Saboteur II

A saboteur creeps into the base under cover of darkness. The mug staring back from the screen isn't in the best mood — but what do you expect from a guy who's just fought his way through waves of gunners and traps? Saboteur II from 1987 is an action platformer where you sneak through an enemy complex, loot it, and make for the exit. This isn't a game about heroism. It's a game about survival.

You control an agent who must navigate several levels of the base. The objective is simple: get where you shouldn't be, grab what you can, and disappear. Between you and freedom stand guards, robots, falling projectiles, and all manner of mechanical traps. The game runs at a pace that constantly pushes you forward — standing still means dying. You move across a classic platformer grid: jumping, shooting, collecting, and hitting switches.

The mechanics are straightforward, but there's a tension to it. Enemies pursue you without mercy. You don't have time to think, let alone map out your route in advance. You shoot your way through, jump over obstacles, and frantically mash buttons. The graphics are crude and blocky, the sound — well, it's there — reminds you of gunfire from a tin can and music from an old arcade machine. Nothing fancy. Just something that makes the game louder and more intense.

Saboteur II represents an era when action platformers meant nerve-wracking frustration. The game won't stop to explain what you're supposed to do. You just dive in, take a hit from the first enemy, and learn from your mistakes. These days it looks like a relic, but in the eighties it was pure adrenaline rush — don't coddle me, just get me out of my chair.

Who would play it today? Someone who sees nostalgia as an exercise in patience and self-denial. Saboteur II has no mercy, no tutorial, no pity. Your processor is your enemy, but your brain is your only tool. If the image of eighties frustration sounds magical to you and you don't want to buy it, you can try it in your browser — it's there, free, just waiting for you to fire it up and see if you've got what it takes.