The History of The Saboteur
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2019
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The late 2000s were an evolutionary period for open world games. While the Grand Theft Auto series continued to refine the metropolitan sandbox, more and more titles were showing that the genre could work well beyond the confines of modern-day urbanity. Games like Crackdown and Infamous offered super-powered skirmishes set within near-future dystopias, while the likes of Assassin’s Creed showed that there was plenty of fun to be had parkouring through cityscapes of the ancient past. The size of their worlds rarely exceeded those of Rockstar’s opuses - but the variety of mechanics and subject matter they explored proved that this didn’t always matter.
Among these experiences was The Saboteur, created by the Los Angeles-based Pandemic Studios. An open world game set in Nazi-occupied Paris, The Saboteur set itself apart from its competition with its swashbuckling tone and transformative color palette, which became increasingly vibrant the more its protagonist liberated the French capital’s streets. While not everything about it worked to perfection, few argued against its uniqueness; in an era where most games set during World War II focused on hardened soldiers cast into the conflict’s deepest trenches, and most open world games ignored the former half of the 20th century, there was simply nothing else quite like Pandemic’s work.
Yet more unique than the game itself were the circumstances in which it was developed and released. For The Saboteur served as Pandemic’s sole lifeline during one of its most difficult periods - and its swansong once these difficulties forced the studio to close its doors.
This is the history of The Saboteur.
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*The Saboteur is a feckin’ underrated game!*
Ye
Ja
*Yeet*
I found out for that game last year :/
Fawexx Absolutely - And Destroy All Humans! as well, *especially* the the second one!
Rly underrated game and amazing studio. Hope they revive their licenses one day
PEPERONI!!!
What? Pandemic Studios has been dead since 2009, they ain't coming back, EA killed them just like a lot of other good studios, EA is pure evil!!!
It’s a shame that it’s nothing but shitty propaganda.
Holy! the monk was here
It's on Steam
The saboteur is one of the best games I ever played . I even got a platinum I’m trophy in it when it first came out because I enjoyed it so much . It’s a shame what happened to Pandemic . Maybe one day it can be remastered lie Destroy All Humans.
It really needs a remaster. Better than most of the games that have come after it...
Pandemic studioes needs to come back , they had very unique games
I was 1 achievement away to complete all the achievements but could never do it...:'')
FYI
You had to kill 10 nazis with a single dynamite
I view it as karma, for making such lame propaganda because the BageI “Goldman” guy read a propaganda book and wanted them his studio to make a propaganda project about the topic.
It's on Steam
Moral of the Story: EA ruins everything
I'm honestly struggling to uncover at least one game dev story in which EA would not be the total shitbag that ruins everything but the latest I got is the original Sims (which they actually encouraged Will Wright to pursue).
Actually, the more I listen to stories like this the more I think the opposite. It seems that whatever EA acquires the devs go crazy with "oh we have infinite funding now" and mismanage their projects. Not to mention that many of those studios were relatively young with 1 or 2 gems released and many devs have changed by the time EA acquires them. EA is really not interested in not making money with studios failing.
Someone should remake their old commercials
"EA Games; ruin everything~"
No fucking apex and fortnight ruined everything
Ea games then=challenge everything
Ea games now= Destroy everything
The use of the color palette in this game made it so unique.
its original but terrible, they would sell a lot more with color
@@damazywlodarczyk The 2.5D Russian-themed Assassin's Creed game has something similar going on. It was done well there.
I mean prototype has kind of same palette in some places
Shaun White skateboarding has a similar mechanic for its world
The whole game was unique bro the movement the gunplay and the driving was too
Definitely an underrated gem imo.
Saboteur 2 still cancelled soz :c
@Ezra idk wtf tdu is
@@QuankyFlacidFilms test drive unlimited
Facts
@@Szarus123 were they working on it
If any game needed a remaster, it's this one. Needs a bit of polish in some areas, but the core is so much fun.
First they should hire a few Germans to voice the Nazi's. I really liked this game but the German voice actors had such a thick English accent and said the stupidest things. There must be a few actual Germans living in the US right?
