Saints Row review video (Xbox 360)

31 August 2006

Posted by:Ferry

Welcome to Stilwater, a city where the streets are everything but tranquil. Divided by rivaling gangs, you’ll need to adopt savvy street smarts to build respect, make money and gain notoriety, let alone stay alive. As a member of the 3rd St. Saint’s, you need to push back against a city looking to wipe you out, in order to rise up the ranks and eventually control the streets. If it takes theft, extortion or tried and true brute force, then that’s what ya gotta do. Only then will you rule the streets. BUT watch your back – on your purpose to rise as the city’s controlling syndicate, reputable and powerful gangs, including politicians have you in their crosshairs.

From the spectacular opening battle to regain control of the local hood, Saints Row offers the freedom to explore StilWater, a living, breathing city. Players are free to engage in the multitude of different activates at their leisure, all while building up respect in a gameplay-rich world. Build enough respect and the 3rd Street Saint’s lieutenants will trust the player with more dangerous missions. It’s “The Story of A Gangster”.

Stillwater is no Liberty City, but it’s next gen, so who cares? Find out all about it in this Saints Row video review.

Key Saints Row features are:
* High-Adrenaline Action Online: Challenge players online in games such as ‘Big A$$ Chains’, ‘Blinged Out Ride’ or ‘Protect tha Pimp’. Form gangs, recruit gang members and compete for cash and respect in a variety of online multiplayer modes, including co-op.
* Evolution in Open-World Gaming: Next-gen Technology means no load times, a fully dynamically lit world, normal and reflection mapping, dynamic and ragdoll physics. Freeform gameplay means that you can be who you want to be, go anywhere in the city at any time and choose to earn respect and money through a range of different activities and missions.
* Huge Variety of Customization Options: With thousands of character customizations to choose from, you can change your look, your body and your clothes — as well as customize your ride with the extensive car modification system.
* Pumping Music Wherever You Go: 12 radio stations play over 130 tracks, which range from the hottest hip-hop & rock to classical music & humor-laced talk shows. If you’re paying attention, you’ll also hear gameplay clues on the air. A personal audio device also lets you add your own MP3 tracks for customized listening!

To quote the video review: “Lots of games have implemented GTA’s free-roaming aesthetic since it came out in 2001, but Saints Row is the first game to copy Grand Theft Auto directly. It gets away with it for three reasons: one, it looks better than GTA ever did, two, it has insane online multiplayer that GTA4 will hopefully copy, and three, GTA was a gratuitously rewarding experience to begin with. So as long as someone at least sticks to the rules that Rockstar wrote, they’re bound to build a game with a metropolis full of unique opportunities.”

Story — 7.6
Design — 8.0
Gameplay — 8.5
Overall — 8.0