The Saboteur (PS3)

I am sitting here writing this review having just completed the game. I, for no real reason, decided to look the game up on amazon and I was amazed. The average review was 4 and a half stars. The average for xbox was 4 stars. How could anyone who had played this game think of it as not being one of the best games they have ever played and 5 stars all round? It didn't make any sense. Then I thought back to my first impressions of the game and realised the people who posted those reviews ust didnt have any patience. Even some of the four star reviews didn't play the game long enough to realise the genius behind it.

To start with I want to talk about my first impressions of the game. If I had rated it within the forst half hour of playing my review would have been similar to some of the three four star reviews and if I had reviewed it within the first hour it probaby would have been a one or two star review. Why? Because the game is different. And tht is precisely the reason I have rated it five stars. My first impressions were well it is an original idea. There have been many WW2 games but I have never seen a free-roaming one and WW2 is the best time to set a shooter game, in the middle of a gigantic war. I like games that have some historical setting such as Assassins creed as it gives them authenticity and gives a good story unlike oter games which completely make up a modern day story, such as GTA4 (which is still the best game of all time)which has a slightly ludicrous story. The story of the Saboteur seemed very good. It was set in Paris which is good, and the map size was brilliant. The world you are in seemed very good, realistic varied landscape and people. The place where games like this can fail is the "getaway" part where you have the police chasing you and you have to get away. Fortunately it is very good on this front with great chases from the nazis and lots of options for escaping. Now we come to what seemed like the initial problems. The gameplay seemed very linear and repetative as the first few missions were similar, basically just kill a whole bunch of nazis. This doesn't mean it still can't be an amazing game; the trick is not to tell you how to follow the linear pattern (where GTA4 excels). The other option is to let you take on the mission however you like and the game seemed to fail here. The other problem was the surroundings seemed very deadened; just a few people moving about, lots of useless nazis, when you do something bad, shoot a gun etc, you just have to move away from the area and the nazis wont find you.

Then when you have played the game for an hour you start to think, as many reviews have stated, that the stealth system is useless. As this is meant to be a major factor in the game it would quite rightly give the game one or two star reviews. When you are diguised you are recognised almost straight away and so the stealth element becomes useless. It is also not like assassins creed in that the free running is not entirely fluid and dynamic it can be stubborn and slow.

Then, when you have played the game for a bit longer and continually try with the stealth you realise that actually the stealth system is very good, just realsitic. The problem other reviews have stated is that other soldiers spot you very quickly when oyu are disguised but the reality is that they would notice you quicky in real life if you decided to get to close to them in an infiltrated building. What the developers have cleverly done is made it so that just because you are in a disguise does not mean you can get away with anything; you have to be tactical and move quickly past enemy soldiers, occassionally stealth killing them when neccessary. You also have to behave like them so you can't run about or climb things or go to the top of buildings when there are soldiers up there (you can but you have to kill them quickly, if you dont want to draw attention to the area by punching them or using a silenced weapon; same if a soldier sees through your disguise on the ground). If you are careful and strategic the game becomes normal difficulty as you can use stealth in situations that would other wise be suicidal, such as killing a nazi genearl surrounded by soldiers. There are also places, usually relevant to the main character story of the main character wanting revenge on the nazi general who killed his friend and cheated to win a car race, were it is all out action and these are also very fun. The free running is also realistic but this is good for the game in two ways. Firstly it is not the quick and easy escape route it would be and secondly it means you only use it when you really have to or really want to and the entire game is not played across the rooftops; thats not what this game is about.

For rating for different catagories;

Setting: 5/5- original ideas, and a stunning recreation of WW2 Paris which is run to run around in and great graphics (I have a HD tv 1080p so other peoples opinions might differ, if your picture is too dark try putting the gamma up in the display options, ignore the "until you can barely see the sign" business)

Story: 4/5- A great story that has a bit of everything needed in a game like this and thankfully not too over the top but not exactly gripping.

Gameplay: 5/5- just needs a little time to be mastered then very fun and exactly what you would expect from a game about a man who is sabotaging the nazis in the french resistance.