It still even stands up graphics wise today
This would be amazing remastered with better voice acting
I remember spending a good many hours recreating ww2 bombings... by blowing up absolute piles of blimps one after the other that fell to the streets XD good salvage. The worst part was getting away
I never really liked the driving, so I just ran everywhere when not on specific missions. Might be time to play this gem again. I need to knock the dust off my PS3
**list games made by Pandemic**
Damn, Pandemic seemed pretty legit, what happened to them again.
"... EA..."
FUCKKKKK
Fuck EA they always do this and they get a free pass every time.
I would love a saboteur 2 this game was so fun and addictive man
@「 OKAY 」 Super Underrated Comment!
When EA say
" we are commited to xxxxx"
You know what to expect
EA says that you know it's trouble. The moment I heard EA bought Pandemics I knew what would happen . Fuck EA ruined such a great game like always they get a free pass.
@@Legion849 but it's literally on steam?
"they were purchased by EA"
That's when I knew a sad ending was upon us.
I'm replaying this is 2023 and loving every minute
3:35 "oh what happened?"
3:40 "oh.."
Rest in Peace Pandemic, one of the earliest victims of EA
Actually I'd put it halfway through their kill list
Westwood Studios.
Origin Systems
Nooo the earliest victim was Bullfrog studio in 2001.
Nope. You're about a decade late EA has been doing this since early 90s
The Saboteur is a fantastic IP. Great effort doing it justice!
seriously this IP was full of potential. the sequel would be a dynamite in next gen
@@v-trigger6137 but under EA's name? Battlefront already is being thrown into the ground... best to just let this game have a good grave instead of tarnishing its name.
@@cursedhawkins1305 THQ Nordic bought the Destroy All Humans! IP and a remake of the original is set to release next year, so maybe we could see someone buy The Saboteur? Who knows
@@reisu_3708 You REALLY believe EA to give that up so easily? The reason DAH was even bought by THQ Nordic was probably because EA saw no interest in the IP... the same might not be said for the Saboteur in EA's eyes because they've done shooters based in WW2 before.
EA: "We are going to hell, aren't we irishman?"
Everyone: "Yup."
But you are going there first
Criminally underrated game, I'm glad you're covering it.
This game had everything I need WW2, open world, cars, beautiful characters, great weapons, parkour shit etc etc, damn they have to at least remaster this underrated gem
Yup, actually set during WW2 and you fighting real Nazis. Unlike whatever the heck Wolfenstein has become now.
@@Gruntvc Yeah sadly Bethesda fucked the whole game with stupid policies
@@Gruntvc Wolfenstein has become "Whamenstein"
@The Last Operator, Yeah, both BFV and CoD WW2 were terrible depictions of WW2 and censored Nazi stuff.
Ah well, Wolfenstein sales are in the tank too.
Maybe someday someone will make a legitimate single player WW2 game again. Probably has to be Japan or an Eastern European dev though.
Western gaming companies are just too far gone now.
@@Gruntvc What do you mean "whatever the heck Wolfenstein became now"? Wolfenstein never had so called "real" nazis, they always were crazy over the top alternative nazis - and Youngblood aside the soft reboot did a great job with that again... If you're looking for grounded WW2 experience, literally no Wolfenstein game is ideal choice...
Glad I picked this up at launch on Xbox 360. Great game.
Too bad EA is absolutely terrible to the devs under its power.
EA never changes and ruins everything
Yeah but Pandemic itself had some problems with their management. I think today Pandemic would have been alive somehow if they just managed to be live with EA by improving their management issues (however it wouldn't be the same Pandemic we knew, today they would be just like Bioware making stupid games with full glitchs and giving shitty excuses.. after all they are living under the GOD! EA)
They should be more like Sony
Same. I was super excited for this game to come out and it was one of the few open world games of that generation that I really fell in love with.
EA wasn't like that back then. In fact, a lot of their games were great until the first few years of the PS3 and 360. Around the time they bought Pandemic, mobile games with monetization were starting to become a thing and EA took notice of this right away. Of course, things progressed slowly but it was just bad timing and unlucky on Pandemic's part, had they tried to negotiate with EA a year later, I think nothing would have came out of it. Now they've sunk almost every studio they have for console/pc games except Ghost from NFS (they're walking on a thin line though) and their sports studios. While Bioware is still alive in theory, might as well be dead at this point.
