The name of the game is FUN and where Saints Row: The Third is concerned fun is delivered twenty-fold. As the third title in the sandbox-based Saints Row action series that many have cited as a Grand Theft Auto clone, Saints Row: The Third comes out the gates pushing boundaries, dropping jaws and separating itself in every comparison from Grand Theft Auto.
The Third Street Saints take their game outside of Stillwater (setting for the previous two titles) and hit the streets of Steelport. The series of events that lands our heroes (?) in Steelport is comical and utter madness at best, but once the guys and gals hit Steelport, one thing is clear: Get to the top of the food chain.
Once you hit the streets of Steelport, you get a chance to create your character by way of the customization system. Pay close attention because the customization system is pretty integral to the game as one of the major ways to earn respect (the equivalent of XP in Saints Row) overall. You may have already gotten a taste of this if you managed to download and try out the Saints Row: The Third Initiation Station. The level of customization and creation for your character is pretty in-depth (possibly rivaling that of Mass Effect) and it’s easy to see that virtually no two characters will turn out the same. Using the Initiation Station ahead of time, you can easily access characters that you created and plug them straight into the game, forgoing losing any time in the attempt to get your feet wet with the story mode of the game.
Steelport is under seige by three different gangs that are actually a united front calling themselves ‘The Syndicate’ and are controlling the entire city. The only way for the Saints to survive is to knock off the competition and take over Steelport. Getting through that means taking on the likes of cyber-terrorists the Deckers led by hacker extraordinaire Matt Miller, the masked paramilitary group the Luchadores led by wrestling sensation Eddie Killbane and the financial muscle of the Syndicate, the Morning Star, led by Phillipe Loren. Loren winds up being the primary target of the Saints’ wrath thanks, once again, to the events that led to the Saints arriving in Steelport. If having three unified gangs on your tail isn’t already bad enough, after gang war shenanigans come to a head during an important ceremony in the city, a US Senator calls in a government sanctioned military unit known as STAG who ultimately declare martial law on the city.
What does all this lead up to? The unleashing of unbridled mayhem on the township of Steelport itself. There’s no other way around it when you consider that the game gives you so many opportunities to do so and the results are downright hilarious (if not spectacular).
The main campaign for Saints Row: The Third will see you doing everything from breaking into military installations and stealing blockbuster bombs and UAV drones, to taking tigers on joyrides in convertibles, enduring a TRON-inspired computer environment, avoiding paparazzi while letting hookers do their thing in your backseats with their johns, and even selling yourself as a drugged out sex slave just to smash up the local prostitution ring in Steelport. You earn money and/or respect as you handle the missions which all pay off for boosters such as more territorial control of the map, new weapons, upgrades, and even clothing (which plays into more respect). Respect unlocks new abilities to you such as the ability to have multiple gang members for a small posse, increased ammo which will ultimately lead to infinite ammo as well as complete fluff abilities like “infinite sprint” and “no fall damage.”
The game gives you license to do anything and everything to net yourself more money and respect with challenges and side missions that sees players participating in streaking events to shock the public to participating in a run and gun game show killing human targets to jacking cars and delivering them to chop shops. As you move through the game, you get rewarded with more insane items such as a military VTOL hover jet and experimental weaponry, outlandish cribs (one being an actual nuclear reactor plant) and some of the most colorful allies that Steelport has to offer. Don’t believe me? Wait until you meet up with Zimos, a super pimp in Steelport that talks his talk through an autotune voicebox…
The notion that sex and violence sells is very thick in Saints Row: The Third and the antics that the developers cooked up for players to get into is downright artistic in the approach. It may mean that I’m shallow or easily amused by even saying this, but Saints Row: The Third gave me the diversion I have been looking for this year with its in your face humor, juvenile sexuality and twisted mayhem. While the story is zany and sometimes completely nonsensical at some parts (miniature zombie apocalypse?), it is definitely entertaining and pushes itself at a very good pace. There’s enough twists and turns to keep you wanting to move on, and major acts and in the decision to go one way or the other leading to some decent replay potential. The campaign mode will set you back a good 15-20 hours and even allows for online co-op for the actual story mode.
Featuring two endings, the fun doesn’t stop once you’ve beaten it as there’s also enough DLC (scheduled to run through a good part of 2012) to help maintain some more longevity after you’ve had your fill of the game.
Saints Row: The Third is a solid enough title with good graphics and some solid gameplay. There are a handful of glitches that’ll at times leave you scratching your head, but there’s nothing in there that’ll break the game or make you hurl your controllers across the room in disgust. The voice cast includes some big names such as Daniel Dae Kim (Hawaii Five-O, Lost), Yuri Lowenthal (Ben 10: Ultimate Alien), Sasha Grey and Hulk Hogan who lend their talents well to the over-the-top appeal of the dialogue and the game has a very diverse soundtrack that keeps with the edge and tone of a present day action crime drama.
The game does not take itself seriously and once you realize that much, what you have is a very exciting adventure that doesn’t disappoint. Proving to break the norm of typical sandbox games of its type, Saints Row: The Third does its job of entertaining the masses by taking the known rule book and slinging it out the nearest window.
