Electronic Arts needed to give The Saboteur six more months. I say this as a preface to the general theme of this review: “Missed it by that much.”

The Saboteur, on paper, has so much going for it: A story surrounding the early days of the French Resistance, a likable Irish protagonist and a towering husk of a German bad guy who bears more than a striking resemblance to Dolph Lundgren Ivan Drago, an open-world game mechanic that lets you run wild all over 1940s Paris and one of the best art styles I’ve seen in recent memory.

So why does everything feel so “meh”?

Everything starts with the controls. The controls in The Saboteur are by no stretch unusable. In fact, I dare say that they are quite adequate. But that’s just it: they’re adequate. They get the job done but they feel quite stiff, which makes aiming through a scope or at long distances a real pain in the ass. The same can be said for character movement. In games like Grand Theft Auto IV or Assassin’s Creed, your character has weight when they walk. That isn’t the case in The Saboteur, as you never really feel like you are 100% in control of your own movements.

Vehicle controls, on the other hand, are spot-on. This is a real blessing as you will be spending a lot of time in vehicles as you traverse the expansive in-game world.

The Story

You play as Sean Devlin, an Irish mechanic-turned-terrorist freedom fighter. Much of the backstory is set-up in the rather lengthy prelude, which revolves around a German auto race in the weeks before the Nazi invasion of France. Devlin winds up racing against Kurt Dierker, a Nazi racecar driver who also happens to moonlight as a Nazi scientist. The entire prelude up to the actual race (which you do play) feels like some weird version of The Karate Kid, with the Nazis serving as the Cobra Kai in a classic stare-down sequence right before the big race.

On the final lap of the race, as Devlin takes the lead (somehow you will magically take the lead, no matter what position you’re in at the time you reach the final lap), Dierker shoots out one of your tires and takes the checkered flag as his own. Naturally, Devlin and his friend Jules want to get back at the big bad Nazi, so they decide to trail him so that they can trash his car. They ultimately succeed in wrecking the ride, but pay for their high school-level prank by being tortured and Jules eventually killed by Devlin.

Because, again, he’s a fucking Nazi.

Overcome with grief and rage, Devlin escapes the Nazi base (oh, yeah. Did I mention they snuck onto a secret Nazi base?) and from there the game picks up in Paris. Devlin, crushed with grief over his friend’s demise, is found drinking himself into a stupor at a brothel when he is approached by Luc, a resistance fighter who basically says “why drink when you can KILL?”.

From there, Devlin basically goes Rambo on Paris, laying waste to Nazis as he sees them and generally raising hell in his efforts to exact his revenge on the man who killed his friend.

As you can probably figure out, I don’t think particularly highly of the story. In fact, I would put The Saboteur in the same category as Modern Warfare 2 in that the story is so preposterously bad that you can’t help but kind of get into it. This holds especially true when you consider that, again like Modern Warfare 2, the absurd story does little more than to set-up incredibly set-pieces that are just plain fun to play.

Case in point: There is a point in The Saboteur (I won’t say when as to not spoil any of the core game) where you engage in a gunfight. In a flying zepplin.

That’s on fire.

Yeah, it’s as cool as it sounds. But the awesomeness factor is brought down a bit by the uncertain controls.

Gameplay

As mentioned before, the controls are functional, if not somewhat stiff. I can’t really find the words to say too much about them since they are so… meh. Devlin’s movements are somewhat stiff, which makes aiming firearms a bit of a pain in the ass. The hand-to-hand combat controls aren’t overly elaborate and serve their purpose adequately, with the left trigger (on 360) being used to enter “brawler mode” and the letter buttons being used to throw punches. Vehicle controls are also adequate.

One interesting aspect of the game is the climbing mechanic. Much like Assassin’s Creed, Devlin has the ability to climb up the sides of buildings and run across rooftops to avoid Nazi patrols. The climbing mechanic is nowhere near as polished as Assassin’s Creed, but it works well enough to not get your killed.

This is a good thing, as you will be climbing buildings quite a bit. Towards the end of each mission you will most likely find yourself running in the opposite direction of the dozens of red dots on your minimap. In order to shake them you have to escape the large red circle on your minimap that will follow you so long as the Nazis can see you. While you will most likely not realize this at first (unless you are reading this, of cours), taking to the rooftops is the best way to slip into the darkness undetected.

This is especially true when you consider that many of the game’s hiding spots are on the rooftops of Paris. These hiding spots can be used to quickly evade patrols, provided you can find one.

In addition to the main story there are ample opportunities to spread some good ol’ fashioned anarchy throughout old Paris. Blowing up Nazi watch towers and fueling stations nets you contraband, which you can then use at Black Market stations throughout the city to purchase weapon upgrades, explosives for which to raise more hell with and, at certain locations, new vehicles to get around the city in.

Burning Paris to the ground can also lead to unlocking new perks which allow you to plant bombs faster, throw punches harder and evade Nazi patrols easier, among other things.

While the perks system does add very light RPG elements to the game and running around the city planting bombs and blowing things up does have shades of Red Faction: Guerrilla to it, when you have the controller in your hand there is nothing that really sticks out as special or even notable. It plays directly into the theme of this review: “meh”.

Presentation

The Saboteur has one of the most eye-catching art styles I can remember. With the exception of the prelude, you enter a black-and-white Paris, where the only hint of color can be found in the red Nazi branding littered throughout the city. As you liberate each neighborhood (read: “blow shit up”) from oppressive Nazi control, a wash of color comes over the neighborhood, turning everything from an ultra-artsy black and white to a more vibrant, colorful landscape.

Which I personally found disappointing as I love the black and white look to it.

Apart from the art style, the visuals are kind of meh. Character models are hit-and-miss, and many of the buildings look a little rough.

The voice acting is… wow. The voice acting is downright bad in many instances. With the exception of maybe Devlin himself, the other character’s accents are either comically over-emphasized or just plain bad. Two examples: Luc sounds like he is voiced by somebody who is trying to mock the French with his accent while Dierker sounds like Dick Dastardly, if Dastardly decided to turn Muttley into a lampshade rather than his sidekick.

The music is a healthy mixture between period pieces and orchestral scores that flare up whenever the game wants to say “Okay, time to be dramatic.” The music is well done and is never a bore to listen to.

TL;DR

You may be wondering why this review is so late. Well, let me explain this: I stand by the above review. In every measurable sense this game is average. But then something weird happened.

I kept going back to it.

Nothing about this game stands out, apart from the visuals. But there is just some timeless quality to blowing up Nazi sniper towers while dressed as a S.S. juggernaut that is simply charming. Every rational bone in my body says to give The Saboteur a 3/5, but it’s just too damn fun. If we did half-scores, It’d get a 3.5 but as it stands it gets a four.

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