World War II has been done to death, but as long as gamers continue to buy the games, developers will continue to make them. Thankfully for those that would rather stare down the barrel of a real gun than line up the crosshairs of yet another M1 Garand rifle, Pandemic Studios is trying something different with the setting. Their latest project, Saboteur, is a third-person stealth-action game set during the Third Reich’s occupation of France. Unlike other games set during the Second World War, the fight against fascism is not the central conflict of the game – the war just happens to be occurring in the backdrop of a more personal story.
Sean, a young Irishmen living in Paris at the time of the Third Reich’s invasion didn’t feel one way or the other about the rise of fascism until he witnessed several of his friends being killed by Nazi soldiers. He didn’t hold Hitler or the Nazi regime responsible for the event however and he certainly wasn’t inspired to join the Allied Forces and storm the beaches of Normandy. Sean’s thirst for vengeance is focused exclusively on the soldiers that pulled the trigger, and taking each of them out in the middle of a Nazi-controlled city will take a little more ingenuity than is typically required of a World War II game.
Saboteur is in simplest terms a third-person stealth-game, but it mixes elements of that genre with the open-world of Grand Theft Auto and the platforming and vertical exploration exemplified by Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia to create a unique experience. Players can explore the city on foot, use any of the vehicles they encounter on the streets of Paris, even scale buildings and leap across roof-tops – albeit by means closer to Indiana Jones than Spiderman, but Sean gets it done nonetheless. Players can explore every inch of the game world provided they’re savvy enough to use his skills effectively, and talking to various NPCs will unlock missions and side-quests to complete, some of which may lead to bonuses like new weapons or enhanced skill-sets (Pandemic is still tight-lipped on the details of the mission structure).
The stealth elements extend past those you would expect – keeping out of sight, moving quietly to avoid being heard, and committing murder with the utmost care – and into appearance and crowd relations. Blending into the citizenry is often a more effective means of escaping capture (or worse) than motoring down the causeway at excessive speeds. Any abnormal behavior will cause suspicion, any excitement will draw attention, and any outward aggression will typically send NPCs scattering for cover. If players start appearing on the Nazi’s radar and the crowds are too thin to get lost in, players can also change clothes so they cant be easily identified, make acrobatic ‘quick escape’ maneuvers, or even go so far as to find a lady to make out with against a wall as the guard walks past (she may slap you, but I figure a free kiss plus evading time in a Nazi prison makes it doubly worth it).
Despite the focus on staying out of sight, the game has a surprisingly quick pace and the action component is well developed. Sean moves fairly quickly and transitions smoothly from one action to another, a handy talent when the player needs to run in, take out a guard, and get the hell out of dodge within the span of a few seconds. Sean also has a few moves out of the Sam Fisher hand-book, including the ever popular neck-snap, but mixes them with the kind of improvisational techniques one would expect from a pissed-off Irishmen. Our personal favorite – tapping a guy on the shoulder only to sucker-punch them in the kisser the second they turn around. Brilliant. Maybe Sam should read a few pages from Sean’s book, because unlike the aging secret agent, Sean actually knows how to handle himself in a fight. Players can string together chains of punches, throws, even headbutts in order to deal with one or more foes. There’s always the option of using a weapon too, but without a suppressor a gun is usually more trouble than its worth.
Saboteur has an interesting visual style that not only looks great but is directly related to the gameplay. The bleak world of Nazi-ruled France is rendered in stark black-and-white, interrupted only by fierce flashes of red swastika banners and arm-bands. As players successfully complete objectives and ‘sabotage’ the Nazi’s control of the area, the citizenry residing in the area will begin to regain hope for the future and that area of the gameworld will gradually regain color. The areas with more color are easily identifiable as sections of the city where the player has support and they can count on some degree of cooperation from the NPCs roaming the streets. On the other end of the spectrum, areas rendered in the black-and-white color scheme immediately impart a sense of danger and oppression, and the red swastika arm-bands create a visceral fight-or-flight impulse every time they flash across the screen. The game runs on a proprietary graphics engine and sports impressive lighting and shadow effects. The textures and geometry inherent to the environments and characters are also impressive given the size of the game-world.
Pandemic Studios should be commended for trying something different within the context of World War II, but we’re still skeptical as to whether we have the will to endure yet another jaunt through Europe in the 1940s. Considering their track record with original IPs, there’s little doubt that Saboteur will be a quality game. The question is, has the setting been so exploited that even the promise of a high-quality game isn’t enough to lure us back?
