Photo Illustration from IGN Entertainment
The sequel to Saint’s Row continues the street war between feuding gangs, but improves the game play this time around. The game continues the trend of “sandbox game playâ€Â, which allows players to explore the massive city, while completing missions as they wish.
The game play itself has been changed completely from the original, but almost feels too close to that of Grand Theft Auto IV.
On the flipside though, this game play is expanded to include more side quests which don̢۪t exactly tie in with the primary story and give it a little more depth.
Aside from this unoriginal feel in the way that the game is played, the only major drawback is the shortage of save points; but one can argue that true gamers don̢۪t need a lot of save points. A minor flaw in the game is cheesy dialogue; this of course can be either positive or negative, depending on the player̢۪s taste.
Major standouts that make the game great are the amount of customization that̢۪s available when you first create your character and the multiplayer modes which includes a local and multiplayer co-operative mode where you can play through the game with someone else. This expands the replay value greatly.
The online multiplayer component of the game is primarily death match based, in either a team oriented or every man for himself setup.
A completely different mode is included, which involves players working together as a big group to complete certain missions; this is quite similar to the co-op mode.
Overall, it̢۪s not a bad game, it̢۪s actually quite good. It̢۪s just nothing completely new in terms of overall presentation. However, if you enjoy the Grand Theft Auto series, as well as the first Saint̢۪s Row, you̢۪ll probably enjoy this one as well.
Saint̢۪s Row 2 is currently available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Windows based PC̢۪s and is rated M for Mature.
simon • Oct 20, 2008 at 10:43 am
This is a terrible review of saints row 2.
“only major drawback is the shortage of save points”..
Um, you can always press start and save AT ANY TIME during gameplay. You forget to point out that it has more features / bullet points than GTA IV… customizable cars, gangs, apartments that you can purchase and customize, stores you can buy, liquor to drink and blunts to smoke, all of the random activities… The co-op gameplay alone is enough reason to purchase this title. Unfortunately there are bugs, which you neglected to mention… pop-in, disappearing cars, screen tearing… but all are alleviated by the sheer amount of fun you have while playing this game. Unlike Mercenaries 2… which is sooo unpolished that it isn’t even fun. Saints Row 2 does have less production values than GTA IV, but it is CLEARLY, definitely a AAA game.
Did you even play this game? Seriously? This review reads like a homework assignment. Its arguably more fun and addictive than GTA IV, and I feel that it is not getting the respect that it rightly deserves. The fact that GTA IV got 10/10 on every website and Saints Row 2 has not even broken a 9 is shameful, and while it does borrow EXTREMELY HEAVILY from GTAs of the past, as well as other open world games (Godfather), I wish someone would judge this game on its own merits.
Anyways, with that being said… all people who enjoyed GTA 3 San Andreas (the most expansive GTA game in terms of gameplay options and sheer surface area) will LOVE this game, and start to reevaulate their “second coming of christ” opinions of the experiences had by Mr. Bellic.
simon • Oct 20, 2008 at 5:43 pm
This is a terrible review of saints row 2.
“only major drawback is the shortage of save points”..
Um, you can always press start and save AT ANY TIME during gameplay. You forget to point out that it has more features / bullet points than GTA IV… customizable cars, gangs, apartments that you can purchase and customize, stores you can buy, liquor to drink and blunts to smoke, all of the random activities… The co-op gameplay alone is enough reason to purchase this title. Unfortunately there are bugs, which you neglected to mention… pop-in, disappearing cars, screen tearing… but all are alleviated by the sheer amount of fun you have while playing this game. Unlike Mercenaries 2… which is sooo unpolished that it isn’t even fun. Saints Row 2 does have less production values than GTA IV, but it is CLEARLY, definitely a AAA game.
Did you even play this game? Seriously? This review reads like a homework assignment. Its arguably more fun and addictive than GTA IV, and I feel that it is not getting the respect that it rightly deserves. The fact that GTA IV got 10/10 on every website and Saints Row 2 has not even broken a 9 is shameful, and while it does borrow EXTREMELY HEAVILY from GTAs of the past, as well as other open world games (Godfather), I wish someone would judge this game on its own merits.
Anyways, with that being said… all people who enjoyed GTA 3 San Andreas (the most expansive GTA game in terms of gameplay options and sheer surface area) will LOVE this game, and start to reevaulate their “second coming of christ” opinions of the experiences had by Mr. Bellic.