It's just a shame they own so many IPs and we will never see them again until EA dies and another company buys them or goes under serious management replacement.
The Saboteur: As close as we will ever get to an Assassins' Creed with guns
The minute EA is mentioned. You KNOW how this will end.
Not gonna lie *_Reality is often disappointing_*
The moment you hear EA you know it's not going to end well.
i hate EA...
but then again who doesnt
I was laughing at the part where the publisher introduction was placed and just a look on all the faces of the studio seem like complete dread.
I dont hate EA at all. Never been fcked by EA in any game, i buy very few games.
Fawexx When soul destroyed in something. That thing is done.
They deserve the hate, but it's sad that many of their games that actually have good decisions being made by teams who care about it are shunned unfairly because of it.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 has become a fantastic game in the last year or so, and yet people still hate it. They removed all the lootboxes, even cosmetic ones, and constantly updated the game with a large amount of content and modes the community asked for.
It's now a great game, but people scoff at it because EA BAD. It's sad, the people who work on these games are doing the rigth thing but are hated by association.
tej Analysis> i hate EA... but then again who doesnt
EA (well, at least the people at the top)? 🤔
So happy that the game is available to purchase on GOG !
and Origin
That's what i don't get ! EA own the rights and they don't even have the game on Origin ?!?
@Dee Bee Wait, since when ?? I have the game since september last year and i wasn't able to find it on Origin back then.
@kxr The first Mercenaries was published by Lucas Arts and the Destroy All Humans games were published by THQ and the IP still belongs to THQNordic.
@Dee Bee I bought it long ago on a physical copy, but since it such a hassle dealing with discs i decided to check how much its on Origin. apparently theres a sale right now so I got it for 1.2 dollar/1.14 Euro. Downloading it now
Imagine Pandemic Studios returning in 2020.
“EA bought them and then everything went to shit.”
That’s what I heard him say.
I loved The Saboteur!! It was such an awesome stealth/action game I paid only $10 for, I believe. The setting was great, the story kept me immersed, even after the main story was completed. I hate it didn’t get more attention.
Your voice is so relaxing. I loved 'The Saboteur', it had plenty of flaws but was something special.
The history of the Killzone series
Yes please.
Wouldn't mind a video on the history/rise and fall of the Bloodrayne franchise too.
1,000 subscribers with no videos definitely not lol it was always a goofy/poorly designed cult game that never caught on.
The devs were wise to just make a different type of game with Horizon
@@LateNightHalo Honestly it had its cons, with its' immersive atmosphere and even the reloading form which was slower than most FPS games back in the time (talking about Killzone 1 here). But yeah overall it was a slow ass game in which the fun was totally missing.
Killzone 2 was a masterpiece!
Is this series that good? I've only played Killzone mercenaries and never thought this series as more then a Halo shadow with cod mechanics
Yeah I probably wrong,but Sony is so fucked up that I can't buy PS3 classics on PS4 (just like mgs4 and demons souls)so I probably will never know lol
A damn shame they never made a sequel. I still play through "The Saboteur" at least once a year. Just a really great game. My *only* gripe with it is that the final confrontation at the Eiffel Tower was just a simple gun shot. It would have been great to have a fight/chase through the Tower, itself.
In older builds it was planned to kinda planned to be a big fight
@@Commrade-DOGE in form of terror squad goons. you can't call it a command post if its, you know, a COMMAND POST.
it does make sense in a way where everywhere across paris, the people are revolting and a lot of things have gone to shit, and the nazis know their time is done
Yes one with an early COLD WAR scenario I could imagine.
Such a shame, 11 years later and I still look back at this game fondly. If it was to be re- released on current platforms, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Such a great game!
I am not sure which platforms you refer to, but if you have a computer, this is perfectly playable. Just completed the game for the first time yesterday. I am using Linux tho, but I'll say that as it is in GOG, it also works on modern windows. I think some people use a patch to increase the game resolution, but the in-game video settings program worked just fine for me to play at 1920x1080.
