Why I Hate... The Saboteur

By Keza MacDonald Published 30 November, 2010

"Like setting a rom-com in late-sixties Vietnam."

When I first heard that someone was making a game set in occupied Paris, casting the player as a member of the French resistance, my imagination ran away with me. Like everyone else I've played a lot of World War II videogames, and I'm sick of brainlessly shooting Nazis.

I imagined a tense, slow-paced adventure game. I envisioned spying on the occupying force while under the constant threat of detection. Perhaps I'd even get to be a German soldier, questioning his country's role in the war and secretly helping the resistance? That would be brave. That would be something that games haven't done before.

This is my problem with videogames. I hope for subtlety, sensitivity, intelligence and creative ambition. What I get is tits, guns, swearing and dreadful accents.

The Saboteur takes a fascinating and tragic moment in European history and depicts it via the medium of a foul-mouthed Irishman, one who spends his time splattering thousands of Nazis across the windshield of his stolen car and blowing up radio antennae in between visiting strip clubs to have a look at some polygonal French breasts. The warning signs are there on the game's title screen, which shows the Eiffel Tower dwarfed by an enormous pair of female buttocks.

If games were people, this one would be a 13-year-old schoolboy ignoring the history lesson on Germany's invasion of France because he's too busy doodling dicks in his exercise book, doing swears and giggling at his own farts.

I hate The Saboteur. Most bad games are just a bit broken - sometimes you even feel sorry for them - but the Saboteur isn't especially terrible in a mechanical sense. That's not what's so insulting about it.

No, it's the brainless, sickeningly insensitive load of old nonsense that it dares to call a storyline. It's the brash, idiotic, tasteless way in which it treats the Second World War. The Saboteur is aggressively, wilfully stupid, taking a historically charged place in time and turning it into the backdrop for a dumb action romp. This game makes a conscious choice not to bother engaging with the setting or the context in any meaningful, intelligent way.

I don't insist on historical accuracy in my games (or any of my fiction, for that matter). There's nothing wrong with artistic license. I don't care that The Saboteur's version of the occupation of Paris gets its dates and events all mixed up (it does).

But this story is the worst, most disgusting load of dribble I've ever seen in a videogame. And I've played a lot of them.

Why tell a story about occupied Paris when you can tell the story of a drunk man trying to kill a big bad German who cheated him out of winning a race? The war is just the backdrop, see - this game is only set in occupied Paris so there are loads of Nazis standing around to shoot and run over. What fun!

The Saboteur doesn't engage with its setting at all. Devlin, the 'hero', is only recruited to the resistance so there's an excuse for missions where you blow up blimps. This is like setting a rom-com in late-sixties Vietnam - not just horribly inappropriate, but insulting to anyone with the slightest sensitivity towards the history of this period. I don't think a European studio could have made this game.

The main characterisation device is tasteless stereotyping. The Irishman - and this is enough to make any European cringe - is a foul-mouthed drunk who loves whiskey, fighting and blowing things up. The big baddie is a German race car driver who is also - wait for it - a butcher.

Then there's the deeply unsexy British female spy, who wants to sleep with Devlin for absolutely no discernible reason. Oh, except she's a woman in a videogame, so she must want to sleep with someone - or why would she even be there?

Not a single character in the game can keep their accent consistent, be they French, German, Irish or English. Not even the main character can maintain his intonation for five minutes. Sometimes he sounds vaguely Indian. It's like an episode of 'Allo 'Allo, except the comedy isn't intentional.

What really riles me is that The Saboteur isn't a horrible accident - it's stupid by design. Here's an example: some of the characters in the game speak German from time to time, but they speak ludicrously grammatically incorrect German in heavy Californian accents.

Someone, somewhere, decided the Nazis should definitely speak German, but didn't go far enough to suggest they should speak German which, you know, actually sounds anything like the real language. Instead we have, "ZERE IS ZE SABOTEUR! ICH WILLEN ER FINDEN!" It's just for effect, see.

Here's a quote from The Saboteur's lead designer: "We don't even really think of our game as a WWII game, it's the backdrop to our game which gives us arguably the best real-world bad guys of all time."

That's what the Nazi regime - one of the most terrible things ever to happen on our continent or any other, responsible for the worst genocide in human history - was to the people making the Saboteur: the best real-world bad guys of all time.

Occupied Paris? Hey, that's a cool place where you can race in vintage cars and blow stuff up and climb the Eiffel Tower! The developer's attitude to its own game confirms all my worst assumptions.

Why not engage with the history? Why do we so purposefully avoid doing anything intelligent with videogames? And why does The Saboteur think it can come and throw its own faeces against the backdrop of one of the most important historical events in European history?

If this were a film I think it might have been banned, not just slammed by critics. (Videogame critics, by the way, seemed largely unbothered by The Saboteur's insensitivity.) Just because this is a videogame, is it magically OK for it to be so dumb?

The Saboteur isn't an insultingly bad game. It's an insultingly stupid one. It makes game developers and gamers alike look like desperate thrill-seeking idiots, combing fascinating and sensitive areas of human history in search of things we can explode.

