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Being an ace toughie Saboteur certainly has its ups
and downs. One minute you're bashing your way through
the Iranian embassy, the next minute you're being asked
to rescue a computer disk which is being held captive
in a high security fortress, cleverly disguised as a
warehouse. Now work has been a little slack lately,
so you think you'd better go and get the disk; it shouldn't
be that difficult to retrieve and you could do with
the money -- its little Johnny's birthday soon and he
does want that Action Man with the kung-fu grip.
The
mission brief tells you that the disk holds the names
of rebel leaders and it's imperative that it should
be found. You're also told that there's a bomb in the
fortress which has to be primed and left ticking --
and all this to be accomplished before the disk information
is sent out to various outlying terminals! The big catch
is that the fortress is heavily guarded by armed patrols
and watchdogs, as well as an automatic defence system
which monitors your position and lobs bullets at you.
Your
mission starts with you just climbing out of your silent
rubber dingy onto a pier leading to the warehouse entrances.
Dressed in your cool black SAS gear, hobnail boots and
with your face bootblacked, you have to penetrate the
fortress and achieve your goal.
Initially
you are weaponless, so any weapons have to be picked
up on your travels (they can only be used once, though).
You're no mug when it comes to this saboteuring business
and you have a degree in hand to hand combat with honours
in the killer punch and drop kick -- useful for disposing
of guards when you don't have a weapon at hand.
The
fortress covers many screens which flick as you move
from location to location. Saboteur can move anywhere
on the screen as long as the ground or ladders allow
him. The security complex is split into three sections:
the warehouse front, the sewers and the computer complex.
A helicopter can be found in the warehouse and this
is to be used as an escape vehicle; there is no way
out otherwise. The sewers and the computer complex are
linked by a tram system, a compulsory journey since
the disk and bomb are located in the computer complex.
While
you're battling away through the fortress your progress
is charted via two screens. The main one shows you and
the room you're in and the other, at the bottom of the
screen, shows your energy, objects carried and score.
When the game starts the energy bar is filled to the
brim, but as you get bashed by the various adversaries,
bitten by dogs, lasered or shot, it depletes. If it
reaches zero you're dead, but don't despair, being a
super toughie means that your energy tops itself up
if you remain unscathed for a while.
The
game is played for money, not points, therefore the
more guards you kill the more money wings its way towards
your Swiss bank account. If you want to play for b-i-i-g
money then you should aim to escape the fortress with
the disk and the bomb primed -- a big financial gain
awaits a Saboteur who can do that. There are nine levels
of difficulty with the fortress becoming more and more
heavily guarded as you tackle a higher level.
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