Saboteur!

I never played Saboteur! as a kid, but I did own a C64, so I am familiar with that style. In this context, this is a really interesting game. Is it worth it without nostalgia? The answer is yes, in my opinion. Saboteur! is an action-platformer game. The game is simple, but there is enough there to entertain. Dogs you can only attack if you have a throwable weapon (but you can dodge by jumping), guards that can shoot you (which you can dodge by ducking) and then fight into melee range if you have no weapons, a large map that is a bit of a maze at first, doors to unlock, and a few interesting objectives to complete make for a nice adventure. Not everything is nice, however. The controls, using an xbox gamepad, are stiff. The first objective and the last run back to the helicopter are also on a timer, which ruin the exploration significantly (there are also some leaps of faith to take). You can lose health incredibly fast (at least the game lets you regenerate it if you stand still), and you can't save checkpoints until you complete the first mission. The first mission seems to be a faithful remake of the original game, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good for "historical" reasons, but in the frame of the expanded game, it's probably the worst part. The rest of the game rarely relies on timers, and they are well telegraphed, shorter, and don't require much exploration (some also aren't deathly if you fail to meet the deadline). The new segments have more of an adventure feel to it, which really complements the gameplay, and offers a few curve balls to keep things fresh. The presentation is minimalistic, but it's in keeping with the original (you get a few extra options and you can also unlock extra graphic styles for the first mission). Sounds are limited and the music is good (but limited as well). If you understand what you are getting into, you can actually have a few hours of fun. It's a fundamentally archaic game, but with a good core to it.

I would love to see more old 8-bit games, especially british ones brought to modern platforms and GOG in this manner. Lots of options which i think are new, such as different difficulty levels and change speed. Controller works well too. My only criticism is that it's 16:9 aspect ratio and while it looks fine, they don't look as stretched out as they can for other older titles, I would have nontheless appreciated the option to play in 4:3 with borders. Or even 16:10 as a type of halfway house between the two.

Having played this back on my trusty C64, I am thrilled to see that Clive Townsend returned to help bring his masterpiece back to life, 33 years later. not only do we not have to mess around with emulators or aging faulty original home computers, (I still have my C64) we can play on a modern PC, with new content added to the original, the various graphics modes is awesome for those of us who remember the game from back in the day, this is the way all remasters should be done. and for some of us we can see what it was like on other platforms. Brilliant! it comes with an accurate look and feel for a modern version of an old game and that is hard to come by, and for a mere $12au price tag it is a real bargain. I remember paying $35au back in the day and that was a lot of money to us teens 33 years ago. Well worth though, and at today's price, even more so.

It's one of my favourite games as a kid. Loved it back then. I might not be objective on it, but I just love it. It's very obscure, difficult to control and it's hard as f3ck, be warned.