It embodies everything that depresses me about videogames at their worst. It's all here - the senselessness, the meaningless violence, the unapologetic stupidity. The lack of intelligence and absence of ambition. The tendency towards easy stereotypes and pre-pubescent humour, even in settings that not only lend themselves to a mature approach, but beg for it.

At least with Pandemic gone, there's no chance of a sequel.

Picture of Keza.

About Keza MacDonald

Read more articles from Keza by visiting the Keza MacDonald archive page.

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Comments (108) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • HisDudness #1 1 year ago

    And this is why we are waiting for Rock Star's game design to catch up with their story telling.

  • crimsoneer #2 1 year ago

    I actually really liked it - despite the stereotypical characters, I loved the car physics and visual design.

    Although, yes, it did feel like 'Ello 'Ello, the game.

  • AlistairUK #3 1 year ago

    The Saboteur was superb - a great combination of breadth and depth. A bit challenging for this particular reviewer, but so what. It joined with Red Faction: Guerilla in having an open world that actually had things to do throughout, and gameplay systems that weren't painful outside of driving (looking at you GTAs). Add to that the atmosphere of literally restoring colour to occupied Paris and it was great. Certainly a good GOTY candidate. Pick it up if you haven't already...

  • RazedInWhite #4 1 year ago

    Out of interest Keza, did you complete the game? The final mission is horrendously dark, involves no combat whatsoever, and is basically an exploration of guilt and turmoil, making a complete u-turn on the way the game presents the Nazis. This probably doesn't make up for the 30+ hours of the plot which you hated, but it does make the player consider the way the game approached everything up to that point, and basically suggests that it wasn't as black and white/good and bad as the plot had presented.

  • AtomicBanana Verified Level Designer, Playground Games #5 1 year ago

    There were some cool design elements to this game. I don't think anyone could argue that the main story line and everything else you didn't like were criminally stupid however.

  • MuchoPies #6 1 year ago

    Care ever mate, I like it and have played it enough and afterall its a computer game not a history lesson.

  • souvlaki #7 1 year ago


    Not only did I have a great time playing Saboteur, but the bug on release of not being able to play it on PC's with an ATI graphics card annoyed me so much that I decided to ditch PC gaming and get into the consoles of this gen - whereas previously I only had a PC, PS2 and a WII, I now have a PS3 and an XBox 360 also. Up until that time, I was very jaded with gaming.

    So, indirectly, The Saboteur has re kicked started my love of gaming and opened up a world of Uncharted, XBLA and Indie Games on consoles.

    Definite Game of The Year for me :)

  • Harlequeen #8 1 year ago

    I'm liking this series. It's feels like the reviewers' revenge on innane comments. And personal opinions rather than objective reviews.
    Edited by Harlequeen at 30/11/10 @ 14:21

  • BillPoon #9 1 year ago

    Played it, finished it, hated it. Agree with Keza in every way.

    The little tedious cutscenes where you could move the camera were utterly awful. Longwinded in a way that only games can be. And tedious. Again.

    Edited several times for stupid typos.
    Edited by BillPoon at 30/11/10 @ 14:49

  • gribb #10 1 year ago

    Hate is such a strong word...

  • marmaduke #11 1 year ago

    "I hope for subtlety, sensitivity, intelligence and creative ambition. What I get is tits, guns, swearing and dreadful accents."

    Tip: if you're looking for subtlety, sensitivity, intelligence and creative ambition don't buy 15-certificate action games about WWII. This is like going out clubbing and whining to your friends about how there isn't enough jazz and you can't get a decent Pernod anywhere.

  • Classique #12 1 year ago

    I dislike Jet Set Willy on the Commodore 64. Should I write an article about it now? Would it be relevant?

  • Retro_ #13 1 year ago

    The saboteur, great game, great fun, great one liners. Final scene was strangely surreal and thought provoking with everything burning and the Nazi's hanging themselves in the Eiffel tower.... GOTY for me. I have one friend who hated it and at least a dozen that loved it, three of us got the Platinum Trophy and that takes a lot of effort, worth every hour.

    Thank you Pandemic, and RIP

  • ShineDog #14 1 year ago

    Yeah, I loved it, but I loved it because it was basically one of the incredibly dumb comic books that I read as a child, which were fantastic.

    In those comic books Tommy the new kid would kick a german in the face, and the german would respond with "AIIEE HE IZ KICKING ME IN ZE FACE". It's wilfully stupid, and it's perfect.

    We absolutely need more dark and serious takes on the subject, you're not wrong, but just because we are crying out for that doesnt mean that the developers should be obliged to give it to us.

    When the period is mostly represented with games that are RRR SOLDIER KILL RRR, a little bit of comic book style and a fantastic jazz/soul soundtrack go a long, long way to making the game feel like something a little bit different, and I approve.

  • muscleblade #15 1 year ago

    Why i hate The Saboteur heading doesnt do the same job as the "Why i hate Halo" heading for some reason.

