The Saboteur review (PS3, Xbox 360) By Sayed Islam Published: 01/01/10 PrintEmail
The Saboteur is a game that has an intriguing premise, and the main goal is to sabotage just about everything. However, its biggest flaw is that it lacks any real originality and turns in a traditional mundane title. The storyline revolves around the main protagonist Sean Devlin. He is racecar driver, a bit of alcoholic, and has a strong infatuation for women. As a result, Devlin competes against various other racecar drivers in Paris. The main antagonist is Kurt Dierker, and he just happens to be a nefarious Nazi. Dierker is immoral, unethical, and enjoys taking the easy route to success. Ultimately, this turns into a tale about Devlin vs. Nazis. For the most part, the narrative is appealing even if certain characters are not very likeable.
The gameplay is in essence a free roaming open world title at its core. There are primary missions, and they are conveniently shown for easy access. In addition, there is a fairly comprehensive map to guide you to specific locations such as weapon shops. Furthermore, there is always the possibility to annihilate Nazi (and who does not like that). The stealth moments usually entail Devlin sneaking by wearing a Nazi disguise, but they feel underdeveloped compared to exploding a variety of obstacles. Moreover, you can hijack a car. Yet controlling vehicles can feel rather cumbersome. The cars are simply not as responsive as they should be. Another phase of the gameplay entails traversing your way from one building to the next. It is not like anything from Uncharted 2, Infamous, or Assassin’s Creed 2. Nonetheless, it can be entertaining to climb from time to time. Devlin can also climb to the very top of a building and start sniping adversaries from above. To assist him, the unsurprising explosive barrels or canisters (or whatever the hell you want to call them) are just itching to be shot. Making things explode is the name of the game, and you will be doing an excessive amount of it.
In regards to the art direction, they are way too generic. There is an overwhelming amount of colorless backgrounds, and the textures can be average at best.
About the audio, it is an improvement over the graphics. The voice acting can be dubious; nevertheless, the music is engrossing and immaculately complements the Nazi/World War II theme.
Overall, The Saboteur is not a terribly unbearable game. But it is something we have experienced before and has been done better in other games.
Art direction 6 In regards to the art direction, they are way too generic. There is an overwhelming amount of colorless backgrounds, and the textures can be average at best. Audio 8 About the audio, it is an improvement over the graphics. The voice acting can be dubious; nevertheless, the music is engrossing and immaculately complements the Nazi/World War II theme. Gameplay 7 The gameplay is in essence a free roaming open world title at its core. Presentation 8 For the most part, the narrative is appealing even if certain characters are not very likeable. Replay value 6 It is not abysmal for some of the missions, but some of the poor mechanics are unforgivable. Final verdict 7 out of 10
The Saboteur is a game that has an intriguing premise, and the main goal is to sabotage just about everything. However, its biggest flaw is that it lacks any real originality and turns in a traditional mundane title. The storyline revolves around the main protagonist Sean Devlin. He is racecar driver, a bit of alcoholic, and has a strong infatuation for women. As a result, Devlin competes against various other racecar drivers in Paris. The main antagonist is Kurt Dierker, and he just happens to be a nefarious Nazi. Dierker is immoral, unethical, and enjoys taking the easy route to success. Ultimately, this turns into a tale about Devlin vs. Nazis. For the most part, the narrative is appealing even if certain characters are not very likeable. 
