I will start off in the spirit of Saboteur main character, Sean Devlin, and say that this game was feckin' awesome. Take two parts Grand Theft Auto, 1 part Just Cause, and a dash of Assassin's Creed, shake vigorously, and viola: The Saboteur!
You play as Sean Devlin, a down on his luck Irish racecar driver who is bumming around 1940s Paris, which is under heavy, heavy Nazi occupancy. Sean's best friend was killed by Kurt Dierker, an Aryan poster boy who robbed Sean on placing first in a race. Sean and his buddy went to exact some revenge, crashed Dierker's car, and we captured. Dierker thought they were really spies for the Brits, (I'm fuckin' Irish Sean tells the sour Kraut). Sean's world literally turns to shades of gray at the death of his best friend, which makes for some striking visuals when the game begins and with the jazzy soundtrack, really sets the tone for the rest of the game.
Sean gets roped in to helping the French resistance and what happens over the next 50+ hours of gameplay is pretty awesome indeed.
Sean makes his way around Paris, blowing up Nazi installations, assassinating Nazi generals, hijacking cars, and riddling 27,963 Nazis with about five times as many bullets. All while scaling the buildings in Paris, sliding down electric wire to other buildings, and breaking Nazi necks so he can then sneak into a facility and plant remote control C4.
As Sean cleans up the Nazi garbage, areas of Paris regain their color. Sean's dismal life becomes more meaningful as he continues to assist the Resistance and continues to blow up a ton of Nazi bastads.
The game was a great time. I actually played enough to get the Platinum trophy, which could have been tedious with over 1,300 free play "missions" to do. These ranged from blowing up Nazi snipernests to finding postcards near famous Parisian landmarks. Boredom sets in and you can remedy that by stealing a car, running down some Nazi's, then heading to your secret backroom hidehout at "The Belle" a nice burlesque club where Sean is on a first name basis with the girls. Tops are clothing optional so if you like e-boobies, enter the free DLC code that comes with the game and leave the nudity turned "on."
My only problem with the game is that is ends suddenly. You come face to face with Dierker, who has caused all the grief in your life, atop the observation deck at the Eiffel Tower. Looks like a pretty epic battle should be next. Not really. You're instructed to "Kill Dierker" in which you fire a few shots at him and then a cut scene of his death is triggered. Very anti-climatic after all the man hours spent blowing up Nazis.
All-in-all, if you're looking for a fun, inexpensive game ($20 or under will nab a copy of this for you) then give The Saboteur a try.
Next Level: Castlevania, Lords of Shadow
