Saturday, May 29, 2010

It's Sabotage!

Over the past few weeks I've been playing The Saboteur, and I have to say I really have mixed feelings about this game. In many ways it encompasses almost everything I hate about video games and yet I still enjoyed playing it.

So what is The Saboteur? For those of you who don't know it's basically GTA set in WW2. And as you would expect from a video game, this sensitive subject matter treated with the dignity and respect it deserves; with a drunken Irishman, horny British agent, profane priest, and of coarse a big boobed female Nazi thrown in for good measure.

Aside from these one dimensional characters, what really sets the Saboteur back is the outdated the game design. Everything in this game is based off some sort of meter or chart. Wanted level, suspicious zones, restricted areas, disguise radiuses. You got to be a fucking cartographer to figure this shit out. And it makes no fucking sense. Someone sees you climbing up a building, that's suspicious, but get to the roof before you're meter is full, that's fine. Cause in this game, standing on a roof next to a sniper nest with dynamite in your hand, ain't strange at all.
Maybe if the developers could make up there minds on what this game was supposed to be they could have ironed out these wrinkles. I still can't tell if it wants to be a stealth game or an action game, neither of which work that well. Disguises are almost useless. Most of the time it's easier to stealth kill a guard in your street clothes. And action sequences only happen if you set off an alarm. In my mind alarm doesn't mean great time to kick some ass, it means shit I fucked up. Which leaves the whole thing feeling a bit hollow.

So you'd think with all this bitching I'd hate this game but like I said at the start I had a lot of fun. Blowing up shit is fun, killing Nazis is fun, racing through Paris is fun. All in all The Saboteur is a fun game, just remember to check your brain at the door.

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