The motor ran almost silently. The inflatable boat glided easily and quickly through the water, pressed against it, seemed like a shadow, a ghost that had gone out on a night hunt. She did not prowl around, but moved in a straight course, as if she knew that large prey was waiting ahead. There was a black man sitting in the boat. Large and strong, he was wrapped in dark clothing from head to toe; only the eyes and a narrow area around them remained open. He kept one hand on the motor, controlling the progress of the boat, and pressed the other to his stomach, next to a special pocket in which the throwing star was located. The man knew what awaited him and was ready to act right now: whether to turn the boat, whether to jump into the water, or to throw deadly steel into the throat of the enemy – he calculated the possible options and was not going to reason and doubt if something did not go according to plan. The night turned out to be impenetrable: heavy, dense clouds covered the sky, preventing the light of the moon and stars from breaking down to the water. The ideal time to complete a task. The main work will have to be done under the roof anyway, but you need to get to the point unnoticed, and then leave quietly, and the less light there is at this time, the higher the chances of success. Tiny lights sparkled in the darkness. The black man started counting. Having reached a certain number known only to him, he turned the boat around and with a smooth movement fell overboard. He entered the water without a splash, emerged and, looking around, swam towards the increasing lights. There was a sense of strength in every wave of his hands – the black man could have moved faster, but he restrained himself, not wanting to attract unnecessary attention with the carelessly created noise. The boat was moving at full speed in the other direction – and a moment later it was swallowed up by the night. The mooring pillars looked out of the water and, in contrast to it, seemed to be unshakably standing giants that did not give up, did not bend under the pressure of the elements. Due to time and constant dampness, they darkened, became covered with a coating, and became slippery. The black man took off the hook gloves from his belt and deftly, using only his hands, climbed up the nearest pole onto the pier. Listened. Fastened gloves to belt. Somewhere here there should be the first incorruptible guard – a watchdog, and also a staircase leading to the underground floor. The best option is to sneak past, remain unnoticed, but if anything… The black man pulled out an asterisk and carefully moved forward.
"Saboteur!» (English. Saboteur!) is a single-player 2D platformer released in 1986 on Spectrum. The video game was also transferred to other home computers of that time (Commodore and Emstrad brands), and today it is available on Steam, and it is the version from the digital store, as the more recent one, that is offered for consideration. The creator of the original is the Englishman Clive Townsend, the Polish company Symfabrik is responsible for the re-release (English. SimFabric).
First of all: the updated “Saboteur”!» works fine. There are no additional conditions, such as dancing or calling technical support. The menu in the game has been slightly redesigned – it has become not so much more convenient as more complete: you can read the “About the Developers” column, achievements like “Kill an enemy with a brick” and “Find such and such an object” have appeared (unfortunately, only inside the game, they are not available on Steam). The appearance has improved, and to introduce the atmosphere of the eighties, special filters have been added – they can be turned on and off as desired. They do not recreate a television lamp image, but they cope with conveying similar impressions. And the music has been updated. In a word, they refined it: without changing the video game itself, they added actions familiar to the modern player.
Against the backdrop of such attention to detail, two points look extremely strange. Firstly, there is no option to select the game window resolution. "Saboteur!"was created taking into account old, still square, monitors with an aspect ratio of 4:3. Its modern version automatically adjusts to the maximum monitor resolution – this is usually a 16:9 ratio. As a result, the image is stretched in width. Doesn’t affect gameplay, pure aesthetics, but annoying.
Secondly, the original supports changing keyboard keys, and the updated version has five ready-made options and one universal one – with arrows. And it is absolutely unclear what motivated the developers when they decided to replace one functionality with another, less convenient.
Filters disabled, filters enabled; main menu screen: original, retro and modern (for some unknown reason, the original and retro are made to a 16:9 ratio, but the menu buttons are stretched in this ratio, but in the modern menu it’s the other way around); graphics a la “ZX81”, “Acorn”, “Amigo 500”, “Atari 2600”, “Gameboy”, “Commode 64”, “NES”, “Spectrum”.
