An immersive, fun and challenging game which actually successfully challenges the GTA series.
The success of GTA inspired many 'GTA copiers' such as True Crime, Driver and The Godfather - yet none of these achieved even the slightest success of the GTA series. The first GTA inspired game for the Xbox 360 is here, and the long awaited Saints Row is promised to be a serious GTA contender, but is it or is another failure?
GAMEPLAY: The Gameplay in Saint's Row is very familiar to the GTA series and has some strengths and weaknesses. You are able to drive various cars throughout the world and perform in drive-bys, car crashes and the rest you have come to expect in an action-adventure title. However, the game suffers with its lack of other transportation such as boats, plains, motorcycles and bikes which could have added another layer of gameplay to the already impressive list.
At the start of the game it is fully possible to customize their looks form the face texture to their hair type to what kind of nose your character has. During the game you can also customize your character with clothing, jewelery and fashion through different clothing shops. This works great and really allows you to customize the look and feel of your character.
The game has a compelling and successful storyline where the goal is to eliminate the rival gangs in any way possible and take over the various 'hoods'. This might seem repetitive but the way the missions are structured you will find yourself constantly entertained and surprised by some twists in the missions. The missions however all feel kind of the same – the good old’ drive to the location, shoot some guys and drive back. The storyline still keeps you entertained but the ending is quite disapointing and worthless.
There are also a great variety of side missions such as insurance fraud, PIMP missions, burglaring missions, gang shootouts and much more. However it is disappointing that there are no missions such 'Taxi Driver' or 'The Cop' which are found and enjoyed in the GTA universe. However overall, there always things to do in the world of Saints Row and you will constantly be entertained if not thrilled by every side mission.
Not only is there the single campaign mode, there is also a fully enabled online mode which is first for this type of genre. Surprisingly it works great with game modes such as just normal deathmatch to team combat and others like racing. Even further you can be part or create your own gang from scartch with other Xbox Live users. This works great and allows you to participate in gang wars and rivalries. Xbox Live really adds a unique feature to this game and is not found in any other game in this genre.
The game also uses the Havok physics engine which is great, but some character movements when they are killed or run over don't look realistic and rather look over the top. The cars however blow up realistically and it looks and feels great. Objects around the city like can bottles or trash cans have the appropriate weight and feeling. It is fun sometimes getting a perfect headshot and seeing the character jerk backwards violently. In the state of Stillwater there are also hundreds of cars and a selection of weapons at your disposal. The cars are varied from the occasional hatchbacks to look-alike exotics like Ferrari. It is very disappointing however that there are no motorcycles, no forms of air or water transport available, which could have extended the gameplay elements further. The weapons also have a very nice variety ranging from pistols to rocket launchers and everything in between. The aiming system is fantastic and works perfectly – it is free aim with no lock option, which is great news – as this is one of the problems of the GTA series.
GRAPHICS: The main weakness of the GTA series is presentation and the overall graphical ability. However with the new powerful Xbox 360 hard ware, the presentation in Saints Row is very well done and is up to the consoles standards. The city is very detailed and very colourful, the cars are also nice to look at and the environments are a pleasure to see. Everything is not great though. The frame rate drops occasionally when in big battles or with a lot of action on screen. The game is still playable but this becomes annoying at times.
There are also quite a lot of bugs and glitches found in the game which sometimes really interrupts the gameplay and sometimes even forces you to fail the mission. It becomes a big factor but they are not very popular and happen quite rarely, but they are still noticeable. There are a few signs of pop up but it is very rare, the draw distance is fantastic.
Overall though, it is a good looking and performing game, but some pop up, frame rate and glitch problems intervene with the action.
SOUND - VALUE - TILT: The sound in this game and the soundtrack is fantastic. The cars and pedestrians all sound different, weapons sound how they should and there is a great soundtrack with radio stations such as hip-hop, rock etc. There is too much rap however which can be a good and a bad thing but sometimes you get quite sick of it. The actors hired to produce the voice for the characters are to be congratulated. They sound properly and add a good feeling that you are actually in a gang by the amount of swearing and trash talk. Your character however rarely speaks a word and you will only hear him talk a few times during the game.
The career mode is a good 20 hours with other side objectives and items collections like CD's which also share some similarities with the GTA series. There is also the Xbox Live mode which is fantastic, making this game worth your money in the long run. It is entertaining and worthwhile to play through.
The game's difficulty is spot on. There are a mix of easy missions and challenging which always keeps you going. The missions are well balanced and there is no setting to choose the difficulty. The amount of bugs found in the game though sometime frustrate you to the point where you think you will never pass the game or mission. So if you stay clear of the bugs there is a good balance of difficulty.
Overall, Saints Row delivers a game experience very similar to GTA's which is a good thing. It looks great, it plays great and is worth your time and money. It is just issues like bugs, frame rate problems, quite a dissapointing storyline and other issues bring the score down heavily. It feels polished and plays a great game. If you enjoyed Grand Theft Auto or any other games in this genre you will be captivated by this game, and you will greatly enjoy it.