Customer Reviews

The Saboteur (PS3)

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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, Assassins 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 Saboteur is not as good as GTA etc etc but really who cares? The next Grand theft auto is miles away and after 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 (Zeppelins 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!

So there I was, a few spare pounds in the bank and scrolling through Amazon for something to spend them on, when the Saboteur popped into view. I watched a video, and went through some reviews on Amazon and the 'net, and decided to hit the faithful one click button.

Initially I was confused. The Saboteur actually takes the time to develop the back-story with YOU as an involved part of it. And following the obligatory dramatic twist, you're into setting Paris, Le Havre, and a fictional location or two alight!

Oh the sweet delight of seeing a Nazi sniper plummet screaming to his death after you've set a demolition charge at the base of his sniper nest! The maniacal cackling which ensues when you turn the Germans own anti-aircraft artillery on them! The sweet pleasure of ploughing your sports car through a line of goose-stepping idiots and hot-footing it away from the resulting alarm!

The story isn't half bad either.

If you're a historical purist, some of it will raise your blood pressure, but once you've shot down an utterly misplaced zeppelin you won't care about accuracy, preferring the screams of your burning victims to realism..

And ultimately, that's what makes the Saboteur so sweet - just enough realism mixed with just enough fantasy to let you pretend, for a few hours, that you helped to bring down fascism in Europe...

This game was a complete surprise to me. When the game first came out, the reviews I had read were not good enough to make me want buy this game. A few weeks ago, however, I looked on Amazon and saw that this game had excellent reviews. So I bought it.

This game is so much fun, with so much variety of things to do. Basically, you run around Paris and some other areas of France and Germany taking out Nazis and destroying Nazi installations. There are 2 parts to the game: the main missions and the "Free-play Targets". The main missions are given to by various characters throughout the game. Free-play targets are German guard towers, fuel depots, rocket installations, anti-aircraft guns, etc, all over the huge map. You can either take out these installations during a mission or between missions. Your approach can be stealth or guns blazing.

The variety is what really makes this game shine. You have the following types of missions: assassination, combat, evasion, car racing, rescue, sabotage, tailing, theft, and transportation. You can steal and collect almost any vehicle you come across, and you can buy weapons on the black market.

Another great part of the game is how your skill in various abilities improves by performing certain tasks and gaining "perks". For example, your sniping skills start off basic. Then, to obtain the first sniping perk, you must kill 5 Nazis using the sniping rifle. Once accomplished, your reward is more accurate sniping. For the second perk, you must make 15 head shots with the sniping rifle, and the second reward is reduced recoil. The third and final perk in the sniping skill is to kill 2 Nazis with one bullet, ten times. This then unlocks the "Terror Scoped rifle" - a mighty weapon! This system of perks and improved skill is available for many skills, including: brawling, hardware, explosives, demolition, sabotage, mayhem, racing, mechanics, and evasion.

As mentioned above, you can use stealth tactics to try to complete a mission. You can take a Nazi's uniform for disguise as long as they were killed by hand (bullets would leave blood stains on the uniform!). The disguise allows you infiltrate Nazi installations without raising the alarm, unless you get too close to a Nazi - in which case they'll recognize you and bullets start flying! Once the alarm is raised, you can try to escape or keep killing Nazis. To cancel the alarm you have to run or drive a certain distance (without any Nazi seeing you) to escape the alarm zone. The alarm zone increases as you keep killing more Nazis, up to a level 5 alarm, where the whole of Paris is under alert looking for you. Also, as the alarm level increases, the Nazi reinforcements that arrive get more formidable and tough to defeat. At Level 5, there are even tanks and fighter planes firing at you and the only way to escape this alarm is to reach one of only 2 hiding spots in the whole of the map.

Because of the large number of free-play targets, and the size of the map, many many hours of fun can be had here... I've logged 13 hours of gameplay and completed 33% of the missions and destroyed only 3% of free-play targets.

A review would not be complete without mentioning the cons. Well, to me, there aren't any. Seriously!

I am thoroughly enjoying this game and highly recommend it to anyone looking for something with variety and lots of action.

This game deserves a lot more hype and exposure than it ever got. A friend introduced me to the game 3 months ago now and after the first 20 minutes of gameplay I was shocked that I had never heard of it prior to this. It was fantastic and the storyline gripped me instantly.

The Saboteur is a 3rd person RPG shooter with a lot of depth. The game centres around occupied France during the early developments of WWII. You play an aspiring Irish racecar driver who becomes trapped in Paris after taking part in a racing event in the capital. You are beaten from first place by a high ranking Nazi officer and seek revenge for his cheating tactics. While exacting your revenge, you and your closest friend are captured and tortured by the Nazi officer and his soldiers who believe you to be a British spy. Your friend is killed but you escape and swear that you will not rest until his death is avenged. So it all begins...

On the surface it appears to be a very similar creation to GTA with the movement, map layout and gameplay. However once you start to truly immerse yourself in the game you begin to uncover a lot of extra elements that set this game apart from all others in the same bracket.

For starters the climbing element is fantastic. Being able to evade detection from the enemy by elevating yourself is an extremely useful and brilliantly crafted feature. Then there is the fact that if you don't feel like following the story missions there is plenty more to be doing! You are free to roam the extensive Paris map, kill whomever you wish and generally bring destruction to the Nazi regime.