– You called, master. The one in whose direction the address was spoken nodded silently. The student did not ask, as is usually done, observing politeness, but uttered an affirmative phrase, and there was a clear note of dissatisfaction in it. The master remained calm: he understood that the student was not angry with him, and also knew that now there would be more reasons for his bad mood. – I have prepared a task for you, Akihito. Come, said the master. They weren’t alone in the room. The third person is a woman, she stood behind the master, a little to the right. She clutched a stack of stitched sheets in her hands. The woman, without looking away, looked at the walking Akihito, at his cautious gait, full of restrained energy, at his broad shoulders and open arms intertwined with muscles, at his high-cheeked face – but her eyes remained cold. She saw not a man, but a nuisance. – Nina. – The master raised his hand with an open palm, and the woman immediately put the sheets of paper into it. – Akihito, here is information about the military base you will visit. Plans, security, routine – everything that we managed to find out,” said the master, handing the sheets to the student. – You must get a disk, on it there is important information for our brotherhood. Destroy traces of your presence… along with the base. – People? – Akihito clarified. – At your discretion. The informant assures that in the next month there will only be security there. It is unlikely that they will be able to tell us anything useful. The master put his left hand on the student’s shoulder. To do this, he had to stand almost close: Akihito was much taller. The master raised his head, looked into the student’s eyes and said: “Connection through Nina.”. “And seeing how Akihito’s nostrils trembled and widened, he added: “Don’t argue.”. You are my best student, and I forgive you a lot, but I will not allow you to object to a direct order. Akihito covered the master’s hand on his shoulder with his left palm. He felt Nina’s burning gaze, but studiously ignored it. The discipline in the brotherhood was strict, and Akihito, who had absorbed the rules since childhood, observed it: the master’s word is the law. Any issue can be discussed, but only up to a certain limit, and then either do it, or your paths with the brotherhood will diverge forever. However, Akihito also understood how many problems blind obedience brings and that even the best sometimes become blind. The error needed to be corrected, but not now, not with the master. “I’ll do everything,” Akihito said.
The main character is a ninja warrior. His task is to penetrate the guarded base (from this moment the game begins) and get out of there alive, but not empty-handed. The ninja must find and pick up a floppy disk with information, and blow up the building itself. Only then will the task be considered one hundred percent completed.
The game does not officially provide any details or backstory. Descriptions of objects, dialogues with characters, messages and notes that could shed light on what is happening – all this is missing. There is a plot and a common goal, and then – exceptionally excellent gameplay.
There is only one level in the game. It is divided into “screens”, moving between them is similar to moving from room to room. There are 118 of them in total, and in part the entire base can be compared to a labyrinth. There is no map inside the game, so when passing without hints you will have to strain your memory, keep the routes and location of objects in your head (they do not reload: once a eliminated enemy remains that way forever, objects do not appear in their old places after use).
The base is conventionally divided into a dressing room (or a hall – whichever is more convenient for you), the main floors and the roof, the basement and the metro. These parts differ in color scheme – green, yellow, blue. If we divide it in more detail, then there is also a pier, a helipad, and the metro will lead to the underground part of the base with a central control panel and a second metro.
The background of the first rooms is green, the main floors and roof are yellow, the basement is blue.
The knife went straight https://sagame350casino.co.uk/withdrawal/ into the neck, and the man in military uniform froze. Already falling, he raised his hands and grabbed the handle, but it was rather a mechanical action – only surprise was reflected in his stopped eyes. "What happened? How? Why?- they asked. No one answered them, and the last words were drowned in emptiness. Akihito grabbed the corpse under the arms and dragged it to the corner of the room, behind the barrels standing there. Searched. I found an open pack of gum, a condom and a lemon. Against whom in a small enclosed space the guard was going to use a defensive grenade – one could only guess. The next room was empty except for three stacked boxes. So far, none of the rooms that Akihito has visited have struck me as overcrowded. Barrels, crates, boxes, empty containers – all this was found here and there, but overall the base gave the impression of some desolation. It seemed that she was in that transitional state when either they were about to move in, or, on the contrary, they were going to leave it forever, and most of the things had long been taken out, and what was left was not needed at all. Probably, it would have been so if it weren’t for the security. Patrols met on all floors, soldiers looked into almost every room, many were accompanied by dogs – trained evil animals, they broke from their leashes, looked out and sniffed out strangers in order to grab their throats with their teeth – not for the sake of praise, but out of a cultivated love of blood and death. There is an inconspicuous hatch near one of the walls. Akihito opened the lid and began to walk down the narrow stairs. The crossbars, painted dark blue, turned out to be clean – not a trace of dust. The stairs led to a corridor with two exits. Akihito checked the map and turned right. Immediately I came across a pile of garbage: someone carefully collected bricks, steel rods, cement chips in one place and swept away dust from the floor here. There was a smooth pebble on top. Before moving on, Akihito took it and put it in his pocket. Very soon the corridor ends. There was another staircase here, it led upstairs. Akihito stood up, opened the hatch, looked out – and saw a broad back. The soldier stood two or three steps away, legs spread wide and his thumbs tucked into his belt. He looked straight ahead, at the exit from the room. Trying to move quietly, Akihito pulled the lid back as far as the hinges would allow, climbed out of the hatch and, stepping softly, approached the soldier. He grabbed him by the top of his head and chin with his hands and twisted him sharply. With a dull crunch, the cervical vertebrae broke, and the soldier’s legs gave way. Akihito caught him, not allowing him to collapse, and laid him on the floor.
