Saints Row 2 – Review

	Available On: Xbox 360, PS3 Format Reviewed: Xbox 360 Publisher: THQ Developer: Volition Inc Players: 1 Online: 2-12

When the first Saints Row was released on Xbox 360 it had little in the way of competition in the gangster style sandbox experience. Now two years on and every gamer is well aware of GTA IV and the competition the guys at Volition face. Obviously gamers will pull comparisons between the two games, but in my opinion Saints Row 2 deserves to be judged on its own merits, not compared, and to find out why, you’re going to have to read on…

I, like many gamers, loved Vice City and San Andreas, however GTA IV just didn’t do it for me. It felt too serious and realistic with its heavy tone and mood. That was the first time I realised the impact that the first Saints Row game had upon me. I enjoyed the slapstick mayhem, the tongue in cheek humour, and the over-the-top criminal lifestyle. With a story which felt fun and lighthearted yet at the same time serious. What I wasn’t ready for was the level that Volition had taken the next game in the series to.

To put it in the most simplest terms Saints Row 2 is the same as the first game but turned up to 100! The amount of activities and things to do seem never ending. As I played through the game for this review I was looking around the map and noticed that after 5 hours of play I still had many activities that I hadn’t yet discovered, let alone completed. But the great thing is that none of these activities feel like they have just been chucked in for the sake of it. Every one of them is not only fun to play but give a better gaming experience than many other games do period!

The story follows on from the first game’s cliffhanger of an ending, for those that never played the original game then I won’t spoil it for you, just go buy the game now! Although it isn’t really necessary to play the first game I believe that those who have will probably get the most from the sequel to be honest. So, it’s roughly ten years after the ending of the first game and you awake from a coma in a prison hospital with the nurse about to remove your bandages for the first time. This sequence sets the game up well, acting as a perfect way of explaining why your appearance has changed so much since the first game.

Only 2 minutes into the game and you will already see just how much Saints Row 2 has improved over the previous game. The revamped character creation is much more sophisticated and offers much more freedom of choice. One of the biggest changes here is that you can now be a female character if you wish. Not only do you get to choose skin tone, weight, height, and all the normal expected stuff, but also a voice, taunt, and greeting. To be honest, there is nothing holding you back from creating any kind of character you want. I finally settled on a Joker look-alike from Batman, the funny thing is he seems to suit the game so well.

But the customisation doesn’t stop there! After playing through the first few missions you can customise your own clothes, what style of clothes your gang members should wear, gang taunts and greeting, your crib, cars, and even graffiti tags. This allows you to shape your gang and how you want them to act which puts the control into your hands rather than the restricted feeling of being forced.

Once you have designed a character you’re happy with it’s time to escape the prison and take back the Row. The opening mission acts like a tutorial, but it’s probably one of the more exciting tutorials you will ever experience. This is where you will get introduced to the new melee combat system. The right and left trigger throws each fist respectively, however throw a right, left, right, and you will get a rather cinematic and painful looking combo which never gets tiring. The controls are pretty much perfect and although the game lacks a lock-on system for the weapons I found it to be much better without one.

Once the opening tutorial style mission is over Volition have done something that no other sandbox style game has done before. The whole map, all side missions, activities, and diversions are open to you. No unlocking this or that before you can do certain stuff. This offers a much better freedom of choice and with so much to do it’s going to be a while before you see everything, let alone get bored. But one of the first jobs is putting the 3rd Street Saints back together. While you have been in a coma a large corporation and other gangs have moved in on what was once your turf. Now it’s time to take back what was once yours.

The new rival gangs this time around consist of the Sons of Samedi, the Ronin, and the Brotherhood. Each of these gangs feature such strong characters that I can assure you they will stay with you for a while to come as some of the most memorable gang villains found in a game. You can choose to focus on one particular gang or jump between them, it’s also up to you on which gang you want to tackle first. By now you can see one of the key features in Saints Row 2 is the freedom of choice that it offers.

While playing through the main storyline missions there are many nice touches and moments that go back to the original game. So like I said previously, it’s worth playing the first game to truely appreciate what Saints Row 2 is all about, however those that haven’t will still find plenty to enjoy here and a lot of laughs. Plus, without giving too much away, there is a bonus mission that explains just why the first game ended like it did.

