Saints Row: The Third Review

HITS

• Beautiful Graphics
  
• Over the Top World
• Freedom In Open World
  
• Burt Reynolds
  
• Unique Missions for Each Gang
• Extremely High Replay Value
  

MISSES 

• Unintelligent A.I.
  
• Mission Choices
  
• Dull Story
  

 Recommended for:

Lovers of the open world sandbox genre, anarchists, and people who have played the previous Saints Row games.

 Not Recommended For:

People who don't like fun. (Mikey)

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Saints Row: The Third as you can probably guess is the third installment in the Saints Row series. The original Saints Row was the first sandbox game of the new console generation. After releasing in '06 it was praised by critics and gamers alike. Two years later the sequel to Saints Row came out and received publicity from critics and angry folks practically everywhere. Despite numerous attempts to have the game pulled it was still loved by the mass market and critics and sold well over three million units worldwide.

If you followed the series in general than you noticed that as the games went on the tone was shifting from serious, to comedic, and finally to outright wackiness. When Saints Row 3 was announced it was also revealed that the game would be a reboot of the series with the introduction of a new physics engine. The playground of the Saints would be moved as well from Stillwater to Steelport.

After the events of Saints Row 2 the Saints have finally defeated the villainous Ultor corporation along with the rival gangs that were in the way. They've now merged with Ultor (under better management) and have essentially become a media giant with everything Saints related being branded. For example, Pierce is now a recording star, their is a Saints movie happening, and their own energy drink among other things. After a botched bank robbery the player character, Shaundi, and Johnny Gat are taken aboard a jet belonging to an international crime organization known as the Syndicate.

After some fun is had you are thrust into the new environment of the game: Steelport. From here you are free to do whatever you want, whenever you want. The mission structure is laid out the same as previous Saints Row games but with some changes. You no longer have to fill your respect meter to play missions. The respect bar is now used for upgrades. An example being able to automatically completely all the strongholds/activities for a certain area. Another being the ability to increase certain attributes of your character.

The Saints Row series has been known for its characters and despite some dying off quickly, the ones that stay around are phenomenal. One of additions are the brute enemies which are simply that. The character that is the genetic basis for the brutes eventually joins up with you and the words that are exchanged between he, Shaundi, and Pierce are pretty funny as well. My personal favorite new character has to be Zimos. He is a pimp that due to a health problem has a voice box. But even when things are looking down for ol Zimos he has to do something that makes him ten different kinds of awesome. After you are introduced to Zimos you soon discover that he uses an electronic voice box that's autotuned.

One of the main antagonists in the game is Killbane. He's a Mexican wrestler (luchador) who doubles as a power hungry gangster. To find out more about Killbane you go in search of his former tag-team partner who he humiliated by unmasking him. The partner is Angel De La Muerte. The interesting thing about this is that he is voiced by Hulk Hogan. What? Not interested? Okay, let me rephrase that. HULK HOGAN! WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN ANGEL DE LA MUERTE RUNS WILD OVER YOU! Aside from the Hukster there's Viola DeWynter who is a member of the Morning Star, Matt Miller who's an Aussie computer geek who looks surprisingly like an 18 year old goth kid. Finally as if you thought things couldn't get better than Hulk Hogan you've got Burt Reynolds as Burt Reynolds mayor of Steelport.

In Saints Row 2 you had missions that were fairly similar and on some occasions yawn inducing. Thankfully things have changed and you get some really diverse missions that pay homage to everything nerds love. You'll be in the ring wrasslin, in a computer a la Tron, and more. That being said some of the missions early on are mainly activities so there's a chance you may become uninterested while doing the typical activities you've come to know and love.

While I practically love the game the story isn't great but isn't bad. Certain things happen in the beginning of the game that have rammifications later on but at the core it's just urban warfare. One of the things that's been touted by Volition is that at the end of certain missions you get choices that's interesting in theory but in reality it's do or do not.  The perfect example is with Killbane. You can either unmask him and shame him in his culture, or leave him masked and in return he'll teach you the secrets of the Apoca-fist.

At the core, the game like the series has and always will be an open world/sandbox/playground of destruction. Unlike certain open world games what goes on in the story has lasting effects on the environment. After a certain mission towards the end of the game you get to go back to said area and fulfil a very deadly fantasy. It's these permanent changes to the area that make the city of Steelport feel like it's a living, breathing, world unlike those seen in recent open world games like Mafia II and Rage.

Going from Saints Row to Saints Row 2 you didn't get much of a feeling you could do anything in Stillwater. In Saints 3 that feeling dissipates as soon as you complete one of the early missions of the game. Once you've gotten everything available in the game you'll realize that you are a one man army. Something that I, myself have been dreaming of since my many days of Vice City nearly a decade ago. Some of the toys you can expect to find are Vtol aircrafts that make you anticipate the future, a laser targeted air strike, and much, much more.

If you've read this far than it's pretty clear that I really, really, love this game. In an economic depression (as we're in now) this is the perfect game to get for $60. It offers countless hours of entertainment wreaking havoc in the urban jungle. This game is an ideal purchase for anyone and if you aren't down with the whole Skyrim thing this is the perfect game to get if you're still aching for that open world experience.