I skipped over the original Saints Row back in 2006 mainly because I was still in love with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In 2008, however, I enjoyed Saints Row 2, largely because it offered something that GTA IV didn’t really have: pure mindless fun, even if it was a pain to play on a PC.
Now, with Saints Row 3, the team at Volition is trying to deliver the definitive and most over the top experience in the franchise’s history, with a new open world, high quality visuals, and the freedom to do whatever you want in whichever way you want it.
Do you want to be dressed like a cartoonish pimp and cause mindless havoc or do you want to wear a flame retardant suit and drive an explosive ATV all over town? How about dressing in a full suit of armor and go on a game show that requires you to kill people dressed as mascots while avoiding posters of baby pandas?
All the activities above, and lots, lots more are possible in Saints Row 3. So, is the new game the definitely outlandish open world sandbox experience or should it and its outrageous ideas be forgotten? Let’s find out.
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| The Saints are now a proper brand ... | ... and new enemies have noticed them |
StorySaints Row 2 saw the player lead his own gang, the Third Street Saints, to ultimate power in the city of Stillwater and the new title picks up pretty much right after that, with the Saints becoming a media behemoth, marketing everything from illegal energy drinks to dolls fashioned after their key members, like Johnny Gat.
Unfortunately for the over the top Saints, their power has drawn the attention of The Syndicate, a group of gangs from the neighboring city of Steelport that wants to eliminate them once and for all. After a series of traditionally outlandish events, involving a bank heist gone wrong, airlifting a huge safe and fighting it out on and off an airplane, the Saints are stuck in Steelport and need to use their power to take down the Syndicate, composed of three key gangs, the Morningstars, the Deckers, and the Luchadores.
From here on, you need to lead the Saints to victory through whatever means necessary, allying yourself with enemies of the Syndicate, including a giant, muscle-bound Russian called Oleg or a pimp that talks only with an auto-tuned voice named Zimos, not to mention a retired wrestler, Angel De La Muerte, or a former FBI agent called Kinzie.
The story missions in Saints Row slowly introduce to you all the activities you’ll be able to do in Steelport, including those I highlighted in the introduction, and go from outrageous to even more outrageous, especially in the beginning.
Sadly, towards the end, the action is toned down a bit and you kind of figure out where everything is going. You even get to make a few choices along the way, even at the end, but I won’t spoil anything serious. Still, up until the final third, you’re in for one crazy ride that you won’t soon forget, as you slowly take over Steelport with your gang of misfits.
GameplayTalking about the gameplay in Saints Row 3 is pretty hard especially since it’s so varied. At its core it’s not that different from other third person, open world shooters, where you kill people with all sorts of weapons, ranging from trusty shotguns or rifles, to a weapon that can shoot an octopus.
You also get to drive all sorts of vehicles, from a variety of cars, to special trucks, like one that’s shaped like Johnny Gat’s head and has a flamethrower attached to it, not to mention tanks and other military vehicles.. All sorts of air vehicles are also present, from regular helicopters to floating motorbikes of some sort, not to mention a special VTOL jet that’s going to cause some serious havoc.
When you’re not driving or shooting, you’ll probably find yourself wielding your in-game mobile phone, as it basically allows you to do all sorts of things, from planning routes using your map and GPS, to laundering money from the shops you own into your own accounts, or even choosing what sort of side quests you can tackle, like assassinations or car thefts, not to mention upgrading your own character’s abilities through a surprisingly large amount of options.
With everything you do, from killing enemies to driving on the wrong side of the road, you earn respect which, thankfully, no longer stops you from doing story missions. You’ll still want to accumulate it, however, as it unlocks new perks and abilities by progressing through the levels.
Basically, up until now, Saints Row 3 reminds me a lot of Skyrim, which appeared earlier this month and also offered a huge amount of content and activities that you can tackle.
Speaking of activities, you’ll be in for some crazy ones, like the aforementioned exploding ATV one, engaging in Professor Genki’s Super Ethical Reality Climax game show, watching over your homies from a military chopper, driving a tiger in a convertible car, just like in the movie The Hangover, while avoiding
animal activists, and much more, like committing insurance frauds by throwing yourself under the wheels of passing cars.
It can even get a bit overwhelming at times, considering how many things there are to do in Saints Row 3. Sadly, one of my favorite activities from the second game, where you drove a septic tank truck around the city and sprayed buildings with sewage to decrease their value, doesn’t make a return.
While Volition, this time at least, handled the porting process of Saints Row 3 onto the PC itself, it still handles a bit more choppy than its console versions, with texture and object pop-in becoming a pretty serious issue when driving at high speeds.
There are a few other annoying things, like the always tedious escort missions, except the aforementioned tiger one, or the fact that once you start messing with a gang or the police, its members will start converging on your location and not leave you alone until you hide from them or enter a safe house. Sure, you can upgrade your abilities to make your notoriety with that group decrease faster, but it becomes a pain when you’re trying to reach a mission while being pursued by cars filled with enemies.
Speaking of opponents, they aren’t the smarted bunch, but they do pose a relative challenge, even if your character can soak up an impressive amount of damage right from the beginning of the game and only gets tougher as you upgrade his skills with the likes of regenerative health or increased resistance to things likebullets, fire or even vehicles.
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| Team up with new allies ... | ... and wreak havoc in Steelport city |
MultiplayerSaints Row 3 drops the traditional online competitive multiplayer in favor of a cooperative one, both throughout the regular campaign and in the form of a so called Whore’d Mode. This is similar to Gears of War’s Horde mode, but this time you need to fend off waves of hookers and BDSM fetishists. While that sounds over the top, it does get a bit old after a few waves, so you’ll still want to just tackle the campaign with a buddy.
This works really well, as there are some missions towards the end where a second human player is crucial to success, as the difficulty and the number of enemies spike considerably, while your AI-controlled homies might not protect you all that much, even with upgrades to their health and firepower.
Graphics and AudioWhile Saints Row 3 does suffer from a few freezes or pop-in, when you play it on maximum settings on the PC it looks really good. While it’s not going for a dramatic realism like Battlefield 3, its stylized looks are certain to attract plenty of people and remind them, alongside the over the top nature, that it’s pure fantasy, especially during fights with the Deckers that are handled in a Tron-like virtual reality environment.
Sound-wise, Volition has done an even more impressive job, largely thanks to the voice acting and the huge amount of licensed tracks. You have seven voices to choose from for your character, three male and three female, plus a bonus zombie one, with which your character just babbles. Once again you can opt to play with a male Cockney accent, my favorite, but also choose to make your big, burly, muscle-bound guy talk with a Russian woman’s voice.
There are a huge amount of songs in Saints Row 3, played by a big number of radio stations, ranging from your classic hip hop one to even a station dedicated to classical music. You haven’t rampaged through Steelport until you’ve done it while listening to the Ride of the Valkyries. Also, as a bonus, you can even make your own mixtape from your phone by choosing from all the tracks within the game and perfect your greatest mix of tunes on which you can wreak havoc. As a hilarious pro tip, I advise you to choose Sublime’s ‘What I Got’ tune, as when it’s played, you character, no matter your voice, even the zombie one, starts singing along.
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| Use your phone to rule your empire ... | ... and slowly take over the city |
ConclusionWhile Saints Row 3: The Third isn’t a perfect title, being let down by some activities and the end of its story, it still offers one of the most fun-filled experience of the year, with all sorts of unique things you can do in the city of Steelport.
It may not contend with other games this year like Skyrim but, if you want a fun, over the top and tongue-in-cheek gameplay experience with a surprising amount of depth, you can’t go wrong with Volition and THQ’s latest creation.
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