This was such a great game city of Paris and the color change between freed areas and unliberated areas and parkour
Pandemic Studios makes very fun games like Mercenaries Playground of destruction. Now this amazing studio is only a history :C
Saboteur is one of my favorites of the generation. Fantastic game.
I loved this game! It deserves a remaster...or a remake, just as long as they include that pigeon shooting mini game, that was a lot of fun!
Well the thing is, most of the time the "re-release/remaster" is just the PC version of the game on hardware that can now support it. Even Xbox One games still ran in 1600x900, which can still technically be considered HD.
I have this game for PS3 and the framerate is atrocious. I have also played it on PC and it was fine there of course.
Why did you show the clip of Mercenaries 3!!! That broke my heart, man. I loved the Mercenaries series
funny thing I liked Conquest, I consider it my guilty pleasure.
This was one of those games I always wanted to get but never got around to buying it
Try to find a used copy, well worth buying :)
It's worth it even though it can be repeating by blowing up the same buildings and can be a bit tedious the parkour and black and white environments and liberated areas make a difference
It's on GoG and goes for sale for $9.99 pretty frequently. It's a pretty fun game with a good amount of unlockables and challenges.
Same I remember when it first came out just never got a chance to pick it up
It was free on Origin a while ago. I had it on Xbox 360 but I finished it on PC.
The Saboteur is like a more artistic Just Cause with a better story.
The saboteur may have been the last game of Pandemic...but they gave their all and went out with bang!!! This game will always have a special place in hearts of actual gamers who actually like to play games for fun and joy
Sometimes like here there is truth in the saying: THE LAST WILL BE THE BEST ::)
It is rreally fascinating that is based on the life story of an authentic famous race driver from before World War II.
That was William Grover Williams, known to his fans as G-Williams, working for Alpha Romeo. The man was of British/Frech descendants.
He had hired a group of former circus artists, craftsman and a few less faithfull types from the rand of the society. In so far the description of the FACADECLIMERS is true, For the British Secret Service the Sabotage Group run under the Code Name - OPERATION CHESTNUT. Regrettably toward the end of the War Williams became arrested and executed in the KZ Sachsenhausen near Berlin There is also a good Wikipedia article to the man
every video of this series about downfalls of studios, inevitably involves EA or Activision somewhere along the way. i am sad to one day see Blizzard on this list..
You forgot NetEase. As for Blizzard, not before Respawn which will not close before DICE which will not close before Bioware.
@@Marinealver no dice has been around too long they might try that secretly gut and change the studio but they will keep the studio name it's been around too long and it is it's all brand at this point same with the other Studios on your list The Branding is too big but the companies are unrecognizable if you look at the employees its brand only the people are gone
@@Marinealver Im really worried about Bioware's future. Respawn I think is in good graces with Apex, Titanfall and Fallen Order. DICE feels untouchable at this point with their engine powering almost all EA games.
Funny you mention it since it is Activision-Blizzard now, they are not separate. As for Blizzard itself they have each a game for a type: RTS, MOBA, FPS, MMORPG, RPG, Casual; and that is all they have. There are 8 games on the Battle.net Launcher and two of them are Remastered version so yeah.
Blizzard as never good
Underrated game in my opinion. It had its issues but I loved it when I was younger.
Great job with this! As a former Pandemite, this was fair and quite accurate. Cheers!
When u hear the words " purchased by EA " u know its the beginning of the end
This channel is best for game documantaries!
Ahem... Ahoy.
@@IDHLEB What?
th-cam.com/channels/E1jXbVAGJQEORz9nZqb5bQ.html
game studio makes games
ea buys game studio
ea sells games
games sell poorly
ea kills game studio.
seems to be a pattern
Might want to add on there:
Game devs make single player focused games gamers love.
EA buys devs.
EA no longer let's them make the kind of games gamers liked, single player focused.
New online focused game full of greed baloney, no soul, and made bland not to offend sells extremely poorly.
EA shuts down devs and blames them not EA.
Years later, WE uses the name of a closed devs popular franchise to make crappy soulless mobile games full of gotcha mechanics.
EA is the worst. 😑
@@Gruntvc we basically need to fire the members of the studio.
The Saboteur came out in the best time of my life yet, great game!
