Saints Row: The Third

I don't want to make this a habit, this blog isn't for game reviews, however I felt the need to do this post for this particular game. I admit that I played Saints Row 2 before I even bothered to check out the first game. The reason is simple, I've been a fan of GTA since GTA3 (did play earlier GTA top view games but they are meh) and my favorite so far is San Andreas. So when GTA4 came into picture I had to buy either a 360 or a PS3 (back then they were absurdly expensive) and Microsoft made a "smart" move by getting exclusive content earlier (one whole year earlier than the PS3 version) so that along with Mass Effect (back then BioWARE was doing games only on the 360 and the PC) sealed the deal. I can't say that GTA4 was disappointing, more like it was a new kind of game, focused on characters and story telling. Giving you less freedom to play but at the same time accomplishing what few games can, (and movies) an engaging story. Soon after GTA4 was released Volition decided to advertise Saints Row 2 comparing it to the masterpiece GTA4 had become. That's usually suicide but when they actually were advertising "would you rather have fun than just play an interactive movie" I took interest and ended up buying it (after I read you could create your own character in literally any gender) Then I played through it and while the graphics weren't even close to those in GTA4 the game was way more fun than GTA San Andreas. Add to the mix full co-op through the campaign (multiplayer was added too but it sucked) and you have an incredible game that quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. There were some bugs and DLC was too expensive considering the content and what was requested in the forums. So we were all waiting for the third game to fulfill those wishes.

So Saints Row: The Third had to do a lot of things, improve the graphics, gameplay, overcome the limitations caused by their game engine (reason why they couldn't fulfill our requests for SR2) and stay over the top. I'd say they did just that but with this new engine new limitations were brought.

POSITIVE:

I'm going to start with some of the positives in this game, there are many more than I'm willing to type here. First of all the graphics, not hyper realistic like GTA4 and that's a great thing, I like the semi cartoony look SR3 has, it's perfect.

Animations are excellent. People give a lot of praise to Uncharted 3's facial animations (their mocaps are excellent thanks to the actors that play the characters) and that's undeserved. They were done a lot better in Uncharted 2, in fact a lot of things were better in uncharted 2 but this isn't the time for that. The facial expressions in Saints Row 3 are so good, that sometimes they didn't even use dialog to make a joke or have a character to character interaction. For example the way Pierce looks at the MC after saying "The last time a big naked dude said he could help me, it did not end well" and the MC giving him a WTF look is just priceless. Or Shaundi losing her temper with Josh.

Voice Acting. Once again it was incredible, kudos to Sasha Grey too, I liked Viola and I was pretty sure I wouldn't like her. Hulk Hogan as Angel was also good but he has acting experience, or should I say more acting experience than Sasha, yet Sasha did better, Hogan felt like he was reading most of the time. Daniel Dae Kim once again as Gat is perfect, would love to see him play the actual character in a real movie or voice him again if they do an animated one. Eliza Dushku for whatever reason(s) did not play Shaundi this time, that doesn't mean that Danielle didn't do a great job, she was awesome. Pretty much everyone did great, didn't like MC Fem voice 2 much but that's relative I guess.

Story, well... The Saints are at the top and a lot of shit happens, then some weird shit happens, then some weirder shit happens and it ends. I liked the story but I'll write more about it in the negative section though.

The fanservice, well we finally get what we asked and asled for. ZOMBIES!!! In Saints Row 2 you had the game within the game called Zombie Uprising, in that you got to play as a pre selected character on a specific map and had to survive wave after wave of zombies. It was fun and could be co-oped but we wanted to take it to the streets and use our own character. We asked for a cheat code to make pedestrians zombies or at least zombie like. don't know the reason but they didn't comply then, we got it now. In Saints Row: The Third they introduce a zombie outbreak during the story, that section of the map gets "isolated" by STAG in an effort to contain it.

