Saints Row: The Third Review
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An open world adult theme park where we can treat ourselves to delightful acts of bloodshed and ? .
A video game's first responsibility -- arguably its only responsibility -- is to show the player a good time. To say that Saints Row: The Third is a good time would be a severe understatement. Running naked around the fictional city of Steelport wiping out rival gangs with mind-controlling octopi delivered some of the most fun I've had this year. There may be a tendency to dismiss Saints Row as a Grand Theft Auto clone (it isn't) or as juvenile antics (it is) but when you just want to indulge in some mindless violence and sexual depravity, this will more than suffice.
Saints Row the Third takes you out of Stilwater, the setting for the first two games, and drops you into the new city of Steelport. Three local gangs are well-entrenched, but the Third Street Saints aren't going to settle for fourth place. Your job throughout Saints Row the Third is to take over this new city and crush the competition.
After an intro mission sets up your exit from Stilwater you'll get the chance to customize your character. Customization plays a big part in the entire game, from your body to your dress to your vehicles. I love that, at a glance, no two players' games will look alike -- one will star a voluptuous vixen in a cocktail dress while the next may feature a blue sumo wrestler with cat eyes that speaks in zombie gibberish.
Before the credits roll you'll catsit a tiger, play a hilarious text adventure, get a sex change, hack up Mexican wrestlers with a chainsaw, visit a Tron-like computer world, and participate in many other ridiculous leisure activities. Saints Row the Third can be accused of being many things, but repetitive isn't one of them.
When you need a break from story missions you'll find loads of optional activities all over Steelport that boost your street cred and earn you cash. My favorites are the Insurance Fraud missions, holdovers from Saints Row 2 that ask you to run into traffic and cause as much ? harm to yourself as possible before time runs out.
Pretty much anything you choose to do in Saints Row: The Third has been incentivized and will earn you either money or respect. Money can get you territory, weapons, upgrades, and threads. Respect works like experience points, unlocking new abilities such as "infinite sprint" and "no fall damage." Everything from near collisions while driving to running down the street naked earns you respect, which is fantastic game design -- we're constantly rewarded for simply playing the game. I was addicted to maximizing my hourly income and planning my character upgrades.
By completing certain story missions you gain access to badass vehicles like a transforming hover jet and a pixilated retro-game tank. In the spirit of staying out of the way of the player's good time, Saints Row 3 gives you an infinite supply of these recreational vehicles in your cribs. So grab an F-69 VTOL hover jet, take it joy riding, crash it, then go home and grab another. As many times as you want. Or, you can have it delivered right to you, wherever you are. Amazing.
That's the beauty of Saints Row: The Third: it's not trying to be anything more than a fun game. It's not realistic, it's not "art," it's just a really good time.
That said, some of the immature characters, dialogue, and premises do make me cringe. People often swear for no reason in a way that feels really forced, and a ? that only speaks in auto-tune and calls every girl a ? gets old fast. But the character that matters most, my character, really won me over. I played as a lady (well, a female -- she's definitely not a lady), and despite the fact that she's an amoral mass murderer, I believed she cared about her friends. Plus, I really liked the voice actress portraying her.
The licensed soundtrack -- heard on car radios throughout the game -- includes many fantastic songs ranging from hip-hop to electronic to classical. You can toggle stations on and off or build a playlist of all the songs you like.
Saints Row: The Third unfortunately falls apart at the end with a less-than-satisfying conclusion. There are two endings (you'll get to see both), one a super downer and one that doesn't make any sense. However, following the story is just half the fun, and when I completed the campaign after 14 hours of play I had only finished half of the side missions with an overall 72 percent completion. Many good times await after the campaign ends for those that want to achieve 100 percent.
While definitely not up to the standards of recent games like Uncharted 3 or Rage, Saints Row 3's visuals go easy enough on the eyes. I love the neon-lit towering skyscrapers of Steelport, but down in the streets things can seem quiet and lifeless. This is an open world but I wouldn't say it's a living world. Mayhem activities ask you to destroy as much as you can before time runs out, but you may be at a loss for stuff to blow up. As you tear around town the traffic magically appears in front of your car. Granted, I only noticed that pop-up while driving.
Saints Row: The Third allows you to play the entire campaign cooperatively online or via system link. Inviting a friend or joining a game couldn't be simpler, but playing cooperatively yields mixed results. While the nature of two players running around with rocket launchers and tanks can create comical chaos, not all of these missions seem designed for cooperative play -- visiting players may sometimes feel like a third wheel. But, happily, all progress carries over to your single-player game.