But what about all these side missions that will keep you occupied for hours that I keep talking about? All these diversions and activities are open from the very beginning of the game. No need to complete a certain amount of story missions to open parts of the map. You have as much to do at the opening as you will when half way through or near the very end of the game. Activities include Fuzz, Trail Blazer, Septic Avenger, Crowd Control, Fight Club, and Heli Assault, as well as some old favourites like Snatch, and Escort.

Fuzz is a parody of the many cop shows on TV where a TV camera crew follow you around as you take down perpetrators of the law in the most violent manner possible to boost ratings. Trail Blazer puts you on the back of an ATV in a flame-proof suit while you go about the business of torching stuff to earn more time to win the race. Septic Avenger puts you in control of a hose attached to a septic tank on the back of a lorry. The object being to spray as much poop as possible all over a neighbourhood to lower the property value. Crowd Control gives you the job of protecting a VIP or celebrity from overly obsessive fans. Fight Club is obviously a parody of the underground fight scene as in the movie, but no one mentions that right? Heli Assault does exactly what it says on the tin, jump in a helicopter and let the carnage begin.

Every instance of an activity has 6 levels, completing each level earns respect and money. Completing levels 3 and 6 unlock bonuses and some extra bits for you or your crew. These are well worth doing not only for the bonuses they offer but because they are so much fun. Because it all feels way over-the-top and often unnecessary, like giving the beat-down on a guy for dropping litter all in the name of TV ratings, they will have you laughing-out-loud and coming back for more time and time again. Completing all 6 levels doesn’t mean you can’t carry on playing either, you will still earn money but will stop earning respect.

Then there are the Diversions, these are often stumbled across as you play through the game. Most of these come as a pure surprise when found for the first time so I don’t want to give to much away. The normal Taxi, Ambulance, and Police diversions are all in place but there are a good few more that I will let you have the pleasure of discovering.

Being an open-world sandbox style game the vehicle selection and control is just as important as the story. Saints Row 2 manages to deliver on both fronts, in fact on selection it goes above and beyond expectations. You can jump in and take control of cars, trucks, motorbikes, boats, planes, jets, helicopters and more. The handling of each vehicle is spot on, unlike the handling and horrid camera in GTA IV when turning around a corner! So that is another area where Saints Row 2 manages to shine.

No game is ever released free of bugs or glitches and the same can be said for Saints Row 2. The game often suffers from many of the glitches seen in the first game like slight pop-up, vanishing and appearing vehicles, and the very occasional slight framerate drop. But don’t let these put you off because they are no worse than what has been witnessed in other sandbox style games. In fact to give you some idea I played over 20 hours and only seen two very slight frame-rate issues with the pop-up being hardly noticeable and not detracting from the experience. When a glitch does occur it’s often more funny than frustrating anyway.

The first game had a large following online and Saints Row 2 looks set to follow the trend. The game features a full co-op mode allowing players to jump in and out as they please. Not just a few co-op missions either, you can play with a friend from the very start to the very end. During co-op mode there are also a couple more diversions that can be enjoyed with one being the best thing since the invention of multi-player. This mode is Cat and Mouse, one player is put into a top-end sports car with the other in an attack helicopter. The player in the heli has to destroy the car as quick as possible, then the game is restarted with the roles reversed with the winner being the one who lasts the longest in the car.

There are the usual multiplayer modes like deathmatch and team deathmatch with an all new mode called Strong Arm. The goal in this new mode is for your team to complete activities before your opponents do. This involves taking them out and hampering their progress as much as possible while you help your own team complete the same objectives.

Before moving onto the end of the review there is one more thing I want to mention, Zombie Uprising. Entering your crib gives you the opportunity to play on a your in-game video game console. The game on offer is Zombie Uprising which I can honestly say is worth the asking price alone. Think of a mix between Resident Evil and Dead Rising and you’re pretty much there. During the early stages of the game I spent more time playing Zombie Uprising than I did any other part of the game. I can promise you that the quality of the mini-game is so high that it will surprise you just how good it really is. In fact I would say it’s better than anything that has been released on the PSN or Xbox Live Arcade!

Overall Saints Row 2 is an over-the-top experience with so much to do and so much fun to be had. Including a top soundtrack, intuitive controls, and gameplay that is often so near the mark it feels wrong to enjoy it this much. Volition have pushed the boundaries more than anyone else has done before in regards to the content and toilet style humour. But in turn they have created a game that will be long remembered as one of the best sandbox crime games ever created.

A true classic, must have title!