Saints Row Review
Score: 3/5
It’s no wonder that a handful of competitors published their own mimics of Grand Theft Auto. But few, if any, have come close to the high standard set by GTA. So along comes Saints Row, and skepticism along with it; another “me too” game built unabashedly on the foundation that Rockstar built. And there is no other game as similar in structure and thematically than Saints Row. Everyone hates a poser, so Saints Row was going to have to put in some serious effort to overcome the stigma. While not quite spectacular, Saints Row ends up being perhaps the most competent and compelling GTA clone to date, focusing less on sheer volume and instead streamlining what’s there into more action oriented gameplay.
You’re a nameless inductee of the 3rd Street Saints. The Saints appear to be an altruistic gaggle of thugs, their leader Julius fed up with the rival gangs that run the city of Stillwater. It’s the Saint’s mission, and therefore yours, to take over the city hood-by-hood by taking out the rival gangs that control it.
As with any game of the GTA variety, a solid open ended world supports the whole. Stillwater isn’t a huge city, but it’s big enough. Each district is populated with plenty of characters going about their daily business, chatting and generally making crass remarks, or simply diving out of your way. The city feels alive as it should, and does admirably well in that department.
Most importantly in this regard, Stillwater offers plenty of variety in tertiary gameplay. As you might expect, the carjacking system is in full effect here. There are a plethora of vehicle types, all of the automobile variety. Trucks, cars, buses, bulldozers, sports cars, are all present and more, each handling remarkably differently. Some are pure brutes that can put up with a great deal of punishment, others are tremendously nimble and peppy, some are based on pure speed.
You’re also able to permanently add a car to your collection by driving it into the garage of one of several ‘cribs’ (read: houses), and pimp them out (read: upgrade) at car shops with your earned cash. Your cribs store all sorts of purchased swag including wardrobe and weapons. In fact, you could spend countless hours scouring Stillwater and frequenting its many shops. There’s a remarkable amount stuff you can outfit your character with to suit your own tastes. This customization also has a further gameplay centric incentive: it helps you earn respect.
There are two types of currency in Stillwater: cash and respect. Cash speaks for itself, earned by completing missions and activities. Respect, on the other hand, is earned by completing activities, and respect is then used to unlock missions. Missions are story based, completing them bringing you closer to your goal. Activities include stealing hookers from rival pimps, racing rival gangs, becoming a hired hitman, hijacking cars, competing in a destruction derby, and the standard sort of fantasy based thug life stuff.
The character customization comes into play once you’ve completed an activity: the better dressed your character, the more respect you earn. In this way, the game links disparate aspect of gameplay in a logical fashion, further encouraging players to get to know the city better.
Since you have to engage in the activities to get anywhere in the game proper, it’s a good thing that most activities are fun. In particular, the Mayhem and Drug Trafficking activities are a blast. These two activities are the highlights in Saints Row’s proclivity for action. Mayhem has you doling out massive amounts of destruction in an effort to inflict as much property damage before time runs out. Drug Trafficking puts you in the passenger seat of a drug dealers ride while he goes about doing business, while you protect him by taking out cops and rival gangs in hot pursuit. It’s not uncommon to have multiple vehicles in a chase, multiple enemies firing madly as you return fire; as their cars take damage parts begin flying off, the engine begins to smoke, and eventually they’ll end in a spectacular explosion.
This action philosophy guides the game as a whole. In a few of the aforementioned activities you’ll have select weapons with infinite ammunition, so all you need to worry about is pulling the trigger. Your health will deplete as you’d expect, but stay away from harm long enough and it will regenerate on its own. Should a cop take you down or you’re killed in action, you’ll simply be revived or released from custody later from the closest hospital or police station in the area, the only real penalty coming in the form of a small percentage of your cash taken away. As you progress further in the game, you gain the ability to recruit AI followers that will help aid in a mission or activity, and do a fine job carrying out their tasks. Put together, Saints Row wants to throw you into the action as quickly and frequently as possible, rather than stressing about the consequences of failure, and it works.
