The Saboteur Hands-on
Why Pandemic's vintage sandbox shooter is the Inglourious Basterds of World War II games.
UK, October 21, 2009 - The Saboteur does everything wrong. It shows a reckless disregard for historical fact, it doesn't think there's anything wrong with bloody shootouts in graveyards or the revered Parisian catacombs, it has an Irish guy as the lynchpin of the French resistance, it's full of seedy titillation, and its lead character ranks amongst entertainment history's least convincing Irish accents: file alongside Officer O'Hara in the '60s Batman TV show. You've probably already seen a video or two and thought "uh-oh." That it's coming out in early December, after the Winter games retail rush, even suggests it's been pushed into a graveyard slot. Oh dear. Except... from the few hours we've spent hands on with Pandemic's open-world World War II shooter, it looks as though there's something rather special hiding underneath this desperate-for-attention surface.
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The quickfire description is 'GTA in Nazi-occupied Paris', but in reality The Saboteur is both more and less ambitious than that sounds. While the scenery is spectacular, your navigation forever guided by Paris' most famous landmarks, it doesn't come anywhere near Rockstar's living, breathing city shtick. At the same time, it's a far more complete and varied shooter than any GTA game - featuring a full stealth mode, a cover system, silent takedowns and even the option to nick a dead German's clothes and go for a semi-safe wander behind enemy lines. There's a fair old slice of Hitman in there, and it's that which enables multiple approaches to any situation. Perhaps you'll be an angel of machinegun death; perhaps you'll sneak around and silent-kill anyone you can't avoid; perhaps you'll grab some Nazi togs, adopt a confident walk and see how far you can get before you're rumbled; or perhaps you'll steal a period car and go for a suicide drive.
In the space of just one mission we tried all of these things, having a different experience every time we tackled it. For all the gaudiness and grot on the surface (which will hopefully cohere into an affecting wartime narrative as the game wears on), it's a big, broad and remarkably versatile game. "You're basically an insurgent," explains Art Director Chris Hunt, "so you really have to be careful about how you're moving around and doing lots of different operations in an occupied city. I think people will see that it's not a typical World War II game. "
The star, nominally, is vengeful Irish race driver Sean Devlin - based very, very loosely on real-life driver/saboteur William Grover-Williams. Seeking revenge on a German rival, he finds his way to France, winds up helping the Resistance and... oh, we don't care. He's just some chain-smoking beefcake with a big chin and a bad Irish accent to throw into all this glorious trouble - Indiana Jones is as big an inspiration as Grover-Williams. While his personality makes itself known, essentially he's a focal point for both you and the rest of the French Resistance. "He's not someone who's coming in and liberating Paris himself," says Hunt. "He's inspiring others with his acts of defiance and being a prick to the Nazis." Frankly, we can't help but wish "Being A Prick To The Nazis" was the game's title.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/103/1036707/the-saboteur-20091021023441560-000.jpg)
When stealth fails, open fire.
The game's real star is Paris, vast sections of which have been faithfully recreated as free-roamable period streets - packed with French citizens and German soldiers alike. 1940s Europe is a definably different place from the 2000s American cities we're far more used to seeing in games - those cobbled streets and that gothic architecture is simultaneously familiar and otherwordly. Chris Hunt says the size of the game was one of the major design issues: "Paris has a huge scale - how do we make sure that we're able to convey a large section of the city and make sure that it all fits on whatever console you have? We also wanted every section of city to be interesting, not redundant and mundane. We wanted you to be able to interact with every part of the city as much as you could. So we had to come up with a scale that made it so the city feels vast, so you could think 'hey, I wonder what's over there?' and not 'oh crap, I've gotta go all the way over there?'
Above it all looms the Eiffel Tower, like a skyscraping compass at the heart of the city. It's hard to resist the urge to forever head towards it. And why not? Once you reach it, you can even climb the bally thing. Urban mountaineering and free-running's another big part of the game, Devlin able to clamber up the outside of most any structure, and cross the city in minutes via its pretty rooftops. Again, it's all in the name of that organic, half-planned, half-panicked approach to any situation - this Assassin's Creediness is just one of your options.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/103/1036707/the-saboteur-20091021023438795-000.jpg)
Don't just take in the sights, climb them.
Speaking of organic, the city visibly changes as you push back against its German occupation. Areas heavily controlled by Teutonic invaders are oppressively desaturated - more or less black and white to reflect the bleakness of the situation. Think Sin City, replete with occasional, striking flashes of lurid red to signify bloodshed and danger. The monotone is both an affecting visual tic and a sign to be wary. Treat such an area like your playground and all the Top O' The Mornings in the world won't keep the hordes of jackbooted storm troopers off your back. Escape to a quieter area or find one of the map-marked hidings spots (for instance, a visit to the pissoir, a staged kiss with a female accomplice or a drop through a rooftop loft) and you might just keep your life.
Once you've either completed enough missions in a certain area, its populace's Will To Fight (WTF?) boosts - reflected by a resurgence of colour. If a section of the city is rendered in painterly tones you know you'll have less Nazi peril and that nearby citizens will lend a hand if you do get into a fight. It's also a firm statement that you're doing well, that all this German-bashing is for a purpose. The city looks happier, healthier - and because it's the game's real star, you'll want to help it become so. Whatever the game's colour scheme at any point, the city is busy and ramshackle - huge but ad-hoc. "There was definitely a style choice," says Chris Hunt. "Many other World War II games centre around the military. We weren't, we're centered around people who are struggling to pull together a band of other people to resist the Nazis. What kind of materials are they going to have? They're going to MacGuyver anything they can to try and get by."
Between all this free-roaming, there are setpiece missions in Paris' architectural highlights - the aforemention horror-spectacular of the underground Catacombs boneyard, a tank-guarded Arc De Triomphe and Notre Dame reimagined as an Escape From New York-esque prison island. Again, this makes no claim towards authenticity - it's very much Action Move Silliness. The centrepiece, playing mission hub and refuge, is the Belle De Nuit, a nightclub full of ladies in various states of undress. Be prepared for nipplage. Pandemic is determined this is representative of the glamour and grime of retro Paris, but there's really no escaping that this is A Game For Males.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/103/1036707/the-saboteur-20091021023436639-000.jpg)
Fare-dodging was much tougher 50 years ago.
We'll find out for sure whether The Saboteur can consistently match its stupendous architecture with confident action in just a couple of months. Much hinges on the narrative - on how much you're restricted by the core missions, and how much Devlin's ridiculous, fake-Oirish accent keeps you at arm's length from giving yourself to the derring-do fantasy of it all. Even if it does, the scope to go off-piste and turn one of the world's most magnificent cities into your anything-goes playground means The Saboteur is likely a good reason to keep a few Francs spare to spare the French in December.
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