Black Women Are The Most Beautiful Women On The Planet.
"In video game terms, RPGs are games that involve a form of separate battles taking place with a specialized battle system and the use of a system that increases your power through a form of points.
Sure, what you say is the definition, but the connotation of RPGs is what they are in video games." - dtewi
It's a lot of fun to paint the town red in this black and white open-world game, but the weak stealth elements limit your options.
The Good
Striking art design seamlessly mixes black and white with color
Shooting action is fun and chaotic
Perks system gives valuable rewards for being creative
Freeplay targets are an interesting diversion.
The Bad
Stealth elements are underdeveloped
Driving and melee controls are clunky
Climbing buildings is boring.
"Throughout your quest to free Paris from Nazi rule, you can earn a number of perks that make overthrowing the occupying forces easier and more fun. For instance, stealing a certain number of civilian cars lets you call for your own getaway mobile whenever you're in a pinch, sniping a few Nazis from far away steadies your aiming sights, and you can earn all sorts of fancy guns by dispatching Germans in clever ways. The perks system is a great incentive to try different methods to complete your objectives and builds upon the foundation that makes the game so much fun. The action in The Saboteur is well executed and rewarding, so even though World War II is merely a backdrop and the stealth elements are underdeveloped, it's still a blast to spill gallons of Nazi blood and blow targets sky-high. The Saboteur may not be the most original sandbox game around, but it certainly stands out from the glut of other World War II-themed adventures, and it's a darn good time as long as you can put up with its minor problems."
However much its color scheme may protest to the contrary, The Saboteur is not a classic. It gets the basics right, though, and it's peppered with a lot of exciting, memorable moments. If you haven't had your fill of open world mayhem this year (and quite a year it's been), you shouldn't begrudge it an explosion or two.
--------IGN--------
Closing Comments On paper, The Saboteur is a winner. The plot is intriguing and the conversation is snappy. And if you tire of following the particulars of "La Resistance" there are always some nicely rendered nude women to ogle. But boil it down to the gameplay and you're left with a good chunk of clumsy third-person shooting with bits of awkward driving. The Saboteur borrows plenty of great elements from other games, but doesn't execute on them as successfully. That's not to say there isn't fun to be had because there's plenty. It just isn't as well constructed as many other similar games on the store shelf.
Presentation The ideas that drive The Saboteur are great. Paris during WWII is both beautiful and dangerous and the main storyline will rope you in.
7.0
Graphics The mostly black and white sections produce the best visuals. Other areas can look bland and some animations border on silly.
8.5
Sound The soundtrack is downright sexy and the voicework makes the mediocre dialogue worth listening to.
7.5
Gameplay From the brawling to shooting to driving the core gameplay is functional but unpolished. Luckily there's still plenty of fun in blowing up Nazis.
8.5
Lasting Appeal There's a whole lot to do in Paris aside from the fulfilling story. Whether or not you enjoy completing it all is another question.
7.5 Good
OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average
--------IGN AU--------
Closing Comments
It’s an odd little saucisson, this one. Sean is distinctly unlikeable for the first two or three hours of gameplay, but gradually grows on you. The story is reasonable, although hampered by some laughable dialogue – which we hope was deliberate, and steaming ‘round the city and surrounding countryside giving the Nazis what for is entertaining enough that you almost don’t need a story.
While it’s a little rough around the edges we enjoyed this game more than we thought we would. It’s far from perfect, but it’s great to see Pandemic going out with a bang.
Presentation We really liked the stark contrast between occupied and free zones – as unsubtle as it is. Good menus, and the Perks screen comes complete with ‘authentic’ Irish comments from the big man himself.
7.5
Graphics The graphics are a little jaggy, and there were a few frame-rate issues but, for the most part, this is a perfectly acceptable-looking game. Workmanlike, you might say.
7.0
Sound Voice acting is pretty sketchy, but grows on you, much like the (deliberately?) bad efforts from the cast of ‘Allo ‘Allo. The music goes a long way to making up for the bad acting though.
8.0
Gameplay This is one of those games that grows on you as you progress, even if you think it shouldn’t. The simple fact is that blowing stuff up is heaps of fun, and The Saboteur has HEAPS of stuff to blow up.
7.5
Lasting Appeal This is a single playthrough affair, but there’s a huge amount of content to plough through that isn’t directly linked to the main story.
8.2 Impressive
OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average
--------IGN UK--------
Closing Comments With a concept and feature set that’s so tantalising, it’s a crushing disappointment that The Saboteur is a victim of its own ambition. It promises a game like no other, with a setting and subject matter that’s unique to the genre. Unfortunately the reality is something that harks back to the darker days of open world games, its individual elements uninspiring and its story a poor patchwork of clichés sewn together with juvenile smut and swearing - and it's a melancholy swansong for the once brilliant Pandemic.
