Indiana is quick with his whip, but Sean's quicker with Whiskey.
Cherry blossoms are regarded as being at their most radiant, right before they fall off the tree. A belief that shows that even though the end is near, leaving a mark on the world is the best thing to do. Right before Pandemic Studios closed, makers of the Mercenaries franchise, the last title they were working on was The Saboteur. A free-roaming WWII game that dropped the FPS association, and mixed in cinematic elements with everything sandbox gaming has produced.
Sean Devlin is set on drinking himself under the table after witnessing the murder of his best friend and race crew partner. Destiny has tracked Devlin down at the nightclub Belle de Nuit in the form of Luc, a resistance fighter who starts a series of events that all involve Sean setting off a lot of explosives. Outside of the Cabaret, things aren't as enticing with the depressing grey of an occupied France.
Taking artistic statements from movies like Schindler's list, the city of Paris is illustrated in black and white. Any portion of the town in black and white signifies the oppressive force of the Nazi's. Residents have little to no motivation to fight back, and are easily bullied, and sometimes even executed on the streets. By eliminating Nazi presence in a portion of town, vivid colors overwhelm the area. Aside from cheering up the place with bright blue skies and green hills, the city gets its fighting spirit back. Less Nazi patrols stroll through liberated areas and if Sean picks a fight with soldiers, civilians and resistance fighter back him up. The use of color is a real defining statement about the morale of the city.
No matter how enticing it is to punch a Nazi in the face, kicking and punching aren't the only things Sean has backing him up. Sean picks up his firearms from the local black market dealer purchased with contraband he earns from completing missions and ambient events. With a shop established, It seems necessary to return after completing certain levels to purchase ammo and upgrades and by stealing cars you can have an assortment of cars. Aside from the silence pistol, I mostly took weapons from enemies and from the supply drops. Something that I found myself doing, whether it was necessary or not, was killing Soldiers and taking their uniforms. Being in disguise helped out when I was already in enemy territory, but most often than not enemies would figure out my identity and I would have to shoot my way through the level or restart it altogether. I chose one level to go completely undercover, and it took a few tries, but when I got the farthest I could, the mission instructed me to kill a bunch of guards. Completely destroying the illusion I was trying to establish.
At lot of aspects of The Saboteur have a dual approval and disapproval to them. The inclusion of cars, and collecting them as to keep the fastest in the garage, is great to get around the whole area of the game, but they're hard to drive. Climbing up buildings is fun and really tries to get the sense of Parkour by grabbing one ledge at a time, but on tall buildings, you can circle the block looking for a pipe to shimmy up faster. I completely love the expression of the dark and colorful areas of the game because it's not only a visual difference, but you can totally see the grim cruelty of the Nazi's on the Parisians and the casual nature of the colorful areas. However, some things are too dark to see the B&W areas.
Without including the days I spent completing the Ambient events which left me drained, I wasn't completely unsatisfied with The Saboteur. Completing side missions introduced many a couple of interesting characters and really culminated when an area that was previously gray, burst with color. Getting every perk and upgrade felt essential, especially having a getaway car show up at your location and also the gang of resistance fighters rolling out of their car to back you up.
The main story was action packed and hilarious, if you believe in who they are instead of who their supposed to be. Sean is always foulmouthed and sarcastic, even when the mood was serious. Luc seemed like a brave leader on the outside, but is more interested in getting intimate with Veronique. The levels intensity spikes which may be why I'm bothered. One mission was just talking to a character while another consisted of infiltrating a castle. I can say that entertainment wise, I'm happy. The climax at the end of the game was like watching a really good action movie.
