Saints Row: The Third

Saints Row: The Third can be summed up as mindless violence and animated oddness that is nothing but incredible fun. Some may believe this to just be a Grand Theft Auto clone, but that couldn’t be anything further than the truth for this game. A few would describe it as immature violence and well that would really be pretty accurate, but the violence is done in such a way that it’s almost impossible to not laugh at one point while playing this game. It’s well done and the story and action have a lot of humor thrown into it. There are very few games that are this much fun to play with this kind of mature game content.

The Story of Saints Row: The Third

This time around the Third Street Saints are taken out of Stilwater which was the setting for the first two games and thrust into Steelport. In Steelport there are three local gangs that have total control of the city and The Saints are not going to settle for anything but top dog in this city. Thus, the main goal is to take over the entire city while totally destroying the competition.

The game starts with an intro mission that explains the move to Steelport and also has one of the craziest sky diving battle scenes ever. Then players get the chance to create their own custom character, and for those wondering can your character be naked the answer is yes you can make them naked only the fun areas are blurred. The level of customization doesn’t just stop at the character either as players can also customize their vehicles and clothing choices of which there are many. There are enough things players can change that it would be extremely rare to find two players that not only look the same, but drive the same looking vehicles.

The story completely falls apart at the conclusion of the game. There are two endings for players to watch, but neither one is really that good. One will actually leave players scratching their heads and asking what was that just now.

The Gameplay and Missions:

The action is easy to pick up and most would say that Saints Row: The Third has one of the easiest gun mechanics ever to get head shots on. This may be the only game where a handgun was one of the best guns ever to get head shots with. The hand to hand combat wasn’t quite as good as the firearm mechanics, but the ability to have human shields and still fire a weapon worked really well. The special weapons are some of the best ever as they give some satisfying kills in ways not seen in other games. Such as the vehicle remote controller that once leveled up can detonate a bomb in the controlled vehicle.

The missions are some of the craziest ever, and they help keep this game really interesting and entertaining. Before this game ends players will have to drive a car with a tiger as their passenger, blow up any number of vehicles and people with tanks and other vehicles, and a personal favorite was the insurance fraud missions where the player has to get hit by cars to get money. Each mission is made in such a way that just as it becomes redundant; there is an all new mission that often times makes players laugh at the absurdity of the situation. The missions just keep the game constantly changing in unexpected ways and to that the developers deserve applause. Most games like this would take a straight forward predictable path, but not Saints Row as just as you think it will zig it zags.

When players need a break from story missions there are several side missions throughout the game. These help players rack up some more cash as well as street cred, and most don’t take very long to complete. These side missions range from driving prostitutes around, taking part in a homicide game show, to causing destruction with a tank. They add a nice distraction from the main game when players need one and the variety in the side missions make them not repetitive but familiar to players.

No matter what players do in Saints Row: The Third they are rewarded with money and respect. Money enables players to purchase anything from property, weapons or upgrades. Respect acts like normal game experience unlocking new levels of special abilities for players. There are so many unlocks in this game that players will be scrambling to get the cash they need in order to open everything up for use. Getting the maximum hourly income may become an obsession for many gamers as it was the first thing I focused on. Then the character upgrades became my focus once I’d accomplished that. The sheer amount of rewards and possible uses of resources is almost mind boggling in this game.

For those that fear that with all the insanity of the story and character customization vehicles could be stale and not as much fun, but rest assured that the vehicles are awesome and hilarious at the same time. Many will find one vehicle they like above all others, for myself the transforming jet was my absolute favorite. The hover bike was a close second favorite. There are cars that are just fun to drive around in also. Who doesn’t want to take a tiny smart car and drive it off a ramp at top speed? For those wanting the best vehicles they are unlocked by completing story missions so don’t stress over looking for them all over the city unless you just can’t wait. The best part about vehicles is that one unlock is to have vehicles delivered to the player’s location, and that vehicles can be stored at the headquarters so you never have to go searching for that certain car over and over.

Saints Row is only trying to be itself. It is not a realistic game or some new age game, but it is simply a game created with one purpose and that is to be as fun as possible. Yet, with that being the main goal of the game there are many moments with story dialogue and random character dialogue that’s just plain painful to listen to. The worst character to hear was the auto tune speaking pimp who seriously could have been left out of the vocal cast. However, saying that the entire vocal cast and dialogue was bad is not true as the majority was well done and humorous.

The soundtrack for this game has selections for almost anyone that would play this game. For those fans of Adultswim there’s one channel I suggest you check out, WDRM, and see if you can spot the Unknown Hinson song (Early from Squidbillies) and some other songs from their shows. Also in some of the high action missions the music is just one more factor that had me laughing at times.

The multiplayer on this game requires players to either enter a code or purchase the multiplayer component of the game. In my opinion the trend of making people pay extra for a multiplayer is designed more towards getting money from players that rent the game, but it is one trend in gaming that really should end. Nevertheless players can team up with their friends and do some co-op missions and cause some wild destruction all over Steelport. It feels like not all the missions were designed with the co-op feature in mind, but that aside all progress made here is saved into the single player game.

Conclusion:

Saints Row: The Third is fun. There is no way around that and it is the best explanation for this game. The animation isn’t the best out there, but it is still easy to watch. For those curious about the game it’s best to say if you like open world games where destruction and death are the main objectives this is a game you must check out. Even after the story is complete there is enough to do by completing side missions and unlocking skills that players can play this game for hours more on end. So get out there and have fun as you completely take over Steelport in the latest from Saints Row.

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