The ninja runs, jumps, climbs and descends stairs, activates and throws objects, beautifully kicks in the air and usually punches the stomach. For everything about everything – five buttons. Health points are displayed as a bar and are replenished during rest (you just need to stand still, away from enemies). However, it will not be possible to abuse regeneration and heal before each battle because of the timer: if the time runs out before the ninja completes his task, the mission will fail. The developer has added a convention: the timer stops when one plot item is found. This head start can be used to explore the area and eliminate opponents. However, firstly, you still need to get to the item, and secondly, in order to continue the game, you need a second plot item – and its activation starts the timer.
Inventory, also known as a hand, consists of a single cell. Accordingly, it can only hold one item – a star, brick, stone, knife, pipe, grenade, floppy disk or bomb. The asterisk is a basic weapon, given at the beginning of the mission, the floppy disk and the bomb are found in a single copy and are part of the plot. The remaining items are scattered throughout all the rooms, lying in secluded corners, heaps of garbage, behind barrels, or even just like that, on the floor.
Items: star, brick, stone, knife, pipe, grenade, floppy disk, dynamite. Opponents: stationary cannon, dog, soldier (it seems that two friends have met, but the first impression is deceiving!)
There are three types of enemies: stationary guns, angry biting dogs, soldiers. Guns are the most harmless enemy: they reload slowly (if compared to the original game, they fired much faster there), the firing radius is around ±45°, so sometimes it’s enough to take one step and thus avoid damage. Dogs have a bad habit of leaving their patrol route when confronted by ninjas and gnawing, gnawing and gnawing again. Soldiers are universal fighters: they strike with their hands and feet at close range, throw improvised objects from afar, or use firearms; die in one hit at any difficulty level. Like dogs, they chase an uninvited guest in the area entrusted to them.
In "Saboteur"!» there are puzzle elements – locked doors and terminals that open them. In a mission, their number depends on the difficulty level – the higher it is, the more obstacles in the path of the ninja. Difficulty selection also affects the time limit, bomb placement, length of platforms, enemy activity and damage they deal.
Nine difficulty levels – from very easy to extremely hard.
The disk was in my pocket, the bomb was under the server in the control room. The timer was counting down the time until the explosion, and Akihito, leaning against the wall in the shadows, was still waiting for the right moment to attack. The soldier, as luck would have it, stood half-turned, and the distance to him was decent – it was impossible to reach him unnoticed. So a minute passed, then another… Finally, he moved his shoulders, as if shaking off numbness, and headed towards the wooden shield, which lay a few steps away from him. At the same moment, Akihito threw a pebble at the opposite wall and, when the soldier turned towards the knock, jumped out of cover, rushed forward as fast as he could and hit, aiming for the base of the neck. The soldier, apparently sensing a threat, dodged and kicked in response – but also missed. Akihito did not allow him to turn around: two blows – and there was one more corpse. Somewhere there, deep underground, an invisible clock continued to beat the rhythm. Their calm, inevitable “tick-tock” brought the destruction of the base closer, and observing the process of destruction from the inside was not part of the plan. There was an emergency exit on the secret top floor, under the roof. There was a helicopter standing there, always ready to fly, with a full tank of fuel; the ceiling above it was sliding – all in order to quickly disappear in case of problems. It is unlikely that the owner of the base expected that another person would use his retreat route, but, in fact, do not ask his permission. Akihito looked into the last room. There was a staircase leading to the attic here, and it was guarded. Two – a man and a dog. There was no time left to neutralize it quietly, and Akihito, pulling the pin, threw the lemon into the room. The roar hurt my ears, but the result was worth it: the security post was literally scattered in all directions. Akihito ran to the stairs and climbed up. Here and there, boards of varying widths and lengths were thrown across the beams. At first glance, they lay in complete disorder, as if they had been forgotten by careless builders, but in reality they formed a disguised road along which those who know could easily pass, but a stranger would be confused. The mention of a secret passage was among the information received from the master, so Akihito did not hesitate: he stepped on the first board, made sure that it was holding, and walked along it to the next beam.
