An Explosive Irishman In Paris

The Saboteur was one of the first games I bought for the 360, along with Fable 3 and Rage. I finished both of those before Halloween and haven't looked back. The Saboteur I took my time with, and tried to finish every last thing I could.

I'd say it's easily my favorite 360 game so far, which is maybe a little disappointing. It's essentially Grand Theft Auto: Occupied France. You take on missions for a Resistance cell, missions which usually involve killing someone, or blowing stuff up. Maybe there needs to be a swift escape utilizing some fancy driving. You gradually get forged papers that let you travel to other sections of Paris, putting you in contact with other members of La Resistance, who also have missions for you.

It can be a little repetitive, so I tended to break up the missions with lots of freeplay work. There are hundreds of what are called freeplay targets scattered across the map. Some of them are postcards, or scenic views, there are some supply drops, but most of them are symbols of the Nazis that you need to destroy. SS generals, tanks, sniper nests, propaganda loudspeakers. Every one of them you complete earns you a little bit of contraband, which is how you pay for weapons. Not that you're usually at a loss for weapons or ammo. After all, there are Nazis all over the place, just kill one and take his gun.

One of the things for me that differentiates it from the GTAs are the stealth elements. Sean's a n adept climber, which makes getting to the freeplay targets easier, and also gives you a little more versatility in how to approach targets. This isn't a game that gives you truly different options on how to complete missions (like say, Dishonored), but you can at least opt to snipe from a nearby rooftop rather than barrel in guns blazing if you like. And I do, I do like. The climbing is very easy. Jump up to a grip, move the control stick until another grip is highlighted, push the jump button. Just make sure the Nazis don't see you.

Also, it's possible to stealth kill a Nazi (if you can catch them unaware), and steal their uniform. The game employs some common sense to the Nazis ability to see through your disguise. Namely, if they can't see you, then they can't see through your disguise. Sounds obvious, but apparently too difficult for the makers of Velvet Assassin. The driving isn't incredibly smooth like you might expect from a racing game, but it's fairly steady. There are a few races, but the difficulty isn't hard at all. My coworker is terrible at driving in games, and was able to win the big Grand Prix race on the first try. Vehicles tend to take a lot of damage before they stop working, unless shot by a tank. You will be able to find tanks and wreak havoc in them, by the way. Little disappointed I couldn't hijack a Messerschmidt and strafe people, but oh well.

One aspect of the game is perks. If you complete a certain task, you unlock certain bonuses. A new gun, a new stealth attack, not having to pay to have cars repaired. You're also able, if you have the dosh, to purchase one gold level perk, without having to complete the requirements. My coworker used it to unlock the Panzerschreck. I used to it to make it so Nazis aren't suspicious if I plant explosives while wearing a disguise. I'm sure this highlights something about our respective approaches.

One quirk of the game is that almost everything is in black-and-white at the beginning. There will be occasional things in color. Luc's scarf is sky blue, the swastika on the back of a car a deep red, but everything else is black or white. As the game progresses, as you gradually liberate France, color will return to the region, emphasizing the weakening of Nazi control. They'll still be present, but less likely to hassle civilians, and you'll find it easier to escape from them. It's a nice touch, but after awhile it seems like areas are being liberated just because. Why does my recovering a race car liberate the countryside around the villa I stole it from? What Frenchmen were around to see it who would care? So I'm not sure the execution of the idea is where it could be, but it's a nice touch all the same. Plus, it made your final confrontation with Kurt Dierker much more satisfying.

Which is good, because it seemed terribly anticlimactic for a moment. I haven't spoken of the story much, but in brief, Sean Devlin's drinking away his sorrows in Paris when Luc approaches him about helping the Resistance with his explosives aptitude. Of course the Irishman drinks heavily and likes explosives. Sean doesn't care too much about fighting the Frenchies' battle for them, but he does like the idea of getting his hands on Dierker, who he holds responsible for his friend Jules' death. And there you go. Throw in some double crosses, a Spanish weapons dealer, British Intelligence using Sean, tension between Sean and Veronique (Jules' sister). and there you go.

I imagine it worked for me because - besides Sean's frequent and creative use of profanity - I was watching Duck, You Sucker a lot when I started playing it, and I appreciated certain parallels between Sean and John. Sean let his temper and ego get his best friend killed, and was drinking his life away until he got a chance for revenge. John actually killed his best friend, which torched his belief in anything except killing. He's in the Mexican Revolution to kill anyone in uniform, Sean's in World War 2 to kill Dierker, and any Nazis in the way. Sean is maybe a little less cynical than John, but I'd say he's also younger, and not as far removed from his tragedy. Luc is probably Dr. Villega, which leaves Santos and Juan. Eh, it sort of works. Neither one is particularly interested in the war except for what they can make off it. Overall, I think that bought the story some slack it might not otherwise have gotten. I'm not sure how much story you need for trying to slow down the Reich.

Oh, I also really liked the music for when you're in the car. It all seemed period appropriate (I don't know if it was original music, or songs actually created during World War 2), and it was just very pleasant. Sometimes it's nice to get out of the city and just cruise the countryside in a nice car for a while. If only those French civilians would figure out which side of the road they wanted to drive on. I don't care which, just pick one!