  • Liam64 #16 1 year ago

    I saw the title of the article and came here thinking I would have to defend The Saboteur against everyone. Glad to see the majority liked it as much as I did. :)

    It was bugged, unpolished and borderline racist. But it was also beautiful, heart-warmingly innocent and shameful amounts of fun. RIP Pandemic, you were great.

  • Lalaland #17 1 year ago

    Yup it was a really stupid game and that accent was atrocious. I had kind of hoped playing it that the 'he beat me in a race' element would fall away as my character matured or realised what a whiny bitch he was and I'd get to fight Nazi's because well they're Nazi's but it never happened. The mechanics were done well, it was just so badly let down by the mind numbingly stupid plot

  • FogHeart #18 1 year ago

    Was fine with this until the last sentence. For every person at Pandemic who made an irresponsible decision you hated, there were ten who probably did a pretty good job that they were asked to do to put bread on the table.

  • El-Dev #19 1 year ago

    I didn't hate it because it was brash and insensitive, I hated it because it was a crap game.

    The Irish accent also pissed me off.

  • Caspar_Esq. #20 1 year ago

    This article series is pretty pathetic. Whiny reviewer whines about well loved game that he doesn't like much. /yawn

  • cianchristopher #21 1 year ago

    You look sharp today, sir.

    You looken sharpen todayen, mein herr...

  • zombieman #22 1 year ago

    Wah wah wah wah wah. You seem to have thrown all of your toys of the pram.

  • Jim_Lahey #23 1 year ago

    This game made me " as happy as a cat with a cream flavoured ring piece".

    I enjoyed it in the same way as I do a low budget crappy film with shitty acting etc.

  • ukslim #24 1 year ago

    I like the cut of your gib, but on the other hand I'd quite like to see a rom-com set in late 60s Vietnam.

  • kinky_mong #25 1 year ago

    Then there's the deeply unsexy British female spy

    Agree with everything in the article apart from that. Skylar was hot for a computer generated woman, but then I do like posh girls.

    The Saboteur is pretty poor overall though. The main story missions are mostly good to play, the colour scheme in occupied areas is great and the ending is very good. However, these are undermined by absolutely tedious side missions required for contraband (ooh I get to blow up even more Nazi towers and speakers which provokes everyone to attack me until I run away for a bit!) and the stupid plot that has little respect for the setting.

  • FreakyZoid #26 1 year ago

    So you hate it for the story? Not the bad controls, or the OCD collect-em-all-a-thon that passes for objective design, or the shonky AI, or the horrible car handling, or collision.

    Or basically any of the stuff that would come broadly under the banner of "gameplay". You hate the story.

  • Keza #27 1 year ago

    "This article series is pretty pathetic. Whiny reviewer whines about well loved game that he doesn't like much. /yawn"

    SHE! SHEEEEE! Five years I've written for Eurogamer. SHE!

  • marilena #28 1 year ago

    Slightly off-topic, I find some of the statements in the article to be hyperbolic and incorrect.

    "worst genocide in human history" - actually, it's the third worst as far as we know (Stalin and Mao both beat Hitler); we also don't have very good figures for some older genocides, which may or may not have been bigger than the Holocaust

    "If this were a film I think it might have been banned, not just slammed by critics." - certainly not; just look at Uwe Boll's Postal to see a film that is more stupid and more insulting, without having been banned; In fact, can films be banned? Aren't they protected by freedom of speech?

    I get it, you hate the game, but you're not doing yourself any favors by writing an article that's just as lacking in nuance and subtlety.

  • Whizzo #29 1 year ago

    The Saboteur is as serious attempt at a portrayal of the occupation of Paris as Mercenaries was of a war in Korea and Mercs 2 a civil war in Venezuela, anyone thinking the silly style of the game wasn't deliberate is rather missing the point.

    It's a fun, silly game that has you mowing down hordes of Nazis, blowing up tons of Zeppelins and engaging in road races through the streets of France while potentially driving a car with a rather noticeable Union flag on it.

    "It's like an episode of 'Allo 'Allo, except the comedy isn't intentional." Yeah ok.

  • Zamn10210 #30 1 year ago

    You wanna know why crap like this gets made? Read this comments thread.

    "It's a computer game, not a history lesson"
    "I loved the car physics"
    "If you're looking for subtlety, sensitivity, intelligence and creative ambition don't buy 15-certificate action games about WWII"

    It's depressing.

  • Blerk #31 1 year ago

    Personally I thought it was a great game, seriously under-rated by most reviewers.

    Is it historically accurate? No. But does it matter? It's obviously pulp stuff rather than a serious attempt to document the war.

    I believe Wolfenstein isn't historically accurate either. Unless Hitler really did have a twin-gunned mech-suit that I hadn't previously heard about. :-)

  • dr.glyndwr #32 1 year ago

    I only recently started playing this. I'm enjoying it enough for now -- I suspect I'll tire of the poor car handling and gotta-catch-'em-all gameplay aspects shortly, as I do all GTA-em-ups -- but I have to admit Keza's criticims really hit the nail on the head for me. The voice acting is criminal, the plotting hackneyed beyond all belief, and the swearing-and-CGI-tits angle simply juvenile. My girlfriend doesn't play games and doesn't care that I do, but if she watched The Saboteur for ten minutes then challanged me to justify it as a good use of my time, then I simply couldn't. In fact I think I'd be quite embarrassed at how cheesy it is.

