Saboteur, by Howard Scott Warshaw

5/5

The Qotile, an ancient friend turned enemy, have returned and are building a warhead to obliterate your people, the Cytonians. You found their base on accident and The Elders have decided it's up to you to protect your people by sabotaging the launch rocket and destroying the warhead.

Wow - a new game by Howard Scott Warshaw, creator of VCS games Yars' Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark and the ever controversial (it's great! it sucks!) E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Saboteur was written back in Atari's hey day, but was never released. It was originally going to be repurposed into an A-Team game, but the video game market collapsed and neither version saw light of day until HSW released Saboteur thru AtariAge.com. At $45 it's one of the most expensive items in the AtariAge store, but it's worth the price. Sadly, AtariAge.com had to stop selling it when Saboteur was included in the the Atari Flashback 2. Here's hoping that Saboteur can someday return to the AtariAge.com store.

Saboteur is a multi-level shooter that works well around the Atari's video hardware limitations. Each of the 3 levels offer unique game play. All the characters are very colorful and well animated. Sound effects are also well done and there's a neat short tune that plays at the end of the game. You can select one of four starting difficulty levels and start the game with either reset or the fire button.

The Launch Site is the first level and your task is to prevent the launch rocket from being completed. The level takes place on the catwalks at the launch site, where Construction Robots and Yar Flies carry rocket pieces from the left to the right side of the screen. If they make it to the right side the rocket is raised up a step. On this screen you do have some help - the Gorfons, a yellow bird like creature, also make their way left to right. If they safely make it to the right side they will steal a piece of the rocket, lowering it one step. On the top catwalk is the Master Robot, which slowly moves back and forth shooting at you and the Gorfons. If you can survive this frantic level without the rocket being launched then the second level will be easier to play.

The Warhead Assembly room is the second level. Your task is to destroy all the warhead pieces in 38 seconds(29 if the left difficulty is set to A). The warhead pieces are on a convery belt at the bottom of the screen and the Master Robot from level 1 chases you around the room - if he touches you the you're dead. Both are shielded from your shots - but the shielding is in sync and shots bounced off the Master Robot can pass thru the shielding on the convery belt and destroy the warhead pieces. Timing the shots takes a bit of practice, though can be made easier if you keep the Master Robot at the bottom of the screen. This isn't as easy to do as it sounds as a security drone also bounces around the room and is deadly to the touch. If you can destroy all the warhead pieces then warhead will self-destruct in level 3.

The Warhead Battle is the third level. If you successfully destroyed all the warhead pieces in level 2 then level 3 starts and ends with the warhead self-destructing. If you weren't able to destroy all the pieces then you have a narrow window of time to destroy the warhead before it launches. A single successful shot is all it takes, but the warhead has a defense matrix and will attempt to destroy you while it prepares for launch. Surprisingly enough, there's no penalty for failure, the game just resumes at level 1 as if you had succeeded. I would have expected failure to at least cost you one of your lives. This is the weakest of the 3 levels.

The manual and box are top notch, once again with some excellent artwork by David Exton. The manual even includes a letter to the Classic Gamer from Howard himself! All in all, this is a great game. I highly recommend picking it up if it appears in the AtariAge store again, else try to track down a Flashback 2.

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