Saints Row: The Third Review
Joy is the main emotion that arises when starting [Saints Row](/games?search=Saints Row): The Third. No one has hidden the fact that Volition is making the same kind of game as GTA, just without the pompous trappings – and that’s all anyone asked for.
GTA is the genre-defining pillar, a masterpiece, the game that all representatives of the “sandbox in the city” genre try to emulate. Many still believe that only Rockstar can make GTA, and of course, they are right in some respects. But Rockstar tries to make its games more realistic and believable each year. We marvel at the intricate physics of car movement, human body physics, the harmonious change of day and night, people's behavior on the streets, destructibility, and much more. But amidst all of this, GTA has lost something…
Back in 2006, Volition released a game that didn’t try to mimic the new GTAs; it had none of the pomp or seriousness that the parent series was striving for at that time. On the contrary, the game was filled with jaw-breaking jokes, various parodies, hurricane action, and unrelenting madness, essentially trying to step away from modern standards and return to the roots – the beloved early parts of GTA (remember how we could run over crowds of pioneers getting off buses). The second part solidified the success by raising the level of madness to unimaginable heights – it was in this game that we could douse homes with waste products from the corresponding vehicle. We were never allowed to get bored: an interesting plot, extra quests, incredible mini-games. And it also had an amazing character editor that one could spend hours on.
In the end, the series walked a very thin line; just a bit more toilet humor, a few more explicit scenes, and insane characters, and the next game could have slipped into the realm of trash. Therefore, the developers faced a tough task – to improve everything that had been laid out in the series without devolving into vulgarity and low-grade material.
A Big Bank Heist
[Saints Row](/games?search=Saints Row): The Third kicks off with a classic GTA-style bank heist. Only here it’s a hundred times more fun, more active, and packed with cutscenes. Just think about it – the heroes put on masks of their own buddy, explaining that who would rob a bank in their own masks… We’re given infinite ammo, hordes of enemies rushing in from every door, and a safe that we rip straight out of the bank with a helicopter. The level of insanity is turned up to the maximum; it’s impossible to break away, though in the end, we get caught.
Only now we get to create our own character. And that’s already a separate topic for discussion. In [Saints Row](/games?search=Saints Row): The Third, the character editor is one of the best. It’s a special joy to attempt to make yourself. Even little details like freckles are taken into account. Or you can skip the attempt to shape yourself and create the silliest character possible. Thus, charming blondes with zombie voices or vice versa, zombies with a pronounced Slavic accent or grandfathers in trendy rapper outfits come to life. There are so many possibilities. At times, you catch yourself thinking that you’ve been in the game for an entire hour, yet you still haven’t seen the actual game. The developers even released the character editor separately instead of a demo version – and even then, people began to create and share their work on www.saintsrow.com. And you can see anything there: Dante from [Devil May Cry](/games?search=Devil May Cry), Spider-Man, Jessica Rabbit, singer Beyoncé; the list of celebrities can go on for a long time.
When the editor finally releases our newly created character, they end up in prison, where they, along with their buddies, are taken to a certain boss of the international mafia. The thing is, at the very beginning of the game, we robbed his bank. Now he wants the Saints to pay him a cut. But our heroes are not that type; they bravely break their handcuffs and, in just a few minutes, devastate their captor’s airplane, all while managing to jump out of the plane with a parachute multiple times. In reality, this scene resembles some Hollywood blockbuster: we punch a guard in the face, then in the next moment, dozens of cars fly out of the airplane hatch, and the hero jumps out after them, grabbing their partner, and in a couple of seconds, we shoot through the windshield of that same airplane, Matrix-style, flying straight through the entire aircraft while shooting at the remaining enemies.
Eventually, the heroes land in the city of Stilport. It turns out that the mafia stole all the money from the Saints' accounts, and we have to start over – a classic GTA beginning. And now the main gameplay of [Saints Row](/games?search=Saints Row): The Third begins. Even if you don’t start taking on company missions, there is plenty to do in Stilport – the local sandbox is akin to what was in GTA: San Andreas. We entertain ourselves. You can literally do anything. Want to go base jumping – go ahead, want to surf on car roofs – no problem, or maybe you like racing on a flaming quad bike and setting everything and everyone around you on fire – that’s just around every corner here. And you can also hunt for hidden cash, drugs, rubber dolls, deliver prostitutes, test your bravery (the hero drives a car with an enraged tiger), run around naked, carry panicking celebrities, jump under cars (to earn insurance money), shell entire neighborhoods from a tank, and much more – the game is full of such fun mini-missions. Stilport is divided into sections controlled by three factions, which have temporarily united to oppose the Saints. Since our main task is to seize the entire city, the heroes constantly have to fight with one gang or another. Sometimes we get called to protect an already captured territory over the phone. And besides all this, the Saints can simply buy stores, factories, hospitals, in general, almost all the buildings in the city. There’s a task for everyone. And, of course, you can customize and arm almost every car in the game with spikes for slicing legs or puncturing tires.
