Gaming Saints Row

[silpheedpilot]

[COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1]Love it or hate it, the GTA formula is here to stay and Volitions concotion; Saints Row is one of the better showcases of this type of sand-box gameplay. The single player is still in the vein of gangsta themed free-roamers but it does it all pretty nicely with great graphics, awesome gameplay mechanics, solid story line, and smooth voice overs. The multi-player is where this game truly shines though, sans for all the lag issues still being worked out right now, with AMAZING gametypes, great level designs, and a good selection of weapons. The point of the multi-player is to win, or lose and get money in which you use to make your character stand out from the pack with different clothes, piercings and such.

Your gametypes are your normal deathmatch types and then they throw in crazier game types like; 'Protect Tha Pimp' where one team has a Pimp that your team has to protect and get to the end of the level and the other team are a bunch of hitmen trying to kill the pimp. Great fun, lots of action.

Another gametype is 'Pimp Da Ride' where everyone scrambles to get cash by killing people, or picking up a piece of 'bling' and then taking it back to a drop off point to get cash to upgrade your 'Ride' at certain intervals. The first to get the car to level 4 and take it to the show room, and then protect it for a minute wins.

I'd suggest picking this game up if you like third person shooters, or if you like GTA. Its great fun, and I'm sure it won't fail you.

~ di.fm

P.S. If anyone has Live and wants to play, my GT is: A Merc For Hire[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Charles]

From what I've played of the game (which is admittedly very little) it played more or less exactly like Grand Theft Auto 3. On a whole it seems very far behind the GTA franchise. But, it did seem like an improved core GTA engine at the very least. I love how the map is set up and it guides you to your next destination. I'm also fond of the hand-to-hand combat engine; I find it vastly superior to GTA's. The control and animation are much more fluid. There are some nice touches with the pedestrian AI too. I attempted to kill one woman and she climbed a fence just to escape.

The gangster humor seemed really forced and annoying though. But, then again, so did the blatant copycatting. At least this game is a competent alternative though, unlike most of the other games that have tried to steal from GTA. So, I can respect that.

Anyway, it's nice to see a thread on here about an Xbox 360 game for once. I'm always hesitant to make them myself because I assumed no one else here had a 360.

[John]

By default, I don't have a great deal of respect for any game that's obviously a copycat in form, and from what I've heard Saint's Row just sounds like a GTA expansion and graphics update. These numerous little things that they add might honestly make the game more fun than the game it copied from, but I can still constantly feel the developer's blunt lack of creativity pulsing through every plastic-looking bipedal alien, slow-motion dive, and freeroaming gangster. And really, that sucks out about 80% of the fun for me.

[Charles]

I agree 100%. They even ripped off of the "Paint N' Spray" by having you drive through a "Forgive and Forget." Honestly, the lack of originality is really disheartening and hardly what I call "next gen." Basically it's just plagiarism-- a higher resolution version of GTA with some better basic fundamentals. The create-a-character seems like a step in the right direction until you find out your character never speaks. Other games have at least allowed you to choose a unique voice, even if the lines are the same for all created characters. So, the story telling seems really primitive next to what GTA has evolved into. If this kind of stealing becomes the standard then I'll be even more relieved when the Wii hits its stride.

At least there are some truly fun and original games on the 360 for now, like Dead Rising (in terms of execution, not concept).