The circumstances that lead me to play games are often bizarre. Some, such as the LAN gem Line of Sight : Vietnam, began as seemingly ill-fated parental buys. Others such as the enjoyable indie title Iron Grip : Warlords was found while browsing the steampunk works of its concept artist.

But Saboteur, I am almost ashamed to say, was a simple case of a quick Play.com “Top PC games” search, in the lead up to Xmas. Sounded like an interesting premise, so I thought I’d go for it. Part of me wanted to play it simply because I was curious to see a recent game. It had been a while. And overall, I must say I wasn’t disappointed.

You play the part of a member of the French Resistance, during WWII in occupied Paris. Not an immensely likable one, unfortunately, as he is possessed of a terrible Irish accent and exists in a world written with the kind of complexity and depth of character one might associate with a Michael Bay film. But of course, that’s why we have Nazis in the game in the first place; so you know your good from evil (notwithstanding the Brits of course; even when they’re your allies they’re still apparently bad news).

Saboteur’s most obvious comparison is with GTA, but I found myself repeatedly reminiscing on (the more grown-up) Mafia. That was likely due to the setting of 1930s cars and quirky jazz most likely, but both have immersion and atmosphere in spades. I love sandbox games, no matter how trendy they get. Saboteur does this side admirably; you get to go running around Paris as much as you like, sneaking around / blowing up a variety of Nazi installations in a number of different possible ways. The main plot manages to be both un-intrusive and very easy to pick up again; for example, the occasional reminder of the plot missions come via a shadowy-looking “pssst-here’s-a-secret-note” guy, true to the 50’s Hollywood style to which the game adheres.

Apart from its apparent lack of sophistication, my gripes are mainly with the save system. PC reviewers and gamers alike usually blame this kinda thing on “oh it’s what you get with console ports” but these days, that’s bull! Consoles have the exact same save system, it’s nothing short of a weak attempt to stop players cheating with saves. Half Life 2 allows you to do this. If it broke gameplay, somebody would have noticed by now. It is in fact one of those things game designers think will be a problem but actually isn’t. Whereas their ’solution’ is, as always, a pain in the ass. I had to re-complete (three times as it happened) a big fat mission involving sneaking into a crypt, then fighting alongside the Resistance, simply because the first time I died and didn’t have time to do it again, and the second time the game decided it was having an off-day and crashed. The problem was even worse before I figured out that only when I’d seen the “Mission Complete!” message, was it safe to save and carry on later without discovering I’d taken a back-step.

Overall, though, I am still enjoying the odd game of Saboteur as much as any other I play. There are some great moments of sneaking past Nazis worthy of those classic film moments. And to all that find the setting appealing, I encourage you to give it a try.

First up, I’d just like to say that I don’t think online gaming is without some merit.

That sounds like real negative forshadowing for something that generally receives nothing but praise from most, but I’m not having a mindless bash at online play merely because I have a rubbish connection. Or because the online player can take me to the cleaners on even my favourite games. It’s much more general than that.

Online play, while touted as being more social and outgoing than the ‘lonliness’ of single-player, is actually pretty solitary. You know what? Playing with people is so much more fun when you’re not sitting in the house on your own. It’s called LAN, and with modern laptops this is more feasible than ever.

I know not everyone can do this, and being a developer I have more computers than I should so I’m inclined to be a LAN gamer. But it’s not just LAN. Split screen and turn based games are even easier; Trackmania being the current favourite (turn-based racing at its best). I always enjoy it so much more playing games with people who are present and I actually know and/or care about.

Online games aren’t forbidden a look in among all this, I just don’t think they’re the big positive social train they’re made out to be. Also, it may come as a shock to those who think that bots are a thing of the past and that World of Warcraft is how all games will be someday, but I’ve deduced some fundamental logical inevitables:

1. AI will sooner or later surpass humans. In my opinion they’re already more fun because they don’t hack, or spend the whole time telling you you’re doing it in an inefficient way and not using the best gunz. Regardless, AI will eventually be as good (and optionally better) than humans. [1]
2. Role Play Games are fun because you’re the only one that can save the world. If everyone in the world is also saving it as well, all your greatnesses average out and you’re left back in the real world where everyone is samey and bored. This is called Lex’s Hypothesis on Why World Of Warcraft Sucks. [2]
3. People on The Internets are all dickholes [3].

I’m not just getting at online games for the hell of it, I just think the industry needs a kick up the jacksie to remember that there’s greater things a game can aspire to than Battlefield 2. Players of ‘private session’ style games like my humble self are finding our choices slim these days, because developers/publishers think that online is where the cash is. This is probably true. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it!