The Saboteur Preview

Providing the backdrop for an infinite number of movies and video games, the World War II era has now become an exceedingly hackneyed premise in modern-day entertainment. Certain publishers, however, still feel there's something left to be milked out of this chaotic period in our history. Or, it could be an excuse because they can't come up with anything better. But every now and then, a talented development studio succeeds in bringing new ideas even within such a clichéd background (CoH being a good recent example). Pandemic Studios, a developer whose portfolio includes games like Full Spectrum Warrior, Star Wars: Battlefront, Mercenaries and Destroy All Humans!, firmly believes that the WW II setting is the right choice for their latest project.

German guards... deaf and blind, as usual.

There's gotta be a pub around here somewhere.

Mind you, they're calling it an open-world stealth action game, so you should know it's not a MoH-style action flavored FPS or yet another archetypal RTS. "We're not storming the beaches of Normandy," admits Pandemic. That said, let's check out what this game's about.

Saboteur stands out from the annoyingly large number of WW II games primarily with its storyline. The hackneyed version of a common WW II game would normally put players into the shoes of a lone soldier, fighting alongside the Allied forces and occasionally writing tear-jerking letters to his family back home. Bypassing such formulas, Saboteur fits you into the attire of a regular Irish bloke, named Sean. While many are just struggling to survive the war, Sean wasn't all that bothered by it. That is, not until he witnessed a group of Germans killing some of his closest friends. As it happens, Sean is your average Irish badass, so don't expect him to enlist right way and join the war effort. No, his sole purpose from here on firmly rests on his growing need for revenge - plain and simple. He means to go after everyone responsible for the death of his friends. So, even though during his endeavors he may actually end up helping the Allies, his main focus is vengeance.

Normally, you do get to wield weapons along the way, but Sean is more of a dirty street fighter. He'd rather grab his opponent by the neck, punch him a couple of times and then kick him right in the groin. Sean is frequently required to move around the city, which is why he'll be able to get into any car in the street. In addition, he'll get to ride bicycles, motorcycles and, yep, even airplanes.

Another unique aspect of Saboteur is giving the game a distinctive visual flavor, unlike many other titles placed in the WW II setting. Contrasting colors along with heavy emphasis of black and white scenery is something Pandemic is currently toying around with. It's a game mechanic they're calling 'Will to Fight.' To them, 'Will to Fight' is an artistic challenge and a special technique of presenting a great portion of the game in black and white. Drawing inspiration from visual styles depicted in movies like Sin City, the designers are basically experimenting with lighting and shadows and are coming up with some fine results, making for a stylish cinematic look. Of course, we still have to wait and see how this works in practice.

Pandemic's ambition is to use this not only as form of visual expression, but as a cool new method of enriching the gameplay. This was pretty much described as a work-in-progress thing, but from what we've gathered, it does hold some promise. For instance, territories and specific locations under German control are represented in black and white. However, the moment you take out the Germans, the surroundings will gain color and all the citizens will be content again.

Although there are some action elements to it, Saboteur often focuses on stealth missions, involving sneaking around Paris and avoiding being seen and caught by the enemy. Some creative moments were thrown in to make things "hotter," so to speak. For example, in order to blend in, Sean might have to get his hands on a local maiden and start making out thus deceiving the Germans (ah, that juicy old gag never fails).

The game should feature a sizeable urban area to venture in. You'll be able to dash across rooftops, roam the streets freely and drive through the countryside. Furthermore, Sean won't be thrown into a WW II war zone where avoiding shellfire and panzer tanks is considered common practice. Instead, players move through a territory where Germans would rather nab and detain troublemakers as opposed to killing them instantaneously. They'd prefer to "have a little fun" with their prey before the blood spilling starts (which is exactly what Sean is betting on).

That's my rifle! Hands off!

Psst! Hans, over here.

The sound design team is working on an adequate soundtrack for the game, to throw in a range of authentic jazz subgenres, such as bebop and swing, (apparently, the designers are big fans of this particular music genre) as well as a few classic themes. This should, no doubt, work well with the overall in-game ambiance.

Pandemic also recently "tied the knot" with famous developer Bioware. The people at Pandemic claim this partnership proved invaluable to them in their work. Certain technologies employed in Bioware's approaching RPG Mass Effect were, for instance, studied closely by the team at Pandemic. They've also highlighted Bioware's talent at creating superb narratives, which was also an inspiration for the team.

In a few words, Pandemic aims to make some innovative moves, by creating an open-ended third-person shooter with character depth and original design elements. It's very comforting to know that the development team consists of people who worked specifically on Mercenaries, Star Wars Battlefront and Full Spectrum Warrior. We honestly hope it all fits into place come 2008, when the game is expected to come out for the X360 and PS3.