This December sees the release of The Saboteur, a long-in-development third person action title for Xbox 360 and PS3 from Pandemic Studios.
Having cut their teeth on well-received series like Full Spectrum Warrior, Star Wars Battlefront and Mercenaries, the developer’s latest game continues in their tradition of wham-bam, blockbuster action shooters- at least at first glance. Pandemic have chosen to tread where many others have gone before by revisiting- you guessed it- World War II- as their setting.
But that’s where the inevitable groans of disapproval should stop- because there are good reasons to feel confident that The Saboteur will offer a refreshing take on a hackneyed subject matter. A distinctive, predominantly black and white art style, a unique twist on a familiar setting- the plot focuses on the travails of the French Resistance rather than on the conventional armies- and some interesting gameplay mechanics conspire to make the title feel infinitely more grown-up than, say, the same developer’s Mercenaries games.

The aptly named Tom French, lead producer on the title, is a jovial, enthusiastic advocate for the work of his studio, and is just as peppy and pleasant as his online interviews suggest.

One concern I expressed to French was that with feel that with so many quality titles queued up for release at the end of the year, that The Saboteur could easily come a cropper at retail and be passed over in favour of established IPs- not least the mother of them all, Modern Warfare 2. After all, some of EA’s original projects over the last couple of years, like Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge, although critically well-received, failed to set the market alight.

French claims not to be too worried, and is quietly confident that The Saboteur won’t get overlooked upon its December release.. “Actually if you look at the release lists for the end of the year, what you’ll find is a lot of games slipping to next year- so in fact releasing a game early next year could be even riskier for a publisher. There is this interesting window developing in December that we’ll be slotting into.”

French feels that the market is ready for a game like The Saboteur- he points to the sheer scale and longevity of the experience as a reason why the game might have a broad appeal. “There’s a lot of value inside of this game”, he says. “A play-through should offer about 20-25 hours.”

Interestingly, he suggests that Quentin Tarantino’s recent movie Inglourious Basterds may have served to introduce the public to the sort of offbeat, personality-driven, not-exactly-historically-accurate version of Nazi-occupied France that Pandemic are going for with The Saboteur. “I think that might just help us in communicating to gamers the kind of world that The Saboteur takes place in”.

Tom French: goes drinking with fictional characters of his own making.

The Saboteur isn’t short on ambition: the game boasts a fully-realised openworld sandbox, but Pandemic are confident that narrative-driven set-pieces remain the beating heart of the experience. Apart from the third person stealth and combat mechanics, the game features driving and shooting sections.

I put it to French that games with multiple forms of gameplay that try too hard to be all things to all people, like the mega-hyped Matrix game from a few years back, tend to fall flat on their faces. How are Pandemic trying to keep the quality of The Saboteur consistent? French replies that a long development process and, crucially, not outsourcing different aspects of the game to different teams or companies has ensured that the experience gels as a unified hole. “I really think we have something unique to offer here- a lot of what we’re doing has never been tried before”.

Ambition is one thing, but a quote on Pandemic’s website goes as far as to say that if The Saboteur was to be pitched today, it would be too ambitious to be green-lighted. Are the team suffering from delusions of grandeur, perchance?

French giggles, as if recognising the hubris of such a statement. “It’s tough to say really..but actually, given the current economic situation, I can’t say for sure that a game as complex as The Saboteur would be given funding if it were pitched today”.

When the conversation turns to Seán Devlin, the title’s unusual central protagonist, French becomes still more effusive- as if discussing an old friend. The pitch is that Seán Devlin is a daredevil Irishman, and rather being a soldier in the war, is merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Devlin is the  action hero we wish we could be!” he gushes. “I often joke with people that I’ve had drinks with Seán..I really feel he’s someone I know.”

My own interest in The Saboteur was piqued as soon as I heard that Seán Devlin was an Irishman. After all, this small island has never produced a videogame hero before. I had to ask French if it was actually an Irish voice actor, or if he merely continued in the grand tradition of Hollywood actors adopting a cringe-worthy Irish brogue (As perfected, arguably, by Natascha McElhone in Ronin). French is quick to reassure me that Devlin is played by a bone-fide Irishman, albeit one who has lived in the United States for some time.

“We really didn’t want to get someone with a really thick Irish accent, who players wouldn’t be able to understand easily…we didn’t want to have to insert subtitles into the game for an American audience. Believe it or not, getting the right voice for Devlin was one of the biggest challenges we faced in the production of this game. But we think we found our man”.

Will Devlin turn out to be a psuedo-Irish, stereotype-ridden rebel without a cause?
Possibly. But if French’s palpable excitement is any indication, he should, at least, be a more compelling and consistent character than your average gruff, faceless space marine.

The Saboteur’s distinctive art style has already won plaudits for Pandemic.

Pandemic’s acquisition by Electronic Arts in 2007 was accompanied by fears in some quarters that the developer would be subsumed into EA’s vast developer network. The reality is that EA’s enlightened policy decisions have resulted in Pandemic remaining a distinct entity and brand. But what’s it like to be part of the EA stable? Have Ricitiello and co. sucked the creative life out of the organisation? Or do they meddle with game production at Pandemic? French is keen to praise EA’s involvement.

“EA have been great actually. [The acquisition by EA] has given us security. We had an involvement with John Ricitiello before (As head of Elevation, Pandemic’s previous owners) so becoming part of EA was no great shock for us. They have allowed us to do our thing…the know what we’re good at, they don’t interfere with the kind of games we want to make.”

When I question him about the possibility of Pandemic trying their hand at a smaller-scale downloadable title, French strongly indicates that this isn’t on the developer’s agenda. “We are interested in the various download services..but you know, Pandemic are very focused on a particular kind of game- large scale action titles. I think that’s the way EA like us, and that’s the way we will continue to be for the foreseeable future.”

What about Wii? Pandemic have yet to release a game Nintendo’s console- although word did reach us a few months back that an upcoming Wii project, known as The Next Big Thing, was canned. What’s going on there?

“Of course we are interested in Wii, as we are in all consoles…but our technology, our two engines, have been built from the ground up for the next-generation consoles, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, so it would be a shame not to use them! So that’s where our focus is right now”.

But besides Saboteur-related questions, what I really wanted to find out from Tom was this: who would win in a fight between EA chief John Ricitiello and Activision motormouth Bobby Kotick?

French guffaws- and plays  “That could be quite a battle! I think I’ll have to side with John on that one!

Sadly, French is keeping mum on Pandemic’s other two projects, which remain firmly under wraps. Understandably, he wants to keep all the attention on Seán Devlin. Whether or not Devlin will be a man you’ll want to spend hours with is something we can’t yet answer- but things are certainly looking up. Back to World War II we go, then. But this time, it’s personal.

The Saboteur hits shelves in December for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.