"Is the third time the charm for the Saint's Row series?"
Saints Row has always been nothing but a mere shadow of the Grand Theft Auto each and every time Saint’s Row has been compared to Rockstar’s masterpiece, but did it ever reach Rockstar’s standards? Nope, not at all, the first two Saints Row games where fair games at best, having a poor story, mediocre graphics, mediocre presentation but at the same time some decent fun mindless gameplay, the main difference between Grand Theft Auto and Saint’s Row was that Grand Theft Auto was heavier on being realistic and story-telling, and Saints Row was more on being dynamic and unrealistic, each time Grand Theft Auto was the winner, but with a promise of well, more dynamic and unrealistic gameplay, is the third time the charm for the Saints Row series?
Saints Row 3 was basically about the Saints reaching the point of getting fully noticed, becoming celebrities, and moving to another city, Stillwater, in order to get rid of rival gangs and take over the city, it focused around two main characters, the ‘boss’ and Shaundi, the story does have its ups, such as its unpredictable idea and it’s high possibility for anything to happen, but at the same time the game really didn’t feel like it had a story, but more of a concept, the issue was that it was that it just felt like a group of random events, and to be honest, while having the main components like characters, conflicts, a start, a climax and an ending, it just didn’t feel like a story but more of just a concept instead.
Presentation was Saints Row the Third was as much of a struggle as the first two games, the cutscenes where still okay with nothing special, but despite that, events had almost no connection with each other, the game lacked any type of emotion and was just pure destruction and characters lacked everything from development to depth to attachment, Saints Row the third continues the first two games’ bad job when it comes to presentation, which was really a major downside for this game, even though it’s biggest emphases and motive was it’s gameplay.
Saint’s Row the Third was promised to be the most dynamic and unrealistic open world game to come out, and based on gameplay videos I saw stuff like UAVs, giant didoes, hovercrafts and crazy customization options plus the needed gameplay elements to make a fun modern open world game,
such as driving, shooting ect. But the question is, does the game play as well as it looks?
Saint’s Row the Third’s gameplay can be split to three major parts: Exploration, which includes exploration as well as the game’s means of transportation, Action, which includes all the crazy weapons as well as the mission structure and style, and the third part is flexablity, which deals with a lot of stuff that include customization and expansions.
Exploration in Saint’s Row The Third was great to say the least, while Steelport was a somewhat small and sleepy city, exploration had so many fun mindless features and additions, there are so many cars to choose from, and other means of transportation such as ‘warping’ or simply just moving around, then there were also the zany and crazy additions to exploration, such as hovercrafts and hover motor cycles, all of those crazy additions where so much fun, that Steelport’s small size and sleepy mood could easily be ignored due to the many, fun, crazy transportation features put into this game.
Action in Saint’s Row The Third can be divided into so many different fun, dynamic unrealistic parts, whether it’s taking over territories, destroying everything in sight or even simply just attacking people with the most random weapons the player can find, it’s all really fun, Saint’s Row The Third was one of the most dynamic, fun and unrealistic games to ever come out, and the action in the game was one of the biggest reasons why.
Action mainly focuses on two different parts, Combat and missing structure, combat in Saint’s Row The Third was something very fun, there where so many fun weapons to choose from such as a giant dildo, shotguns, boxing gloves with the power of the apocalypse, predator missiles and so much more to give Saint’s Row 3 space for a lot of fun, and unlimited destruction, however controlling them needs a lot of getting used to, but once getting hold on the controls, Saint’s Row The Third can be enjoyed to the fullest combat wise.
Mission structure was where the game suffered, like the storyline the missions where randomly structured and felt like they were going nowhere, which gave the game a dumbed down feeling which was really leading the player nowhere, but I have to admit though, despite that the missions where many, a lot of them where really fun, and they serve to be really fun and simply just badass overall.
Creativity and flexibility where both amazing features in Saint’s Row The Third, while it’s just a bit lacking for an otherwise dynamic game, the player has the ability to change literally everything about their character, there weight, there body style, there race, there voice, there sex, there features, there clothes, almost everything, Saints Row the Third made it a goal for the character to become the player’s dream character, something that never disappoints, also other customization features like customizing cars into making them look different, goofy or just pure awesome and adding some built in weapons was a lot of fun, editing the crib and stores you but is a lot of fun too, in terms of creativity, Saints Row The Third feels like a complete game, something the player has got to love whether they loved, or hated the game.
Graphically Saints Row the Third was an improvement over the first two games, character designs where firmer and more realistic and the city was a bit more detailed, and textures where pretty well made, however, lip movements where poor, lighting was poor, the detail was a bit lacking making Stillwater feel more like a random playplace then an actual city, and there were a few pop-ups here and there, but like I said the graphics here did have its ups, it did look better than the first two Saints Row games, and that’s what matters, sure, the graphics did have their major downsteps, but the game still looked fair enough to look playable.
Saints Row sounded better than the first two Saints Row games, Stillwater sounded alive, despite it
not looking alive, the soundtrack was superb, it was really something I loved about the game, the sound effects where great, but sometimes they did feel a bit misplaced, and voice acting was good despite the poor lip movements, Saints Row The Third sounded great but it didn’t sound like how a lot of the great games this year sounded, still though, you can’t say no to a good thing.
Saint’s Row the Third was overall a good game, it had its major missteps and flaws when it came to story, presentation and graphics, however, when it came to gameplay and sound, Saint’s Row the Third was amazing, especially the gameplay side, which was overly dynamic, random, unrealistic and fun, Saint’s Row the Third stood out in some parts, but stood in the bottom of the food chain in other, and for that I think Saint’s Row wasn’t a great game, it was a good game with some huge amazing features which could have made it amazing.
Gameplay: 9/10
-Despite some tough controls, the gameplay was very fun and dynamic-
Story: 3/10
-Saint's Row The Third didn't feel like it had a story, it felt like it had just a concept-
Presentation: 4/10
-Poor presentation, emotionless, but the unrealistic feeling does help though-
Graphics: 7/10
-Improvement from the last two games, but still not up to the level of it's competitors-
Appeal: 8.5/10
-The story isn't much but the side missions, gang hideouts and generally the pure goofiness keeps the game going-
Sound: 9/10
-Excellent voice acting and great soundtrack-
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Overall Rating: 8.3/10
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