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We take a look at Saint's Row
August 31, 2006 | 10:30 PM PSTby: John Thomas Perkowski
A lot of games have tried to copy the success of Grand Theft Auto. There have been some who have been close, but most companies get the idea right, but the execution horribly horribly wrong (I am looking at you, True Crime). Now along comes Saint's Row. If those games are trying to mimic Grand Theft Auto, Saint's Row has gone much further. It has essentially clubbed GTA over the head, stolen its clothes, and tried to pass itself off as its long lost brother. However, if that's the worst criticism you can level at a game, you know you have a great time in your hands.
Saint's Row can easily be though of as a next-gen version of GTA3. No bikes, no helicopters, and a mute (well, in this case mostly mute) protagonist wondering around an open city trying to make his way up through the criminal underworld. To which, he will engage in all manner of dubious activities such as mayhem, murder, robbing and pimping. Sound familiar? Well, it is. However, thats pretty much where the similarities end. Also, Saint's Row has a fairly robust, if hideously laggy, multiplayer component.
You start out, literally, with a create-your-own-thug feature staring you in the face. It's robust enough to put the Tiger Wood's Golf Gameface feature to shame. Using a bunch of sliders and some creative choices, you can customize your avatar to be of practically any ethnicity... or you can choose one of the four presets. There are tons of choices here, and they are all cosmetic. In fact, you can create an overweight avatar who runs and jogs every bit as fast as his skinny counterpart. This great feature lends some depth to character choices, and ensures that once you go online you will have a unique (if gangsta) character to play. There is even a randomization feature, if you want it, which can randomly switch settings until you are done. I have spent about ten minutes tweaking brow and eye depth to get things perfect. in the end though, I was happy with my thug and walked out on the streets of Stillwater.
Our in depth preview basically explained how the game starts, but let me give you the overview. You start out being rescued by Julius of the 3rd Street Saints, one of the four gangs running rampant in Stillwater. The others are the Vice Kings, the Bay City Rollerz, and the Los Carnales. Each gang is represented by a different color. The Saints, for example, are decked out in purple, while the Kings are Yellow. Once you get your neighborhood back, you assist in taking down all the other gangs until all of Stillwater is under the Saints' Rule.
Unlike GTA3, there is a little less freedom in how you go about that. Story missions are unlocked as you progress thru side missions. You see, as you do side missions, you earn respect. The Saints won't trust you with new missions until you've earned the proper level of respect. Like GTA, you have a whole slew of side missions to choose from, though it's often a bummer how you have to abandon the main storyline to do some side activity just to continue the main quest. Still, there is a LOT of variation in side quests, and a lot fo them are tremendous fun.
You won't find any Ambulance, Firetruck, or Vigilante missions here. All of the Saint's Row side missions are strictly illegal. You have your choice of Hijacking (stealing things like an armored car), Drug Trafficking (Escorting a drug dealer through their appointed rounds), Snatch (stealing hos from their pimps), Hitman (Taking on contracts to kill people specific ways), Races, Demolition Derbys, Hostage (randomly kidnapping people for money), Store Robbing, Mayhem (general destruction), and the very fun Insurance Fraud. This last one takes special note, as it makes full use of Saint's Row's built-in Havok physics engine. Simply put, you are given the ability to take a dive into oncoming traffic. You run out, throw yourself into the path of danger, then got tossed (literally) like a rag doll. Bonus cash is awarded for combing yourself. That is, getting witnesses to see it, getting thrown far, getting hit by multiple cars, being seen by a cop, getting hit by a cop car, etc.
All of these earn you respect, but not quickly enough. Thankfully, the game also gives you a few ways to boost that respect you earn. You can buy jewerly and clothes at fancy chops around the city. The more expensive, the better. Each time you add something, this gives you a respect boost at the end of the mission. Also, the Saints wear a specific color, so any clothing you buy with that color adds an even bigger respect bonus. You can go through the whole game never wearing Saint's Purple, but it's much faster to mix and match. I made my character wear purple down to his boxers (socks and shoes too), and this boosted his respect a bit faster than slightly more expensive brown colored clothes from high end shops. However, "Ice" (or Bling) boosts it the quickest. So you can throw on any clothes you want, as long as your wearing diamond or platinum on all of the jewelry you have, your gonna earn respect and fast.
What is a GTA-esq game without carjacking? Saint's Row gives you tons of cars to jack, each with different handling. Everything from police cars, to bulldozers, to SUVs, to muscles cars. If you can think of the type of car, it's probably here. Also, almost ANY car can be souped up at the local RimJobs store. So if you ever wanted a nitro'd out mini-van, you have your wish. Aside from the varied handling these cars have, they have nice tweaks like being able to hear the radio station of a car (if its turned up) outside of it. Each car also makes a nice explosion as it is destroyed, making for some wonderful eye candy. In fact, the game has just a pristine sheen all over it. It makes full use of the graphical horsepower of the 360. Tons of explosions or cars on the screen don't contribute at all to any slowdown. Yes there are still the occasionally pop-up glitches that follow any game which streams off a disc, but thats more a fault of the way the game is made than the system. It does have a few hiccups, however, as the Havok engine can lead to some strange glitches.
Once you conquer the great single-player storyline, there is still a multiplayer component left to explore. You can take an avatar online in several different contests. Most of these are variations on deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag, but special note must be made of Blinged-out Ride. In this match, your team must assemble enough money to upgrade a chosen car, while trying to take out the opposing gang's car. Since everytime you die, you drop cash, the game becomes a mad mixture of deathmatch, destroy the flag, and base defense all at once. It can get hectic, but it's always fun. Well, that is if you can not only find a game but not lag out of it either. Saint's Row's multiplayer seems to be lag infested, but Violition has promised a patch to fix it.
