Saints Row - Review
Added August 29th, 2006 by Dakota Grabowski
Introduction:
No introductions needed here, Saints Row is one of the most hyped Xbox 360 titles (outside of Gears of War) for 2006. Originally slated to be released at the Xbox 360 launch, THQ and Volition delayed it for quality purposes. Saints Row is the last actual ‘launch’ title to be released – Full Auto found its way into stores in February while Ghost Recon, The Outfit and Oblivion hit stores in March.
All the hoopla about Saints Row is generating quite a bit of interest, whether it is good or bad. Many critics were weary about it being another Grand Theft Auto rip-off, ala True Crime and the poor Driv3r series. THQ stood by Saints Row right from the beginning stating that its wild card would be the online Xbox Live portion. This online was slowly revealed over the first half of the year and with every new detail, it seemed the Saints Row bar it had to meet was being raised every month. Where does Saints Row currently stand? Well, due to Madden NFL 2007 hitting stores nationwide last week, Capcom’s Dead Rising’s huge success, and RPG fanatics having their first JRPG with Enchant Arms, Saints Row’s competition is stiff. Saints Row has a lot to contend with, though its biggest assessment will stilled be placed against Grand Theft Auto.
Gameplay:
Saints Row is officially the first next-generation sandbox (“open world”) title. Only Dead Rising fits in the same genre and it is categorically different than Saints Row in every single way. When gamers first jump into Saints Row, after the character creation of course, they’ll notice that it looks immensely like Grand Theft Auto. Volition did a great job with its homework on making a solid title. I am not originally a fan of this genre since GTA has always turned me off after the first few hours of play, but Saints Row executes nicely at the right moments.
The storyline follows the 3rd Street Saints and your character’s initiation into the gang. The opening sequence serves as an introduction to all the rival gangs as you are thrown into the thick of things. After the opening, wherein the 3rd Street Saints saved your sorry butt from gunpoint, its time to be inducted into their gang. Once you are officially signed on, you are free to do what you want (you don’t have to join right off the bat, you can do anything as freely as you want prior to the induction). You can now explore the large city of Stilwater with a variety of missions available. Saints Row in-game map is shown with hundreds of activities, clubs, stores, and other areas of interest. Need directions to your next destination? Just select the point on the map and exit the map to see the directions on your small mini-map to navigate yourself there. The map is an essential tool to help you advance quickly to your next objective.
The main objective of Saints Row is to conquer all of Stilwater and its notorious gangs. That means to take out the Los Carnales, rid Stilwater of the Vice Kings, and put an end to the West Side Rollerz. The more areas you take over, the more respect you’ll earn, along with money. There are over thirty areas to combat rival gangs in, so it will be an enduring battle to spread the 3rd Street Saints’ name. Outside of making the gang’s name infamous, you’ll be able to spend money you earn to fill your garages with dream cars, paint them the way you want, and a ton more. The customization of the cars isn’t groundbreaking, but it didn’t have to be. It’s Need for Speed: Underground-lite and that’s all it had to be.
The actual missions of Saints Row are easy to adapt to. If you fail a mission, no penalty will be tagged and you can restart from the beginning to try again. The campaign missions range from thieveries, shoot-outs, rescue missions for your homies, and many other colorful types that add an extreme amount of depth to Saints Row. I must admit though, I found myself sidetracked from the campaign and messing around with the side-jobs. The side-jobs and mini-games are highly addictive; they stole my attention right for the longest time. The Insurance Fraud is hilarious and great to show your buddies to convince them to buy an Xbox 360 (already converted two PS3 buyers to a 360 purchase). It works similar to Burnout except you purposefully leap in front of a moving vehicle. The car will send you flying forward racking up points; in the meantime there will be multipliers such as air time, witnesses, car collisions {does this mean that other cars will have accidents as they witness ur injury}, and distance. All the multipliers will be calculated into the final tally. You must continue to rack up points until you surpass the mission’s goal set. There are several levels to climb for Insurance Fraud missions, at least eight to nine levels to complete that will consume a few hours of your time.
