A Grand Theft Auto, Assassin Creed hybrid wanna be but failed to deliver.
While Saboteur is a decent shooting game, the game fails almost in every other aspect.
Gameplay:
Shooting mechanic: 8/10 - this is a standard third person shooter where you take cover behind objects, however, this process is done automatically as you equip your weapons, which is a good thing in my opinion. But it is also fails many times: the game lets you aim over Sean's right shoulder, but at times where you are hiding on the right cover and needed to shoot enemies on the left, the game failed miserably. The game has a decent amount of weapon that can be purchased as the game progressed.
World Interaction (climbing, running...) 4/10 - running in Saboteur is fine. It felt slow at first, but eventually you will get used to the buttons and your movement will be quick and smooth. Climbing however, is hideous. Sean takes years to climb buildings and you will be frustrated by the limitations on the edges you can latch your hands to climb on. The game controls even make it harder to climb and navigate tall buildings and you will many times find yourself in stupid deaths by falling off buildings and towers. When it comes to climbing, this game is rubbish.
Driving: 5/10 - Driving is as tedious as ever. The cars and slow and boring to look at, and the amout of vehicles are so few that if you are on a country side you have to walk a long way before finding a vehicle, and then, it takes a long drive to get where you're going since the cars are slow. The roads are small and curvy so you will frequently crash and run over pedestrians.
Graphic: 6/10
The game has a unique look which I like. In the Nazi occupied areas, the buildings and people are black and white, window are bright yellow and the Nazi soldiers are illuminated. It gave an old, moody feeling of old black and white movie but somehow the contrast remained strong between the yellow windows and the black/whiteness of the town.
Outside these black and white/area, however, is ugly. Don't get me wrong, there are parts of Saboteur where the game looks okay, textures are great, animation is decent. But if you're on a country side, you might throw up at how bad the game look and wonder if the developers are really making the game for current generation consoles. The trees are hideous and looks like papers, the lighting is extremely wrong. It looks as if someone is lighting a light bulb instead of the shining sun, and there are many light bulbs in the sky because without looking at the sky you can't tell which direction the sun is at.
Story: 4/10
The story in Saboteur had a great start. You were in a club and talked to Luc, a rebel in Paris, and helped in run an errand. Flash back. You start by participating in a race and lost because your opponent, a German official, cheated. You and your friend, Jules, went to the official's house to thrash his car, but was caught and Jules was killed. You started off understanding the relationship and closeness of the two friends, but that was there the story dipped.
From then on, the story evolved in a scrambled, messy tale of revenge and revolution, minus the epicness. The characters are paper thin and cliche, the story is confusing and as time wore on, tedious quests made you wonder if the game actually has a story at all.
Overall: 7/10
I believe I am generous when I give the score of 7. I hated the parts where I almost throw my control at the screen because the horrific controls made my character tumbled to death from a tower. But I also remembered the parts where my character ramboed his way through the country side in black and white with a hunting rifle fighting nazi soldiers, these are the satisfying moments in the game and I believed, saved it for me.