  • metalangel #33 1 year ago

    I thought it was great, the huge amounts of bad accents and ridiculous action made it a welcome change from the increasingly po-faced action genre. The world's most Irish man* blowing up half of France in between driving race cars and knobbing birds is the sort of escapist nonsense games need more of.

    *stereotypically, of course

  • FogHeart #34 1 year ago

    "This article series is pretty pathetic. Whiny reviewer whines about well loved game that he doesn't like much. /yawn"

    SHE! SHEEEEE! Five years I've written for Eurogamer. SHE!

    Is Keza short for Kerry like Gazza is for Gary and so on? Only yesterday I had to phone someone called Kerry and got a colleague instead. I gave the reason I needed to talk to her.

    Was told Kerry was a bloke....

  • CaptainQuint #35 1 year ago

    So it turns out the writer really DID hate the game in question, this time around.

  • Miths #36 1 year ago

    I never finished it but I did quite enjoy the 12-15 hours or so I put into the game. And despite all the probably very valid points of criticism brought up in this article, I barely even thought about any of them as I never really felt the least bit obligated to take any of it seriously and certainly not to be offended by it.
    It was just another dumb but pretty fun action entertainment product, with a setting and visual style that deviated a bit from the standards in the genre.

  • humble #37 1 year ago

    And Manic Miner was a piss-poor representation of what it's like being an actual miner. But it played well, and thus did its main duty as a computer game. Historical accuracy in a game is all well and good, but it has to be secondary to the actual gameplay - an area in which The Saboteur wasn't too shabby at all. No reason to hate a game because it didn't live up to your lofty expectations.

  • Oh-Bollox #38 1 year ago

    It's a good thing it is a joke, because if it were meant seriously it would be hugely offensive. The Germans are demonised, the French lionised. The Brits feature as a slightly less evil force than the Germans. You've got an Irish character (based on a Brit but changed to Irish because the Americans are allergic) going around planting bombs, FFS.

    Obviously Pandemic didn't think they were making a game that reflected real events, the same way 99% of WWII fiction doesn't, regardless of the medium.

  • intpleeus #39 1 year ago

    But The Saboteur did have a novel anti-aliasing solution, according to Digital Confoundry. To be honest, I could hardly tell the difference.

  • geeza2020 #40 1 year ago

    Never played it, never will. I thought it looked disgusting, and from this article and comments thread I can see that, to my tastes, it was.

  • jstar #41 1 year ago

    Edited by jstar at 30/11/10 @ 16:04

  • Lord_Gremlin #42 1 year ago

    And I liked it. Because it's a good GAME. People like the author of this article... Fucktards, who like bashing videogames without playing them. This one bashes Saboteur, other went on about Mafia 2 portraying Italians wrong, others were against sex in ME1. Do us a favor and stop pulling your head out of your arse, since you keep it there most of time anyway.
    GTFO Keza MacMoron.

  • Tinrib72 #43 1 year ago

    I'm with Ukslim on this, I wouldnt mind seeing a rom com in Vietnam circa late 60's early 70's.

  • AaronTurner #44 1 year ago

    What a pile of crap this game was, I unfortunately bought it after reading the thread were some where exclaiming itto be a hidden gem. It wasn't, it was just shit.
    Edited by AaronTurner at 30/11/10 @ 16:08

  • jstar #45 1 year ago

    I certainly don't agree with the politically correct soap box tone of the article. As just one of many examples your way of thinking would mean that we would have no Indiana Jones movies because heaven forbid anyone would just use the war as a backdrop to a story... instead we'd all be referring to it as 'the war that can not be named' and even then only ever in a whisper in case we offended someone. Next you'll be telling me that Team America was 'insensitive'. Please.

    Having said that there is no doubt that The Saboteur was a fucking piece of shit. If you enjoyed it in any way I can only surmise that you are a) 12 or b) mentally retarded.

  • KDR_11k #46 1 year ago

    I only played the German dubbed version so I cannot comment on the English voice acting but t was pretty annoying that they insisted on throwing French accents on all the Frenchmen when almost everybody in the game is French.

  • FogHeart #47 1 year ago

    A rom-com in late sixties Vietnam?

    How about a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_(TV_series)">doctor comedy set in the Korean War?</a href>

  • geeza2020 #48 1 year ago

    The difference being that MASH was actually really good, and incredibly sensitive to that fact that it was depicting a real world incident. The saboteur, not so much.

  • jstar #49 1 year ago

    But in this article it is the very concept of attempting such a thing that seems to offend the author so. This in turn offends me greatly.

  • FortysixterUK #50 1 year ago

    I liked it. So there.

  • seabassuk #51 1 year ago

    If Saboteur makes a combeack into the top 20, it's all on you Keza lol.

    Meh I always say reali life nazi's = bad, video game and anime nazi's = good.