If you hungering for a next-gen GTA fix, then Saint's Row is a must buy. Get this now...
Saint's Row can easily be though of as a next-gen version of GTA3. No bikes, no helicopters, and a mute (well, in this case mostly mute) protagonist wondering around an open city trying to make his way up through the criminal underworld. To which, he will engage in all manner of dubious activities such as mayhem, murder, robbing and pimping. Sound familiar? Well, it is. However, thats pretty much where the similarities end. Also, Saint's Row has a fairly robust, if hideously laggy, multiplayer component.
You start out, literally, with a create-your-own-thug feature staring you in the face. It's robust enough to put the Tiger Wood's Golf Gameface feature to shame. Using a bunch of sliders and some creative choices, you can customize your avatar to be of practically any ethnicity... or you can choose one of the four presets. There are tons of choices here, and they are all cosmetic. In fact, you can create an overweight avatar who runs and jogs every bit as fast as his skinny counterpart. This great feature lends some depth to character choices, and ensures that once you go online you will have a unique (if gangsta) character to play. There is even a randomization feature, if you want it, which can randomly switch settings until you are done. I have spent about ten minutes tweaking brow and eye depth to get things perfect. in the end though, I was happy with my thug and walked out on the streets of Stillwater.
Our in depth preview basically explained how the game starts, but let me give you the overview. You start out being rescued by Julius of the 3rd Street Saints, one of the four gangs running rampant in Stillwater. The others are the Vice Kings, the Bay City Rollerz, and the Los Carnales. Each gang is represented by a different color. The Saints, for example, are decked out in purple, while the Kings are Yellow. Once you get your neighborhood back, you assist in taking down all the other gangs until all of Stillwater is under the Saints' Rule.
Unlike GTA3, there is a little less freedom in how you go about that. Story missions are unlocked as you progress thru side missions. You see, as you do side missions, you earn respect. The Saints won't trust you with new missions until you've earned the proper level of respect. Like GTA, you have a whole slew of side missions to choose from, though it's often a bummer how you have to abandon the main storyline to do some side activity just to continue the main quest. Still, there is a LOT of variation in side quests, and a lot fo them are tremendous fun.
You won't find any Ambulance, Firetruck, or Vigilante missions here. All of the Saint's Row side missions are strictly illegal. You have your choice of Hijacking (stealing things like an armored car), Drug Trafficking (Escorting a drug dealer through their appointed rounds), Snatch (stealing hos from their pimps), Hitman (Taking on contracts to kill people specific ways), Races, Demolition Derbys, Hostage (randomly kidnapping people for money), Store Robbing, Mayhem (general destruction), and the very fun Insurance Fraud. This last one takes special note, as it makes full use of Saint's Row's built-in Havok physics engine. Simply put, you are given the ability to take a dive into oncoming traffic. You run out, throw yourself into the path of danger, then got tossed (literally) like a rag doll. Bonus cash is awarded for combing yourself. That is, getting witnesses to see it, getting thrown far, getting hit by multiple cars, being seen by a cop, getting hit by a cop car, etc.
All of these earn you respect, but not quickly enough. Thankfully, the game also gives you a few ways to boost that respect you earn. You can buy jewerly and clothes at fancy chops around the city. The more expensive, the better. Each time you add something, this gives you a respect boost at the end of the mission. Also, the Saints wear a specific color, so any clothing you buy with that color adds an even bigger respect bonus. You can go through the whole game never wearing Saint's Purple, but it's much faster to mix and match. I made my character wear purple down to his boxers (socks and shoes too), and this boosted his respect a bit faster than slightly more expensive brown colored clothes from high end shops. However, "Ice" (or Bling) boosts it the quickest. So you can throw on any clothes you want, as long as your wearing diamond or platinum on all of the jewelry you have, your gonna earn respect and fast.
What is a GTA-esq game without carjacking? Saint's Row gives you tons of cars to jack, each with different handling. Everything from police cars, to bulldozers, to SUVs, to muscles cars. If you can think of the type of car, it's probably here. Also, almost ANY car can be souped up at the local RimJobs store. So if you ever wanted a nitro'd out mini-van, you have your wish. Aside from the varied handling these cars have, they have nice tweaks like being able to hear the radio station of a car (if its turned up) outside of it. Each car also makes a nice explosion as it is destroyed, making for some wonderful eye candy. In fact, the game has just a pristine sheen all over it. It makes full use of the graphical horsepower of the 360. Tons of explosions or cars on the screen don't contribute at all to any slowdown. Yes there are still the occasionally pop-up glitches that follow any game which streams off a disc, but thats more a fault of the way the game is made than the system. It does have a few hiccups, however, as the Havok engine can lead to some strange glitches.
Once you conquer the great single-player storyline, there is still a multiplayer component left to explore. You can take an avatar online in several different contests. Most of these are variations on deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag, but special note must be made of Blinged-out Ride. In this match, your team must assemble enough money to upgrade a chosen car, while trying to take out the opposing gang's car. Since everytime you die, you drop cash, the game becomes a mad mixture of deathmatch, destroy the flag, and base defense all at once. It can get hectic, but it's always fun. Well, that is if you can not only find a game but not lag out of it either. Saint's Row's multiplayer seems to be lag infested, but Violition has promised a patch to fix it.
If you hungering for a next-gen GTA fix, then Saint's Row is a must buy. Get this now...
November 20, 2009
