Graphic Nature – The Saboteur

Interesting story (check), amazing art style (check), killing Nazis (check), code that lets you unlock topless burlesque dancers (check), elements of Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s Creed (check). All these things compose Pandemic Studios latest and last game ever The Saboteur.

The Saboteur
Xbox 360, PS3, & PC
Developer: Pandemic Studios
Publisher: EA
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Price: Xbox 360, PS3, & PC – $49.99

Pros

It’s Like Sin City Meets 300 – The art style within The Saboteur is amazing. As you make your way through Paris you will notice that areas still under Nazi occupation lose their color and become different shades of grey. The only real colors left are those of the lights in windows and anything red. From the second I started playing this game I feel in love with this and hope more games take a cue from it. You can even over look the generic character models this game has because of this.

I’m In The Killin Nazi Business – Honestly who doesn’t love running around and taking out some Nazis? The Saboteur lets you do this in so many ways. From blowing up buildings and structures, taking out the enemy with stealth kills, and going all out with a gun fight. Pandemic did such a great job of making this aspect of the game fun that you will sometimes stop in the middle of a mission to take out a watch tower or run over any Nazi that gets in your way. Now if only they let you carry around a Louisville Slugger.

Hello Ladies – One thing that Pandemic Studios did before they closed their doors was include a DLC code with the game that let’s you see the girls in the Cabaret hideout the way they were supposed to be seen…TOPLESS. Yeah I know the little kid in me is going crazy over seeing some video game boobies, but this is a real first for us in America. These days games are so overly censured that I’m surprised this even got approved by Microsoft to be allowed as DLC.

Middle Ground

I Have Seen This Story Before – Main character see’s best friend killed by villain, main character vows revenge at all cost, main character inspires the people to rise up, main character gets tricked by group or agency to do their dirty work, and main character finally gets his revenge. Even though Pandemic Studios give us an interesting main character (Sean) this story idea has been done and done again. It really doesn’t matter if you change the settings or what leads to the main character getting into this mess it is still the same story.

So Wait What Side Am I Working For – Between helping the French Resistance, the British government, and doing your own thing you start to wish that everyone would just start working together and not going in opposite directions. Let alone that it seems that everyone who seeks your help has their own intentions and not those of the greater good.

Okay I’m Going To Play GTA Paris…Wait I Mean The Saboteur – This right here takes A LOT away from the game. You are basically playing Grand Theft Auto Paris during World War II. So if you have played ANY GTA game before then you know that after awhile you stop completing missions just go around and kill people to see how many stars or in this case alarms you get too see if you can escape.

Cons

I’m Sorry Is That Supposed To Be A _____ Accent – The voice acting in this game is pretty bad. You have people doing the cockiest French and British accents I have heard in awhile. Ugh just thinking about them makes me shiver. The only semi acceptable accent is that of the main character Sean. Now it might not be the best Irish accent I have heard it’s better then listening to Luc speak.

Overall The Saboteur is a solid game. If you don’t mind the over used story, horrible accents, and repetitive game play then you will enjoy this game. The art style within this game is amazing and I still love driving around Paris and experiencing it. However, I wouldn’t run out to buy it just for that. Give it a rent and run through some the main story to if you’ll enjoy it. Then if you want to buy it so you can take your time and gain the full experience of the story and art do so. I really think that if Pandemic Studios wasn’t being shut down towards the end of development this game would have turned out so much better.

3 out of 5 Stars.