There have been a lot of good games released on Spectrum, and “Saboteur”!" – one of the best on this list. Even now, 33 years after its release, it is pleasant to play in every sense of the word, and for its time it was more than well-developed. The Steam version has a couple of bugs, but they are not critical and are purely technical in nature, that is, they are easy to fix.
Another thing is subjective perception. In comparison with modern video games – voluminous, beautiful, functionally rich – “Saboteur”!"at first glance it may seem somewhat pale; and no one has canceled individual preferences: some have an intolerance to protruding pixels, someone’s artistic nature will consider the Spectrum palette to be too contrasting, and others simply do not like ninjas. That’s it. And at the same time, subjective reasons do not affect the quality of a video game. In "Saboteur"!"You don’t have to fall in love with it, but it’s worth checking out – it’s still a classic.
The helicopter blades moved and spun smoothly, without jerking, increasing the rotation speed with each revolution. Akihito clicked the switches, launching the onboard systems one after another, and called the liaison officer: “First, reception.”. Fourth to First. Reception. The doors on the roof opened completely, the systems were ready, and Akihito lifted the helicopter into the air. Something rustled in the headphones—for a second, no more—and Nina’s voice broke through the interference: “The first one is in touch.”. What do you have? – I received the parcel… There was a crash below. Akihito looked at the base: cracks snaked along the walls, smoke was coming out of the cracks. The fire was not visible, but he had probably already begun his leisurely meal – there, inside, where the sirens were howling and the surviving people were trying to understand what had happened and what to do. “… I threw away the packaging,” Akihito continued. – I’m coming back. – The task has changed, Fourth. You must stay at the point and continue exploring the surrounding area. – I don’t understand, First. – You. Should. Explore. Territory. – Nina minted every word. – This is an order, Fourth. Near the point there is a whole underground complex. Find him and collect all the information you can. Setting tasks in clear text over an unsecured line and sending them without preparation and reconnaissance to an unknown destination is pure unprofessionalism. The brotherhood didn’t work like that, and Nina couldn’t help but know it. But it’s unlikely she’s acting on her own. No matter how close she is to the master, no matter how she charms him, she will not agree to such a gross deception – it’s too dangerous. Akihito chose to answer neutrally, neither refusing nor disagreeing: “I won’t be able to operate with maximum efficiency.”. – Risks are acceptable. Work. As we understand, the Fourth? “Acknowledged,” Akihito said and took the helicopter to land.
As it turned out, a continuation of the story was added to the reissue. Where the original game ends, a woman named Nina appears and extremely persistently, in the form of an order, asks not to fly off into the sunset, but to return to the destroyed base and inspect the surrounding area. Since refusal is not provided, then – hello, new task!
According to the description on Steam, a complete passage takes about ten hours. Here the Polish developers cheated a little. The first playthrough at a normal difficulty level – with exploration of secluded corners, meditation, numerous deaths and smoke breaks – lasts about five hours, and if you know where to go and what to do, and choose the easiest level – no more than an hour.
Acquaintance with the new story occurs through dialogues with Nina. For a ninja, she is either a boss, or a partner, or a dispatcher, a link between him and customers. Its status is not fully determined, and as events develop, confusion only increases. There are also notes at the levels – there are several of them, they complement the narrative, but due to the small number they do not play a special role.