Even though this game always had mediocre reviews, i was always intrigued by its art style so much. I might go back and finish it one day. Thank you for covering this unexpected one.
Things were well...
"But then they were bought by EA"
' Now they are in the grave'
I still play it and love it ❤
It actually make me really happy that a Big TH-camr made a video about this game It's such an underated game
EA: "We don't understand why we're seen as the bad guys..."
They are playing dumb and they are aware of everything that's going on.
One of my favorite open world games. The atmosphere, style, score & gameplay all complement each other very well
One of my favorite games from the Xbox 360/PS3 generation 😁
I miss Pandemic. Lots of great games that I invested a huge amount of time in!
I'm sorry but I loved this game as a youngin.
Climbing to the top of a building and silently killing a Gestapo Officer....
Fun shit.
The fun that was to be had after you picked up the silenced pistol and machine guns. My favourite parts of the game.
I’ve been waiting years for a remake, I hope someone makes it in dreams
The idea alone is freaking awesome, it's a setting that is practically untouched by most media
I remember hearing that Koop song for the first time. Brings me back. What a great game this was.
Every Pandemic title you named in this video was a favorite of mine. I can't express the countless hours I spent with friends playing Battlefront or Lotr: Conquest, or the insane amount of time I spent playing Saboteur or the Mercenaries series. Pandemic was an awesome company and it was a shame to see them go.
Man, i really enjoyed this game when i was younger. Sean is a great MC and i loved how the nazi occupied parts of the city were in black and white until you liberated them
I remember seeing this game in my local gamestore and I wanted it because the cover looked so cool ... but I wasnt old enough for the rating and my parents were against violent games ... maybe I will get it now, thanks for reminding me on it!
I love this game, the feeling i get when i drive is a great one. Of course, when it comes to exploring Paris i felt i was already part if it and wanted to explore more.
The Saboteur was such a good game. I loved the environment and music the most about it. The music was so good!
I First played this game 2 years ago long after it's released
I was amaze how little people talked about it, the game was good
This is THE most underrated game ever!
This game is a gem. With some flaws but definitely a unique atmosphere.
That color changing aspect is such an awesome idea
Thank you for this little documentary, the Saboteur is definetly my favourite game of all time!
At release, this game felt so refreshing. Amazing soundtrack aswell, god I miss cruising through Paris with 20 Nazi's on my tail.
@@fredury downloading it as we speak :)
The history of the Midnight Club series please
The history of the Midnight Club Still Cancelled Soz series please
loved that game, would love to see it on a GVMERS playlist.
Yes!!!!!! That'd be sick!!
When will they remaster 3!?
Why am I not surprised lol
I immediately fell in-love with this game after playing it on xbox one. It was an amazing experience! The game also has very interesting gameplay and story-line.
The atmosphere in this game was the best. I really felt like I was walking in WW2 paris. I wish we got a proper sequel. What a hidden gem.
The color pallet really helps
Good old times! I want a sequel to this game for so long now!
This and Singularity! Please, do Singularity next.
Singularity by Ravensoft? Loved that underrated FPS too.
@@Gruntvc Yeah, by Activision from 2010.
Truly a unique game. One of the very few Third Person games set in WW2.
An absolutely fantastic game. My other fav 3rd person WWII was the Brothers in Arms series. Which unfortunately became an uninspired mobile game than the character based drama that it was.
And being only ww2 title to be open world.
It also had so many features and mechanics packed into one game, even if they weren't entirely as fleshed out as they could've been!
3:39 I literally cry
Man, I still have my copy from 2009. I loved Mercenaries 2 and Pandemic's Batllefront series so when I saw their logo and an open world game with a WWII setting I couldn't help but grab it. A lot of people compared this game to GTA4 and Assassin's Creed at the time with the surface level details of it being open world, having vehicles, and there being parkour with disguise system similar to Hitman. Though out of those games, The Saboteur still has some of the most satisfying driving mechanics and car feel that beats out most open world games of the time and I argue even ones from today.
It's parkour isn't a button you hold down to move automatically like Assassin' Creed 3 that was released at the time so it wasn't as fluid but there's a great sense of delibracy to it. The game stacks the amount of times you press the jump button when on a ledge and will continue to have Sean leap from ledge to ledge continuously.