Closing Comments
News flash: people find sex and violence entertaining. Saints Row: The Third gives the people what they want and drops us into an open world adult theme park where we can treat ourselves to delightful acts of bloodshed and ? . It doesn't take itself too seriously and only asks that you don't, either.
Presentation 8.5
Plot points mostly serve as a way to get you into ridiculous situations. I really like the phone/menu interface. Setting up co-op is a breeze.
Graphics 8.0
The city of Steelport looks great, but you'll notice a lot of pop-up and jerky animations.
Sound 9.5
The licensed soundtrack is fantastic and voice acting -- for the most part -- is very well done.
Gameplay 8.5
Saints Row 3 isn't trying to be anything but fun, and it succeeds. RPG elements incentivize every little thing you do, making for an addictive open world game with no pretense.
Lasting Appeal 8.5
There were 14 hours on the clock when I beat the campaign, but I've since kept playing to the 22 hour mark and am still at only 86 percent completion.
OVERALL 8.5 (Great)
A video game's first responsibility -- arguably its only responsibility -- is to show the player a good time. To say that Saints Row: The Third is a good time would be a severe understatement. Running naked around the fictional city of Steelport wiping out rival gangs with mind-controlling octopi delivered some of the most fun I've had this year. There may be a tendency to dismiss Saints Row as a Grand Theft Auto clone (it isn't) or as juvenile antics (it is) but when you just want to indulge in some mindless violence and sexual depravity, this will more than suffice.
Saints Row the Third takes you out of Stilwater, the setting for the first two games, and drops you into the new city of Steelport. Three local gangs are well-entrenched, but the Third Street Saints aren't going to settle for fourth place. Your job throughout Saints Row the Third is to take over this new city and crush the competition.
After an intro mission sets up your exit from Stilwater you'll get the chance to customize your character. Customization plays a big part in the entire game, from your body to your dress to your vehicles. I love that, at a glance, no two players' games will look alike -- one will star a voluptuous vixen in a cocktail dress while the next may feature a blue sumo wrestler with cat eyes that speaks in zombie gibberish.
Before the credits roll you'll catsit a tiger, play a hilarious text adventure, get a sex change, hack up Mexican wrestlers with a chainsaw, visit a Tron-like computer world, and participate in many other ridiculous leisure activities. Saints Row the Third can be accused of being many things, but repetitive isn't one of them.
When you need a break from story missions you'll find loads of optional activities all over Steelport that boost your street cred and earn you cash. My favorites are the Insurance Fraud missions, holdovers from Saints Row 2 that ask you to run into traffic and cause as much ? harm to yourself as possible before time runs out.
Pretty much anything you choose to do in Saints Row: The Third has been incentivized and will earn you either money or respect. Money can get you territory, weapons, upgrades, and threads. Respect works like experience points, unlocking new abilities such as "infinite sprint" and "no fall damage." Everything from near collisions while driving to running down the street naked earns you respect, which is fantastic game design -- we're constantly rewarded for simply playing the game. I was addicted to maximizing my hourly income and planning my character upgrades.
By completing certain story missions you gain access to badass vehicles like a transforming hover jet and a pixilated retro-game tank. In the spirit of staying out of the way of the player's good time, Saints Row 3 gives you an infinite supply of these recreational vehicles in your cribs. So grab an F-69 VTOL hover jet, take it joy riding, crash it, then go home and grab another. As many times as you want. Or, you can have it delivered right to you, wherever you are. Amazing.
That's the beauty of Saints Row: The Third: it's not trying to be anything more than a fun game. It's not realistic, it's not "art," it's just a really good time.
That said, some of the immature characters, dialogue, and premises do make me cringe. People often swear for no reason in a way that feels really forced, and a ? that only speaks in auto-tune and calls every girl a ? gets old fast. But the character that matters most, my character, really won me over. I played as a lady (well, a female -- she's definitely not a lady), and despite the fact that she's an amoral mass murderer, I believed she cared about her friends. Plus, I really liked the voice actress portraying her.
The licensed soundtrack -- heard on car radios throughout the game -- includes many fantastic songs ranging from hip-hop to electronic to classical. You can toggle stations on and off or build a playlist of all the songs you like.