The plot of the sequel to "Saboteur"!“- this, as one bear sang, is a very tricky object. It seems like he is there, but in reality he is not. It talks about a laboratory located far from populated areas, where bad guys experimented on monkeys and children, trying to create ideal soldiers, fighters and spies. The story is presented simply and straightforwardly, without halftones; the construction of phrases is clichéd, the participants in the conversation are talking heads, they perform the function of transmitters of information without revealing themselves in any way during the dialogue; a ninja who, for a moment, is a saboteur, thief and killer, acts as a classically noble guy, protector and savior. In general, it’s not easy to believe what’s happening.
The base from the original game – confusing, with many intersecting moves – was replaced by corridor locations. There are more of them, but this is not the case when quantity develops into quality. Not all of them are straight as a stick, and yet even the most branchy of them cannot be compared with the structure of the base premises. In addition, the variety of colors and background detail have increased. On the one hand, this is not bad – the locations are memorable and easy to navigate; on the other hand, it’s too easy, and such clarity goes against the concept of the original.
In the continuation of the game, more colors have been added, which is understandable: new levels were created for modern PCs, and not for Spectrums.
Ninja capabilities and controls remain the same. An almost full-fledged inventory has appeared – things can be put in it, but cannot be taken out (they themselves are used in the right places). The items that the ninja holds in his hand have changed, but only graphically. Now these are pry bars, hammers, circular saw blades, wrenches, bottles of poison, fire extinguishers; from old friends – pipes and stars.
There are more enemies: you will have to fight with two types of mobile guns – long-range and close combat; ninja warriors who are similar to soldiers in everything, and in addition know how to dodge a beautiful kick in the air and come to life from time to time. Soldiers, dogs and stationary guns are found mainly in the early stages, and most of the sequel dispenses with them.
Puzzles were not very good. You can break anything on them except the place intended for this – the head. So, for example, going through one of the intermediate stages looks like this: to get into room “A”, you need to get an access card; to do this, the ninja must find another access card, for room “B”; the room is full of traps, and it takes a while to get through it; having passed room “B”, you need to find the name, go back through the same traps and make an access card, but not for room “A”, but for room “B”, which is located behind room “B”; go through rooms “B” and “C”, find the second name, go back through the same traps and finally make an access card for room “A”. The traps are simple, they don’t give you a challenge. The process of passing is more like an artificial stretching of time; all this was done, probably, in order to add the line “More than 10 hours of gameplay” to the description.
Items: pry bar, hammer, circular saw blade, wrench. Opponents: mobile ranged and melee guns; ninja warriors.
If the continuation of "Saboteur"!" was released separately, then it would turn out to be an ordinary game from novice developers and the attitude towards it would be in the spirit of “it doesn’t cause errors – that’s good”. That’s why you can still play it now, even if the plot raises questions, and the locations are not the most thought-out, and the tasks turned out to be awkward. You can – but why?? It is positioned as a direct sequel, and in this vein, the quality of its execution is somewhat different from the original video game. Moreover, for some reason the developers did not dare to separate one from the other. After completing the first mission, there is very little choice: finish here and now or continue the game. With such a division, one could safely take the updated “Saboteur”!"and, without taking into account the continuation, enjoy the original in the familiar and convenient Steam. But, unfortunately, this option is not yet available.
The wound on his side was bleeding, four ribs were broken, the knocked out shoulder joint had to be set in place, and he was in great pain. Akihito held a walkie-talkie in his good hand. – The Fourth calls the First. Reception. “The first one is in touch,” Nina answered. – Task completed. – What happened in the underground complex, Fourth? At Akihito’s feet lay a backpack filled with documents, disks and samples. He found out what they were doing in the complex, who and when, but still did not understand why Nina needed it. – Fourth, this information is extremely important. Report immediately! Since Nina appeared in the brotherhood and the master brought her closer to him, many events have happened: five operations failed, eight brothers were killed, twelve were compromised, millions of money were lost. Even an optimist would not doubt that this is not an accident. But the master was under the influence of female charms and did not notice the changes. – Akihito. – rage erupted in Nina’s voice. Thirteen. However, the loss of a pseudonym is not as terrible as the revelation of his real name: Akihito was not even Japanese – why should he change his call sign? However, it cannot be brought to the point of disclosure. Nina is definitely playing her own game, and all that remains is to understand what the rules are. Akihito picked up his backpack, threw the radio on the floor and stepped on it with his foot. The plastic crunched, fragments entered the board, tore the wires. It’s time to return home – correct the master’s mistake. But this must be done quietly and unnoticed, as if you were a shadow.