With the release of the fourth Saints Row game having just come around I decided it was time to give the series a go and not just write it off as a GTA clone, oh boy what have I been missing.
Saints Row The Third is the third game in the series, released in 2011 by THQ (R.I.P) and developed by Volition. The game is an open world sanbox crime simulator much like GTA but with a much lighter and comedic tone to it than any of the Grand Theft Auto games have ever had.
Saints Row The Third opens with a bank robbery being pulled off by the 3rd Street Saints, when things dont quite go to plan and the SWAT team comes in the Saints decide to rip the bank safe out of the building and fly away with it, however they are quickly apprehended by the law enforcement and handed over to the owner of the bank. The banks owner Phillipe Loren, leader of a crime gang called The Syndicate interrogates the saints and kills their leader Johnny Gat, in an escape from the plane they are on the remaining Saints take up residence in the city of Steelport, it is not long though before they try to take the city from control of The Syndicate which begins not only a gang war between the factions but also brings in a military force known as STAG to lockdown the city and put it into a state of marshal law. With the city falling apart at its knees the Saints must take the city for the good of everyone.
The game plays much like GTA in many respects, its a 3rd person action game where you have the ability to be the pilot of any vehicle and use any weapon instantly in order to traverse the large play area on offer. That's about where the similarities end, Saints Row The Third is easily one of the craziest games I have ever played. You accept missions through your smartphone, the general structure of this is to build up trust with a 'Homie' by doing a handful of smaller scale missions for them before doing larger more story focussed missions for them, though the smaller missions tend to repeat themselves (such as drive here and shoot people, or escort style missions) the larger missions is where the good stuff happens, luckily the majority of the game is these larger missions. These lager missions can vary from things such as attacking a Battleship disguised as a military commando, destroying a Cargo Plane mid-flight or entering a BDSM club naked and shooting up the patrons inside, Siants Row The Third never gets stale aznd its not afraid to go to some very raunchy places.
Steelport also has a lot more to offer though, you can buy & upgrade properties, upgrade cars & weapons, participate in gang wars to earn territory of the city and take part in activities to earn cash and respect. However all of these actions feel meaningless and overly repetitive compared the the main storyline.
The games graphical style matches its sense of humour, everything has a comic book kind of quality to it, reminiscent of games like InFamous but at first glance it doesn’t necessarily appear that way. The games loading times are also very good, with only an initial loading time the rest are disguised in cutscenes and they never break the flow of gameplay, the only complaint with the console version I have is the draw distance but this issue is not a problem on the PC version.
The sound design is great too, some superb voice acting with some great celebrity voice cameo's and some truly hilarious dialogue, plus the city sounds alive not to mention weapons having a great sound too them.
Saints Row The Third is really a game everyone who enjoys open world games should enjoy. Is it better then GTA IV? In places but overall I would say they draw even. This game is some of the best fun I have had playing a videogame ever and the final mission, performing a rescue on the clock to 'Holding out for a hero' by Bonnie Tyler is a moment that will go down in my all time favourite videogame moments. If you own a console or PC you owe it to yourself to play this game whether it be for the great gameplay or for the hilarious story, Saints Row The Third is not to be missed.
Saints Row The Third – 9/10
+Hilarious
+Awesome Missions
+Great Gameplay
-Can Get Repetitive
