|
|
|
|
 
|
|
Previous Page
Best viewed in 1280x1024 with Internet Explorer 6.x
|
'don't muck with the Saints!'
 Developer: Volition
Publisher: THQ
Category: : action
Official Site
Platform: X-Box 360
Might look like: perhaps GTA?
Date posted: 2 October 2006
Written By: Nathar
We also test other games on
"PlayDevil.com Game Machine"
Another GTA clone ?
From the developer Volition, best know for their successful Red Faction and Summoner series, comes the GTA-esque game of Saints Row.
I know what your thinking, another Grand Theft Auto clone that is poorly crafted and not as fun; say for instance the True Crime series. Though how will this game fair? Will it be a poor rip off of the famous GTA series, or will it bring something else to the table that proves itself better than its predecessor?
In a surprising twist it does indeed establishes itself in its own right and in some ways more profoundly than Grand Theft Auto.
Saved by Julius, leader of 3rd Street Saints
The story of Saints Row begins with your character almost being gunned down during a three way gang fight that has erupted on the streets of your neighborhood as you are casually strolling by. Don’t you just hate when that happens.
Though just as your about to bite a bullet between your eyes you are saved by Julius, the leader of the 3rd Street Saints gang. A new up and coming gang hoping to take over the city from rival gangs.
After Julius saves your life, he offers you the opportunity to join his 3rd Street Saints gang as a low ranked thug. Once your initiated into the 3rd Street Saints you are then given missions in order to further increase the Saints’ grasp over Stilwater, the city where all the gang fighting goodness takes place.
Fine tune your character
To start things off, the first thing that must be discussed is the customization process for your character at the very beginning of the game.
The choices provided concerning facial structure, body type, and color are astounding. The detail is evident when choosing from having a high cheek bone, large body, or from even having a Jay Leno chin. If you really want you can have all three, creating a very um good looking character.
Though all these possibilities makes it possible to fine tune your character’s look to that of yourself to a degree.
  
An improved GTA-clone ?
Now everyone knows that "Saints Row" borrows a lot from the Grand Theft Auto series. Well Saints Row actually borrows everything from GTA, but that is besides the point. Yes, Saints Row is basically a GTA rip off, but in actuality it is a much better game than the previous Grand Theft Auto installments.
Every aspect of GTA such as its mini games, controls, and even customization is further improved upon in Saints Row to a point that it sets itself apart from the Grand Theft Auto series.
Though the basic layout of Saints Row is the same as GTA.
When missions are revealed you either get a call or a mission icon appears on the main map in the start menu. Along with the main missions there is a massive amount of side missions that can be played at any time during the game.
Now, when it comes to the side missions there is a very wide diversity of activities to be completed. These activities range from the typical racing and chop shop activities to the more unique activities of drug trafficking and hitman.
Though the one activity that will surely entertain is the insurance fraud activity. From just the name this activity does not seem like it would be a very exciting one to say the least, but to the contrary this activity has to be one the most entertaining activity found in any game. This is due to the fact that the goal of this activity is to make as much money as you can by throwing yourself into oncoming traffic.
Yes, you heard it right, the more damage you take the more money you make.
By the press of a button your character goes limp so to not incur any damage, and once a car hits him you just sit back and watch the rag doll effects as your limp body bounces from car to car to building to light pole to well you get it..
On the other hand, "activities" not only provide a reprieve from the main storyline, they are also critical to continuing with the main missions. This is because of the respect system that is in place in Saints Row.
Each main mission costs a certain amount of respect points in order to unlock or play them. You respect points is represented by a purple bar on the screen that fills up each time you gain more respect.
In order to gain respect you must complete activities or you can gun down opposing gang members, and with three large rival gangs like Los Carnales, Westside Rollerz, and the Vice Kings there is plenty of respect to be gained from them.
Along with missions there are also opportunities to take over nearby neighborhoods and therefore increasing the 3rd Street Saints’ size. This neighborhood takeover pops up on the main map as a ‘stronghold’ mission after you have earned enough respect to unlock it.
With these ‘stronghold’ missions you have to do one of three things; blatantly attack an opposing gangs base and shoot everyone, defend a building from an onslaught of opposing gang members for a certain amount of time, or perform unique tasks like completing a side mission and what not.
These missions are filled with action and excitement, and are very rewarding when completed.
The Saints Row control scheme
Now, in order to play all these different missions you need a very good control scheme. Luckily with Saints Row there is one.
For the most part the controls are the same as all the other GTA like games.
The left and right trigger are used for punching and shooting. Holding the B button is used for changing weapons. The left joystick is used for moving and the right joystick is used for moving the camera around and aiming.
In context, the aiming system in Saints row is far superior to the auto aim system found in the GTA series. The aiming system consists of a small circle in the middle of the screen that turns red when over and enemy indicating you can efficiently hit him with your gunfire.
  
