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Saboteur (2008 video game)
Encyclopedia
The Saboteur is an open world
third person action-adventure
video game set during World War II in German-occupied France. It was published by Electronic Arts
and developed by former Pandemic Studios
, which has been defunct since the game's release.
The game's protagonist, Sean Devlin (based on war hero William Grover-Williams
), is a hard drinking Irish
racecar mechanic
, a regular among the racing
groups of Paris
. After being cheated out of a win in the 1940 Saarbrücken
Grand Prix by Kurt Dierker, a Nazi colonel
, Sean and his best friend Jules Rousseau seek revenge and sabotage his prized racecar. After being captured, Dierker executes Jules during interrogation under the belief they are really British agents sent to spy on him, but Sean escapes. The rest of the storyline chronicles Sean's fight to kill Dierker. He is recruited by the French Resistance
and its leader Luc, and British SOE
, who help him throughout the story. The story takes place during World War II and the German occupation of France, but the war itself is used as a backdrop to the main story, which is about Sean's fight to avenge Jules' murder, protect Jules' sister Veronique, and kill Dierker.
, since Pandemic Studios
was liquidated after its completion.
After the game was released, customers reported that the game was unplayable with an ATI
graphics card. Some game retailers, including Direct2Drive
, placed warnings on their web sites declaring problems with the game's compatibility. A workaround requires the user to disable multi-core processing entirely, which would significantly decrease their computer's performance. Pandemic
employees have acknowledged the issue and released a beta patch on December 18, 2009. The patch report currently state that users with quad core CPUs will possibly have severe streaming issues, which requires restricting the game to a single core as a workaround. This is despite the game's recommended specifications listing a quad core CPU.
on the Xbox 360.
IGN
rated The Saboteur a 7.5/10, praising its sound, black and white visuals, and "cheap thrills", while criticizing its unpolished gameplay and somewhat silly animation.
Gametrailers
gave the game 7.6/10, calling the game yet another open-world destruction game of 2009. The game was praised for being fun, although the site criticized the choppy voice acting, varying graphical quality and the unpolished end product.
X-Play
rated the game 3 out of 5, praising its unique look and setting, and the variety of gameplay, but criticized its poorly-executed story, enemy AI, and various glitches.
The PlayStation 3
version has been noted for its anti-aliasing
technique on a console that has traditionally had difficulty with AA. Using one of the PS3's Synergistic Processing Units to perform after-image edge detection
and blurring, under optimal conditions it manages equivalent to 16xAA.
The game was frequently compared to Velvet Assassin
, released the same year and featuring similar asthetics and gameplay styles.
Open world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
third person action-adventure
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
video game set during World War II in German-occupied France. It was published by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
and developed by former Pandemic Studios
Pandemic Studios
Pandemic Studios was founded as an independent developer in 1998, it became an Electronic Arts-owned developer from 2007 to 2009, when it was officially closed. It was an Australian and American video game developer with offices in Brisbane, Australia and Los Angeles, California...
, which has been defunct since the game's release.
Plot
William Grover-Williams
William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams , also known as "W Williams", was a Grand Prix motor racing driver and special agent who worked for the Special Operations Executive inside France. He organized and coordinated the Chestnut network...
), is a hard drinking Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
racecar mechanic
Mechanic
A mechanic is a craftsman or technician who uses tools to build or repair machinery.Many mechanics are specialized in a particular field such as auto mechanics, bicycle mechanics, motorcycle mechanics, boiler mechanics, general mechanics, industrial maintenance mechanics , air conditioning and...
, a regular among the racing
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
groups of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. After being cheated out of a win in the 1940 Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
Grand Prix by Kurt Dierker, a Nazi colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
, Sean and his best friend Jules Rousseau seek revenge and sabotage his prized racecar. After being captured, Dierker executes Jules during interrogation under the belief they are really British agents sent to spy on him, but Sean escapes. The rest of the storyline chronicles Sean's fight to kill Dierker. He is recruited by the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
and its leader Luc, and British SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
, who help him throughout the story. The story takes place during World War II and the German occupation of France, but the war itself is used as a backdrop to the main story, which is about Sean's fight to avenge Jules' murder, protect Jules' sister Veronique, and kill Dierker.
Development
The game has been called the developer's swan songSwan song
"Swan song" is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that the Mute Swan is completely silent during its lifetime until the moment just before death, when it sings one beautiful song...
, since Pandemic Studios
Pandemic Studios
Pandemic Studios was founded as an independent developer in 1998, it became an Electronic Arts-owned developer from 2007 to 2009, when it was officially closed. It was an Australian and American video game developer with offices in Brisbane, Australia and Los Angeles, California...
was liquidated after its completion.
