementing popular mechanics from other games from its era. This combination makes 'The Saboteur' so enjoyable despite not feeling brand new or innovative. You can disguise yourself using a dead guard's uniform like in 'Hitman' or unlock Perks for bonus equipment in stores, extra stat boosts and more like in practically every other shooter game from the late 2000s.
One of its main selling points is that you're a saboteur, and to do this you must have methods of, well, sabotage. Sabotaging in this game is quite flavourless and not as fulfilling as you'd expect from a game all about sabotage as it only consists of you being able to plant dynamite bombs on towers, cars and oil tankers. I do wish there were other ways you could sabotage, like maybe planting false documents or stealing resources from the Nazis.
This maybe could've been the case if only the stealth was implemented better. The stealth is half-baked in its execution as not only does it highlight the stupidity of the enemy AI ignoring their dead comrades and giving up their search on you once you sabotage the radio with a click of a button, but the detection mechanic is busted. Once you enter the peripheral of an enemy, the chances of you being detected instantly and having your location immediately signalled to every other enemy in the radius are way too high to make stealth worthwhile.
The surface of this gameplay is as deep as it'll go but the fact that it's essientally a bundle of good mechanics from other games does make it a fun and memorable joyride, especially with how it's enveloped in this neo-noir aesthetic.
Characters
The characters were so poorly written and executed. This game managed to have both the tamest and unexciting dialogue, matched with some jagged voice acting. This goes double for the protagonist as he is so annoying to deal with, either because he's slinging out terrible one-liners, having the emotional capacity of a 2-year-old or because of his offensively bad Irish accent. Every character felt one-dimensional and like a cardboard cutout of something that was supposed to be intriguing to interact with. Vittore is the typical old man who lectures people, Luc is the typical "get freedom or die trying" resistance leader, Skylar is the typical double-sided spy who uses her sexuality to her advantage, Dierker is the typical Nazi bad guy and this goes on for every character in the game.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is quite top-tier and that is possibly why the game is regarded as such a masterpiece by many. Starting with the best part: the visuals. The neo-noir design of every element in the game is of a monochrome black and white, occasionally splashed with a bold presence of blue or red which looks marvellous and was such a treat to the eyes, boosting the game's graphical appearance miles ahead of other 2009 games as a result. As you liberate the game from Nazi occupation, this neo-noir filter slowly fades away and is replaced with its standard colour scheme, and while this emphasis on the themes of liberation is amazing, I can't help but think that the freed zones look quite drab in comparison. It's not a major step down as the game still looks brilliant, but it does highlight some texture imperfections and smoothing inconsistencies.
Audibly, the game is just as gorgeous. The snazzy blues or the eloquent jazz that plays in the downtime in between the trumpet, anthem-heavy battle music during firefights, or the rattling unsettlingness during the game's darker-toned moments is brilliant. Even though it's not one of those soundtracks that sticks to your brain like a dopamine-filled parasite, it is still an excellent one that makes me want to replay the game after listening to it while writing this review.
Technically, other than the occasional roughed-up and unrendered textures, it is in a functional state.
Story - 6/10
Gameplay - 7/10
Characters - 4/10
Atmosphere - 8.5/10
GOOD
The 2-sided discussion on this game, it either being a plain GTA copy or an underrated masterpiece gem of the late 2000s is in reality, and unsurprisingly, the middle between the two.