Saints Row: The Third unfortunately falls apart at the end with a less-than-satisfying conclusion. There are two endings (you'll get to see both), one a super downer and one that doesn't make any sense. However, following the story is just half the fun, and when I completed the campaign after 14 hours of play I had only finished half of the side missions with an overall 72 percent completion. Many good times await after the campaign ends for those that want to achieve 100 percent.
While definitely not up to the standards of recent games like Uncharted 3 or Rage, Saints Row 3's visuals go easy enough on the eyes. I love the neon-lit towering skyscrapers of Steelport, but down in the streets things can seem quiet and lifeless. This is an open world but I wouldn't say it's a living world. Mayhem activities ask you to destroy as much as you can before time runs out, but you may be at a loss for stuff to blow up. As you tear around town the traffic magically appears in front of your car. Granted, I only noticed that pop-up while driving.
Saints Row: The Third allows you to play the entire campaign cooperatively online or via system link. Inviting a friend or joining a game couldn't be simpler, but playing cooperatively yields mixed results. While the nature of two players running around with rocket launchers and tanks can create comical chaos, not all of these missions seem designed for cooperative play -- visiting players may sometimes feel like a third wheel. But, happily, all progress carries over to your single-player game.
Closing Comments
News flash: people find sex and violence entertaining. Saints Row: The Third gives the people what they want and drops us into an open world adult theme park where we can treat ourselves to delightful acts of bloodshed and ? . It doesn't take itself too seriously and only asks that you don't, either.
Presentation 8.5
Plot points mostly serve as a way to get you into ridiculous situations. I really like the phone/menu interface. Setting up co-op is a breeze.
Graphics 8.0
The city of Steelport looks great, but you'll notice a lot of pop-up and jerky animations.
Sound 9.5
The licensed soundtrack is fantastic and voice acting -- for the most part -- is very well done.
Gameplay 8.5
Saints Row 3 isn't trying to be anything but fun, and it succeeds. RPG elements incentivize every little thing you do, making for an addictive open world game with no pretense.
Lasting Appeal 8.5
There were 14 hours on the clock when I beat the campaign, but I've since kept playing to the 22 hour mark and am still at only 86 percent completion.
OVERALL 8.5 (Great)
Comments
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I really liked the Saints Row 2 so this definitely a game that's on my list.
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I already made a character on the demo, that ? looks like it might be fun. I'll have to check it when it comes out.....
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? is fun as hell...i just bulldogged this ? then posed on the ground ? had me dying
edit: now im ddt-ing ? this ? is hilarious -
? is fun as hell...i just bulldogged this ? then posed on the ground ? had me dying
edit: now im ddt-ing ? this ? is hilarious
Maybe it's because I'm playing on ? , but FOH @ it taking me a whole clip to ? somebody. I'm also not feeling the subtle control differences like running being on the opposite button and the driving controls. Also not feeling whatever cuban song that is on the rap radio station. With that said ? is still ill.
That penthouse mission was dopeness personified as soon as that Yeezy dropped -
This ? is fun as ? . Jacking ? through the windshield is GOaT.
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Maybe it's because I'm playing on ? , but FOH @ it taking me a whole clip to ? somebody. I'm also not feeling the subtle control differences like running being on the opposite button and the driving controls. Also not feeling whatever cuban song that is on the rap radio station. With that said ? is still ill.
That penthouse mission was dopeness personified as soon as that Yeezy dropped
word..? flying through the air with power playin, i died on purpose a few times just to drop again
the sprint button change had me ? up at first but it works pretty well once you get used to it -
word..? flying through the air with power playin, i died on purpose a few times just to drop again
the sprint button change had me ? up at first but it works pretty well once you get used to it
Yea when that big brute ass ? came through I kept trynna dip out the way and was throwing flashbangs and ?
SMH@ me timing that jump to be out that plane when Kanye say " I guess every superhero needs his theme music." -
Loving it so far... PSN - Canibuss
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*waiting for it to come in the mail*
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swear ive spent the last hour just sprinting down the street and hitting the right stick
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did they fix the hit detection and the way guns handle so cheesily???
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The system requirements for the PC is kinda stiff.