    I'm afraid the Nazi's are amongst the...biggest real-world bad guys of our time (using words like "best" or "greatest" is horrible I'll give you that). But it does seem like lazy design now because many developers don't seem to put much effort into them.

  • FogHeart #52 1 year ago

    The difference being that MASH was actually really good, and incredibly sensitive to that fact that it was depicting a real world incident. The saboteur, not so much.

    Was only trying to say that if you can do a doctor comedy in the Korean War, a rom-com in the Vietnam War isn't necessarily going to be tacky and inappropriate...

  • Evolution #53 1 year ago

    I agree with Blerk to a certain extent, except that they did try to make it a serious game in terms of plot and tone. I realize gamers need little excuse to drive around blowing things up (as I enjoyed doing) but if you are going to make the plot a part of your game it becomes something that can add or subtract from the experiece. It's like if the sound design is odd or distracting in some way, it doesn't stop you playing the game but that element will detract from the experience.

    @RazedInWhite

    That last level felt so out of place. Like finding caviar in a cheeseburger.

  • Markusdragon #54 1 year ago

    Not every game has to be art. The Saboteur was popcorn-gaming at it's most buttered.

  • Keza #55 1 year ago

    @jstar: I think I made the point that I really want games to set themselves in wars if they'd only do it with a bit of intelligence and ambition.

  • UsernamePending #56 1 year ago

    @Keza - Did you play it until the end?

  • terapeutica #57 1 year ago

    I really liked this game, very fun, a great liners. Final scene was strangely surreal and exciting to burn everything and the Nazis were hanged at the Eiffel Tower .... hug to everyone!
    massagem acompanhantes seguro

  • dbranchevans #58 1 year ago

    So what about the Call of Duty games, wolfenstein, medal of honour. Video games don't handle the subject matter well simply because unfortunately what most people buy is something that has no bearing on real life. ArmaII is a realistic(ish) despiction of combat and war, compare its sales to Call of Duty... The most interesting saboteur type game was Thief.

  • Raznilof #59 1 year ago

    Understand the reasoning, but with regards to videogames it is like complaining about the latest Stallone movie plot being just a vehicle for violence.

    I miss the original Mercenaries though.

  • Keza #60 1 year ago

    @UsernamePending - I couldn't stick it out until the end, but I'm hearing conflicted things about the final mission. Some see it as an emphatic underlining of everything wilfully stupid thing the game does, some as something of a turnaround.

  • jstar #61 1 year ago

    @Keza,

    actually you said this:

    'Why tell a story about occupied Paris when you can tell the story of a drunk man trying to kill a big bad German who cheated him out of winning a race? The war is just the backdrop, see – this game is only set in occupied Paris so there are loads of Nazis standing around to shoot and run over. What fun!'

    In my opinion what's wrong with The Saboteur is not that it does the above, but that it does the above badly. Obviously that is your feeling too. However your above statement suggest that any story set in occupied Paris has to actualy be about occupied Paris. I disagree whole heartedly with this. Using emotionally complex historical events merely as a backdrop for a story is perfectly acceptable in my book. Even if it's just so loads of Nazi's can get shot. And what's wrong with shooting Nazi's anyway? Surely they are the one thing you can;t shoot enough of. Apart from maybe aliens.

    Edited by jstar at 30/11/10 @ 17:04

  • Vyggo #62 1 year ago

    I like that the writer actually has the guts to really "hate" on the game in this series about hating a game, unlike the Halo one which was more of a disguised love letter.

  • UsernamePending #63 1 year ago

    @Keza

    But you didn't get to see the ending of the game at all for yourself. I think that takes something away from your article and reflects on your own brand of "journalism".

  • UsernamePending #64 1 year ago

    I hated Halo, especially after playing it through to the end of the story. I think Halo had the worst final level for an FPS ever and it sealed my hatred of Masterchef completely.

  • Keza #65 1 year ago

    @UsernamePending

    Yes, but here's the thing: these aren't reviews, they're opinion pieces. This is Why I Hate The Saboteur, not A Balanced Consideration Of The Saboteur's Relative Merits. Again, it's not a review.

    (Edit: what I mean by that is that if this WERE a review, you might have a point in criticising my "brand of journalism". But it's not, and if I had reviewed the Saboteur, I would, as always, have done everything in my power to finish it. The Saboteur is actually the only game I've ever had to give to someone else to write about because I hated it too much to present a balanced opinion.)
    Edited by Keza at 30/11/10 @ 17:30

  • jstar #66 1 year ago

    Slightly off topic but these articles are great. Now can you please find someone to do one for Mass Effect 2, all the Fable games and GTA IV. If not I will happily do them.

  • muters #67 1 year ago

    I really enjoyed The Saboteur. Criticising it because it's dumb and silly seems odd as I'm not sure how much sensitivity you'd expect to find in a game where you can't walk to the end of a street without blowing something up. It was basically just Mercenaries in a period WWII setting. It was a horrible time in history, of course, but Nazis have long been a bad-guy staple in fiction, so I can see the designer's point in that quote. There'd be no Indiana Jones or Inglourious Basterds, for example, if we had to treat the period with complete sober reverence.

