The Saboteur was originally released on December 4th 2009 on Playstation 3, PC and Xbox 360 to a very mediocre response and was actuallythe last game from developer Pandemic Studios. Being released when it was, unfortunately it got swallowed by the big triple A titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Assassins Creed 2 among others. This is a great shame as this is actually a very enjoyable sandbox style game.

The premise is rather odd. You play as an Irishman with a drinking problem and possibly the dirtiest mouth in any video game ever (honestly every other word is F*ck) called Sean Devlin who is inexplicably in France as a race car driver with his best friend Jules Rousseau. Together you venture into Germany to compete in a race in which you are cheated out of victory by a Nazi colonel who looks like the Aryan race poster boy. When Sean and Jules decide to get a little revenge on the colonel, the invasion of France begins and so does the game proper. The world around you becomes black and white with splashes of red and blue distinguishing the Nazis and the resistance from each other and other details like fire and car brake lights show up in their normal colour. The effect honestly looks quite beautiful and is reminiscent of films like Sin City and Kill Bill. It also does a good job of masking some of the games graphical shortcomings. I’m not saying the game is ugly; in fact the cut-scenes and some character animation is very impressive, but it does lack the technical polish of games such as Uncharted 2 which came out roughly around the same time.

Most of the rest of the game is set in the city of Paris, with excursions to some of the outer lying towns and a small section where you return to Germany. The city itself is impressive and features all of the signature buildings that Paris is known for, like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Notre Dame and these important land marks are used in the main story’s missions. Paris is scaled down quite a bit and so is not an exact replica of the city’s real life counter part which, for someone who has been to the great city, is something of a let down but would have meant a lot more driving so it is understandable why the developers decided to do this.

Your time in the game will be shared between 3 sections; the main story missions, side missions and sabotages. The main story is actually very good once it gets going, filled with well thought out characters who you genuinely find yourself giving a damn about. And as for the missions which make up the story, without me giving the plot away it becomes a very explosive, action packed, extremely fun shooter in the last third of the game. The ending is especially fantastic, leaving you wanting a whole lot more.
The missions themselves involve driving to a location to carry out any number of tasks, such as assassinating a Nazi commander, blowing something up, freeing the Resistance and stealing cars. You may be thinking “normal, boring, generic sandbox stuff” but as the game uses a basic sneaking mechanic in which you can snap necks, dress up like a Nazi and sabotage almost anything you always have a choice… Sneak in over the roof tops, take out the sentries and infiltrate dressed as a Nazi or shoot everyone and leave.

As for the other two sections of the game, the side missions themselves are fun but give no extra weight to the story or development of the characters. You will usually do a few missions for someone in the resistance and then never see them again. The missions are still fun but only neccessarry for the 100% completest. The sabotages are by far the games weakest feature (which for a game called The Saboteur is a shame to say the least). Across the map there are literally hundreds of points where you can sabotage something (guard tower, fuel station, speakers for Nazi announcements etc)  which at first looks brilliant as you have got all these little missions to do which will keep the game going for ages. Unfortunately they are all exactly the same, you sneak, you plant explosives, you run. That’s it. To ask the player to do this ultimately dull task for hours on end was a bad design choice and one that makes no impact on the rest of the game world or characters in it. The developer should have not filled the map up with these locations as the game does not need it. In much the same way that Mafia II does not use side quests because the story is good enough to stand on its own, The Saboteur did not need anything to compliment the fantastic story.

After all is said and done, the good points weighed up against the bad, you can now pick this game up for just over a tenner pre-owned from your local gaming emporium which is an absolute bargain. In my opinion it is one of the PS3′s best kept secrets and, along with the likes of Bionic Commando, it’s a real shame we won’t see a sequel that will fix what went wrong in this game (which isn’t very much.)

If you’re sick of Rockstar’s ever more depressing attempts to make a good next gen sandbox-em-up and just want a fun action packed shooter then look no further than…

The Saboteur

The celebration of episode 50 starts right here! And it’s jam-packed full of goodness!
Click album art to enlarge.

