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Saints Row (X360)

• Developer:
• Publisher: THQ
• Genre:
• Official Website: http://www.saintsrow.com
• Score: 5 of 5: Purchase

Saints Row is the story of three surly gangs who are vying for control of the city of Stilwater, as well as a a fourth up and coming gang hosted by a man named Julius enters the already crowded picture with a plan to clean up the city by any means necessary. As the game begins, Julius saves your life and for the rest of the game, you are inextricably tied to the 3rd Row Saints and their efforts to "clean up The Row."

The demo for THQ and Volition's seemingly GTA-inspired Saints Row that debuted initially over Xbox Live was underwhelming, and largely disappointing. It hinted at a cliché storyline and copycat gameplay, and though it featured some very nice visuals, the framerates were abysmal. Even so, the demo was the source of much debate, and permeated the gaming community deeply - for better or worse, considering its condition. A large number of people simply forgave the demo's shortcomings due to its ultimate nature and promise: to deliver a free-roaming, well-structured sandbox game in the same vein as recent Grand Theft Auto releases - though the developers would rather eschew that comparison. On the other hand, many swore the game off thanks to the demo's innate sloppiness.

As it happens, retail release does fix a number of the problems present in the demo. The framerate was the largest issue for most - and that has been fixed - but in its place is some truly laughable draw distance. Occasionally, you will be able to see a sprawling city up ahead, filled with skyscrapers and buildings galore. Quite often, however, cars will either spawn directly in front of you or pop out of existence, and both can happen at the most inopportune times. This isn't a game breaking situation, but the abundant pop up certainly doesn't add to the game's fun or otherwise immersive qualities.

It would be remiss not to draw a parallel between Saints Row and Grand Theft Auto, specifically San Andreas. The two are quite similar but also different in some important ways. In San Andreas, for instance, you could simply focus on story missions to the exclusion of all else, ignoring any and all side quests. In Saints Row, these diversions from the main story are essential, as they offer advancements that are necessary in pushing the main story along.

For instance, the game gives you an overall "respect" rating, and a certain amount of respect is required before you are permitted to take on new story missions. The quickest way to gain respect is to play through some of the very diverse, fun, and well-scattered activities that litter the Stilwater map. These activities include throwing oneself into traffic in an insurance scheme, playing escort to hookers and their clientèle, protecting a drug trafficker, and even taking part in a demolition derby. All of these activities are fun, and some are extremely challenging, each having eight levels of steadily increasing difficulty. Each activity, once completed, also unlocks certain game features, as well as costume pieces, cars, or various other abilities or gameplay additives.

Notoriety is another feature in Saint's Row borrowed from the Grand Theft Auto series and given its own unique spin. Here you are given two separate notoriety bars - one for whichever gang you are currently dealing, and another for the police. Certain actions excite the hostility of one, the other, or both, and each has multiple levels of interest. For instance, low levels with the police will result in being chased by a lone squad car, while at later levels of notoriety the SWAT will set up roadblocks, and a helicopter might even be seen tracking you from the sky. Gang notoriety works much the same way, progressing from casual potshots by a single gang member to full on drive by shootings from multiple vehicles.

Overall, the story is not as cliché as it initially seemed from the demo, and the missions tend to be diverse, interesting, and challenging. Volition obviously tried to combat repetitive gameplay, and they mostly succeeded. The game lets you direct your own career on how to take over Stilwater along three distinct mission strands, and you can do each one at a time, or even mix and match.

The map, absolutely one of the best features in Saints Row, allows you to pick a single waypoint and attempt to plot an efficient course to its location. It occasionally fails to pick an appropriate route and does not take into account any of the shortcuts that abound in Stilwater, but the route it plans out will adapt as you travel around, and as such you can simply use a known shortcut to one area, and the route will re-draw, dynamically, similar to a real GPS tracking system. In addition, you can set your own waypoint to any location on the map to denote any of the activity, store, mission, or crib icons currently available, or simply set it out in the middle of nowhere for your own amusement.

Looking to multiplayer, this is one facet of Saints Row that is likely to be a huge draw for much of the game's audience. Both the multiplayer and single player campaigns are completely separate - you can jump right into multiplayer, and your online persona does not have to match its single player counterpart at all. A word about customization - it is deep, similar in ways to what was seen in EA Canada's Def Jam Fight for New York. Here you can change your character's facial structure, musculature, skin tone, and so forth. Additionally, you you can use the money won from activities, missions, or multiplayer ranked matches to purchase various costumes and outfits, including jewelry and other accessories, to further customize your character. In addition, these purchases are not simply cosmetic, as more expensive clothing confers a measurable bonus to your respect in the single player mode.

Unfortunately, the ability to organize into gangs is not necessarily what fans would have hoped, and the multiplayer game does not offer a persistent world for gangs to mill about within. This is simply the game's own brand of clanning. Still, the multiplayer modes are fun - some old, some new - such as deathmatch and team deathmatch, but also a variant on the staple capture the flag mode which requires players to gather thug chains and improve their vehicle. Once they've improved their vehicle to a specified degree, they have to safely bring it to an area and show it off for victory. Good fun, and it forces people to work together in a way that even the best CTF games out there have not, typically, required. Those that enjoy teamwork-driven multiplayer modes will find a lot to love here, with most vehicles allowing multiple players to hop into and wheel around in while firing rounds at the enemy.

In all, Saints Row is teeming with life and activity. The end result is not on the same scale as its veteran competition, but for Volition's first attempt, Saints Row is a solid, well-crafted title. It also doesn't offer the length of a typical Grand Theft Auto title. At the time of this writing, I had managed to clear the main story in 28 hours or so with 74 percent of everything completed. However, the game does bring enough multiplayer content to keep the disc spinning in your console long after the single player campaign is completed. The game does suffer from a number of glitches, however, most notably the rather blatant pop up and inconsistent AI, that can at times detract from the enjoyment to be had by this otherwise terrific game. That said, Saints Row is still incredibly polished, unmistakably fun, and is absolutely one of the best games for the Xbox 360.

Score: 89%

Aug 31, 2006 | 0 comments
Roger Helgeson