    That said, a more down-to-earth WWII game, where you're not a one man army, would be great too, though I've always got time for silliness. Liking this series of articles too. :)

  • alcides #68 1 year ago

    OH MY GOD THANK YOU!!

    This stupid, anachronic mess of bad acting slash historical inaccuracies deserved to be trounced once and for all.

  • Vin #69 1 year ago

    Fuck the status-quo loose and juicy. It entertained, which is more than can be said for most full price snooze fests.

  • Oh-Bollox #70 1 year ago

    Has war ever been done well in a game? CoD, no. Medal of Honour, no. Brothers in Arms was a bit too homoerotic for my liking. I can't think of any, off-hand. Possibly because it's just not very common. Wars tend to polarise opinion and tend to be made by people from those polarities, so you just end up with good guys versus bad guys. Again.

    The problem for games is, they take far too much inspiration from films, ('cinematic' style, stories, etc). Game design needs to change. It's going to be difficult to get the message across that perhaps the enemy aren't necessarily 100% evil, and the protagonist and co. aren't necessarily good, in your average war game when you've shot several thousand enemies in the face. Whichever war you try to set that idea in, there's going to be outcry.

    The films that do try to depict a conflict with subtlety aren't the ones most people watch, they don't tend to have great action scenes or set pieces the devs can steal, and they're not going to be the ones the devs think of when thinking up 'new' ideas.

  • turtl311 #71 1 year ago

    "This is my problem with videogames. I hope for subtlety, sensitivity, intelligence and creative ambition. What I get is tits, guns, swearing and dreadful accents."

    Hear, hear. Games should start trying to push the envelope more. I'm not saying that there aren't any games that try to do that, but there's so much room for videogames to expand and potential to grow into a medium that can masterfully impact the player, and it's just plain depressing when that potential falls flat on its face.

  • AdamAsunder #72 1 year ago

    Opinion pieces seem like a lot of hard work to me. It only begins with the published article. The real work begins defending yourself in the forum.

  • Penguinzoot #73 1 year ago

    Hmmm. The Saboteur was crass and undeniably dumb. I fiind myself agreeing with almost every point Keza has made. The plot was awful, the dialog atrocious and the characters stereotypically asanine. The game was juvenile and hugely flawed.

    The Saboteur is not alone in this regard. These are accusations that could justifiably perhaps, be levelled at 99% of all videogames.

    However.

    I had a real blast playing this game. What can I say? It was just great fun blowing shit up.
    Edited by Penguinzoot at 30/11/10 @ 19:47

  • Sanya #74 1 year ago

    I don't like Saboteur because it picked a lot of interesting stuff from modern popular games andnon of them work properly.
    Edited by Sanya at 07/12/10 @ 16:57

  • VendingmachineRed #75 1 year ago

    "Has war ever been done well in a game?"

    @Oh-Bollox: I'd say Steel Batallion. Which I think is largely due to the permanent death in the game. Sometimes I was really afraid to play the next mission, especially when it was the first try with all the surprises and dangers unknown.

    Now I don't know what it really must be like to fight in a war, otherwise I probably wouldn't play war games. I'm also ignoring a large number of great strategy games here, since we are talking about action games.

  • makeamazing #76 1 year ago

    I liked it, i do need to play it some more, but its not THAT bad imho :)

    Yes there are some bad design issues, and you know what, i can look past the stereotypes because it doesn't take itself too seriously...and to be honest its not the first or last game that over does that (GTA does that).

  • SirClive #77 1 year ago

    Worst article I have read on EG. The game isn't trying to be a history lesson. It is entertainment.
    Keza's final statement is as insensitive as anything in the game.
    Edited by SirClive at 30/11/10 @ 20:46

  • lucky_jim #78 1 year ago

    Nobody's asking for the game to be a history lesson. That's a total, obvious, and pretty blatant straw man argument. Objecting to what amounts to "American Pie: Occupied Paris" is not the same as demanding that a game be a history lesson.

    I have similar (but less visceral) objection to films like Titanic and Pearl Harbour which take major historical events and use them for trite stories. That doesn't mean the story has to be all about the setting, but if you're going to use events of this magnitude as the backdrop, you'd damn well better make sure your story has something more to offer than mindless, tick-box Hollywood shit.

    Personal anecdote time: as a child in the 1980s I used to visit my grandparents in Prague ever summer, and it's no stretch to say that my grandad was the single most important adult to me when I was little, for reasons that don't really belong here. My grandad would show me his medals awarded after the war and tell me, with a heartfelt quiver in his voice, some quite horrific stories about his experiences fighting against, getting caught by, and escaping from the Nazis in occupied Czechoslovakia. With hindsight some of the stories he told me were probably a bit too shocking for a child the age I was then, but even then I knew (without it needing explaining) why he was telling me. It was his way of ensuring that the memory of the hardship his generation suffered, and of the friends and loved ones who died for the sake of future generations, would be passed on.

    Games like this piss on those memories.

  • red_shift #79 1 year ago

    Haha! Two pages of pure hatred and bile. Fantastic, we need more of this!