As the name would suggest most of your mission goals centre around sabotaging and destroying Nazi superstructure such as defense installations, safe houses and tactical offensive locations.

With a large arsenal of period weapons and explosives at your disposal, this is a bloodthirsty, action-packed thriller of a game taking some of the best elements of Assassin's Creed, GTA and even Uncharted and combining them to make a masterpiece.

This is definitely not to be missed. Unfortunately it slipped under the radar as EA didnt give the game the press it deserved prior to it's release and therefore it has been largely unheard of. This is an all-round great. 9/10

I can only agree with the other reviewers who have given this top marks.
You can go anywhere. Go back to the set missions, when you wish.
Go round Paris and do your own thing.
Check out the sites! The effiel tower is well worth a visit !
This game can last for as long as you like.
A must have game.

Like other reviewers have said this game feels alot like a GTA based in Paris but nothing to wrong with that in my opinion. Its a map that opens up as you complete chapters of the game and the most interesting thing about the map is the notion that the areas that the Nazis have a strong grip is dark and colourless whereas the areas where the French resistance is strong the colour is brought back into the world. Its strangely pleasing to see the world being brought back to colour from the darkness.
The only real issue is that some areas of the game become rather repititive especially when you try to take out the freeplay targets and there are alot on the roofs of buildings which means you spend an awful lot of time climbing blowing it up and then dropping down again. The missions can also feel a bit similar sometimes but not too much to put you off the game.
Another smaller issue in view is the Nazis seem to have been given the intelligence of Jedward, if you set off the alarm all you have to do is escape the red circle zone where they are alert and they seem to instantly forget, they are suspicious if you try to go through a zone gate with a bullet ridden car but that would be ridiculous if they wernt. Also if you make a explosion as a diversion often all Nazis in view run off to investigate they dont leave anyone to protect their original guard duty.
Dont let the negatives but you off though this was close to being a 5 star review but there are enough little things to stop it being so

I'm being serious. There are many, many games which were sadly overlooked in my opinion. Dark Sector, Singularity, Voodoo Vince, Metal Arms, XIII, Sphinx and The Cursed Mummy. All great games which deserved better. The Saboteur takes the unfortunate title of the most overlooked game ever. How this got mediocre reviews and tanked in sales I'll never know.

Anyway, it's true what many say. Take a dollop of GTA IV, plop it in occupied Paris and sprinkle in a little Assassin's Creed. Pop it in the oven for a couple of years and out pops The Saboteur. In my humble opinion though it knocks both the aforementioned games into a cocked hat. I had the time of my life playing this. Firstly Sean Devlin is an utter hoot. He's funny in the cinematics and a riot during game play. With a one liner for every occasion he's my kind of bloke.

The open world game play is where The Saboteur takes the crown though. There are over a thousand free play targets and they get under your skin. Driving to a mission? Think you can cruise past that tank without the urge to plant a stick of dynamite on it and do a runner? Think again. Taking down targets becomes an obsession and NEVER gets dull. Running around the countryside causing chaos is a total blast. As the game progresses you unlock perks and gain access to bigger and better weapons and cars. This makes the free plays even more satisfying. Can't be bothered to climb a building to place dynamite? Pull out your Panzershrek and blast that sniper tower to bits. As Sean Devlin himself would say - bloody brilliant!

That's not to say the story missions are dull - far from it. The main missions are an absolute riot and are greatly helped by the shooting mechanics. No GTA IV garbage here. Pull out a weapon, target with L1 and shoot with R1. No weird cover controls or clicking on sticks. Just aim and shoot. They're perfect really, couldn't be better for this type of game. Driving is also excellent when you get some hot wheels. Handbrake turn with X and you're onto a winner. Doing a 180 has never been so much fun.

You can probably tell I enjoyed The Saboteur. Well, so much so I finished it on my PS3 a year after doing the same on my 360. More than 80 hours between them I spent on it. Not a single minute was wasted. I loved every second and wholeheartedly recommend it.

Oh, if you have both consoles I'd recommend the 360 version. The PS3 version has terrible screen tearing which is VERY noticeable. Don't let that put you off as you get used to it but given the choice, grab the Xbox version. Thanks.

I have just completed this game - a rare feat for me, which should show how much I like it.
Although The Saboteur could be summed up as Grand Theft Auto:Paris, that would be to do it a disservice. It is a huge open world game - not just the entire city of Paris, but also several other towns such as Le Havre (thankfully a much shorter drive than in real life!). Gameplay is solid, with a good story, several side-missions, and literally thousands of extra targets to blow up as you wish. There are also lots of collectibles, if you are that sort of trophy hunter that must achieve 100% in everything.
There is a good variety of missions, with some designed to make things go bang, some timed, some assassinations, some racing, some area defense, and so on. There is no shortage of variety. The ability to climb almost any structure is also a positive addition.
The negatives: Some sort of fast travel system would be nice. It can take a long time to get from one side of the map to the other, which, while realistic, is also occasionally frustrating. Also some of the missions are b*stard hard, trying to find your way into a certain area without being triggering alarms, or finding a specific item to blow up.
However, overall, I would highly recommend The Saboteur.

One final note. As an Irishman, I fell over laughing at Sean Devlin's comments on more than one occasion. Foul, but hilarious!