Saints Row 2

Review from Starks, Starks and Starks - Saturday, 18 October 2008 @ 9:57am

If anyone ever watched cricket back in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, they’d be familiar with two of Australia’s favourite sons – The Waugh Twins. Both Mark and Steve were integral parts of the team and the first twins to ever play Test cricket. Of course, twins is a slightly deceptive word for the two. Being non-identical, they looked similar but were distinctly different in many noticeable ways. Where Mark was laid back and relaxed, Steve was hyper vigilant and intense. Where Mark was seen to wield his bat like a wand, his style fluid and attractive to watch, Steve was quoted as saying his willow was his battle axe, and his style was more functional than attractive to watch.

Do you think mum will notice we broke her window?

It was well recognised that the competitive spirit of both was equally shared, and that their competency as cricket players was never in question. Although Steve was often seen as the ‘better’ of the two, Mark had a certain class and ‘X’ factor about him that was well suited to his clever wit and nonchalant approach to life. Where Steve took things seriously, Mark was more relaxed and didn’t take himself as seriously.

I’m hoping the picture I’m painting is one that you will hopefully be able to use to determine distinctions between Steve and Mark Waugh. Both were brilliant cricket players, both were talented in their own right. Whilst one was seen as the slightly better player, this didn’t detract from the other.

Having never played the original Saints Row, I didn’t know what to expect when I walked into the Players Lounge on Wednesday afternoon to trial their new instalment to this series. I was greeted by friendly THQ staff and also find good friend Joaby doing his thing for GameArena, and frankly the friendly atmosphere was what marked the entire afternoon. Although we had a small incident where the power went out for about an hour, it didn’t detract from what was an enjoyable afternoon.

Pretty in purple!

My impressions of Saints Row 2, however, are very much hinged on the fact that I find it the non-identical twin to Grand Theft Auto 4.

I don’t say this lightly either. Having been treated to a fantastic corporate event, where I played through the game myself then continued playing at home with the review copy they game me, I have decided that I like Saints Row 2. I really do. But it played, whether you agree or not, more as a variant to GTA 4 than as a completely new game.

Strictly speaking, this isn’t an entirely bad thing. Just as you have Forza vs Gran Tourismo, Counterstrike vs Call of Duty and other games that are in the same type of genre yet differentiated by specific elements the developers have introduced, so too is Saints Row different from GTA and not really so much a clone as it is simply a different title in a genre that requires certain similarities in order for the game to be deemed within said genre.

Saints Row 2 itself is an entertaining game. Where the difference in flavour between it and GTA begin is the game allows you to completely customise your own character. And by completely, I meant totally. Joab and I had some fun generating some bizarre characters, and his eventual decision to go with a character that was disturbingly similar to the Violator from the Spawn comics had me laughing as the character required a bra.

The world itself is very similar in nature to GTA – A sandbox where a plethora of opportunity to create mayhem exists. My amusement at being able to explore in depth the Red Light District was rivalled only by my astonishment at what I could actually pay for.

Exploration of the city is where I found one of my first frustrations with the game, however. The driving aspect of the game was a literal nightmare due to the terrible 3rd person camera when behind the wheel. The ease of reversing, driving with precision and drive by shootings were made incredibly difficult by what I can only describe as an inherent oversight by the developers. I really can’t understand how it didn’t register as a difficult element of use, and given your reliance on using cars within the game itself it is something that I found to be quickly off putting. The silver lining to this cloud was their inclusion of a ‘cruise control’ mechanism, which made cruising much more functional.

The missions themselves are enjoyable, and the storyline amusing. The missions themselves are seen as the best way to get money, as mugging people just isn’t good enough to get you the cash you need. With money, you can do practically anything – Plastic surgery, new clothes, new guns, tattoo’s, ‘services’; You name it, you can buy it.

I swear this looks like a recreation of a scene from COPS

One of the more amusing things I managed to do was, after hearing from the THQ rep that you could do it, I found a plane and did some sky diving. The object of the game was to try and land in a pool. Although I spent a few hours trying to do it, I never got closer than the house roof but I had a lot of enjoyment trying to accomplish it.

For mine, however, what really sold me on Saints Row 2 was the multiplayer. The first is the ability to now utilise online co-op to complete the single player missions which will see the fun aspect grow exponentially as you are also required to complete more mission requirements with a second person in the game. For me this is where a lot of the fun will be had. Whilst completing missions on your own is fun enough, being able to wreak havoc with friends over Xbox Live is where the real laughs will come.

The other aspect of the multiplayer is facing off against others on Xbox Live. We had a barrel of laughs blowing each other up, crashing into each other and ‘pimp slapping’ each other. The multiplayer is just brilliant and shows where the irreverence of the developers comes through. The favourite amongst us was Strong Arm; A game type where you were made to complete certain missions in a small city neighbourhood to earn money and the highest money earner wins the game. With game types such as Insurance Fraud, where you are told to fake being hit by a car in a certain area to gain money, were just fantastic and show the twisted humour of the developers.

Overall though, and this is what most people will find, the game is always going to be compared to GTA 4. For better or worse, Saints Row 2 will always be seen as the ‘other’ GTA and I personally think this is unfair. Whilst you won’t see this if you play the game for 15 minutes or even an hour, Saints Row 2 has a level of depth and intrigue that is unique to itself and provides the player with what I think can best be described as a ‘fresh’ experience to a genre dominated by R*’s GTA. Is it better? Is it worse? I think the best way to sum it up is with Tinglish - Same same, but different.

Pros

• Great stories and cut scenes that create emersion and depth.
• The only game I know that gives out achievements for shooting people in the nuts.
• The 'Pimp Slap' is one of the greatest weapons ever.

Cons

• Always going to be compared to GTA.
• Changing weapons can be a little tedious sometimes.
• Driving camera is shocking.