  • monkfishjoe #80 1 year ago

    didn't most people (games press) hate this game?

  • Haloboy #81 1 year ago

    Most will still say that Pandemic went out on a sour note with this. I think personally after the ATI patch came about Pandemic actually went out on a real high note.

    I once scaled the Eifel Tower in this game as the rain poured down the metal struts, it took me ages but I managed it in the end. I then lept off after taking in the view and was awarded an achievement. That's when I knew I was completely in love with The Saboteur. Thank you Pandemic. Some of us actually really appreciated it.

  • Sagan #82 1 year ago

    Thank you for writing this Keza.

  • z8Jay #83 1 year ago

    Who gives a fuck. Don't like it? Don't play it.

  • Charlie_Miso #84 1 year ago

    Best 'Last Boss Fight' in a game I've ever played.

    And I enjoyed The Saboteur so much I went out and bought Mercs 2.

  • Doomspoon #85 1 year ago

    @Oh-Bollox

    I think the original Full Spectrum Warrior did a reasonable job of depicting war. The soundbites, although repetitive worked well, where some of the squad are asking why the war can't just be over so "they can go home, we can go home.." and others are being gung ho "good job these 'Zekes can't shoot for shit". That was Pandemic too, the software itself originally developed for the US army as a recreational training aid to drill awareness (I'm sure you're well aware of this). Many complained about the gameplay being repetitive and lacking variety but with regards to urban combat it seemed to present a reasonably believable experience, it's been years since I played it but I don't recall it glorified or demonised war. For the most part I don't recall it having any big cutscenes with 'blowing shit up' left, right and centre. I think beyond the actual aspect of trying to keep everyone alive it was mostly a mundane, by the numbers experience. "Go where you're told, make sure you keep your lines covered, don't get hit" rinse and repeat.

  • Barbellion #86 1 year ago

    Who gives a fuck if you don't give a fuck? Don't like someone's opinion, don't read it. Especially don't take the time to post about it afterwards. Dolt.

    If it were up to posters like z8jay we'd still be slime.

    As for all those who think there is no dividing line between something being good and having unnecessarily artistic pretentions, I despair. As an example, the movie Inglourious Basterds was not aiming to be high art and was completely and deliberately artistically innacurate, and that was great. It had good writing, great characters, and a wicked sense of humour. It used WWII as a backdrop and had inherent quality, without being aimed at polo-necked students of impossibly dense cinema.

    The Saboteur was not even successful by the standards it set itself. It doesn't cost any more to employ people who can read in the right accents. It was a hugely wasted opportunity. WWII was a badly painted, church hall amdram backdrop in this instance.

  • governmentyard #87 1 year ago

    It's an exploitation B-game, much as there have been exploitation B-Movies providing entertainment and cult cred for years.

    Does Keza get upset watching 'Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS' because it's not as serious as Schindler's List or Sophie's Choice? We remember the Nazis in the most serious of ways and the most silly, both are what they deserve.

  • Benjaminos #88 1 year ago

    I liked it too. Plus, it's got the greatest cutscene ever in it.

    "Dear wanker, sorry about the bang-up, send the bill to me arse."

  • riz23 #89 1 year ago

    An enjoyable read even if I don't agree wholeheartedly. It stirred up the commanders too so job done!

  • metallicorphan #90 1 year ago

    i thought it was a great game and a great game to go out on as well for Pandemic,especially after that pile of horseshit that was LOTR:Conquest

    I loved 'bringing colour' to Paris

  • NewbieZilla #91 1 year ago

    "to kill a big bad German who cheated him out of winning a race?"

    I have the strangest feeling you may just be forgetting something...

  • Tonne #92 1 year ago

    i siding with keza this game was just insulting, it had so much potential just think of the things you could do with the city, you could make a stealth game that could destroy the legacy of splintercell and metalgearsolid.

    and what did we get a mediocre actiongame with crappy controls, bad acting and a story filled with cliche's and stereotypes.
    only thing missing about the main badguy was a white persian cat

  • abhnit90 #93 1 year ago

    Well, i agree for the most part but i'm enjoying the game a lot, the mechanics aren't broken and the controls are crisp.

    I'm having fun and that's all that matters ;)

  • TonyCB #94 1 year ago

    A great article - however it seems a little two-faced given that everytime a Lara Croft game comes out, Eurogamer always ask about the size of her tits.....

  • dacicus #95 1 year ago

    Really, the german cheated him on a race? And me I thought that the bastard not only cheated The Irishman, but also killed its best friend.

    Yes, the game could have been a lot better. But the game plays as you want to play. You can do lots of stuff in a quiet manner. Including the killing and blowing up stuff. But I guess most of the people opted for the Rambo way. There is betrayal, there is revenge, there is brutal killing and a lot of other stuff in the story. Ignore the tits and focus on the game. You might see a different view. So, you have your hideout in a strip club. Never had time to actually look around in the club, too busy seeing what's going outside.