0:00:00 – Intro
0:12:00 – History
0:35:14 – Outtakes
0:41:01 – Wonga!
0:45:58 – News
1:04:14 – Top 5
1:16:26 – WWBP
1:35:00 – Movies
1:38:24 – Plugs

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Ben PSN – Confused_Dude
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Simon Twitter – @Simon_PSC
Ben Twittter – @Confused_Dude
Zippy Twitter – @zippypatrick
WhiteSpy Twitter – @WhiteSpy_PSN

Discuss This Release!

The surprise hit of E3 for many was id Software’s Rage, as the developer picked up dozens of Game of the Show awards from the media. A release date has now been confirmed by publisher Bethesda,  and the game will hit stores on September 13th 2011 in the US, and September 16th in the UK/Europe.

Whilst it is agonising for this promising title to be over a year away, it leaves plenty of time for the inevitable hype to build, and word of mouth about this intriguing title to spread.

The three musketeers return with a great episode. Thanks for listening!

0:00:00 – Intro
0:12:32 – News
0:40:42 – Movies
0:48:20 – WWBP
1:20:12 – Top 5
1:34:18 – Plugs

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Website – www.playstationchat.co.uk
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Simon PSN – SiborgSimoSctlnd
Ben PSN – Confused_Dude
Zippy PSN – zippypatrick

Simon Twitter – @Simon_PSC
Ben Twittter – @Confused_Dude
Zippy Twitter – @zippypatrick

Discuss This Release!

This does not look to be a continuation of the previous games’ story line which were set in the underwater city of Rapture but a completely new take on the Bioshock universe. Set in 1912 (years before the events of Rapture) in the floating city of Columbia you play as former private detective, Booker DeWitt who is on a case to find a missing woman who just so happens to be trapped in the city of Colombia.

An early demo shows that as well as being absolutely packed with action a graphical overhaul has happened and that the new engine behind the game is set to make it look breathtaking when it hits the shelves in 2012.

Obviously the question that everyone will be asking is “are Big Daddy’s in it?” Well based on what the announcement trailer shows it looks like we will once again get chance to do battle with the Goliath Big Daddy’s or at least something very similar. It also looks safe to assume that plasmids will make a return as well as in the trailer the protagonist is shown being saved from a fall off one of the floating buildings by a woman controlling a levitating bed of roses before she gets snatched away by what looks like a Big Daddy arm.

After what I felt was a disappointing sequel in Bioshock 2 this truly looks very exciting and a great way for the series to revitalise itself with a fresh and distinct location to play around  in. Roll on 2012.

Some shaky audio quality but that doesn’t matter because the awesome WhiteSpy joins us!

0:00:00 – Intro
0:03:10 – News
0:24:32 – Movies
0:33:04 – WWBP
1:09:36 – Top 5
1:25:32 – Charts
1:29:24 – Plugs

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Simon PSN – SiborgSimoSctlnd
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Zippy PSN – zippypatrick

Simon Twitter – @Simon_PSC
Ben Twittter – @Confused_Dude
Zippy Twitter – @zippypatrick
WhiteSpy – @WhiteSpy_PSN

Discuss This Release!

Following the recent confirmation of the name of the next Batman title, GameInformer magazine has revealed several new bits of information with regards to story and gameplay, as well as several screenshots. Threads leaking the new info have appeared on arkhamcity.co.uk from user, Luke.

