Recently we were invited to Pandemic Studios in beautiful Westwood to demo Saboteur and interview any members of the team. We’ve talked about the beautiful art, interviewed Tom French through EA.com and now I finally got to play it. Before I give you my impressions, here is an interview with Art Director, Chris Hunt.

Q: What is the inspiration behind the art? It’s amazing and very different than what we’ve seen in a game before?

A: First of all I would say the inspiration is Paris, France. France and Paris are just inherently beautiful as most people know, especially if you’ve had the opportunity to go. But the first and foremost we wanted to make sure we captured the essence of Paris, of France so if one where to go there you would look at that and say, ah that looks just like what I saw. Went through and explored all different styles, not just for games but historical art, also different films. Film Noir was the kindof dynamic tension and crunchy style that we were looking for. Also Sin City. That was one of the first films that I actually took that to heart and said okay let’s make a film about it. Many of the other styles came from traditional painters from Pre-Raphaelites and Impressionism, some Expressionism in certain cases.

Q: Did you actually get to go to France?

A: Yes! That was probably one of the greatest things about the project was to be able to see the notion you had before of what you think Paris looks like or what France looks like from books and stuff like that. To be honest, I thought I had it down. Going there and realizing, wow there’s an eight way intersection here. The style of architecture, it’s very different to see that first hand and then start to think about the realization that I have to change this or rethink this going forward. Seeing that and gather the references and come back really made an impact and there was alot of information I could share with the team.

Q: Do you think any of the coverage from the trip will be added or created as a video blog for fans?

A: I hope so but would have to talk to marketing about that. There’s a host of information available. I took hours and hours of video and probably a couple thousand photographs.

Q: One of the things I didn’t know about was when the color changes from black and white to color then the Resistance starts to help you in the game?

A: Historically, the French Resistance did everything that they possibly could to fight off the Germans. Upon doing alot of research and actually going and seeing the French museum where they have dedicated to the Resistance. We were able to look at all the things that they did not just some of the pictures of them fighting in the streets. There were people that were very covert. We wanted to make sure we incorporated that into the game. When the Nazis first clamp down people scattered like rats and keep their heads down and keep out of the way. But eventually they’re going to start to kick back. Where Sean Devlin comes in, he starts inspiring people.

Q: This week a lot of speculation has come out as to why Saboteur has included nudity in the game. Can you describe how the nudity fits in the game? Is it true that the player can turn off the nudity?

A: Nudity is part of the game, but it’s not a part of the game just because to sell the video game. It’s part of the game because that’s what happened in the time period. People think of it now and it happens now, but actually no. America is actually the conservative country. Those kindof things have been prevalent in Europe for years. Paris was sort of the Las Vegas of Europe. People went there for vacation, for shows and different kinds of entertainment for the past 100 years. The nudity, the burlesque shows, they are all in context. We’re not doing it for the sake of doing it, we’re doing it because it helps tell the story. If you didn’t have it, you would find it to be strange.

Q: Is part of the nudity a part of the mission? Meaning the characters interact with you to help you through the story?

A: Sure, and they are just characters. If you are dealing with someone from the Red Light District and you are getting information from that person, that’s the job you are doing in the Red Light District. Those are parts of the city and they are part of the game. It’s not as if you are just seeing that and continuing on, it’s part of what you are doing and it’s part of the mission.

Q: Games that include nudity get increased attention from media, both good and bad. Do you think that gets too much attention by Game media?

A: Absolutely. There are several types of opinions but there are two camps it falls into are the people that see the word nudity and are automatically offended by it and that’s because they see video games as a child’s medium and they really haven’t learned that it’s a medium. Some entertainment is geared toward teenagers, adults, and games are no different. Then there is another camp that says nudity we can use this to sell the idea and get people talking about it. They think that there is no bad press, so they latch on and run with it.

Q: For GamesCom you had to do a new trailer that took out the blood and Nazi Symbols. Is it difficult to edit things from the game in order to make it available in other countries?

A: I’ve had experience with this before on other games where you have to be sensitive for licensing or nudity or things like that. Certain elements you can’t put in the game because of various reasons. Some are legal and some are abstract. In this case, it’s been a slightly gray area because there are elements we put in the game that are historically accurate. Certain symbols are accurate to the time period, however we run into issues like Germany not wanting Nazi symbols. Okay, we have to figure out something else. Or it could be where some company may still own the rights to a brand of cheese. Definitely have to be careful of brands from that time period but someone owns that symbol. With so much content, some things just slip through the cracks. We’ve been working very very hard to stay within the rules set by EA and the different standards set by different regions.

Q: That must be asset management to the highest degree.

A: Tens of thousands of assets. Actually at the very end I want to go do an asset count and just see how many assets we made and I’m pretty sure that it will top hundreds of thousands.

Q: The demos here are on the Xbox 360. Do you think you maxed out the capabilities of the 360?

A: We definitely tried. We pushed every limit that we could. Everyone wanted to do that. I said the greatest challenge was achieving the look and then saying okay, we know we have to pair back. How can we still maintain the look that we achieved and still fit the parameters of the hardware? I think we were able to do that.

Q: The game has always been single player with no thought or mention of multiplayer. Do you think that was important to keep the game about the story? It seems like every game is forcing multiplayer for re-playability and sometimes it doesn’t work.

A: It’s interesting that you ask that question. Saboteur has always been a story driven game so to change it to mutliplayer would basically negate the story. We’d have to make a different game if we didn’t have the story. The market pressure is out there. But this is the kindof game we know we need to make, this is the story we want to tell and we need to stick to that. By doing that we made a better game than trying to attach different elements onto it that don’t fit with the original idea.

Q: What did Zack Levi (from Chuck) have to say after playing Sabateur?

A: I had a chance to meet him really briefly in the hallway when he came by. He said he loved it and loved the style. He was geeked about it. I was shocked.

Q: It does fit Chuck. Do you think they will feature it in the show?

A: I hope so!

Q: I saw there was a whole lot of driving and you can obviously run over people while driving, but can you engage in combat while in the vehicle?

A: Typically you stop and get out of the vehicle. But there are exceptions and that’s all I’ll say. *laughs*

Q: I also saw in the demo that there was a perk for something you did. Can you explain the perk system?

A: Basically perks are personal rewards that you get for doing something. They unlock special privileges or assets based on how well you play the game. The gunslinger perk example is if you shoot five Nazis within a certain time period, then you get a gunslinger perk.

Q: So that kindof builds your skill level.

A: Builds your skill level, yes. You can upgrade to different weapons or unlock features. It’s a reward system for the player.

Q: The last question is that Tom French’s beard is one of the most talked about things in the community. Do you all poke fun at him about that?

A: Yeah actually we did. *laughs* When he started growing the beard, a few years ago and growing it thick and long, not just a goatee. But he’s always had his own style. When he first started growing it out, someone in the media said he looked like Fidel Castro when he was younger. Yeah he combs it, massages it. Probably won’t shave it off until at least Saboteur one is in the bucket.

I want to thank Chris and Pandemic for inviting us to check out The Saboteur. We had a variety of levels to choose from to play, but since it was my first hands-on I started at the beginning. The shooting controls work really well as does going for cover (which is automatic). The first area does a good job of teaching you what the controls are. The driving however was out of control. I won’t really know if that’s me or the game until I get more time with it. Which is exactly what I wanted when I left the Pandemic office. I can’t wait to explore the world of Saboteur.

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