EGX 09: The Saboteur Hands-On

Posted by Balaam in Eurogamer Expo, Frontpage, Gaming, Gaming Previews, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | 0 comments

The Saboteur had a bizarrely modest showing at the expo, tucked away in the furthest corner of the basement you could be forgiven for thinking that EA wanted to hide one of their biggest releases of the year.  Whether the game’s odd placement was due to lack floorspace or or lack of marketing push I can assure you that it doesn’t reflect in the quality of the game itself.  It was my biggest surprise of the show.

From Pandemic Studios I was expecting The Saboteur to be an enjoyable but ultimately shallow game, falling in line with their previous works (Mercenaries and Star Wars: Battlefront).  I was shocked then, when I saw the scope of the game and even more so when I saw the cohesion with which the games many elements fit together.  The Saboteur does a lot and it does it well.

The premise places you in the shoes of Sean Devlin, an Irish man living in German occupied Paris.  His close friend is killed by the Nazis and he sets out for revenge, sabotaging the Nazi regime and aiding the French and British resistance.  The tale has been told before but the characters have a nice chemistry and the french tend to be the butt of most of the jokes, this kept me invested enough in the couple of hours that I played.  I went into the game expecting Mercenaries in WW2, so my genuine interest in the characters and a couple of laugh out loud moments really surprised me.

Having expected Mercenaries WW2 edition, I was also surprised by the variety of gameplay strategies that The Saboteur presents you with.  There were three missions in the demo that I played and I’ll take you through one entitled “Big Gun” to explain the different possible approaches.  The objective of the mission was to plant and detonate charges on a German artillery gun before it fires on the French resistance, simple right?

1. The first option would be run and gun.  The shooting mechanics work pretty solidly and it is possible but far from easy to shoot your way in and shoot your way out.  The left bumper will slide Sean into cover, with the left trigger aiming and the right firing Sean’s gun.  I found that although health was fairly limited it recharged fairly quickly, encouraging this style of cover based play.  Something must be said for the feeling of weight behind the guns, with Nazis folding dramatically in front of your bullets and the thick red blood is a treat to the eyes in the Noir landscapes.  The shooting felt insultingly weak in Mercenaries 2 and your enemies were more like targets than opponents, so it’s nice to see a complete overhaul to the gameplay here.
   

   That's what you get for burning books.

2. The second option is disguise.  Sneaking through the winding alleys of Paris you can quite easily pick off a Nazi unnoticed, and take their uniform.  It is key to do this with a clean head-shot or a quick snap of the neck, as a disguise riddled with bullet holes is useless.  Once in the uniform you can wander among the enemy unnoticed.  There is a meter around the mini-map that fills up when you are suspected to be a sneaky Irish murderer.  Disguises bring in a good risk/reward balance, it’s possible to stay unnoticed right up to planting the charges but if you are caught and have sneaked past all of the enemies you will find yourself absolutely surrounded.
3. The third option is a good healthy climb.  In true Assassins Creed style Sean can scale almost any building in the world and sprint across rooftops.  The game doesn’t animate as fluidly as Assassins Creed but it’s more than capable and literally adds another dimension to the gameplay.  What Assassins Creed lacks however, is a sniper rifle and the thrill of scoring head-shots while moving anonymously from roof to roof is brilliant.  If you’re quick enough you can cover large parts of your journey to the “Big Gun” sprinting across the rooftops with only a few guards needing to be shot along the way.

While I have outlined the three main approaches to the mission, you can mix and match styles of play and like all great sandbox games, use your imagination.

The game’s striking art style also deserves a mention.  By now I’m sure you know that the game has a Noir style.  In Nazi occupied areas the game is black and white with colour reserved for minimalist use: The blues in a hooker’s eyes, the yellow in a flash of gunfire, the crimson of a splash of blood, you know, the best things in life.  When you do lots of missions in an area and fill it with the “Will to Fight”, (abbreviated to WTF…obviously) then it will become full of vibrant colour.  It’s kinda like Flower but the wind is gunfire and the petals are Nazis.

Overall, The Saboteur was the surprise winner of my affection at the expo, it’s Noir art style is fantastic, it’s gameplay seems to have everything going for it and it’s protagonist is a funny Irishman.  When you all get over MW2 this should be next on your list.