The gunplay has a good feel to it and even your early game guns still have use late game since not many enemies are bullet sponges and could be put down with a headshot from a Luger or the Walther PPK. It's a pretty huge step up in gunplay from Mercenaries. My only problems with The Saboteur is there can be some pretty save-breaking glitches, anachronistic and fictional guns that really shouldn't be used by 1940s German forces though I don't mind their additions to the sandbox, and lack of races that really show off some nice areas of the map and the handling of your race cars. That and you could put every racer at gunpoint and win the race with no opponents.
Even with some problems this game just oozes so much style with the music, aesthetics, and characters that I can't help but love the game. Out of all the games in my library, The Saboteur is the only one I come back to every few years and 100% every time.
"yeah this is fun but foocking hell Hans"
If you mean that quote when Sean slides down a rope, he says "Oh it's fun, but hell on me hands!"
one of the greatest games ever made!
I found this game for $10 brand new at a 2nd and Charles store a couple weeks ago and bought it. I never played it so watching this video has gotten me hyped to play it when I have time.
The Saboteur was an incredible game. One of my favorites.
The History of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Literally the first hidden gem I ever found in GameStop back in 2013. Got it used for $12 after never hearing about it. Great game. Though the ending of the game seemed rushed.
It WAS rushed A minute after they finished it the lights went out for forever at PANDEMIC.
Thank you for making this. The Saboteur is a truly underrated gem. Love this game to bits, even if it's rough around the edges.
Absolutely loved this game. The efile tower ending was superbly done
I was expecting a big boss fight so it was really tense going up there and seeing all those officers just sitting there. It really captured the hopelessness of the nazi cause near the end of the occupation. I love that they didn’t make you fight anyone
As long as EA is around there will always be fuel for this series.
One of my favorite games of all time. damn, I want a remake. love it so much
I loved Saboteur, its monochromatic non-liberated zones and the general gameplay of attacking outposts was replicated in many games following.
I like to park a car in a rural area and leave Sean just outside the car (so i can still hear the music) when I go for a smoke break, it is funny because Sean understands it and also light one.
Any chance we could get a “The Rise and Fall of” the Conflict series?
My childhood favorite games were Conflict: Desert Storm 1/2 and Conflict: Vietnam.
Would love to hear your take on it.
I had a feeling Saboteur would be next
I loved the saboteur everything from aesthetics to design to gameplay to music. It was a gorgeous game that's didn't receive the love it deserved and was made by a studio that was woefully under used
I LOVE this game. Still play it to this day. Owned it for PS3 (when I had one) and now own it on PC and 360.
well, I remember enjoying every single bit of this game, but never felt the urge to replay it =/
I love how the hardest difficulty in game is just called Fekkin' Hard
I LOVE the fact that you used Midtown Madness 3 to convey “other games set in Paris”.
Kudos!!!!
i remember finding this at game stop for the first time, at random. Best hours of my life until it glitched at the part where you defend the rebels hideout, and blow up a tank, and sadly putting away when I painstaking trudged through the campaign 2 more times only to find it was a glitch I was permanently never going to pass. Good times though.
I like this game
Nice simple Stealth system
Nice Car to Drive
Killing Nazis
Sabotaging with explosive
Doing some Terrorism.... i mean Liberation activity
Nice Gunplay
And Nice Simple Parkour system
And also good story
I hope y’all do a rise and fall of Battlefield or a History of Ace Combat
So happy to see you guys cover this game. Really enjoyed it back in the day!
Mercenaries and The Saboteur are two very unique and fantastic games. Completely underrated in my opinion.
16 minutes in one second:
EA cause a fuckup, blame the studio and shut it down
Fantastic game, amazing atmosphere, one of the best soundtracks of all time. Love the Saboteur, come back to it every once in a while. Fuck EA.
The Saboteur is still the only game I’ve ever obtained a platinum trophy. Loved it, a total gem of a game.
Incredible game, and a beautiful swan song for Pandemic. Played through it 3 times, always great. Truly remarkable command of tone - as much a b-movie as possible without spilling over into cringe.