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What makes a great game world? Aesthetics, atmosphere, characters or does it simply depend on the game within it? Unfortunately for late developers Pandemic, aesthetics can’t completely make the game because if they could, The Saboteur would be one of the best games of recent memory but after a few hours of playing you’ll realise how deceptive beautiful aesthetics can be.

The Saboteur actually nails atmosphere with its saturated black and white visuals with a smart use of colour. While most of the game is noir in it’s appearance, key details are highlighted by the clever use of strong yellows for lighting and a bold Nazi Red, probably one you won’t find listed on the Dulux colour chart. Once you’ve liberated an area of occupation it will be filled with colour, normal service being restored. It looks terrific but it undoubtedly looks better under Nazi control, not sure what that says about me.

The Saboteur actually nails atmosphere with it’s saturated and smart colours

That’s right you’ve probably noticed, constant use of the N word, it’s a World War II game but it’s unlike any you’ve seen before. Rather than fighting for victory or remaining in control, The Saboteur puts you into a massive metropolis that’s being oppressed.

Sounds just as tonally depressing as a WW2 game should be but the characters play on stereotypes and the action boarders on the ridiculous. While you could argue that it might not be suitable, light comedies about the war are nothing new and it gives the game a great sense of uniqueness and originality. Thank god for that, the term original World War II game was verging on oxymoronic. Unfortunately, Pandemic doesn’t really capitalise on this in an original way.

You play as Sean Devlin, Irish race car driver with a vocabulary of swears who soon is forced to move the capital after a friend’s farm close to the border is burnt down. After stumbling upon a few, intentionally clichéd, stereotypes, you’re thrown into a small resurgence in Paris called The French Resistance. You’ll generally be bombing, shooting and fighting the newly self-elected establishment.

Or at least that’s the promise, you’ll actually be spending most of your time driving and climbing around the streets of Paris, the problem with this is that both are equally as clumsy. You could tell they where going for an Assassin’s Creed style of adventuring, they even have hiding places on the rooftops. However, it feels cumbersome and awkward, which could also be said for the heavy driving model that doesn’t allow for any quick action packed cornering even when the excellently composed musical score suggests otherwise.

The driving doesn’t allow for action packed chases that the musical score suggests

As if you won’t find these elements frustrating enough, they’ll then throw a simply embarrassing brawling system. The locking on is fine but Sean takes a step for every punch meaning if the sporadic AI decides to move out of the way, you’ll be swiping at thin air for while. It’s just bad.

Luckily the stealth system is a real saving grace, while you remain undetected. Holding down a bumper will allow you to sneak up on unsuspecting guards and clobber them with the butt of your gun. You can then opt to don their uniform and casually walk around as a temporary Irish Nazi. It’s all been well refined but don’t expect normal stealth AI where they forget where you are after a few seconds. If one has seen you, it’s an instant alarm for every red-sleeved patrolman near by and you’ll be instantly resorting back to the weaker aspects of the game.

If you aren’t engaging in any of the mundane missions that are presented you’re free to explore the noir streets of Paris. To their credit, Pandemic has packed the streets with side-missions and saboteur targets galore. Despite the core story only taking up six to eight hours of your time, if you are lucky, there is a plethora of extra content to enjoy. Whether you’ll want to wrestle with the controls enough to go seek this out, is your prerogative.

Pandemic has packed the streets with side-missions and saboteur targets galore

You’ll also have the choice on whether to download the buy-it-new-incentive DLC, which essentially downloads nudity. While it affirms that The Saboteur is an adult game, if the swear laden dialogue didn’t tip you off already, it’s far from being titillating. Dare I call it tasteful? Probably not but when you think of the time in Paris in the early half of the 20th century, Pandemic’s vision probably wasn’t far off.

It’s no secret that The Saboteur was Pandemic’s last game as a full team. While it’s probably an easy assumption to make, they just didn’t get to grips with the current generation of hardware and thus couldn’t fully execute on their smart ideas. The Saboteur is a brilliant example of this, brilliant visuals and an interesting setting but the game is marred by too many glitches and cumbersome mechanics for it to be a universally recommendable game, something it could have easily become.