Gameitall One of my friends asked me this week, can you sum up Saints Row The Third in to one word, and the answer is no. I could give it 4 words, but that would be pretentious. Fine then, I can’t give it one world for a game that has a dildo bat, hoverbikes, lasers, luchadors, Zombies, and Burt Reynolds in it. However I do have 2 words for it… F**king Amazing!
It’s been a few years after the events of Saints Row 2, The Third Street Saints have taken over Stillwater and are now a media empire. With a Movie deal, sports drink, and clothing line all done or in the works, the Saints have made murder, drugs and prostitution a family affair. In walks in the Syndicate, a gang consisting of three other sub-gangs, the kink fans Morning Star who run prostitution, the weapon smuggling Luchadors, and the computer hacking Deckards. They want a piece of Stillwater and after negotiations fail with the Saints, it’s time you take their turf for yourself.
Of course in the story there are other reasons why you want to take down the Syndicate, however your going to have to do this by recruiting 3 helpers (a series formula as the main character points out with classy 4th wall breaking powers.) Tackling each one of them and taking over the city, while fighting off an elite Zero Tolerance team called STAG, who specialize in taking down gangs.
If you played the previous Saints Row games, then you’d have some idea of how the game goes, however there is some changes in the overall flow. Missions can be started at anytime by selecting your cell phone, and the amount of respect earned from activities and side missions unlocks upgrades and stronger weapons than continue the story as it’s predecessors have. Other than those major changes, there has been some changes to the driving controls, although for the better as the driving mechanics feel great in this game.
Throughout most of the game you will exploring Steelport for stores, properties, cribs and activities to earn you respect and money, while they’re not needed to complete the game’s basics, it’s a fun little distraction from the main story. Activities are fun and simple, from destroying a gang operation, streaking and stealing a car with hostages inside to competing in a Japanese game show where you have to kill mascots, blowing everything up in a tank, and throwing yourself into traffic for insurance fraud. The Activities are fun, frustrating in more difficult areas, and is just a blast to play.
The Story missions however is where S**t goes down. The game’s story missions never drop the ball in all 47 of it’s missions. I consider the first 45 minutes, which is pretty much the tutorial levels, the best opening I’ve played in a long while, and that feeling doesn’t let up. It is relentless, funny, and crazy at the stuff that gets done in this game, which sadly I can’t say any of because it will ruin the experience when you play it.
On the times where you just want to kill things in the game, there is the “Whore Mode” which plays like the Horde Mode in Gears of War. In which the game gives you a series of tasks to go through, each wave consists of something different, such as killing miniture zombies with a rocket launcher or killing Gimp mask assassins with a spiked baseball bat. Whore mode is a quick and simple distraction from the main game that is great in co-op.
Saints Row: The Third fixes a lot of the problems with the first two game and goes all out, it may be difficult to topple this one in terms on how much fun this game is. Overall this is not a game to be missed.
Saints Row The Third – 9/10
Pros: Humorous, Amazing single player, fun co-op modes, overall just Fun (you’d be surprised that you can’t just say about most games)
Cons: A few character killing glitchs, Moral Choices doesn’t seem to affect the main story of the game (except for the final levels.) PC version currently has a 9 minute loading time so I would suggest a console version for the time being.