Presentation There's a sheen to the front-end, while loading times are kept to a minimum, but it's not enough to detract from the last-gen feeling of the game.
6.5
Graphics Strong art design fails to plaster over the cracks in animation or disguise the blandness of the main character models.
7.0
Sound Period radio lightens up the treks around town, and the game's many explosions have a little verve, but it's fundamentally unremarkable.
5.5
Gameplay It's not a disaster, but it is uninspired, its elements failiing to acknowledge the change that has happened in the open world genre the past few years.
7.0
Lasting Appeal For those with patience it's a generous game, with a lengthy campaign backed up by a horde of collectibles.
6.2 Passable
OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average
-----EUROGAMER----- "The Saboteur, then: not half as bad as the limp first few hours suggest. It's perhaps not the greatest company epitaph in the world but, as Devlin might say, while throwing himself out of a speeding car, knocking back a slug o' the good stuff and mashing a Nazi's head in with one punch: 'It coulda been a lot worse.'"
6/10
-----VideoGamer----- "If you saw any of the early promotional trailers for this game, you may remember a clip that was cut to the svelte tones of Nina Simone, as she sung Feeling Good. Well, that track has been included here - along with several other excellent jazz numbers that play whenever you enter a vehicle. The thing is, that song was recorded in 1965 - over 20 years after World War II ended. It's inclusion makes no sense at all, and yet the tune itself is a perfect match for the tone of the game. It's this winning contradiction, more than a pair of polygon breasts, that truly sums up The Saboteur. Pandemic Studios may be no more, but at least we can say that the boys went out on a high note."
-----GameInformer-----
"The Saboteur may lack the polish of the contemporaries it boldly mimics, but protagonist Sean Devlin’s quest for revenge and an alluring 1940s Paris make this a World War II memory worth making."
GI rating: 8
Concept: Liberate open-world Paris from ze Germans by blowing up all their stuff
Graphics: I can’t decide which I like better – the stylish black and white treatment of Paris under German occupation or the colorful world it becomes once you liberate a neighborhood
Sound: French Resistance? More like International Resistance – this game has enough foreign accents to rival BBC World News. A great 1940s jazz soundtrack accompanies your street carnage
Playability: While the driving, shooting, and climbing get the job done, they lack the polish of superior experiences
Entertainment: A fresh take on World War II that should appeal to fans of sandbox action games
Replay:Moderate
------GamePro----
From planting explosives beneath enemy sniper nests to speeding over the lush Parisian countryside, there's so much to do and see in Saboteur that it's incredibly easy to lose sight of the game's minor quirks and frustrations. It may not be the most original title under the sun, but it is an absolute blast while it lasts, and an innovative and welcome addition to the overwhelming selection of World War II games.
PROS: Enormous environment; wide variety of missions; beautiful black-and-white visual style CONS: AI is occasionally dodgy; the story is lackluster; stealth mechanic is a bit iffy
-----GameSpy-----
Pros: Black-and-white vs. color environments is a great idea; satisfying explosions; generally good voice acting.
Cons: Eluding Nazis gets tedious; the story isn't fleshed out well; your effect on the world is very minimal.
"While the combat and destruction portions of playing as the Saboteur are fun, the story and effect you have on the world are disappointingly underdeveloped. Without spoiling too much, I'll just say that the story is cliched to a point where no surprises exist, and it's full of characters that you never quite give a crap about. It's sad how little your actions affect the world; despite giving people the "will to fight," wherein the world around Sean changes from black-and-white to color as the Nazi presence diminishes, you won't suddenly see the resistance actually fighting soldiers in the street, nor will the Nazis fully vacate "liberated" areas. If this concept of changing the will of the people had been more fully realized, and if the story hadn't been so forgettable, The Saboteur could've been pretty fantastic. Instead, it's less of a swan song and more of a pop single: catchy at times, but ultimately not something that will stick with you."
-----1UP----- "In a year that also contains Red Faction: Guerrilla, which does open world action much better, and Assassin's Creed 2, which makes stealth action and wall-scaling effortless and fun, Saboteur falls a little flat. I almost feel like I'm beating the game up unfairly -- acquiring new weapons and vehicles, and escaping pursuing Nazis is always thankfully easy, and you'll have fun exploring WWII Paris. But too many other titles do the exact same things better for Saboteur to hold your attention long."
It'll be fun, but from videos etc. clearly lacks the level of polish we've seen in the really great games.
If you like this kind of game then it still looks like a buy to me, not every title is going to be polished to perfection and if you like the look of it you're probably going to enjoy it plenty enough reading those reviews.
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
(Former) Lead Moderator