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DaFifthElement wrote: »The system requirements for the PC is kinda stiff.
i'm good
Minimum Requirements
OS: Windows® XP
Processor: 2GHz Dual Core Processor (Intel® Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon™ X2) or higher
Memory: 2GB System RAM or more
Graphics: 320MB Video RAM GPU w/ Shader Model 3.0 support. NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 series or better. ATI Radeon™ HD3800 series or better
DirectX®: 9.0c
Hard Drive: 10GB
Sound: 100% DirectX® 9.0C compliant sound card or equivalent onboard sound
Co-Op Play: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 cards require 640MB of Video RAM. ATI Radeon™ HD3800 cards require 1GB of Video RAM
Online Steam Account
Recommended Requirements
OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7
Processor: Any Quad Core Processor (Intel® Core i5 or AMD Phenom™ II X4) or 3.0+ Dual Core CPU
Memory: 4GB System RAM or more
Graphics: 1GB Video RAM GPU w/ Shader Model 4.0 support. NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 400 series or better. ATI Radeon™ HD5000 series or better
DirectX®: DirectX® 11
Hard Drive: 10 GB
Sound: 100% DirectX® 9.0C compliant sound card or equivalent onboard sound
Online Steam Account -
Yeah me too but damn its gonna be alot of ppl who cant run it on PC
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SR2 was optimized like ? on PC. hopefully this one is better.
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Ayo where the hell can I get a helicopter outside of a mission?
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Ayo where the hell can I get a helicopter outside of a mission?
Go to the airport. The buildings next to Runway #1. There are 3-4 over there. -
Man this ? sound dope as ? !!!!!!!!!!!!
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Michael_Malice wrote: »Go to the airport. The buildings next to Runway #1. There are 3-4 over there.
Shweet! Good looking out -
Shweet! Good looking out
Yo B, there is a National Guard post on the Southern end of the map. If you try to drive in there they will ? rush your ass. Take a helicopter and fly over it. Parachute out and they got the heli's with the guns. Jump in one and fly it back to the Saints HQ on your helipad and store it. Then go inside to drop your noterity. Go back to your heli garage and you will have the chopper. Be careful cause there are a couple of heli's in there that are just transport blackhawk types. Make sure you jump in the one with the guns. The struggle is real when you get in there so you gotta be quick B. -
Correction: it's the south eastern little island that connects the bigger islands.
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Them National Guard Chopper is perfect for taking out the Gang Activity locations B.
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Michael_Malice wrote: »Yo B, there is a National Guard post on the Southern end of the map. If you try to drive in there they will ? rush your ass. Take a helicopter and fly over it. Parachute out and they got the heli's with the guns. Jump in one and fly it back to the Saints HQ on your helipad and store it. Then go inside to drop your noterity. Go back to your heli garage and you will have the chopper. Be careful cause there are a couple of heli's in there that are just transport blackhawk types. Make sure you jump in the one with the guns. The struggle is real when you get in there so you gotta be quick B.
Ok cool, the ones at the airport was just regular helicopters and ? . I found a jet there too, but that ? was too hard to aim at folks on the ground without crashing -
Ok cool, the ones at the airport was just regular helicopters and ? . I found a jet there too, but that ? was too hard to aim at folks on the ground without crashing
Yeah I found that one and it wasn't working out for me, lol. Them choppers with the guns is where it's at. -
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/11/16/scea-and-thq-announce-additional-content-for-saints-row-the-third-owners-on-playstation-3/
At long last, THQ and our friends at PlayStation are proud to unveil additional content for Saints Row: The Third owners on PS3. For all players that purchase Saints Row: The Third on PlayStation 3 and redeem their online pass codes within the next 90 days, they will receive a digital copy of Saints Row 2 (a $19.99 value)… absolutely free!
Go back to a simpler time, when the Saints were vying for control of Stilwater, before they were global icons, a household name, and a criminal empire. Before Professor Genki and the Syndicate, there were the Westside Rollers and the Brotherhood. Enjoy classic Saints Row activities like Septic Avenger, where you spray new homes with sewage in order to devalue property. And of course, enjoy a number of DLC packs brought to you by Volition’s favorite Saints Row 2 producer, Tera Patrick.
Saints Row 2 will be available for free starting early next week for all players who redeem their online pass in each new copy of Saints Row: The Third. The offer expires at midnight on February 13, 2012, so be sure to redeem your online pass before then. And for those of you who have already done so, keep an eye out early next week for the content. This offer applies to the United States, Canada, and Mexico only.
We hope you are as excited about this offer as we are!