Other side-jobs include Destruction Derby (incredibly easy, I wish it had some difficulty), Drug Trafficking, hijacking cars, hitman missions, avoiding paparazzi as you drive a client around, and even some race events. Volition has guaranteed a plethora of distractions for players that waste hours upon hours just fooling around in the city.
Graphics:
Saints Row does the body good for the Xbox 360. The commercials I have seen on the television don’t do this game justice. Saints Row on my Samsung 63” HDTV is visually stunning. The Havok Physics engine is used for incredible ragdoll physics. The characters may not be running on the Unreal 3 engine, but Volition detailed them decently. What Volition really worked on hard is the environments. Traveling through the city, you’ll notice all the intricate details such as individual bricks, pavement changes, and beautiful foliage. When the sunset hits, shadows will lie upon the city and if you look towards the sun, it will make you want to pull down visor to block it from blinding you.
Unfortunately, there are a few framerate problems I encountered during intensified action. When I had the rocket launcher breathing down on the FBI blockade and had helicopters circling around me, there would be a hiccup as the rocket destroyed the blockade. Whenever there are huge explosions or a ton of characters on the screen, Saints Row would slow down slightly to catch itself up. I suspect the slowdown comes from the compensation of losing the load times, which I am sure all gamers are willing to sacrifice.
Audio:
For all those radio station listeners that loved GTA’s style, you shouldn’t worry; Saints Row employs a similar method of music. The radio stations in Saints Row all have their own characteristics. There’s the pop station, the rap station, and of course the rock station. Only thing that I encountered that frustrated me was that I had to buy my own music from the 360 to play within the game. Not something I wanted to do – I wanted it available from the start. The voice acting is in my opinion great, but at times will be a little over the top. Michael Clark Duncan (The Green Mile), Keith David (Crash), David Carradine (Kill Bill), Tia Carrere (Wayne’s World 2), Freddy Rodriguez (Lady in the Water) and others lend their voices for a stellar voice cast. The sound effects are top notch, no complaints here. Volition made sure to put together a soundtrack that is worth listening to. To name a few there’s: Motion City Soundtrack, Lloyd Banks, Mastadon, The Fall of Troy, Jet, Jane’s Addiction, Fallout Boy, Twista, Three 6 Mafia, and Iggy Pop. The soundtrack clearly doesn’t disappoint by today’s standards.
Controls:
I’m going to take the time to talk about the character creation here in the controls portion since Saints Row gives you ultimate control over your character. The character creation system is almost on par with THQ’s Smackdown series – which is a compliment to both games. You can choose the ethnicity, height, weight, hair style, hair color, nose size, and almost too much that could overwhelm the player. I easily wasted an hour just creating my character to perfection. If the customization isn’t enough, within the game, you can buy new clothes, tattoos, and piercings. The more you look like a straight up gangster, the more your Respect level will climb. The higher your Respect level, the better the missions you’ll unlock.
Saints Row in the actual control department doesn’t handle anything like GTA. If you are used to playing SOCOM and Ghost Recon 2, you’ll be able to adapt to Saints Row with ease. The best feature is that there is no auto lock-on targeting; there’s a free-aim system incorporated to allow you full control of your shooting. At times, Saints Row felt like a carnival duck shooting game, you’ll be stuck running back and forth shooting your foes as if you are forced to pace back and forth. At first, it was a little whacky, but after several hours of gameplay, I quickly became used to the back and forth shooting.
The driving in Saints Row is superb; it’s superb to the point that I feel that the racing controls could have turned Saints Row into a racing game. The drive-by shootings aren’t necessarily hard, but it will force the players to become accustomed to the controls of steering while aiming the game.
