What set out to be a GOTY competitor for me falls short in way too many aspects

User Rating: 7.5 | Saints Row: The Third PS3
By -Sonnenschein- | Review Date:
I have been a huge fan of the Saints Row Series and waiting for this to come out so badly. After 15 hours and the main story finished I'm disappointed. If you have never played it before you will have a blast, but after two Saints Row titles the activities became a bit stale – Snatch, Insurance Fraud etc. all over again. Sure, this time you don't get specific rewards (except for beating the virtual Trailblazer) and don't have to plan which activities to do first but this is also the reason why I skipped almost all of them (except Trailblazer and Professor Genki's S.E.R.C.). This leaves you entirely with the main story, which doesn't feel that long and it isn't as over the top as often advertised – or did we know too much beforehand? At some points I did think like "Well, I already know that zombies will be here or that I will talk to Burt Reyonolds". So if you really want to buy this game think about the game does offer and what it lacks…

The good
- though not as many as I thought, there are WTF moments – and some great ones at that!
- the addition of RPG elements is nice
- cool new weapons (reaper drones, taking over cars)
- character models and vehicles look really nice
- you can be a toilet – a laser blasting toilet!
- zombies – for whoever likes them

The bad
- the story feels extremely linear – yes, you are presented with choices (do you want a lump of cash immediately or rather higher hourly income?), but you can't take on one gang after another anymore
- missing activities: FUZZ, Crowd Control, Demolition Derby, Fight Club and most important of all Septic Avenger!!!
- Steelport is one UGLY city – Stilwater was so diverse (caverns, a prison, a secret research facility, a trailer park, a shopping mall etc.) and boats actually mattered there. This time? A nuclear plant with chaotic interiors (yes, seems nice) and a boring aircraft carrier is all that is special. No smaller islands you have to get to by water or air, no nothing. And when you move the ugly buildings just get uglier. Furthermore, many roads feel familiar to Stilwater yet more forgettable.
- doesn't seem like you can go into a lot of houses except your usual stores and cribs
- you can only customize 3 of your 10 or so cribs, but not the interior , only the exterior!
- the brutes (mini bosses) are extremely annoying
- the aforementioned addition of the skill tree is nice, but it would've been nicer if I didn't finish the story with only 2/3 of possible respect
- laser weapons look cool, but they feel extremely weak
- missing stores (which I didn't care about this time as wearing clothes doesn't give extra % respect when wearing, but only once when buying)
- you can't hit people with traffic signs etc. anymore
- zombies when they are on flames – you yourself will not stop burning too quickly!
- difficulty seems a bit off: on Casual you'll breeze through anything, on Medium I got my rear end handed to me quite often

In conclusion: This is definitely a step backwards. Saints Row 2 set a high standard (and the only flaws of that game were its occasional bugs) but SR: The Third has failed to set the bar higher or even reach the same one. What GTA IV is to GTA: San Andreas, Saints Row The Third (with exceptions!) is to Saints Row 2. It is beyond my understanding why Volition took out so many fun aspects of the game (though the soon-to-be-released DLC hints at one reason). You can still have a fun time with the game (hence the score), but if you've played Saints Row and Saints Row 2 for 30-50 hours each you might get disappointed by Saints Row: The Third!

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