The Saboteur

For other uses, see Saboteur (card game).

The Saboteur
Developer(s)	Pandemic Studios
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Distributor(s)	Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	Tom French
Engine	Odin Havok
Version	1.03
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360
Release date(s)	AU 20091203December 3, 2009 EU 20091204December 4, 2009 NA 20091208December 8, 2009
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, open world
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	BBFC: 15 ESRB: M
Media/distribution	Optical disc, download
System requirements CPU: Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or AMD equivalent OS: Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 Video: Nvidia Geforce 7800 GTX with 256MB of VRAM or ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro with 256MB of VRAM RAM: 2GB or more Sound: Direct X 9.0c compatible sound card Hard drive: At least 7GB of free space Disc drive: Dual Layer 1x or faster DVD Drive

The Saboteur is an open world third person action-adventure video game set during World War II in German-occupied France. It was published by Electronic Arts and the final game to be developed by the former Pandemic Studios, which has been defunct since the game's release.

Plot

Sean Devlin, the game's protagonist in his beta version.

The game's protagonist, Sean Devlin (based on William Grover-Williams), is a hard drinking Irish racecar mechanic, a regular among the racing groups of Paris. After being cheated out of a win in the 1940 Saarbrücken Grand Prix by Kurt Dierker, a Nazi colonel, Sean and his best friend Jules Rousseau seek revenge and sabotage his prized racecar. After being captured, Dierker executes Jules during interrogation under the belief they are really British agents sent to spy on him, but Sean escapes. The rest of the storyline chronicles Sean's fight to kill Dierker. He is recruited by the French Resistance, its leader Luc, and British SOE, who help him throughout the story. The story takes place during World War II and the German occupation of France, but the war itself is used as a backdrop to the main story, which is about Sean's fight to avenge Jules' murder, protect Jules' sister Veronique, and kill Dierker.

Gameplay

The player is able to explore Nazi-occupied Paris, some of the French countryside and parts of Germany. Color is a key element in the gameplay. Areas which are heavily controlled by the Nazis are represented in black and white, with the exception of the irises of characters' eyes, city lights, blood and blue symbols of the French Resistance, and various German symbols, which are bright red and complete with swastikas. In order to make that district colored ("inspired") again, players must weaken the German forces occupying the area. In doing so, that district's citizens regain their hope, visually represented by making the area vibrant and full of color. This also affects gameplay; in black and white areas, German soldiers are present in large numbers, making it far more likely that Sean will be detected in his rebellious activities.

In colored areas, the Germans will not be completely evicted, however they will no longer be so ubiquitous, and will primarily be centered around military bases, barracks, police stations, HQs, and other strategically important sites. In addition, the French people will play an active role in the struggle for colored zones. For example, if Sean gets into a fight with German soldiers in a coloured area, allies like the French Resistance, the Maquis, and even French passersby will intervene against the occupiers.

Throughout the game, players will upgrade their character in the form of "Perks". These will improve accuracy, ammo counts, damage, abilities and more. Perks are gained through actions, such as evading high-level alarms, sniping targets or demolishing a set number of German installations or vehicles with a certain requirement. The player also has the ability to scale buildings and run across rooftops, where sometimes British supply boxes can be found, or to reach a good sniper's view of the ground beneath. Garages are available to the player, which can save parked vehicles and repair damaged ones. The player can also engage in fist-fights or use a more stealthy approach, such as sneaking around or using a Nazi's uniform as a disguise.

Should the player die while free-roaming, Sean will lose all of his weapons and grenades he had equipped prior to death. The player can buy weapons, ammunition, explosives, maps and other items from several black market merchants. Once Sean has purchased a weapon, he can equip himself with that weapon at any time.

The Midnight Show

A code for a downloadable patch entitled "The Midnight Show" was free to those who purchased a new copy of the game for either the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For the Windows version, the extra content was already included on the disc. The content was also available for 240 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live Marketplace or for $2.99 on the PlayStation Network (in the UK, the content is free of charge) for people who didn't have the code.

The extra content provides the player with extra brothels and hiding spots. It also includes a minigame in which the player can earn in-game items such as a car not found during the main campaign. Most notably, however, installing the add-on automatically renders all brothel girls in the game topless, although nudity can still be toggled on and off. This caused some controversy at the time of the game's release.