Replay:
The single-player campaign will dish out at least 25 hours of service, but the real replay value everyone will want to know about is the online portion. GTA fans have always wanted an online multiplayer for their games on the consoles as much as Gran Turismo fans have wanted. Saints Row has jumped the gun and delivered everyone’s wishes before GTA could ever address the situation. From its lobbies to its MMO elements, Saints Row hits all the right buttons at exactly the right time. Online, 12 players are capable of fragging each other until the break of dawn.
The online modes are creative with a lot of imagination in full effect. Standard and Team Deathmatch are included like in every single shooter out there, but Saints Row capitalizes on its own original game types. There’s the ‘Big-Ass Chains’ mode that asks the players to take the chains of your opponents, and dropthem off at particular waypoints on the map. When you kill your enemies, they’ll drop the chains and you are forced to pick them up to win this mode; it’s as simple as that. There’s also the “Protect Tha Pimp” game mode that will have first time players racing to play when they jump online. One team is made up of a pimp and his followers, while the other teams are hired hitmen. The goal is for the hitmen to kill the pimp before the pimp makes it safely to the exit. There are other factors that play into this mode; first off the pimp can kill the hitmen with one hit, “The Pimp Slap”, and everyone in the game only has one life to live. So the stakes are raised to a new high in this mode. There’s also the “Blinged-Out Ride” mode where two teams compete to build the best car to their ability and then blast each other to smithereens. The only other worthy mention for the Xbox Live modes has to be the cooperative mode that allows two players to play through mini-missions of sort. This isn’t the single-player campaign that is open for co-op, so don’t become too excited.
Summary:
Saints Row is everything it was cracked up to be. Volition put forth an excellent online component that is competent and entertaining all at the same time. The controls don’t put a strangle hold on the gameplay, the graphics only have a few hiccups, and the audio is near perfection. While some may disagree with the score, there’s nothing else like it on the Xbox 360 right now, and not too many others feature such a robust online experience. If THQ and Volition should worry about something, it should be the upcoming Eidos title, Just Cause, due to that it will strike many as a similar game. The final results for Saints Row is an overall positive one, it flat out delivered what it promised from the beginning.
No introductions needed here, Saints Row is one of the most hyped Xbox 360 titles (outside of Gears of War) for 2006. Originally slated to be released at the Xbox 360 launch, THQ and Volition delayed it for quality purposes. Saints Row is the last actual ‘launch’ title to be released – Full Auto found its way into stores in February while Ghost Recon, The Outfit and Oblivion hit stores in March.
All the hoopla about Saints Row is generating quite a bit of interest, whether it is good or bad. Many critics were weary about it being another Grand Theft Auto rip-off, ala True Crime and the poor Driv3r series. THQ stood by Saints Row right from the beginning stating that its wild card would be the online Xbox Live portion. This online was slowly revealed over the first half of the year and with every new detail, it seemed the Saints Row bar it had to meet was being raised every month. Where does Saints Row currently stand? Well, due to Madden NFL 2007 hitting stores nationwide last week, Capcom’s Dead Rising’s huge success, and RPG fanatics having their first JRPG with Enchant Arms, Saints Row’s competition is stiff. Saints Row has a lot to contend with, though its biggest assessment will stilled be placed against Grand Theft Auto.
Gameplay:
Saints Row is officially the first next-generation sandbox (“open world”) title. Only Dead Rising fits in the same genre and it is categorically different than Saints Row in every single way. When gamers first jump into Saints Row, after the character creation of course, they’ll notice that it looks immensely like Grand Theft Auto. Volition did a great job with its homework on making a solid title. I am not originally a fan of this genre since GTA has always turned me off after the first few hours of play, but Saints Row executes nicely at the right moments.
