Review: Saints Row: The Third – embrace the chaos

The original Saints Row, while a sales success received some criticism for trying to be too much like the Grand Theft Auto series. The folks over at Volition, Inc. set out to remedy this by going off on their own direction with the franchise and it seems to have paid off. If you thought that there was no way for Volition to make The Third crazier than Saints Row 2, you may be in for a surprise.

Story

Saints Row: The Third takes place shortly after the second game, where the Saints have successfully climbed the social ladder by turning a ragtag gang into a media powerhouse. The game starts of quickly showing all of the success the Saints have achieved with celebrity status popularity, movie deals and even their own energy drink contract.

However, the Saint’s newfound wealth quickly dissipates as the gang gets setup for a nasty fall by a sinister crime syndicate operating behind the scenes. When an extortion plot by the syndicate mastermind goes awry, the Saints make a hasty departure out of a flying plane to land in Steelport. This is where the story really begins as the Saints must work their way up the food chain once again to take over the gang infested city that is controlled by the Syndicate.

In Saints Row: The Third, Volition takes things up a notch with some unique and zany rival gangs, which range from Mexican wrestlers to genetically engineered goofy super-humans. Its clear that the studio has completely gone off the beaten path with the non-stop over-the-top story. While Saints Row 2 had moments of cohesiveness, The Third abandons all of this with a story that really won’t make much sense, but still manages to be somewhat entertaining.

Design/Gameplay

At its core, Saints Row: The Third is an open world playground with a bunch of toys. There is probably no other game out there that will unlock a slew of fast cars, jets, weapons and activities more quickly than in The Third. The game doesn’t drip feed the goodies like other games as most of it is provided from the start.

The crazy activities such as insurance fraud and prostitute escort missions are back. Some other activities such as vehicle heist, base jumping, UAV drone control, car chases and a crazy Japanese survival show called Professor Genki have been added to the list of things to do to kill time in the world of Steelport.

In the previous Saints Row games, missions were doled out once you gain a certain level of respect by doing a bunch of menial side quests. Once the respect level has increased, missions were handed out on a per gang basis. Once the missions were exhausted with one gang it was time to move on to the next until all three gangs came together in the end. This was quite frustrating as gamers were forced to do side quests in order to advance the main story.

In The Third, Volition fixed this annoying mission structure by making all of the side quests optional. The missions also jump from gang to gang, mixing things up so you don’t tire of the gang’s story you may be engaged with at the moment. This strategy actually helps keep your interest in the game from waning as another insane and interesting moment will be just around the corner.

The decision to ditch respect as a way to unlock story mission for experience points was a move in the right direction as the game now has RPG-like elements. Gamers can use respect points to unlock customizations for the characters, health, weapons and car tuning parts through a new leveling system.

Unfortunately there is still no cover system in Saints Row: The Third, while this adds to the chaos as you will have to run back and forth like an idiot to avoid getting shot, this is something all third person shooters should have this late in the cycle. Open world contemporaries such as GTA IV and the inFamous series all employ some sort of cover system to add depth to the gameplay.

Volition’s decision to remove the competitive multiplayer mode was a smart move as the actual shooting gameplay mechanic is the weakest part of the game. The studio’s decision to focus on co-op and the all new Whored mode was a good decision. The Whored Mode has you facing off against not only prostitutes out to kill you, but other enemy types. Things definitely get sillier with each wave, as during one flood of enemies you will be armed with just the penetrator bat, which incidentally is shaped like a part of a male anatomy.

Wrap-up

While the first Saints Row game aimed to follow in the footsteps of GTA, its clear that with the third iteration that the studio has carved out its own path. The level of chaos and craziness is bordering on absurdity, which turns out to be the game’s charm. To try to make complete sense of the game and critique it as such would be like trying to deconstruct the Scary Movie series.

Owners of the PS3 version of the game will be treated with a free copy of the Saints Row 2 via PSN download, which will expire February 13, 2012.

Its probably safe to say that Saints Row: The Third is one of a kind in that this level of over-the-top humor has not been seen in a video game before. The return of co-op and addition of the all new Whored mode makes this a great title to play with a buddy while knocking back a drink or two. While serious gamers may cast a critical eye towards Saints Row: The Third, those more laid back will see the game for what it is – pure raw entertainment. 

Score

4/5

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