The Saboteur Review

Non-linear, open world games have become a genre of their own over the last two console generations. Many different cities and times have been explored within the genre, but compared to genre's like RPGs and First Person Shooters, open world games have really only scratched the surface. EA's Pandemic Studios' latest title, The Saboteur, takes gamers to 1940's Nazi occupied Paris, merging numerous game mechanics together into a single experience. It's unfortunate that the title also marks the closing of Pandemic Studios, as The Saboteur manages to stand out from the crowd.

The "saboteur" referenced in the game's title is lead character and Irishmen, Sean Devlin. Having lost his best friend, Jules, and his career as a mechanic and race car driver because of the Nazis, Sean is recruited into the Paris-based French Resistance during the city's Nazi occupation. Sean doesn't merely work for the Resistance, but becomes a central figure in their operations while also getting himself tangled up with British agents. The expansive plot and Nazi-occupied Paris setting open the game up to all sorts of lengthy missions as well as an entertaining and sometimes intriguing story.