The storyline follows the 3rd Street Saints and your character’s initiation into the gang. The opening sequence serves as an introduction to all the rival gangs as you are thrown into the thick of things. After the opening, wherein the 3rd Street Saints saved your sorry butt from gunpoint, its time to be inducted into their gang. Once you are officially signed on, you are free to do what you want (you don’t have to join right off the bat, you can do anything as freely as you want prior to the induction). You can now explore the large city of Stilwater with a variety of missions available. Saints Row in-game map is shown with hundreds of activities, clubs, stores, and other areas of interest. Need directions to your next destination? Just select the point on the map and exit the map to see the directions on your small mini-map to navigate yourself there. The map is an essential tool to help you advance quickly to your next objective.
The main objective of Saints Row is to conquer all of Stilwater and its notorious gangs. That means to take out the Los Carnales, rid Stilwater of the Vice Kings, and put an end to the West Side Rollerz. The more areas you take over, the more respect you’ll earn, along with money. There are over thirty areas to combat rival gangs in, so it will be an enduring battle to spread the 3rd Street Saints’ name. Outside of making the gang’s name infamous, you’ll be able to spend money you earn to fill your garages with dream cars, paint them the way you want, and a ton more. The customization of the cars isn’t groundbreaking, but it didn’t have to be. It’s Need for Speed: Underground-lite and that’s all it had to be.
The actual missions of Saints Row are easy to adapt to. If you fail a mission, no penalty will be tagged and you can restart from the beginning to try again. The campaign missions range from thieveries, shoot-outs, rescue missions for your homies, and many other colorful types that add an extreme amount of depth to Saints Row. I must admit though, I found myself sidetracked from the campaign and messing around with the side-jobs. The side-jobs and mini-games are highly addictive; they stole my attention right for the longest time. The Insurance Fraud is hilarious and great to show your buddies to convince them to buy an Xbox 360 (already converted two PS3 buyers to a 360 purchase). It works similar to Burnout except you purposefully leap in front of a moving vehicle. The car will send you flying forward racking up points; in the meantime there will be multipliers such as air time, witnesses, car collisions {does this mean that other cars will have accidents as they witness ur injury}, and distance. All the multipliers will be calculated into the final tally. You must continue to rack up points until you surpass the mission’s goal set. There are several levels to climb for Insurance Fraud missions, at least eight to nine levels to complete that will consume a few hours of your time.
Other side-jobs include Destruction Derby (incredibly easy, I wish it had some difficulty), Drug Trafficking, hijacking cars, hitman missions, avoiding paparazzi as you drive a client around, and even some race events. Volition has guaranteed a plethora of distractions for players that waste hours upon hours just fooling around in the city.
Graphics:
Saints Row does the body good for the Xbox 360. The commercials I have seen on the television don’t do this game justice. Saints Row on my Samsung 63” HDTV is visually stunning. The Havok Physics engine is used for incredible ragdoll physics. The characters may not be running on the Unreal 3 engine, but Volition detailed them decently. What Volition really worked on hard is the environments. Traveling through the city, you’ll notice all the intricate details such as individual bricks, pavement changes, and beautiful foliage. When the sunset hits, shadows will lie upon the city and if you look towards the sun, it will make you want to pull down visor to block it from blinding you.
Unfortunately, there are a few framerate problems I encountered during intensified action. When I had the rocket launcher breathing down on the FBI blockade and had helicopters circling around me, there would be a hiccup as the rocket destroyed the blockade. Whenever there are huge explosions or a ton of characters on the screen, Saints Row would slow down slightly to catch itself up. I suspect the slowdown comes from the compensation of losing the load times, which I am sure all gamers are willing to sacrifice.
Audio:
For all those radio station listeners that loved GTA’s style, you shouldn’t worry; Saints Row employs a similar method of music. The radio stations in Saints Row all have their own characteristics. There’s the pop station, the rap station, and of course the rock station. Only thing that I encountered that frustrated me was that I had to buy my own music from the 360 to play within the game. Not something I wanted to do – I wanted it available from the start. The voice acting is in my opinion great, but at times will be a little over the top. Michael Clark Duncan (The Green Mile), Keith David (Crash), David Carradine (Kill Bill), Tia Carrere (Wayne’s World 2), Freddy Rodriguez (Lady in the Water) and others lend their voices for a stellar voice cast. The sound effects are top notch, no complaints here. Volition made sure to put together a soundtrack that is worth listening to. To name a few there’s: Motion City Soundtrack, Lloyd Banks, Mastadon, The Fall of Troy, Jet, Jane’s Addiction, Fallout Boy, Twista, Three 6 Mafia, and Iggy Pop. The soundtrack clearly doesn’t disappoint by today’s standards.
