In a season of epic sequels and serious gameplay, it’s time for a break from all the “We have to save our world or die” games and have a “OH MY SHIT THIS IS RIDICULOUS” game. Enter Saints Row: The Third. While the first two titles were played off as Grand Theft Auto clones, Saints Row: The Third blows that comparison away and gives an amazing experience that parodies numerous franchises using an open world, sandbox style gameplay. Let me tell you why Saints Row: The Third was my best surprise this year and a personal Game Of The Year nominee.
Within just this game, I’ve played missions that have mimicked or parodied Modern Warfare 3, Left 4 Dead, Halo, WWE Smack down, Gears of War 3, Megaman, Tron, Final Fantasy, Red Faction, classic PC text RPG’s, and others that I just can’t even remember off the top of my head. What’s really amazing is that each of these gamestyles mesh perfectly into the Saints Row world and gameplay. Throughout my play through, I kept commenting about how amazing that the core gameplay of Saints Row hasn’t changed dramatically from the previous title, but the potential Saints Row has always had finally came to light just by customizing missions that mimic other games perfectly. Even more amazing is that Volition has even adjusted the game ever so slightly to make these functions work better at times than their actual source material. As an example, you can get a UAV very early in the game and it controls very well and gives room for more accuracy. When using the UAV, it looks exactly like Modern Warfare 3 in a more urban setting. Call of Duty’s RC controller is present as well, only this time controlling full size cars. Again, it doesn’t change the mechanics of the core gameplay, but it fits in perfectly and is really fun to use. You’ll find that these weapons provide the perfect balance of fun and usefulness.
Saints Row doesn’t slack in the non-parody missions either. If you’re not laughing at some point throughout this entire game, you lack any sense of humor. Where Saints Row The Third really shines; however, is how it’s able to raise the bar on the ridiculousness and insanity of every mission consistently. To give you an idea, you start the game off doing a bank heist and fighting off waves of SWAT while riding your stolen giant safe that’s dangling from a helicopter. Your very next mission is to escape an in flight 747, fight enemies while falling through the air, and then flying right through another 747 and finishing by saving one of your homies in free fall. To be fair, I didn’t really give any spoilers because this all happens within the first 5 minutes of this game. The first five minutes of the game, and it only gets more insane from here! The comedy is almost nonstop (you ever kill the undead with a giant purple dildo?) and the action is over the top (ever see a sex slave dragging a rick shaw blow up?). I’ve heard critics and friends tell me the story isn’t very strong, but I disagree totally. The script and writing is fantastic: This game isn’t meant to be taken seriously, and the writers embrace that totally. Voice acting is top notch, each new plot element flows very fluidly and doesn’t leave you feeling unsatisfied. The writers didn’t try to make the story overly complicated, it’s one part “This guy is our villian, lets kill him” and two parts comedy. Again, for Saints Row, that’s the perfect combination for story. Unfortunately, The vehicles is where Saints Row: The Third could have done a little bit better. For a game that has tried to parody almost every major franchise, there wasn’t any racing in this game at all that could have easily parodied something like Need For Speed. In addition, while the new flying vehicles are fun to use, I was disappointed that there was no after burner or nitrous option available for air vehicles like the cars had. This was the only area of the game that actually felt restricted to me and could have easily been added. Co-op play is essentially the same from the previous titles, but open world free style multiplayer gaming is missing. I would have loved to have a 16 player free for all online gameplay ala Grand Theft Auto 4 to play within a game full of giant purple dildos and furies intent on killing you with 4-barrled shot guns. Whored mode works surprisingly well, and I was amazed at how Saints Row: The Third is able to keep up the insanity and comedic aspects in a multiplayer style with no story elements at all. If you enjoy Gears Of War 3’s horde mode or the Halo series’ firefight mode, you will definitely enjoy Saints Row: The Third’s Whored mode.
I really can’t give enough praise to Volition for their work on this game. I had very low expectations coming into this, but Volition has blown me away with the tweaks they’ve made here. Admittedly, Saints Row: The Third seems to lack just that one little special something that could have made it an A rated title, but it still surpasses all expectations and delivers one of the most fun experiences of the year. Any open-world game should really take note to Saint’s Row: The Thirds testament of potential gameplay variety and what can easily be done with what’s already available.
Saint’s Row: The Third gets a B+ from Geeks of Gaming.
Recommended Buy Price: $30