Original Screenshot Thread

Original Information Thread

Story/Gameplay Information

- Sharp took credit for getting the Joker situation under control
- Sharp used that incident to help win the election
- He then declares Blackgate and Arkham unfit
- Sharp buys off a portion of the slums of Gotham
- He walls off the area, calls it Arkham City
- Sharp contracts a mercenary group named Tyger into defending the walls
- Prisoners given one rule: “Don’t try to escape”
- Penalty is death
- Prisoners free to do anything besides that within
- People who look into Hugo Strange disappear
- A year has taken place
- Two-Face is admitted into Arkham City
- Two-Face realizes he needs to make a move to assert himself in the prison so that he won’t be eaten alive
- He captures Catwoman, thinking that a public execution would help out his situation
- Devs. want a highly detailed city
- Can use gadgets while fighting
- Example of this: Putting explosive gel on the back of an enemy
- A lot of the super villains have formed gangs, have control of different areas in the city
- Devs hoping to use more of the “forensics” angle from the first title, incorporate puzzles in them that will get more complex as you progress
- Most of the key gadgets unlocked late in the original are immediately available, but it seems it hasn’t been confirmed that all of them will
- Explosive gel, line launcher confirmed to be available by default
- Interrogations instead of Riddler maps now
- Press a button and Batman will taunt enemies
- Optional sidestories for some characters, including Zsasz
- New costume for Harley
- Broadcast analyzer: Mainly used so that Batman can listen to a message from the Joker
- There are several broadcasts Bats can listen to, including the GCPD dispatch and Gotham FM
- Orcacle is missing
- Because of this, Alfred is the one in Bruce’s ear
- Rocksteady not talking about multiplayer plans yet

Check out more screenshots at the link posted above!

]]> http://playstationchat.co.uk/2010/08/batman-arkham-city-information-bonanza-new-screens/feed/ 1 http://playstationchat.co.uk/2010/08/is-neverdead-one-to-watch/ http://playstationchat.co.uk/2010/08/is-neverdead-one-to-watch/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:26:05 +0000 rubberduck1986 http://playstationchat.co.uk/?p=2424

One of the more interesting but overlooked games at this years E3 was a new IP called Neverdead which is being developed by the Oxford based Rebellion of Aliens Vs Predator fame and being published by Konami.

On first impressions the game looks like a standard 3rd person blast ‘em up. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where the world is inhabited by demons monsters and other suitably evil baddies.  The hero “Bryce” looks to be spending the majority of his time running around blasting and slicing up everything his eyes meet using what will more than likely be an arsenal of standard video game guns and a butterfly knife inspired sword.

So far it seems like a fairly by the numbers shooter. However, Rebellion are throwing a mechanic in to the mix which could potentially be a game changer. When Bryce takes damage the screen does not go red and his energy bar does not deplete. No, due to a demonic curse (we’ve all been there) Bryce loses body parts when he gets hurt. Arms, legs and supposedly even his head. Interestingly your body parts keep on going if they come off. So if Bryce gets his arm chopped off it will carry on shooting whilst it waits for its owner to pick it up and reattach it.

At this point there are no details on how this will impact the game and how much mutilation Bryce will put up with before he gets annoyed and quits shooting evil nasty type things but with a vast city to explore being promised, long time Metal Gear Solid team member Shinta Nojiri on board and an experienced developer like Rebellion looking to finally prove itself with a good new IP this really does look like a game to keep your eye (attached or otherwise) on.

There is no confirmed release date for Neverdead yet but here is the announcement trailer for your viewing pleasure

We discuss potential holiday locations from video games and more.

0:00:00 – Intro
0:06:30 – News
0:25:16 – Movies
0:39:26 – WWBP
1:03:06 – Top 5
1:17:22 – Charts
1:19:44 – Plugs

iTunes Link

Podcast RSS Feed

Direct Download

Forums – www.playstationchat.co.uk/forum
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Simon PSN – SiborgSimoSctlnd
Ben PSN – Confused_Dude
Zippy PSN – zippypatrick

Discuss This Release!

IGN has revealed that the next game in the popular Colin McRae DiRT series will be revealed this weekend at the Los Angeles X Games. The extreme-fest will be “screened on ESPN across the States as well as throughout UK and AU”, and presumably a trailer will be repeated at numerous points of the day. The trailer will be CG, but could still reveal new locations and new additions to the game.

Screens from said trailer have been made available by IGN, with one featuring Ken Block speeding away in a one-on-one race. It seems as though the American man play a prevalent part in the game, as in DiRT 2. I enjoyed DiRT 1 and 2 thoroughly, as well as the older Colin McRae titles and Codemasters’ other racers – Fingers crossed that DiRT 3 can keep up the series’ success.