I recently made a thread asking if Saints Row 2 was worth playing. a lot of people suggested that I should give it a go, saying it was the best entry into the Saints Row series. well I bought the game on the 5th and have been playing it non stop for the last week. I'm currently sitting at around 90 percent completion and felt compelled to give my opinion on the game because wow... its REALLY good
I guess i'll begin by addressing my thread title. GTA San Andreas was and is a great game, although perhaps not on the strength of its game mechanics, which were never very good to begin with and have aged rather poorly. I'm talking shooting, driving, melee combat, etc. these are things that Saints Row 2 does much, much better (and of course you would expect it to). what San Andreas excels at is creating a mood and storytelling. it really draws you in to its 1990s image of California gang life. there are several contributing factors that play into this, including San Andreas' masterful soundtrack, its (mostly) phenomenal voice acting, and even its mission structure, which has players tagging up their hoods and committing other illicit activities in order to contest disputed gang territories.
Saints Row 2 hits on several similar notes with particular respect to mission and activity structure. assaulting gang strongholds allows players to gain control over a rival hood, or zone, and random pushbacks from the evicted gang means they can always be taken back from you, lending a tug-of-war feel to the proceedings. player-initiated drive-bys also contribute to this idea that youre fighting a turf war. hop into a car and shoot some rival gang members and you can begin this activity, which of course raises your notoriety with the targeted gang and results in ever more difficult enemies being sent after you. unlike GTA, notoriety not only gets the police on your ass, but also members of Stillwater's three primary gangs, the Ronin, the Sons of Samedi, and The Brotherhood. its even possible to piss off multiple factions at the same time, which can lead to some hilarious combat encounters. and needless to say, there are some great story-driven moments that have you burning a rival gangs weed farm, trashing another's gambling den, and so on.
with regards to some of those things that might be considered as adding to the "flavor" of gang life, players can also outfit their gangs with several different styles of dress, pick from a (small) assortment of different graffiti designs, choose which vehicles your gangsters ride in, and most importantly, you can customize your own character to reflect any or all of these things. this is something that I think GTA should explore in future games, although I realize Rockstar are very keen on telling very directed stories with narrowly defined characters. the character creator in Saints Row 2 is quite robust, allowing you to sculpt the gangster that YOU want. then there are the many clothing options to choose from. I role-played as a fast talking chola who drove around in a 50s convertible and had the in-game radio set exclusively to the easy listening station. then for a brief moment I changed my entire gangs style to that of 1980s retro, changing my own hair style and attire to match. I inhabited the life of a gang member of my own choosing and it was fantastic that the game allowed me such a freedom.
which is really where it all comes full circle, isn't it? people loved GTA SA for all the freedom of play it gave them, and I feel like Saints Row 2 nails that sense of freedom down entirely in ways that GTA has been reluctant to pursue.
naturally, however, the game isn't without its fault and I'm not without my nitpicks. the soundtrack doesn't even begin to approach that of San Andreas, although there are some inspired track choices (the easy listening and world music tracks in particular). technically, the game can be a bit of a mess, with persistent tearing and some truly awful dips in framerate, especially when in or around water (ive got a high tolerance for this kind of stuff, though). the game also features some laughably poor boss encounters that never present a real challenge, even on the game's highest difficulty, which I played on. when the reward for completing a series of side missions is infinite machine gun ammo, boss battles turn into a joke, so its got some balancing and pacing issues with its unlock system.
that said, I have enjoyed Saints Row 2 tremendously for its expansive sandbox and range of player freedom. in my original thread I also mentioned that SR2 interested me because I felt the later games became too silly or goofy. well Saints Row 2 manages to be silly and goofy without compromising its seriousness. there's some real dramatic weight to the game that I really enjoyed
.
anyway I feel like I'm rambling and I probably haven't made my point as clearly as I meant to in my mind so I'll quite writing now. final word: Saints Row 2 is fantastic and it gets my highest recommendation.
I guess i'll begin by addressing my thread title. GTA San Andreas was and is a great game, although perhaps not on the strength of its game mechanics, which were never very good to begin with and have aged rather poorly. I'm talking shooting, driving, melee combat, etc. these are things that Saints Row 2 does much, much better (and of course you would expect it to). what San Andreas excels at is creating a mood and storytelling. it really draws you in to its 1990s image of California gang life. there are several contributing factors that play into this, including San Andreas' masterful soundtrack, its (mostly) phenomenal voice acting, and even its mission structure, which has players tagging up their hoods and committing other illicit activities in order to contest disputed gang territories.
Saints Row 2 hits on several similar notes with particular respect to mission and activity structure. assaulting gang strongholds allows players to gain control over a rival hood, or zone, and random pushbacks from the evicted gang means they can always be taken back from you, lending a tug-of-war feel to the proceedings. player-initiated drive-bys also contribute to this idea that youre fighting a turf war. hop into a car and shoot some rival gang members and you can begin this activity, which of course raises your notoriety with the targeted gang and results in ever more difficult enemies being sent after you. unlike GTA, notoriety not only gets the police on your ass, but also members of Stillwater's three primary gangs, the Ronin, the Sons of Samedi, and The Brotherhood. its even possible to piss off multiple factions at the same time, which can lead to some hilarious combat encounters. and needless to say, there are some great story-driven moments that have you burning a rival gangs weed farm, trashing another's gambling den, and so on.
with regards to some of those things that might be considered as adding to the "flavor" of gang life, players can also outfit their gangs with several different styles of dress, pick from a (small) assortment of different graffiti designs, choose which vehicles your gangsters ride in, and most importantly, you can customize your own character to reflect any or all of these things. this is something that I think GTA should explore in future games, although I realize Rockstar are very keen on telling very directed stories with narrowly defined characters. the character creator in Saints Row 2 is quite robust, allowing you to sculpt the gangster that YOU want. then there are the many clothing options to choose from. I role-played as a fast talking chola who drove around in a 50s convertible and had the in-game radio set exclusively to the easy listening station. then for a brief moment I changed my entire gangs style to that of 1980s retro, changing my own hair style and attire to match. I inhabited the life of a gang member of my own choosing and it was fantastic that the game allowed me such a freedom.
which is really where it all comes full circle, isn't it? people loved GTA SA for all the freedom of play it gave them, and I feel like Saints Row 2 nails that sense of freedom down entirely in ways that GTA has been reluctant to pursue.
naturally, however, the game isn't without its fault and I'm not without my nitpicks. the soundtrack doesn't even begin to approach that of San Andreas, although there are some inspired track choices (the easy listening and world music tracks in particular). technically, the game can be a bit of a mess, with persistent tearing and some truly awful dips in framerate, especially when in or around water (ive got a high tolerance for this kind of stuff, though). the game also features some laughably poor boss encounters that never present a real challenge, even on the game's highest difficulty, which I played on. when the reward for completing a series of side missions is infinite machine gun ammo, boss battles turn into a joke, so its got some balancing and pacing issues with its unlock system.
that said, I have enjoyed Saints Row 2 tremendously for its expansive sandbox and range of player freedom. in my original thread I also mentioned that SR2 interested me because I felt the later games became too silly or goofy. well Saints Row 2 manages to be silly and goofy without compromising its seriousness. there's some real dramatic weight to the game that I really enjoyed
Carlos and Aisha's deaths are the most notable call outs here
anyway I feel like I'm rambling and I probably haven't made my point as clearly as I meant to in my mind so I'll quite writing now. final word: Saints Row 2 is fantastic and it gets my highest recommendation.
