The Saboteur

 Let's talk about The Saboteur.

After roughly 10 hours in with 50% story done and 14% freeroam done, I have a few things to say. I'll just cut them up so you guys can browse.

Stealth.

The mechanic in the game works perfectly but its very hard to pull off with ease, it seems the dev's decided that would make more of a challenge I suppose. Each stealth kill has tobe done from behind(unless you wanna throw caution to the wind and try a sucker punch kill which can be done from infront) and barefist you have 2 options, one is a quick snap of the neck and the other is a little more brutal...being punched upside the head to death must suck but fuck em thier nazi scum. If one of the varied weapons is equipped it will have its own animation for a silent take down, the baseball bat style of the rifles is a must see. All in all I'm starting to think gamespot's reviewer was more annoyed he couldn't master the stealth aspect rather than it "limiting" his game. This isn't MGS4.

Combat.

This is where the game shines imo. The wholesome and blatant disregard for german life is insane, the game actively wants you to kill in wild ways with perks(come to those next) and it has that GTA3/4 feel to it when your mowing down the third reich en mass. Each weapon from fists to rocket launchers all have thier own distinct feel while feeding the arcade style brutality. I for one really like throwing those pesky Krauts from high places only to watch them splat below and lure more unsuspecting victims into my sniper gaze. Lots of fun.

Perks A.K.A Leveling.

The Sabotuer doesn't want you to grind for your upgrades infact it bypasses most commen leveling systems completely. Your perks are set into different catogorys each having 3 levels gold, silver and bronze. If you perform certain tasks while playing i.e blow up 5 german vehicles in 300 seconds or get 10 double kills with a sniper rifle you are rewarded for your show of skill and homicidal tendencies with a perk upgrade. I found the whole sytem simple but at the sametime useful. Knowing you have achived something set and not just grinded 500 nazi's into the kerb went well with the games ott gameplay and sometimes pushed me to try different things i wouldn't have( i'm 5/10 double kills with the sniper atm). All in all a good if sometimes shallow mechanic.

Freeeeeeroam.

I have no doubt in my mind that only playing the story on this game will shorten it incredibly, but doing that will not only hurt your chance to upgrade weapons, ai armys and yourself it will also deprive you of the basic point of this game. You sabotage things. This means blowing shit up in style and its amazing. I found myself trying alsorts of tactics to get one over on the Nazi's without being detected, sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't but it was all very fun none the less. A strong point has tobe made for the assassin's creed style climbing, the city of paris is your playground and while the climbing mechanic is nowhere near as polished as the above mentioned game its not bad either. Maybe a little more work could have gone into it but hell if it works when why fix it. The major hook of this game is the freeroam and dealing stealthy damage to the bad guys, and for that part it works perfect...i've spent countless hours already just taking out many of the thousands of targets. Again alot of fun.

Art Direction.

For anyone who has seen Shindler's List then you will understand this game from the get go. When you start the whole game is black and white and only the Third Riech flags, Nazi armbands and window lights show thier color. As you progress however and the French resistance to the occupation becomes more intense the areas will start to light up in full high def color. The contrast between the two really helps you somewhat by giving a feeling of dread for the locations that are still occupied without a fight. I liked it alot, as I said it reminded me of a very thought prevoking film set in the same period.

Summary.

The Saboteur is a jack of all trades yet a master of none, but all the trades it does do are well thought out and fun to play with. The game is a mix between GTA4, Assassin's Creed and MGS . While its polish might not be up to AAA standard on any of its mechanics, all of them together in a single game in thier current state makes for a very fun single player experiance. A must play for all 3rd person shooter lovers and anyone who just likes the idea of bringing carnage to the Nazi's on thier own turf.

Let's not forget that this was Pandemics last game, and as such i feel they have gone out with a bang.

As Mickey Rourke would say "Fucking ninja Style"

Phase.