The emphasis on action seems to have carried over into the technical side of things as well. Cars bounce around the streets, debris flies off in spectacular fashion, characters flump about with rag doll physics. Besides the physics, there are two things in particular that Saints Row does very well: explosions and lighting. When much of the game is spent shooting up cars, they had better explode real good, and they do. Once vehicles finally blow, their fiery chassis are sent upwards flipping end over end in a brilliant display of smoke, heat blurring, and fire. The lighting is also fantastic. As time passes the lighting outside adjusts accordingly. Sunrise feels like early morning light, the afternoon feels like the intensity of full daylight, sunset looks just as it would in real life, and at night street lamps and cars’ headlights spill over objects in pixel perfect fashion. Also, lighting from cop cars’ flashers spill over surrounding objects to great effect, as do muzzle flashes from weapons. Take on a Drug Trafficking activity in the evening, put all of the aforementioned effects into the mix, and you have an orgy of lighting effects when things really hit the fan. Everything else in the game is fairly solid too.
There are a few flaws taking the visuals down a notch. When action becomes really crazy, gets quite cluttered, the frame rate takes a noticeable drop. V-syncing issues (horizontal tears during movement) rear their ugly head during gameplay and cut-scenes.
The Missions are divided up amongst the rival gangs, each pushing their own story. The biggest surprise is just how well the storylines are presented. Voice acting is a standout with notable actors like Michael Clark Duncan and David Carradine playing gang bosses. Furthermore, I’ve rarely seen a game with such fine motion captured acting. Mannerisms and body language are carried out believably and in a fashion that perhaps best suits the medium and the culture: that is, exaggerated. Whatever the reason, it looks fantastic and is carried out with cinematic flare to boot.
The stories are compelling with enough drama and twists to keep you engaged. Mind you, this is thug life/hip-hop culture through and through. The language is foul, the acts violent, the sexuality vulgar (did I mention that the hooker recruiting activity is called “Snatch”), and the racial connotations not so subtle. Oddly, given the racially segmented gangs, the 3rd Street Saints are comprised of a multicultural assortment of characters. It’s as though the developers attempted to ease the controversial nature of their game by introducing some bizarre concept of political correctness by making the Saints an everyman’s sort of gang. The developers at Volition must have reasoned that by not aligning the player with any particular ethnicity, they’re avoiding harsh criticism in that regard. This makes Saints Row seem somewhat poserish, somewhat unauthentic. If the subject matter is controversial to begin with, why bother holding back?
Regardless of questions of authenticity, the game’s delivery can be appreciated all on its own. Scripted dialogue is clever and most of the game, while squarely situated in its subject matter, is played out with its tongue firmly in its cheek. This may just be its saving grace.
While Saints Row may be the biggest of impersonators, it manages to differentiate itself by offering up online competitive play. Modes include Ganster Brawl (death match), Big Ass Chains (dead players drop chains which are picked up and dropped off for points), Blinged Out Ride (drive around picking up chains for cash then use the cash to upgrade your car), and Protect tha Pimp (one team acts as hitmen while the other team protects their pimp from elimination). Successful play earns you cash enabling you to buy clothing and customize your online avatar as you would your character in single player; it’s a riot seeing some player’s bizarre characters running about. Conceptually it appears a lot of thought went into making the online play fresh and original, but in execution it falls nearly flat.
While it works, considerable amounts of lag plague matches often. Furthermore, hit detection is all but absent: you’ll take damage when you don’t even realize it, there are barely any audible or visual cues, and you’ll be dead before you know what’s going on. Finally, the matches are generally void of sounds effects (such as pattering feet) giving off a barren feel to the whole proceeding. It’s obvious the online play was left somewhat unfinished.
Saints Row is by no means original. But what it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in its sheer focus towards action oriented gameplay and its forgiving and intuitive structure. There’s much to do and see, most of it enjoyable. I spent just over 20 hours completing the main story (which, as it turns out, isn’t over when you think it might) but you could spend many more having fun by just goofing around. Thematic issues will either turn on or turn off some, but the story can be appreciated through skillful delivery regardless. Saints Row may still be a poser, but manages to be pretty fly for a white guy.
peachey @ August 29, 2006