After the game was released, customers reported that the game was unplayable with an ATI
Ati
As a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
graphics card. Some game retailers, including Direct2Drive
Direct2Drive
Direct2Drive is an online game store offering PC videogames via direct download. On May 25, 2011, Gamefly acquired Direct2Drive from IGN Entertainment Group .- Competition with Steam :...
, placed warnings on their web sites declaring problems with the game's compatibility. A workaround requires the user to disable multi-core processing entirely, which would significantly decrease their computer's performance. Pandemic
Pandemic Studios
Pandemic Studios was founded as an independent developer in 1998, it became an Electronic Arts-owned developer from 2007 to 2009, when it was officially closed. It was an Australian and American video game developer with offices in Brisbane, Australia and Los Angeles, California...
employees have acknowledged the issue and released a beta patch on December 18, 2009. The patch report currently state that users with quad core CPUs will possibly have severe streaming issues, which requires restricting the game to a single core as a workaround. This is despite the game's recommended specifications listing a quad core CPU.
Reception
Reception for The Saboteur has been generally favorable. As of January 2010, The Saboteur is rated 73/100 on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
on the Xbox 360.
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
rated The Saboteur a 7.5/10, praising its sound, black and white visuals, and "cheap thrills", while criticizing its unpolished gameplay and somewhat silly animation.
Gametrailers
GameTrailers
GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...
gave the game 7.6/10, calling the game yet another open-world destruction game of 2009. The game was praised for being fun, although the site criticized the choppy voice acting, varying graphical quality and the unpolished end product.
X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
rated the game 3 out of 5, praising its unique look and setting, and the variety of gameplay, but criticized its poorly-executed story, enemy AI, and various glitches.
The PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
version has been noted for its anti-aliasing
Anti-aliasing
In digital signal processing, spatial anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing the distortion artifacts known as aliasing when representing a high-resolution image at a lower resolution...
technique on a console that has traditionally had difficulty with AA. Using one of the PS3's Synergistic Processing Units to perform after-image edge detection
Edge detection
Edge detection is a fundamental tool in image processing and computer vision, particularly in the areas of feature detection and feature extraction, which aim at identifying points in a digital image at which the image brightness changes sharply or, more formally, has discontinuities...
and blurring, under optimal conditions it manages equivalent to 16xAA.
The game was frequently compared to Velvet Assassin
Velvet Assassin
Velvet Assassin is a stealth action video game for Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows, released in North America on April 28, 2009. Velvet Assassin's working title was Sabotage....
, released the same year and featuring similar asthetics and gameplay styles.
Music
The music which appears in The Saboteur is:- Koop - Koop Island Blues (Featuring Ane Brun)
- Ella Fitzgerald - Somebody Nobody Loves
- Ella Fitzgerald - Caravan
- Madeleine Peyroux - Dance Me To The End Of Love
- Nina Simone - Feeling Good
- Nina Simone - Feeling Good (Troublemaker Remix)
- Isаac Sprintis - Feeling Good (Sprintis Remix)
- Steve Sidwell - Walk The Walk
- Howard Shaw - Red, White & Blues
- Peter Cork - Depression Blues
- Steve Sidwell - Smoochie Coochie
- Ruben Ayala & Mile Deering - Relaxing Risk
- Frank Macchia - On The Rocks
- Jan Stevens - Martini Lounge
- Jan Stevens - Terrapin On A Tightrope
- Maxayn - The Finger Points To You
- Kacee ClantonKacee ClantonKacee Clanton is a Los Angeles based rock and blues singer-songwriter who has worked as a background vocalist for recording artists Beth Hart, Joe Cocker and Luis Miguel and toured as lead vocalist with Big Brother and the Holding Company...
- Don’t Do Me Wrong [instrumental] - Charles Chemery - S’Embrasser A La Plage
- Allison Adams Tucker - Quand J’tai Perdu
- Robert Farnon - Blue Theme
- Steve Martin - Expose
- Deb Lyons - Over The Moon
- Allison Adams Tucker - L’Homme Que J’Adore
- Maxayn - The Finger Points To You [instrumental]
- Kacee Clanton - Don’t Do Me Wrong
- Charles Chemery - S’Embrasser A La Plage [instrumental]
- Allison Adams Tucker - Quand J’tai Perdu [instrumental]
- Deb Lyons - Over The Moon [instrumental]
- Allison Adams Tucker - L’Homme Que J’Adore [instrumental]
- Steve Martin - Expose (Extended)
- Christopher Young - The Saboteur Theme
- Christopher Young - The Saboteur Theme [action mix]
- Christopher Young - The Saboteur Theme [piano version]
- Flogging Molly - Seven Deadly Sins
- The Saboteur Intro
- Christopher Young - The Saboteur Theme [jazz mix]