Saints Row

Review from Oracle - Monday, 11 September 2006 @ 12:00am

Before I begin this, I want to clear something up first. This is not another crappy GTA clone, ok so it has the same kind of structure and game play to the GTA series but this is not the reason why I’m writing this review, my reason is to tell you all that this game kicks so much ass and has much more depth than any game ‘GTA’ like game out there.

The moment you create your new game you’ll begin to understand what makes this game so different. You start off by customising your character. THQ went berserk with this; you get to change every tiny detail of your character. Think of it as The Sims 2 but much deeper and easier. My first creation was of a very fat looking clown guy with sideburns and a Hitler moustache… oh and a green afro.

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Seriously, don’t blame yourself if you spend more than an hour creating your character, the sleek and easy to use menus will help your character create mode a little more fun. Later in the game you will be able to buy jewellery, tattoos and stacks of clothing for your character, so be patient.

As soon as you’re done creating your 70’s Hitler clown you begin the game with a cut scene. I’ll try not to spoil it for you. Your character begins the game wondering around some back streets of Stilwater, the city where rival gangs fight for ownership of territories.

You happen to walk straight into the path of a gang fight involving the Vice Kings, Los Carnales and the Westside Rollerz. This is a bad situation as the gangs don’t care who you are representing or not, your gonna die as a warning to others. But with pure luck a man called Julius rocks up with his gang and takes care of the rest. Your character is pretty shook up so Julius takes you back to his crib and the initiating of you joining the 3rd Street Saints begins.

The story in Saints Row is very deep for its genre and well thought out. It sucked me in from the word go. Later as you progress in the game you come very close to some members of yours and rival gangs which give the game some emotion. THQ have also provided the characters with professional Hollywood voice actors, so expect to hear some very strong dialogue with some very funny lines. Actors like Michael Clarke Duncon from the Green Mile, Mila Kunis from That 70’s Show, Tia Carrere from Relic Hunter, Keith David the Chronicles of Riddick, the list goes on!

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Before and after each mission you are giving a cut scene about your mission briefing or the status of other gangs. The character animation in the cut scenes are smooth, high quality and feels real. But let me just say again that Saints Row is a hilarious game! From everyone you meet (even the pedestrians) to the radio in your car, there will be plenty of times where it will make you squint your eyes in laughter.

The missions are very well planned and build up with the storyline perfectly. Each mission carries a certain technique which you must follow. Some missions will involve you going undercover while others will involve you taking out everything in site. My favourite technique is teaming up with your homies. Yes, because you are in an actual gang which involves you being a team leader you are able to whistle up gang members from the streets or even call them with your mobile to help you with missions or activities. As the game processes you’ll be able to have up to seven homies roaming the streets with you, kind of like a little army.. cool huh?

The gameplay in Saints Row is solid but it does have its flaws. What ever you do in Saints Row it all comes down to respect. To unlock new missions you will need to have enough respect within the gang to start. By gaining more respect you’ll need to complete activities, and there are tons of activities! All different and very unique.

Some activities include escorting hookers, jumping in front of cars for insurance money, being a hitman, stealing/hijacking cars, stealing prostitutes from pimps, drug trafficking (my favourite), raining havoc in the city by blowing what ever you see up, and being a racer in a destruction derby arena.. and that’s just to list a few. The single player missions will take you about 15 – 20 hours to fully complete but with all the activities it adds another 15 hours to complete thus making the lastibility even longer.

It’s hard to explain to you all how much fun you’re going to have with this game. But here’s an example, I was cornered in a street by the FBI and a FBI Helicopter, I had a 5 star wanted ranking so it’s not going to be pretty. The chopper had units shooting at me from above, I had to do something. I took out my RPG, aimed at the helicopter and pulled the trigger. It began to spin out of control colliding with an oncoming train causing the train to derail and smash into 3 swat vans clearing the way for me. I jumped into the cop car quickly and took off. I managed to squeeze my way through the wreckage but suddenly getting rammed by an oncoming train which collided with one of the other trains carriages completely wiping me out.

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After witnessing all that I had the hugest grin on my face. There couldn’t have been a better demonstration of the games physics and mobility. So you can bet there will be times where your mouth will drop and think to yourself ‘Damn, that was F’ing Cool’.

The visual presentation in Saints Row is pretty damn good, everything is attention to detail. The textures are beautifully created and the visibility in the game is slightly increased to GTA games.. especially when you catch a glimpse of the sun setting over the water, very awe inspiring. Oh, and one of the best features of the game is that it only loads once (loading your saved game). You can pretty much walk into any building or cross over any bridge without it loading.

Now since the visuals in Saints Row have been bumped up to the max there is a downside to all this goodness. And to be honest this really bugged me. The frame rate is constantly low; an average of 30 fps but it doesn’t stop there. When more things are happening on screen (like a cop chase) it will drop even lower. It felt like I was playing a PS2 all over again.

Surely there is some way they could have lowered the graphical detail a tiny bit to make the game run at a much smoother frame rate. Because of this it did stop me from enjoying the game slightly more. But at least they did end up getting the cut scenes at a steady 60fps, as I said before very well presented.

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There are also other graphical issues where buildings and cars will suddenly disappear and shadows take some time to load. The only biggest glitch I found was when I parked my car on the tracks and it disappeared, very strange though. But be prepared to face some weird glitches on the way, it hardly happens but when it does ye be warned.

The music is one of the things that made me fall in love with this game. The radio is brilliant. There are 130 songs spread along 12 interactive radio stations covering genres from rap, R&B, hip-hop to rock, talk back and even classical music. Every host on each radio station is a professional DJ too. If I were to recommend you a radio station it would defiantly be Generation X, every single song on that radio station was very good rock and hip-hop songs.

Volition and THQ have been listening to prayers from many gamers, and they have provided us with our wishes. Saints Row has LIVE multiplayer. Yeah Baby! Although they don’t have the ‘roam the street and kill’ mode which I would have more preferred but they have supplied us with some more great thought out and enjoyable modes. There are four in total, Gangsta Brawl (Death match, Team Death Match), Big-Ass Chains (collecting chains from defeated opponents), Protect tha Pimp (team work based missions) and Blinged Out Ride (Upgrade vehicle mission).

Each mode involves creative co-op with your team (unless your doing free for all), but my favourite mode is Blinged Out Ride, plenty of laughs to be had guaranteed. THQ have thrown a Gang Clan feature. You’re able to create and invite members into your own Gang where you duke it out online with other gangs. It’s a very cool feature but make sure you have friends, randoms never work.

For those who haven’t check out AJ’s preview on Saints Row feel free to check it out here to gain some insider information about the game.

Summary

The long anticipated wait has been worth it, Saints Row is simply awesome even if it is unoriginal. The fairly deep storyline, well designed characters, 30 – 40 hour single player and Xbox Live multiplayer will make you a Saint Row addict fo’ sho. Although there are some graphic problems and a few glitches you will sonly overcome this while you crack open a cold one, kick back and do the deed for 3rd Street Saints. Rockstar eat your heart out.

Pros

Fun missions, fairly deep storyline, brilliant voice acting, the respect system is perfect, single player is 30 – 40 hours total completion, activities will keep you coming back for more, Xbox live, Gang creations.. listen, it’s the best fun I’ve had on the 360 so far, and that’s gotta say something.

Cons

Some graphical flaws, some major (but not so major) glitches, 30 fps will bug you, and like all single player games it comes to and end… eventually.