    Saboteur was a mediocre game that provided tons of fans. It had the potential to be a lot better. But I guess that the reviewer's disappointment came from himself setting his hopes too high for a game developed and published today. The Saboteur doesn't deserves to be called a bad game. It has quite a few moments (again, ignore the strip club and focus on the game), so I'd say give it another chance. Play it to the end. Pay attention to what is going on outside the strip club (and you can deactivate the tits viewing from the options menu if you are playing the PC version).

  • Darren #96 1 year ago

    I got the PC version of The Saboteur about six months ago for a fiver (I think, certainly not more than £10 anyway) and while it is a little buggy, particularly the map (it is displayed incorrectly at resolutions above 1280x720), it is a guilty pleasure of mine. The atmosphere is great, helped by the black and white visuals, and the lead character is not only superbly realised but also likeable and well voice-acted. Both those things help the game stand out from the crowd IMO but it's great in one hour sessions.

    If EA hadn't fired Pandemic just after the game's release then it may well have been a much better game in terms of design and definitely less glitchy but considering the price I paid for it I can't complain really when I've had so much fun playing it in spite of the odd bug. A flawed gem in my eyes.

  • bivith #97 1 year ago

    What did you think of Inglorious Basterds? Does the same sort of thing, except Tarantino gets Oscar noms rather than reviled.

  • persus-9 #98 1 year ago

    On the whole playing to the end thing. If this were a review then I don't think it would be a valid criticism to berate Keza for failing to finish the game. If a game is so repugnant that the reviewer doesn't have the stomach to finish it that tells me a lot about the game. I'm with Yahtzee on this one, it is never valid to declare a game good based on an incomplete play-through because it might have a shit ending but it is valid to declare a game shit on the basis of an incomplete play-through because if at any point a game makes the player loath it so much that they want to stop playing then it has failed. Even something that is explicitly a work of art rather than a commercial product can't expect to succeed in conveying it's message if it drives it's intended audience away and would thus fail as a work of art (bare in mind some art has a very small intended audience and that's fine). As long as the reviewer can consider themselves to be sufficiently close to the target audience then failing to complete is a perfectly sensible conclusion to a review. I guess Keza felt her personal feelings towards the game were unlike to reflect those of Eurogamers readers so she passed it to someone else, that seems admirable. Personally I prefer a more personal style of journalism so I'd have been interested to read Keza's opinion regardless of whether she thought it would fit with her readers so I'm glad this 'Why I hate...' gave me the opportunity.

  • governmentyard #99 1 year ago

    Could all the people on here complaining that the game could/should/might have been a different type of game and slagging it for not doing so either go out and make that game themselves or get to their nearest zoo and do their utmost to be violated by a colony of angry baboons?

    Thanks much!

  • SeesThroughAll #100 1 year ago

    I'm with Yahtzee on this one, it is never valid to declare a game good based on an incomplete play-through [...]

    What about Demon's Souls?

  • DrunkenKillfish #101 1 year ago

    Over reaction imo what is this the Daily Mail? It's just a game and I loved it and really pleased so many here enjoyed it for what it was ... a blast.

  • wizbob #102 1 year ago

    The Saboteur made up for the last Indiana Jones game getting canned. Blowing up an experimental rocket lab and escaping on a motorcycle with a sidecar is about the most gaming fun I had all year.

    I normally hate all the warmongering pandemic crap but I think they went out on a high note. And I'd much rather the comedy accents than the hypocritical war-is-hell approach of Medal Of Honour or Call Of Duty, particularly those aftermaths with the sonorous music - how nauseating.

  • persus-9 #103 1 year ago

    @SeesThroughAll: Good point.Yeah, some games are big to the extent that you aren't meant to complete them and it's all about the process. MMOs are another really tricky example of course. Hmm I guess there's a line that reviewers have to judge where that is, when a game has provided so much enjoyment along the way that it would be churlish to complain that the ending is crap.

  • funkateer #104 1 year ago

    "This is my problem with videogames. I hope for subtlety, sensitivity, intelligence and creative ambition. What I get is tits, guns, swearing and dreadful accents. "

    This.
    As the videogames industry is maturing, there should become more room for some subtlety, intelligence and things like that, and the Saboteur is really a missed opportunity there.

    Just wondering, what would you consider games that can be described as 'intelligent & creative' etc?
    I can't think of many. Perhaps the MGS series (which I think is thematically remarkably rich and deep; tits, guns and giant robots notwithstanding), or perhaps Flower. Heavy Rain made a commendable effort, but the story fell short imho. More ideas?

  • blooter #105 1 year ago

    Whats wrong with having a rom-com in 60's Vietnam? Especially if you're Vietnemese. I enjoyed the Sabotuer, a bit of suspension of disbelief required.

  • E-Raz0r #106 1 year ago

    OMG there are tits in this game? I need to buy this.

  • funkateer #107 1 year ago

    "Whats wrong with having a rom-com in 60's Vietnam?"

    Hehe, yeah that could in fact be interesting if done right :)
    Unfortunately I have to agree that The Saboteur is not a rom-com in 60's Vietnam, neither that interesting.

  • Guildenstern #108 1 year ago

    *reads comments*

    And this is why we can't have nice things.