First Saints Row: The Third Review lands....

You’re naked, drugged, and stumbling around in an underground crypt shooting hookers with a machinegun…and this particular mission doesn’t even rank in the top five of Saints Row: The Third’s biggest “WTF?!” moments. In fact, it might not even crack the top 10.

Since launching as a very good but obvious Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas clone in the early days of the Xbox 360 — back when we were starving for our first next-gen sandbox experience — Saints Row has matured into a series that embraces the over-the-top and the absurd in a way that even GTA could never dream of, and this third iteration perfects the formula by emphasizing fun above all else, realism be damned.

In fact, Saints Row: The Third is like a Saturday-morning-cartoon version of San Andreas. Celebrities make strange cameos that are somehow justified within the context of the game, tanks fall from the sky, a hungry tiger gets locked in your car with you, and virtual reality literally transforms you into a toilet.



This game shouldn’t be dismissed as dumb fun, though. Sure, you can punch anyone in the groin, sprint at them and press RT to do a showboating takedown, or wipe out a crowd of people with bizarre weapons like the Penetrator (a sex-toy-turned-blunt-instrument) or the airstrike gun. But The Third brilliantly evolves a number of open-world failings, leaving a smartly designed experience that’s free of filler and packed with nothing but grin-inducing good times. One seemingly small decision that plays big is the placement of the GPS turn-indicator arrows smack-dab in the middle of the gameplay world, as if it were a racetrack in Burnout. Is this realistic? No, but instead of staring mostly at the mini-map in the lower corner of the screen any time you’re driving somewhere, you can pay attention to the other 95% of your TV, enjoying the ride and learning the lay of the land in the process.

Elsewhere, The Third builds upon the economy and upgrade system introduced in Saints Row 2 and makes it a core component of the experience. Completing missions and Activities (more on those shortly) earns you cash and Respect. Use cash, in turn, to buy weapons, gear, and myriad abilities, such as extra health, sidekicks to aid you in battle, unlimited sprint, and dozens more. In fact, you’ve got so much to choose from — and many of the best abilities don’t unlock until you advance your Respect level into the 20s and 30s — that no two Saints heroes are likely to be the same. Buying property, meanwhile, increases your control over each neighborhood while also returning a certain hourly cash flow, helping to keep the money coming in to fund your next car customization or ability upgrade.



And the aforementioned missions and Activities? All of it is framed within a simplistic gang-war plot that works because it’s both self-aware — characters actually joke about how ludicrous their actions and predicaments are — and straight to the point. True, we finished The Third in 16 hours — which we could easily stretch to 20 by going for full 100% completion, although even that pales in comparison to the 40-plus hours of the average GTA — but literally every mission was an eccentric riot. You won’t find any of GTA’s fetch quests or filler here. Each Saints mission throws you right into something cool, whether it’s pancaking your foes with a tank, nuking pursuers with a sonic cannon, warring with dozens of rival gangsters in one intersection, or, yes, stumbling naked through a hooker-infested labyrinth.

The only downside to this design is that each mission generally plays out in one way. For the most part, the open-world nature of the game doesn’t apply to the carefully crafted mission experiences. It’s worth noting, though, that several key missions offer you a choice of either how to tackle them or what your reward will be — most notably the endgame sequence, which splits the game into two decidedly different endings. (Hint: the “good” finale is much funnier and more absurd.)

Most of the series’ best Activities (read: Respect-building sidequests) return, too, including Mayhem (extra props to the tank version), Insurance Fraud, and Trafficking. Additional GTA-esque side missions lurk at all times, too, such as stealing select cars, assassinating certain targets, and finding stunt jumps scattered around The Third’s all-new city of Steelport. Plus, you could easily replay the entire game with a friend in two-player co-op. Fans of Saints 2 know what we mean: this game is built for doubling the havoc-wreaking fun by adding a second player to the mix.


Finally, a two-player, 30-wave “Whored Mode” (great name) is included, too, and though it’s mostly a quick, bite-sized bonus on top of the main campaign, it’s worth a look. At the very least, it beats the undercooked competitive-multiplayer modes from the last two Saints games.

Third’s graphics won’t win any awards, but they are greatly improved over those of Saints 2. And a varied soundtrack pumps out plenty of good tunes and the occasional funny ad or deejay, even if it lacks a just-pull-over-and-listen-to-the-whole-hilarious-thing talk-radio station. Minor complaints all, and at the end of the day, Saints Row: The Third feels like a game whose designers have found the note-perfect tone for the series while also wielding their own talents with razor-sharp precision. It’s the game Volition — a studio whose successes go back 15 years to the original Descent — was born to make.



+ Crazy, fun missions; self-aware sense of humor; huge battles with tons of action onscreen.

+ Smartly designed; no filler quests; hilarious endings; glorious co-op.

– Not much gameplay freedom in the missions themselves.

? Where did Freckle Bitches go? Do they not have franchises in Steelport?

9.5/10

Source: OXM

This game looks like a right hoot, and if there werent so many 'big' title releases at the moment I would give it a look.

After what I played at EG Expo I'm pretty sure this will be a day one for me.

BTW the demo is now out and rather than offering the chance to play the game it gives you the full character creation tool and lets you go wild with it. You can save your character for the game and share it online for anyone to download.

Sorry Tom, but Forza 4 is no more for me - this has taken its place on the list

I'm not complaining mate, not played Forza for a week "Whored" Mode here we come!!

This is a defo for me when i get back along with many others