The Saboteur

The Saboteur was developed by Pandemic, the makers of the Mercenaries and the Star Wars Battlefront series. The Saboteur is their last game, since they have been dismantled. Unfortunately, the game does not live up to their previous reputation.

You are cast as Irish man Sean Devlin. A former mechanic-turned race car driver turned resistance fighter.  The game is set in Nazi-occupied Paris. It can be easy to get roped in to the story. As Devlin, you will travel around Paris meeting interesting people that will help develop the story.  There are some disappointing parts near the end of the story but over all it is pretty satisfying.

The cut scenes look great. I think they are some of the best i have seen in a sandbox game. The rest of the game is just okay. the black and white areas are a nice change of pace from what you might see in other games. It really does a nice job of setting the mood. All Nazi occupied parts of Paris are in black and white then,  when you free it from the Nazis, it turns to color. The color areas look plain and a little unimaginative. There is a fair amount of rain during the game and I did have one time when I was inside and it was still raining, INSIDE - not really believable.  Another note on the graphics, the fire and explosives just looked a little silly.

The voice acting was great and makes it easy to pay attention to the story. The cut scenes don't just look good but they sound good to. the game has some funny lines that will bring a smile to your face. the soundtrack is sexy but a bit too repetitive.  I heard the same songs over and over. That may be something you would expect in a sandbox game, but not this much.

There is a variety of game play types, as you would expect from a sandbox game. Unfortunately none of them really stand out.You have boxing, driving, climbing and third person shooting. The boxing is only used at the beginning when you have no weapons. driving is a major part of the game. you will race and drive all around Paris. It feels like any sandbox game would which is disappointing since you are a race car driver. I never lost or even came close to losing a race, that's how easy it is.  Shooting a zeppelin out of the sky and planting bombs on Nazi structures its quite satisfying.  The climbing feels stiff, awkward a bit like something I've done before - only not as good this time. You can tell that they tried to make it like Assassin's Creed, but it comes up short, way short. I found it easier and more fun  to run into fire fights rather than sneak around on the roof tops. There is a cover system, but it almost never works and there it no need to use it since Sean can be hit a ungodly amount of times before going down, a bit too much of the Irish whiskey has mad him a tough guy I guess. I was hit by a tank and only lost half of my health.

The Saboteur has the potential to be played again. I finished it in 14:35 completing 88%. There are plenty of side missions that help you free Paris, it also has some easy achievements and trophies, although, I got bored with the side missions pretty quickly.

If your dying to play a sandbox game, then this could be the game for you! If not, then i would have to say- pass. It seems like it could be a good game, it tries really hard, but it never really is.

I give it a 7.2 out of 10

Mafia II review - Xbox 360

Mafia II starts you out as Vito Scaletta a wanna be mobster.  Set in the fictonal city of Empire Bay, the story starts you out in the 1940's and continues though the 1950's. From the trailors and screen shots, the game look like a massive open would game but in realty, it a thrid person shoter with a lot of driving.

The story can be interesting and fun at times, but I found it to be pretty predictable.  It does a good job at making you feel like you're a mobster in the 40's and 50's. If you enjoy classic cars, the stealing and driving, along with the soundtrack of the game may be something you enjoy. The game is split up in to 15 chapters wtich gives you a scen of acoplisement. The would is larg but it can feel vary empty at times. The only buildings you can go in are the ones that are in the story and the faue stors that you can robe.

The cut scenes look great, but the rest of the game is just okay. I had a couple of frame rate issues. There are some rendering problems, from a distance the graphics lack detail, and seem very unpolished, but the close up shots, for the most part, looked great.  As far as glitches, they weren't major but a enough that I did take notice.  For example, the game did freeze on me once. While doing the immense amount of driving, take note of the scenery, the cars and the city are pretty good looking.

The sound has to be the high point of the game. The music is nice and the voice acting is great. All of the weapons sound very realistic, the only complaint I have is with the voice sync, it was a little off at times.

The game play is what you would expect from a standard first person shooter. You take cover then you pop out and shoot. The auto lock on doesn't always work, it will work about 50% of the time. I found myself not even using it about half way though the game.  When you're not shooting,  you're driving (which is about 80% of the game) or your boxing. I went 2 hours without firing a single shot, all I did was box (not too hard to do when its just a few maneuvers, dodge, weak punch and strong punch)! If I was playing Fight Night, that would have been okay. The boxing is one of the easier parts of this game. There are missions where your objective is just to drive to your house to go to sleep and wake up to answer the phone. If you can make it half way through the game without getting bored, hang in there, it gets a little more exciting.

The game doesn't have too much re-playability,  I went through it in about 10 hours. There are Playboys and wanted posters to collect through out the game. You can also rob stores and steal cars for money but I found my self never needing the extra cash.  There are a lot of easy achievements or trophies to get.  I would be a little more impressed if it had a multi-player mode.

Over all I have to say that Mafia II is a rent for me. Its nothing more then a average third person shooter, with sub par game play and not much re-playability.  Even with the great cut scenes that play out like a mobster movie, good voice acting, in the end this predictable story is nothing to write home about.


I give it a  7.2 out of 10