The Saboteur Preview
To save Paris from the Nazis, you're going to have to blow it all to Hell.
April 22, 2009 - Sean Devlin has it all. Fast cars, hot women, and a limitless supply of cigarettes. And then the Nazis invade Paris and it all goes to Hell.
A member of the Morini racing team, Sean has no particular allegiance to either side in the war, but finds himself swept up in historic events nonetheless. Sean knows the Nazis are bad guys, but this isn't his fight. That is until tragedy strikes, fueling his desire for revenge. But this isn't your typical angry Irishman loses someone he loves and takes down the Third Reich action story. Not at all. By the end of Pandemic's The Saboteur, you won't be doing the Riverdance on Hitler's grave. You're not winning the war--you're just fighting your personal battle, which happens to take place in the middle of occupied France.
The Saboteur is an open-world game set in and around Paris. And while there are sidequests and numerous other things to do outside the main missions, this is distinctly not a GTA clone. The mood is, at times, very heavy and the very nature of a Nazi-occupied city limits the madcap frivolity seen in gangster-themed open-world games. It's not uncommon to walk the streets of Paris, smoking a cigarette, trying to mind your own business, only to be disturbed by the cries of a civilian as they are forced to their knees by a Nazi officer and executed on the street. Yes, you can intervene, though for the purposes of our demo, Pandemic played things low-key and didn't stop the acts of cruelty. I'm not trying to suggest you're playing Schindler's List: The Game, but there is a bit more angst in the everyday going-ons of this world than in most videogames.
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Don't worry, there's also plenty of action to be had. Pandemic's primary inspirations were Raiders of the Lost Ark and Die Hard. Yippie-kai-yay, Nazis! Very little of what was shown in our hour-long demo is going to make you need to talk to a therapist. Most of The Saboteur is fast-paced third-person action involving you, a gun, and many dead Nazis.
As you can see from the images and trailer, The Saboteur doesn't look like any other game. It's in black and white, for one thing. But don't think the B&W is some lame gimmick. It actually serves a function. When The Saboteur begins--and the Nazis have yet to goosestep into Paris--everything's in color. The black and white elements are representative of the occupation. The people's morale has been sapped from these places and the French Resistance ain't resisting anything in these areas. But give the people hope and you'll see the black & white washed away by color.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/975/975210/the-saboteur-20090422080842280-000.jpg)
You're probably the one responsible for that explosion.
Even in the most heavily occupied sections of Paris, there is still some color. Pandemic is using this stylishly, adding red flashes under dark clouds as it thunders or for bright yellow explosions from a hand grenade thrown into a Nazis chest. Color is also used to help identify interactive objects and other important items. It's done smartly and I think the visual style is pretty impressive.
The gameplay can best be described as a third-person cover shooter with stealth elements. What the hell does that really mean? Just about every mission can be approached in two ways. You can go in guns blazing or you can use stealth (including disguises). For the first look, Pandemic focused on the action side of things, so very little of the stealth elements were showcased. They did stress that stealth is meant as "the easy way" and that it's not a pass/fail system like in some other games. If you have a mission encouraging stealth, just because you get spotted doesn't mean the words "Mission Failed" will pop onto the screen. You get spotted, the AI will be alerted to your presence and you'll have to alter your tactics.
Pandemic showed off two missions during its demo. The first takes place towards the end of the first act. Up until this point, Sean Devlin has been doing his best to stay out of the fight. But something's happened that's set his mind towards revenge. But before he can seek vengeance, he needs to escape. Sean's been captured by the Nazis and held at the Doppelsieg factory outside Paris. Doppelsieg is Morini's rival racing team--and is currently making armaments for the Nazis. They are the game world's version of Mercedes.
At heart, Sean's a brawler. Close-quarters combat offers some simple light and heavy attacks, as well as some grabs. All of it looks good and feels right for the character and the setting. There's a distinctive pulp feel to Devlin's look and even his movements. Oh, and that stealth stuff? Sneak up behind Nazis and you can snap their necks and other fun things.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/975/975210/the-saboteur-20090422080838374-000.jpg)
Best. Headquarters. Ever.
Soon enough, Sean has his hands on a gun and can start taking down the enemy with a bit more flash. And though Sean is a tough guy with regenerative health, he still can't just stand in the open and take hits. Remember, he's part McClane from Die Hard. If you cut him, he will bleed. There is a cover system to help keep the bleeding to a minimum. The good news is that The Saboteur's cover system is completely dynamic and, from the looks of the demo, incredibly easy to use. If you're near a wall, just push against it and you'll take cover. Want off the wall? Move the other way and you'll leave cover. It's simple stuff and, according to Pandemic, if it looks like you can use it for cover, then you can use it for cover. Part of the goal with The Saboteur was to avoid those awkward moments where a character is just standing looking at a piece of what should be cover while he's being pelted by bullets.