Controls:
I’m going to take the time to talk about the character creation here in the controls portion since Saints Row gives you ultimate control over your character. The character creation system is almost on par with THQ’s Smackdown series – which is a compliment to both games. You can choose the ethnicity, height, weight, hair style, hair color, nose size, and almost too much that could overwhelm the player. I easily wasted an hour just creating my character to perfection. If the customization isn’t enough, within the game, you can buy new clothes, tattoos, and piercings. The more you look like a straight up gangster, the more your Respect level will climb. The higher your Respect level, the better the missions you’ll unlock.
Saints Row in the actual control department doesn’t handle anything like GTA. If you are used to playing SOCOM and Ghost Recon 2, you’ll be able to adapt to Saints Row with ease. The best feature is that there is no auto lock-on targeting; there’s a free-aim system incorporated to allow you full control of your shooting. At times, Saints Row felt like a carnival duck shooting game, you’ll be stuck running back and forth shooting your foes as if you are forced to pace back and forth. At first, it was a little whacky, but after several hours of gameplay, I quickly became used to the back and forth shooting.
The driving in Saints Row is superb; it’s superb to the point that I feel that the racing controls could have turned Saints Row into a racing game. The drive-by shootings aren’t necessarily hard, but it will force the players to become accustomed to the controls of steering while aiming the game.
Replay:
The single-player campaign will dish out at least 25 hours of service, but the real replay value everyone will want to know about is the online portion. GTA fans have always wanted an online multiplayer for their games on the consoles as much as Gran Turismo fans have wanted. Saints Row has jumped the gun and delivered everyone’s wishes before GTA could ever address the situation. From its lobbies to its MMO elements, Saints Row hits all the right buttons at exactly the right time. Online, 12 players are capable of fragging each other until the break of dawn.
The online modes are creative with a lot of imagination in full effect. Standard and Team Deathmatch are included like in every single shooter out there, but Saints Row capitalizes on its own original game types. There’s the ‘Big-Ass Chains’ mode that asks the players to take the chains of your opponents, and dropthem off at particular waypoints on the map. When you kill your enemies, they’ll drop the chains and you are forced to pick them up to win this mode; it’s as simple as that. There’s also the “Protect Tha Pimp” game mode that will have first time players racing to play when they jump online. One team is made up of a pimp and his followers, while the other teams are hired hitmen. The goal is for the hitmen to kill the pimp before the pimp makes it safely to the exit. There are other factors that play into this mode; first off the pimp can kill the hitmen with one hit, “The Pimp Slap”, and everyone in the game only has one life to live. So the stakes are raised to a new high in this mode. There’s also the “Blinged-Out Ride” mode where two teams compete to build the best car to their ability and then blast each other to smithereens. The only other worthy mention for the Xbox Live modes has to be the cooperative mode that allows two players to play through mini-missions of sort. This isn’t the single-player campaign that is open for co-op, so don’t become too excited.
Summary:
Saints Row is everything it was cracked up to be. Volition put forth an excellent online component that is competent and entertaining all at the same time. The controls don’t put a strangle hold on the gameplay, the graphics only have a few hiccups, and the audio is near perfection. While some may disagree with the score, there’s nothing else like it on the Xbox 360 right now, and not too many others feature such a robust online experience. If THQ and Volition should worry about something, it should be the upcoming Eidos title, Just Cause, due to that it will strike many as a similar game. The final results for Saints Row is an overall positive one, it flat out delivered what it promised from the beginning.
