The Saboteur: Hands On

By Sam Prescott

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Sam Waldron previewed The Saboteur at the tail end of May, giving some of the goss about the title by developers Pandemic Studios, being brought to the world by EA. The Saboteur (to paraphrase) takes place in Paris during the Nazi occupation, just ahead of the arrival of the Allied invasion force. You play as Sean Devlin, a rough-punching Irish chap who isn't taking well to being banged up by the Nazis - or their beat up and burn-em-down philosophy in France.

The hands-on build here allowed me to play through two levels of the game; The Escape, and Big Gun. Both occur during the night, and that's so surprise - only an idiot sabotages during the day. The first sees Devlin making his way out of a building and encampment overun by Nazis the way the Hutt is overun by bogans. I played from one end... almost to the other, before I was set on fire by a bastard Flemmenwerfer.

At first Devlin is weapon free, and must battle his way forth with fists alone. The PS3 controller spreads aiming and attacking accross L1 and R1, except when coming at your enemies by hand. Here you'll use L1 to line them up, and one of the pad buttons to execute a punch, kick or grab. Sabotaging ain't saboteuring if you don't use a little stealth, so for some mean slient kills Devlin can do a sneak and dispatch using his bare hands.

Off your first corpse, you can grab a weapon - all of which are pure period and brilliantly built for the game. The sound effects are remarkably true to life with the bassy report of a tench gun and shallow cry of the Luger excellently done. You can fire freehand using the crosshair to guide your rounds, or aim down the sights for more direct kills (a fairly base element of shooters, you'll agree) but however you do it, firefights in this game are high adrenaline with little room for error.

There is an automatic cover system in place, so Devlin will hug a wall or duck behind objects like crates, barrels and stone cairns (it's Paris - there's heaps, especially barrels). He will automatically jump up when you fire, or when you aim. In The Escape there was a room full of cover and Nazis both, and it was great fun stalking around with my MP-40 and grenades, bringing the pain.

Outside, Devlin jumps into a car for a white knuckle drive along a country rode, slamming down enemies and trying to keep out of the line of fire. The enemies will do everything they can to stop to the vehicle, and even the road itself conspires against you: it's raining hard and some of those corners are tight.

The Big Gun required me to guide Devlin through the rabbit warren of Paris streets to keep the enemy from firing - yeah - a big gun. The Nazis where everywhere, and the faceless bogeymen with the flamethrowers were around every corner. This level took some real strategy, and being aware of what weapons were around for me to grab was highly important. Firing a standard issue rifle I found lying across a body, I noticed a smoke trail showing the path of the bullet. It zig-zagged coming out of the barrel, but had real distance. This little touch was excellent to see and I knew not to use the weapon for its accuracy.

The visuals in this game are incredible even in the load scenes. In one, the Eiffel Tower sits against the skyline, while a lone gunman fires rounds from a guard tower into the night. In another, a burlesque show is open, and the nightlife is in full swing, so there's plenty to watch while you're waiting for what were some pretty long load times. Cut through the varying artwork were a lot of dangerous looking women, some clad more for the biz of the bedroom than World War II. I didn't see any of this carry on in the two levels I played, but this clearly hints at a deep and involved storyline, where some girl-power heroics will come into play.

The Saboteur is largely presented in black and white, with certain elements in colour - the red of the Nazi arm bands and other insignia, the orange of flames taking down a house or some poor country folk. This gives the game a fantastic stylistic edge and really helps its stand alone among the range of not just shooters, but World War II shooters especially. Publishers would have to be mad to go up against Call of Duty, but EA aren't doing that here.

The only negatives are a tricky camera system that takes a bit of getting used to, particularly close up, and I also heard stories on the show floor about some dodgy AI. Apparently there are some Nazis that don't seem to see you standing right in front of them, but I didn't witness that firsthand.

I am hugely excited by the potential of The Saboteur, and can't wait to see a final build. When I walked away from the console this morning, I had to really shake myself out of the game, and back into the hubbub of Suntec City. In The Saboteur, there really is 1940s Paris, and I hope you'll get a chance to visit for yourself soon.

Danke, Leipziger Messe.

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On 23 September 2009, 11:00AM Posted by esoj

nice write up I have been interested in it since seeing footage of it from e3. sounds liike it's definitely still a game to keep an eye which is good news.

 

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On 23 September 2009, 12:09PM Posted by Moneyshot

Sounds good...not much info on it, thats for the heads up.

http://www.pandemicstudios.com/thesaboteur/
or my fav

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW5SKYrlrP4

 

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On 23 September 2009, 12:31PM Posted by Valsira

Huh, I just remembered this game yesterday and was wondering where it was at. Seems promising.

 

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On 23 September 2009, 12:40PM Posted by Gazza22

Loving the art style this game possess. The world fading from black and white into colour as you wipe out the Nazi sc*m is a nice idea.

 

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On 23 September 2009, 08:47PM Posted by SpawnSeekSlay

Looks and sounds nice...
The Art deco look is cool, something different and suites the era and location.

By the sounds of it this a third person shooter?