From that point on that section of the map will always have zombies, so you and a friend can go there and play around just killing zombies. You might get crew alerts (random phone calls from members of your crew and other people that tell you about a survival type of mini game) around that area. If you get the Luchadores one you have to be quick or the zombies will kill them before you do and you lose your chance at beating the survival (at least during the first wave) especially if you bought some gang related upgrades. Volition included a cheat code (remember cheat codes disable achievements and trophies so I don't recommend activating them on your main save file) called BRAINS that turns pedestrians into zombies. Personally I think it's a nice touch that adds a certain low level of replay value. Why low? well unlike getting the alert to help your crew against the zombies there's nothing you can do but kill, kill, kill. Especially after you've finished the game when you're pretty much untouchable with all the upgrades. Some creative people might use it to make some movies, especially on the gorgeous looking PC version.

Professor Genki is perhaps the greatest addition to Saints Row. I didn't think too much of it by watching the trailers. even though I preordered the game to get the Genki stuff I didn't get into it until I played through the mission. It is awesome and the voice actors doing the narration are awesome, you'll have some laughs especially if you come from Saints Row 2. Not only is it fun to play but talk about a cash cow.

NEGATIVE:

First of all the story is too short, they made it "longer" by forcing you to play activities. Boss fights are a joke and every villain outside of Killbane lacks interest. Sure Loren holds your interest as he is supposed to be the main villain but he dies so fast it's absurd (funny death though)

Shaundi is another negative in this game, even more so than a certain Saint's death. The voice actress did an amazing job, but just the same it wasn't Dushku playing Shaundi, so not only her appearance changed a lot but her voice too. I wouldn't be too harsh on that if they kept the essence of the character but they butchered her personality. Now don't get me wrong, the Shaundi in Saints Row 3 is a good character, just not the Shaundi we met in SR2. I would rather have them call her a new name, say she was Gat's new love interest as she's a lot more trigger happy now and it would be OK with the story as it is. Sure you might want to know more about how the two of them met and how she ended up being a lieutenant but that's what car chit chat during missions is for.

Forced ending, yes you supposedly have two endings to choose. At first I thought cool, whatever you play first is canon. Wrong. OK so whatever your second option is becomes canon. Wrong again. If you decide to take your revenge, the statue blows up, then you get to pick the ending in which you save the statue. After you saved it and everyone in it you're returned to a city where the statue was blown up. I read about a "glitch" that if you play the same ending twice (has to be done in co-op the second time to have the option available again) the game count it as the true ending, will have to try that.

SPOILER
Gat's death is probably the lamest part of the game, even though it's not the worst.

Not cutscene nor mission replayability. Seriously What The HELL? SR1 had it, SR2 had it better why remove that feature? It doesn't even have a New Game + option which would be enough. They made a fuss about being able to track your game progress on the website yet the game forces you to have a new game (to play with different paths) which completely destroys your accomplishments on the website. If you have to I recommend doing it after you've unlocked everything you can unlock on your first run, finish all the side missions and activities, basically get as close to 100% as possible. then start a new game to get the alternates and once you get all achievements/trophies you go back to your near (hopefully it's not near but 100%, co-op helps too) and do an activity, win it and save. That should bring back your stats.

No more clothing layers. You're forced to wear the tops and bottoms the way they are shown at the store or the Initiation Station if you don't have the game yet. So basically mix and match tops and bottoms and change their colors, that's it.

Zombie pedestrian cheat doesn't work in co-op. Now seriously What The Fuck? So what's the point?

Season pass. I hate it and I know SR3 didn't invent this crap but whomever did deserves death. They did the same thing for Uncharted 3. They can shove that one too, I'm not buying season crap. One thing is what BioWare did with Mass Effect, adding a code for their online store that came with new games. If you bought one used and the code was invalid you had to buy access to it and it wasn't cheap. $15 no less. So yea I approve of that and a totally different is asking you to buy stuff that should have been in the game but not only did they "exclude" it they also want you to wait for it to be released. Sorry Volition but I don't give a crap about outfits that have a one way to be worn version. Want my money? give me some of the stuff you removed from Saints Row 2 or good clothing packs.

There are a few more negatives as they are positives but that's it for now. Overall the game is a lot of fun, even better in co-op. the best missions are in the first Act though. Totally recommend a buy.