The campaign doesn’t lag behind the sandbox. Yes, it’s linear and short, but every mission is perfectly crafted. The majority of the pleasure comes from the jokes, funny situations, and beautiful moments from the plot. At first, we are just recruiting people into a new gang. Yes, in such a game, they are not simple buddies, but hypertrophied personalities in some direction. Believe me; you won’t forget them for a long time! In the middle of the game, when we annoy our no less vivid enemies, they will be joined by super-soldiers from the CABAN squad. All of them are armed with laser weapons, drive fantastic tanks, fly aircraft and helicopters with vertical takeoff. And a seemingly brutal guy with the most peaceful face seems to be in charge. The city is put under quarantine, and our hero literally starts to drive hard, as the number of enemies multiplies. At some point (of course, not without our help), an entire district of the city is overrun by zombies, and, accordingly, the level of fun increases even more.
The levelling up deserves a separate mention. For all our actions in the game: whether it’s killing gangsters or driving on the wrong side, we earn experience points, and the hero levels up. With each level, new abilities become available, which need to be purchased with money. There are very many of these abilities, ranging from the ability to steal money from passersby’s pockets to infinite health. The leveling system can easily replace cheats, as the hero can be made practically immortal, impervious to all types of damage, tireless, possessing infinite ammo.
No Step Back
[Saints Row](/games?search=Saints Row): The Third is a GTA action game stripped of all the boring and serious aspects. The developers loaded the game with special effects, mini-missions, humor, great music, and cool heroes. The main thing is not to take the game seriously. It’s a crazy, mad, fast, and beautiful cocktail created to dilute the modern gaming industry. This is a game that gives you the ability to kick anyone in the balls in the city without worrying if you’re doing the right thing or not. In the same [GTA IV](/games?search=GTA IV), I constantly caught myself trying to obey traffic lights, yield to pedestrians crossing the road, and avoid damaging vehicles. In [Saints Row](/games?search=Saints Row): The Third, I just slam the pedal to the floor and only look to make sure the road is somewhere in the middle! Here you can also put on a giant bear suit and dramatically finish off one of the main enemies in the game.
Overall, the new part of [Saints Row](/games?search=Saints Row) turned out to be a great success. The game holds attention from beginning to end. Yes, it can be criticized for its silliness and madness, but that’s just what the developers wanted to achieve – to return to the roots of the genre, and they’ve managed to do that quite well. They didn’t indulge in self-plagiarism; instead, they developed this subgenre of GTA games quite effectively. A separate thank you should be made for the decent porting to personal computers – the game looks beautiful and runs smoothly. That’s definitely a success, and now we eagerly await the next installment about the adventures of the Saints from the third street.
Additionally
The Saints Gang
Pierce - a sort of Eddie Murphy of the world of [Saints Row](/games?search=Saints Row). Always joking, utterly unserious, a jester and merry soul. The only serious trait is that he loves to play chess for money.
Shaundi - surprisingly the most serious in the Saints gang. However, despite this, whenever there is a choice between peaceful resolution of a problem and war – she’ll choose war. Loves big guns.
Angel - a professional wrestler. He hates Kilbane for having taken his mask from him at one time. It’s Angel who forces us to race with a tiger in a car.
Kinzie - a hacker who was expelled from the FBI. A modest sweet girl who believes that the internet is watching everyone. She will help us deal with the "virtual reality".
Zimos - a pimp who spent the last two years in sexual captivity. Rescuing him, the heroes hitch him to a harness and flee from the enemy packs. Zimos always "speaks musically" through a special device.
Oleg - the main brute strength of the Saints. An uncomplexed Russian giant on whom the gangsters modeled their thugs. Despite his proportions, he is very smart.
Viola - one of the DeWynter sisters who served the mafia boss Philip Loren. Later, this bitch switches sides and becomes a loyal ally to the Saints.
Nightblade, aka Josh Birk - an actor playing a superhero from comics, who constantly spins in the plot. At the beginning of the game, he betrays us, then we constantly hear about him on the radio, and then we can recruit him into the Saints gang.
Burt Reynolds - a star of the 70s cinema, who plays the mayor of Stilport in the game (who else can govern this frigging city). After completing his quest, the mayor joins the Saints, arriving for showdowns in his iconic 70s Phoenix.
Saints' Enemies
Philip Loren - head of the mafia and the Morgenstern gang in Stilport. Initially, he is the main villain of the game. Very similar to classic movie mafiosi - calm, cold-blooded, and deadly dangerous.
Kilbane - head of the Luchadores gang in Stilport. Champion of no-holds-barred fights, always trying to resolve things with brute force, impatient and aggressive. Hates it when people call him by his first name - Eddie. Second main villain of the game.
Matt Miller - head of the Deckers gang. A hacker and creator of virtual reality, much like the movie "Tron." He constantly sets the Saints up for various little "tricks." In the real world, he is weak and afraid of stronger foes.
Cyrus - commander of the CABAN special unit. Externally very similar to his colleague from the movie "Avatar," angry, intolerant of politicians, respects enemy prowess. But at the same time, the developers rewarded him with a very kind face. And yes - he promised to return.
More Screenshots