Missions: 5/5- varied and interesting

Sound: 5/5 the background music is perfect for the game and very good music itself. Feels authentic.

cut scenes: 5/5 not horrific to watch and not out of sinc and terrible face graphics as with so many games.

The "getaway" scenarios 5/5 lots of escape options so you are not stuck being chased by the gestapo forever but neither is it too easy to get away. Another welcoming factor is that once you destroy the guard towers, AA guns etc that litter the city (these are not part of missions) they do not return and so it is a lot easier escaping in areas where you have destroyed lots of these. It also boosts the moral of the people and "fightback zones" appear which make it much easier to escape the nazis, rewarding you for your efforts.

All in all this is a fantastic game and is probably one of the best games ever made. If you are still not sure, rent it but take your time on it otherwise, like so many of the reviewers on amazon, you might not appreciate how fantastic it really is. It is truely special.

One of the chores I assume of being a paid games critic is you probably see 20 open world shooters. And they have come out in spades this year (infamous, assasins Creed 2 and red faction being the better known). So it's easy to see why their reviews may be more harsh than that from us average gamers. OK so Sabeteur is not as good as GTA etc etc but really who cares? The next Grand theft auto is miles away and afetr completing Infamous and RF:Guerilla I need something to fill in the wait and saboteur fits very well.
Despite the black and white idea you do play much more in colour than expected, especially the early missions, which is a bit of a shame as the mix of yellow and red light mixing in with the monochrome gives the game an anarchic touch which is quite nice. It also makes it feel very much like an early GTA in that it's set a lot earlier BW etc, and pretty much plays that way.
The cars even steer like a GTA game (ie not brilliantly but ok once you get the hang of it)and even the missions and icons are very similar. In fact with the Nazi's replacing the police, it even felt like it WAS GTA with the alarm rating working exactly like the wanted stars . If you manage to drive out of the red area and the Nazi's give up chase commit more serious sabotage and the area increases with more vehicles (Zepplins replace the helicopters).
Essentially this IS our GTA fix this year. The missions flow like they do with the only exception that there are essential missions in yellow and optional ones marked in white. Otherwise they do have the variety of Rockstars big seller only with less guilt about rebelling authority.
Anotherr difference I didn't notice mentioned is perks. Whereas most upgrades in these sort of games are done with XP, colection ore, or in this case, contraband most upgrades are actually earned. Get x amount of headshots and your sniping skills imrove, blow up so many soldiers with grenades.. on so on. It does make a nice change.
As said already there are flaws to, the climbing in particular is pretty lame and the characters are little more than racial stereotypes, but The Saboteur has the fun factor and at the end of the day, that's what counts

I absolutely love this game. Where to start!?

First off this is the first open-map game like Grand Theft Auto where you are not restricted to set missions and can't go for a wander set in World War II (if it isn't somebody tell me!). Ie, you can go off and do things inbetween missions.
When i want to relax i just go and blow up guard towers, fuel depots and AA Guns.
The map itself is huge! Pretty much the whole of Paris and some small villages and ports around to travel too. Much like GTA it takes quite a bit of time to go from one side of the map to the other.
The variety of weapons you can use is immense. You can climb all the buildings in the game and you can swim.
The mission content is huge. It would take between a day and 2 days to complete the mission part of the game!
The graphics are very good, and i love the touch where you start the game pretty much completely in black and white, and you have to get the local populas hopes up to make the world return to colour around you.
The missions aren't easy, so you won't complete the game quickly. Even when you do complete the game. It'll be one of those games that goes onto the keep pile, ie, you won't want to trade it in!

What else can i say... Erm... You can climb right up to the top of the Eiffel Tower (and even base-jump off it into a pool alongside it see the video on youtube!!) and the Arc de Triomphe...

I have been playing the game for 3 days now, and i'm still finding new things that i love about it... There is nothing that i don't like about it!

An easy 5 out of 5 both on fun and rating... I would recommend it to all!