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Written by Lee Clifford
In the genre of open-world-cause-lots-of-ruckus gaming, Grand Theft Auto has always been one of the franchises that gamers think of when they think of free roaming chaos. Players had the ability to go anywhere, do almost anything and commit acts that gave PTA chair members night terrors. Then a few years back we were treated to a game called Saints Row. It was harmless enough, coming across as just a meager Grand Theft Auto clone that would likely gain little to no momentum or memorability.
Then the unthinkable happened.
Saints Row didn’t try to beat Grand Theft Auto by repeating what they do, instead they blew logic out of the water, and while GTA was always a little crazy but still confined to a base of reality, Saints Row was so over the top and ridiculous that gamers couldn’t help but notice; team that up with arguably better controls, wider customization and some of the most inexplicable mischeif imaginable, Saints Row was an instant hit that spawned a sequal even more ridiculous. With Saints 2 boasting a storyline that was quite a bit darker and more serious than the first title, it was still rife with juvenile wisecracks and witty humour that GTA just has never really succeeded in having in their titles. Here we are now with Saints Row the Third, does the game hold up to the ludicy of its previous outings? Damn right it does.
Story
For those of you just coming in now, I’ll give you a quick recap. Stilwater is a sprawling metropolis that houses many gangs, one of them being the Third Street Saints. The lowly gang rises to the top of the crime food chain and eventually takes over the entire city. Now in the third game they’re huge media icons, feared and loved by the public and media alike. All does not stay well in Stilwater for the Saints, however, as a new crime syndicate called… The Syndicate… have rolled in and are looking ot take out the Saints… Okay the story’s far from creative genious but it gives us an excuse to royally mess things up in Stilwater again.
Gameplay
I’ve always loved Saints Row for the very responsive controls in vehicles, shooting it out in firefights, and even just running around town. The same holds true in Saints Row the Third, the recipe wasn’t bad so they kept cooking the same goodness. Buttons and stick directions are immediately responsive and incredibly easy to pick up. Not a lot to say here, if you’ve played a previous Saints Row title then the controls will be immediately familiar for you, if not then you’ll feel comfortable with this game almost immediately.
One thing returning gamers will be happy to hear, however, is that the over the top insanity that you know and love is back with a vengeance. Saints the Third has taken the craziness up even higher as the game puts the player in some of the most inane situations I’ve ever witnessed in a game, but then makes it even better by referencing it. This is another great element of the game: it’s self-aware. This is a game that takes some situations that may not be new, and acknowledges it, at times even poking fun at it. Very early in the game the player will find themselves in a free-fall scenario that’s been done in many games as the player plummets from a plane, dodging debris in free-fall while trying to catch a friend who doesn’t have a parachute; while other games would pound tense music and make the situation seem as critical as possible, in Saints the Third while your character is dodging debris they calmly ask aloud “how much sh*t was IN that plane?” It’s a nice touch that a game so over the top as Saints Row is pushing the envelope even more as to acknowledge these crazy moments in the gameplay with witty one-liners that just make the game even that much more fun to play.
Graphics
The graphics are a pretty big change in my eyes. The characters all look a lot sleeker and streamlined, where the characters previously had looks that fit a stereotype, they still had a look that made them believable. The characters now look far more elegant and almost nothing like the iconic characters we know from the previous games. Johnny Gat has a plastic-like, movie star look about him now as opposed to the street punk we met in the first title, and Shaundi has gone from bohemian blunt-fiend to tights-wearing diva; yeah the characters ARE supposed to be more media-ized and “branded” but I immediately missed the characters I remember blowing crap up with in the past.
New character models aside, the game does look great. The world sports a proportioned cartoonification of real life. The city and people inhabiting it all look believable enough, but there’s just that faint bit of cartoonish look that we loved from previous Saints titles; this is a game not to be taken as seriously as GTA so the world is not as serous, the cartoonish reality is a very charming motif that keeps the player reminded that they’re playing a video game.
Sound
The voice acting is, as always, very well done, with several big name voices lending their talents. Yes the script is still loaded with jokes about sex, drugs and violence, but the ridiculousness of the situations make the juvenile humour fit nicely. The scripting is more than just rude jokes and funny-dick comments, as the serious interactions do have a gravity to them, at least until someone makes another insult or jerk comment that takes the seriousness of the situation and says “hey! this is a video game! we’re having fun!” by way of clever insult or downright immature comments; I’m usually one of the first to complain about humour catering to the lowest common denominater, but as always with Saints it just works.
Music is still an important part of the game, but where the previous titles had started with angry hip hop and worked their way up to independent music, hard rock and even more angry hip hop, now the game is filled with Top 40 style pop tunes and club anthems; this does work because the point is getting made that the Saints sold out and are corporate now, but a thumping tune about being on “the floor” during a shoot out doesn’t help the mood any.
What I liked
I’m not good at GTA, but Saints Row is so ridiculous that no one really can be bad at it. There’s tonnes to do and endless trouble to get into. The voice acting is great as always and the humour just works perfectly.
What I would change
I miss my old Johny Gat and Shaundi. The “there’s four new gangs to beat, go here and take them down” motif has already been done twice and we’re doing it again, yes it works but changing it up a little would be nice.
Final Thoughts
While hardly a perfect game, and likely will once again be the bane of GTA fanboys’ as they leave scathing comments in forums throughout the internet until GTA V comes out, but for my money I’m happy to be back in Stilwater getting up to the most insane mischief I can think of with crisp controls and enough humour to make up for all the angsty games that have come down the pipe lately.