Development

The game has been called the developer's swan song, since Pandemic Studios was liquidated after its completion.

After the game was released, customers reported that the game was unplayable with an ATI graphics card. Some game retailers, including Direct2Drive, have placed a warning on their web sites declaring problems with the game's compatibility. A workaround requires the user to disable multi-core processing entirely, which would significantly decrease their computer's performance. Pandemic employees have acknowledged the issue and released a beta patch on December 18, 2009. The patch report currently state that users with quad core CPUs will possibly have severe streaming issues, which requires restricting the game to a single core as a workaround. This is despite the game's recommended specifications listing a quad core CPU.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	PC: 72.07% (14 reviews) Xbox 360: 75.37% (44 reviews)
Metacritic	PC: 76/100 (20 reviews) Xbox 360: 73/100 (69 reviews)
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	B-
Computer and Video Games	6.9/10
Eurogamer	6/10
Game Informer	8.00/10
GameSpot	7.5/10
GameSpy
GameTrailers	7.6/10
IGN	7.5/10
X-Play	3/5

Reception for The Saboteur has been generally favorable. As of January 2010, The Saboteur is rated 73/100 on Metacritic on the Xbox 360.

IGN rated The Saboteur a 7.5/10, praising its sound, black and white visuals, and "cheap thrills", while criticizing its unpolished gameplay and somewhat silly animation.

Gametrailers gave the game 7.6/10, calling the game yet another open-world destruction game of 2009. The game was praised for being fun, although the site criticized the choppy voice acting, varying graphical quality and the unpolished end product.

X-Play rated the game 3 out of 5, praising its unique look and setting, and the variety of gameplay, but criticized its poorly-executed story, enemy AI, and various glitches.

The PlayStation 3 version has been noted for its anti-aliasing technique on a console that has traditionally had difficulty with AA. Using one of the PS3's Synergistic Processing Units to perform after-image edge detection and blurring, under optimal conditions it manages equivalent to 16xAA.

The game was frequently compared to Velvet Assassin, released the same year and featuring similar aesthetics and gameplay styles.

Music

The music which appears in The Saboteur is:

• Koop - Koop Island Blues (Featuring Ane Brun)
• Ella Fitzgerald - Somebody Nobody Loves
• Ella Fitzgerald - Caravan
• Madeleine Peyroux - Dance Me to the End of Love
• Nina Simone - Feeling Good
• Nina Simone - Feeling Good (Troublemaker Remix)
• Isаac Sprintis - Feeling Good (Sprintis Remix)
• Steve Sidwell - Walk The Walk
• Howard Shaw - Red, White & Blues
• Peter Cork - Depression Blues
• Steve Sidwell - Smoochie Coochie
• Ruben Ayala & Mile Deering - Relaxing Risk
• Frank Macchia - On The Rocks
• Jan Stevens - Martini Lounge
• Jan Stevens - Terrapin On A Tightrope
• Maxayn - The Finger Points To You
• Kacee Clanton - Don’t Do Me Wrong [instrumental]
• Charles Chemery - S’Embrasser A La Plage
• Allison Adams Tucker - Quand J’tai Perdu
• Robert Farnon - Blue Theme
• Steve Martin - Expose
• Deb Lyons - Over The Moon
• Allison Adams Tucker - L’Homme Que J’Adore
• Maxayn - The Finger Points To You [instrumental]
• Kacee Clanton - Don’t Do Me Wrong
• Charles Chemery - S’Embrasser A La Plage [instrumental]
• Allison Adams Tucker - Quand J’tai Perdu [instrumental]
• Deb Lyons - Over The Moon [instrumental]
• Allison Adams Tucker - L’Homme Que J’Adore [instrumental]
• Steve Martin - Expose (Extended)
• Christopher Young - The Saboteur Theme
• Christopher Young - The Saboteur Theme [action mix]
• Christopher Young - The Saboteur Theme [piano version]
• Flogging Molly - Seven Deadly Sins
• The Saboteur Intro
• Christopher Young - The Saboteur Theme [jazz mix]

External links

• Official website
• The Saboteur at MobyGames
• The Saboteur at the Internet Movie Database