1. Summary
2. Background
3. Hype

The Saboteur is yet another World War II game. You'd think that, as consumers, we would be tired of these games by now, but The Saboteur aims to break things up with a few new additions to the most overused setting in gaming. Perhaps the most interesting is the main character, who is an Irish member of the French Resistance. This is no made up character though. At least not out of the blue. He's based on a real-life spy and saboteur named William Grover-Williams, but that's not the only inspiration present in The Saboteur.

Much like the protagonist of The Saboteur, William Grover-Williams was an Irish racer and chauffeur that engaged in sabotage in Vichy France during World War 2. Born to an English father and a French mother, he was fluent in both languages, so became a saboteur in the service of the British army after war broke out. This involved aiding the French Resistance in setting up espionage cells around France, paving the way for parachute landings, and recruiting new guerrillas into the fold. He was captured while doing this, interrogate and tortured, and finally executed. There's not a lot on his life other than this, but the romantic image it portrays is, in sorts, the ultimate war fantasy. Living fast, engaging in (presumably) righteous and impressive destruction, and looking supremely cool while doing so. While the actuality is most likely much more mundane, tedious, and probably a hundred times more dangerous, there's something to be said about the escapism of power fantasy.

Beyond the obvious protagonist inspiration, The Saboteur takes some bits from other games. One thing that is blatantly apparent is the parkour element, which greatly resembles the parkour in Assassin's Creed rather that the "jump and grab" method of inFAMOUS or Crackdown. Rather, Sean Devlin moves up buildings with grace and speed, quickly making his way onto the rooftops. There he must contend with the occasional guard, but nothing as bad as being on the ground. Sound familiar? This is because Assassin's Creed does the exact same thing. This is not a complaint, however, since it's an elegant system that really should be used in more open-world games. If The Saboteur pulls it off well, the more the merrier.

The color element is also reminiscent of a Capcom game that many have heard about but few have played. The game is Okami, and it utilizes a similar concept as the "will to fight" that The Saboteur is said to have. As you go and do tasks for the populace in a particular area, color and life begins to flow back into the region, which makes your actions have distinct consequences and pushes forward a concept of responsibility and persistence that many games lack. It's a great system, and The Saboteur looks to emulate this, which follows under the same rules as the parkour. If they manage to make it perform as expected, it'll be great, since more games should use a similar system.

Finally comes the sabotage elements. In a way, these reflect the high-value targets of Mercenaries, and are an evolution of that. In Mercenaries, you had a list of targets ranging from buildings to soldiers that needed to be taken out. Once you eliminate them, you get paid a good amount of coin, which lets you buy more munitions. In The Saboteur, this translates into increasing the Will to Fight in the area you are in, adding color and making the rebels resist the occupation force even more. The disguise system also carries over, although instead of vehicle disguises it is player disguises. You must still watch out for officers and other suspicious soldiers.