Pandemic are the same folks who developed the Mercenaries series, so third-person open-world shooters are certainly up their alley. But The Saboteur doesn't actually remind me of Mercenaries. Not when I'm watching it being played. There's more fluidity to Devlin's movements, a touch more realism to the combat (which follows the Call of Duty model of having you look down the sight for better aim) and better pacing to the firefights. Mercenaries is about throwing as much crap at you at one time and seeing what you'll do. The Saboteur feels a bit more like a movie unfolding before you. It's still open-world (and there are multiple ways to approach most missions), but it does have more of a polished look to it than Mercenaries.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/975/975210/the-saboteur-20090422080826858-000.jpg)
It's not all black and white.
The escape from the Doppelsieg factory shows off the major gameplay elements of The Saboteur. There's stealth, shooting and, yes, climbing. Handled with the thumbstick and the jump button, Sean can climb anything in the game world that looks like it can be climbed. In the factory, this is limited to some specific outdoor areas designed to teach you the scaling mechanics, but get to open-world Paris and you'll find hundreds of buildings to climb. It's like Assassin's Creed: WWII Edition, only your ascension is much quicker. Obviously, the climbing element plays into a number of missions, but it also factors into the exploration side of things--there are bonus objectives that involve blowing things up.
Sean escapes the factory by getting to one of the showroom cars. He takes it for a spin along the countryside, smashing through Nazis as he makes his way to safety. If you don't like driving, you can ignore the colorful car sitting in the black & white showroom and escape the Nazis on foot. It's a long run, though.
By the end of Act I, things open up quite a bit and you're given a scaled version of Paris to explore. All of its most famed monuments can be seen thanks to a fantastic draw distance. While there is a radar with GPS, it may actually be easier to navigate the twisting streets of Paris by looking ahead towards its best-known structures. The Eiffel Tower is sort of the North Star of Paris; use it as your point of reference.
All of the essential Parisian landmarks are included. Yes, even the Moulin Rouge is here. In fact, your headquarters (a brothel), is right across the street from the famed cabaret. In case you are wondering, there are naked girls in the brothel.
The second mission Pandemic showed takes place a bit further into the game, after Sean has established himself a bit more as a hero. The Nazis have installed a cannon in Paris and are preparing to fire on an area packed with members of the Resistance. It's up to you to get to the cannon in time and blow it up. You are the saboteur, after all.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/975/975210/the-saboteur-20090422080819858-000.jpg)
Use cover to keep from being shot up.
While there is a stealth option for this mission, Pandemic isn't ready to reveal it just yet. So, instead, we went in guns blazing. Now, when I said The Saboteur had elements of Assassin's Creed, I meant it. This mission isn't about running through corridors shooting dumb Nazis who run straight at you. The Nazi cannon is atop a tall building. To get to it, you'll scale a nearby building and leap from roof to roof, fighting Nazis along the way. You'll need to make use of your sniping skills and use cover to avoid a flamethrower-wielding Nazi thug and another firing an RPG.
To make things a bit tougher, there's a timer counting down to the Nazi launch. I know, timer's are annoying. But the combat is so fast paced that ten minutes is actually plenty of time to reach and blow up the cannon. Especially since you can snipe the Nazi scientist who's counting down the launch. Take him out and the cannon's not going to fire. The timer disappears. You still have to get close to it to plant your explosives, but you can do so at your leisure.
Killing all these Nazis and blowing up their cannon has its consequences. The radar on the bottom left of the HUD displays the area's "Escalation" level. This is your wanted meter. And as you draw attention to yourself, the escalation level increases. After blowing the cannon, the escalation level jumps up to 4 and a Zeppelin comes in, dropping off additional Nazi forces.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/975/975210/the-saboteur-20090422080814765-000.jpg)
What's Paris without a little nicotine?
The Saboteur is designed as a quiet in/loud out kind of game. You sneak into an areas, do your job (usually blowing something up) and then make for a very loud escape. The wanted system seems fairly simple, though, as you just need to get out of the highlighted area in order to drop the escalation level.
It's been almost two years since The Saboteur teaser trailer was released. And though I thought the game looked stylish back then, I wasn't sure what to expect. Having seen The Saboteur in action, I am really impressed. Though not expected until the end of the year (at the earliest), The Saboteur already looks and runs better than any previous Pandemic game. At least on Xbox 360 and PC. PS3 development has been outsourced. And though the content is the same for each, it's unknown if the PS3 port will hold the same visual fidelity.
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