The vehicle controls of Saints Row is also very crisp and precise. The left and right bumpers are used to look to the sides and rear of your car. The A button is used to accelerate and the X button is used to brake.
Overall the controls in this game are slick and precise, and a perfect compliment to the missions in Saints row.
Entertaining visuals !
Now to change direction for a bit the next thing that must be talked about is the visuals. As with most Xbox 360 games the visuals of Saints Row are very well done.
Especially with car dents, moving shadows, and even the reflection of the world around you that shows up on the shiny paint of your car like a mirror.
One most notable visual in Saints Row is the explosion sequence that occurs after a car takes on too much damage. The fire moves and looks realistic, so much so the blur seen in the air caused by the heat of the explosion is true to life in the way it looks. Add that with a slew of car pieces flying by in every direction, and you have one hell of an entertaining visual.
Though when speaking about visuals in Saints Row you must talk about the car customization and clothing within the game. Just like the character customization at the beginning of the game, the car customization and clothing choices are just as numerous in variety.
With each car there is at least more than fifty customization choices to quench your inner mechanic ranging from rims to nitrous kits. With clothes there are three stores that range with their selection of clothing from ghetto wear to high end suits.
With more than a hundred different articles of clothing in total to satisfy your specific clothing style. Also with clothes you can gain a respect bonus for wearing certain things that will help gain respect much faster and easier.
Of course to go along with the stunning visuals of Saint Row is a great audio soundtrack.
While driving you are bombarded with many different music titles unique to the game. In order to listen to every track you must switch between a slew of radio stations, allowing for many different music categories and types.
Though the songs are not the well known songs we hear today, instead they are songs made specifically for Saints Row and, in turn, fit the game very well even if its classical music or rock. Each sounds good in their own right.
Also throughout Stilwater there are sixty Cds hidden all around. Every ten Cds you find grants you a new music track to listen to in the game.
Along with the bonus tracks you can also import your own music play lists from your personal stash into Saints Row as well. Overall the soundtrack directly adds to the overall immersion of the game and with the ability to bring your own songs into the game makes the audio aspect of Saints Row very well thought out.
Negative remarks ?
So far throughout this review there have been near to zero negative remarks about this game.
That is because there really isn’t anything truly bad about Saints Row. Well except for one thing. With that said let it be known that the online play has to be one of the more frustrating things to play on the 360. This is not because the online game modes are not fun or interesting.
It is solely because the time it takes to actually join a game is a wait in itself, and the mere fact that the online play lags so incredibly much that it makes the games impossible to play and unbearable.
The only playable mode that doesn’t make you want to throw the controller is the co-op mode. This mode allows for you and an online player to play through two levels together without any sort of lag. In order to give the developers Volition the benefit of the doubt, they have stated they were currently working on a patch that would correct these online issues. If these bugs were fixed then the online games such as protect the pimp and blinged out ride would be very enjoyable and addicting to say the least.
Conclusion
In the end, Saints Row is an all around great game.
Excellent controls, great visuals, a million different things to do, and an interesting story make this game a must have for any Xbox 360 owner.
With a great game like this there are few drawbacks like the online multiplayer which truly bogs down the overall accomplishment of this game. Though with the patch coming soon these issues should be addressed to truly make this game as close to perfect as it can get.
Hopefully Volition will continue with more installments of Saint Row, and who knows it just might prove to be more popular than Grand Theft Auto in the long run.
-Nathar
Ratings
Manual:
85 % |
Graphics:
94% |
Music & Sfx:
92% |
GamePlay:
90% |
|
This game scores
 
on our 5-point Rating System
Up
Previous Page
If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com.
All contributions are welcome.
Join Video Game Network Exchange
Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on
webmaster@playdevil.com
Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil.
Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners.
All Rights Reserved.
PlayDevil Productions © 199/8-199/9-200/0-200/1-200/2-200/3-200/4-200/5-200/6
"rip your own stuff"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
