I played this game mostly when I was not in the mood for the more emotionally draining Valkyria Chronicles or didn't have an afternoon free but just an hour or two. Then I would roam the streets, buying up shops, completing missions, just having a relaxing time spreading my gang's lands with a . It is nice to have two so very different games, Valkryia Chronicles is the game that I will remember most of all and will remain on my best ever game list long after I have forgotten Saints Row 2. It got inside my heart and tore me up a few times, the effort to keep my troops alive and seeing what was happening left me pleasantly drained at the end of each chapter. Everyone has different favorite characters from the umpteen excellent choices, the world is so rich an animie and manga have been made out of it, though surprisingly little fanfiction out there, it was a game of excellence that has kept on in my mind ever since I finished it. It was gaming's ability to wrap people into a world at it's best, the kind of game I would put naysayers of gaming and show how a game can be as enthralling as an excellent book.
Saints Row 2 (my copy was buggy) could simply be described as fun for the most part, an escapist route where I don't need to think. True, certain cutscenes fully earn the 18 rating by themselves for showing a brutal side to game yet somehow, the game still comes across as amusing even during such moments though not sure if that was intentional. Put my guy and have him run around a thousand cute things with an evil laugh, it would still lack a emotional punch. Yet it isn't a game for those looking for an awesome story or great characters but a game where you shoot stuff and have fun, laughing as you go. For me, it was also a chance to watch my sister playing only the third full PS3 game (the dreadful Untold Legends, GTA and strangely, since she doesn't like football, the Fifa10 demo) so I have been delighted at that. She will happily learn the storyline of games she likes enough to hear about (MGS, Overlord, Valkyria Chronicles for examples) but it is even greater joy for me to see her playing something. Mostly so I can tease her about it;) It may generally lack the excellence of Valkyria Chronicles but then Saints Row 2 doesn't try to be a heart puller, it fills it's own most valuable niche. Long may there always be room for "if I wanted story, I would go to a film" games and "mindless tosh, insert some insult about anyone who plays it here" games.
One area I felt Saints Row 2 excelled more then any other I have played is character customisation, now a regular part of sports games and comes into other area's now and again. Too often the choice is limited in terms of clothes, lucky to get a voice at all, no man wears a dress and (if your allowed to have a female. Or in case of Smackdown, allowed to have a female storymode, hugely disappointed when they stopped that) woman are limited to pretty things to an extent. In Saints Row 2, a man can wear a bra (I went with bandages but had eyeshadow, looked really good on him) and a woman a bowler hat and the selection of clothing was wide. I have always enjoyed buying clothing for my characters in games and if certain clothing doesn't affect skills, I'll buy ones that make my character look good after careful consideration, same with houses if I can decorate them. Saints Row2 allowed my character to look nice in terms of body and face then had a wide range of clothing from hats, shoes to glasses (how many games actually have decent glasses to choose from? Saints Row2 does) and earrings, a choice I don't think I have ever had before. It wasn't perfect, voices will always be a limited choice and the female ones are bad (whereas the men have a nice British one that I went for), I think the bra's are ugly and the makers are a bit keen to call some house decoration a Pimp style/bed/TV/thing but overall, they have set a good marker for PS3 games looking for character customisation.