Saints Row hasn’t been a very good series since its second installment in my opinion. The truth is, I was dying to remake Saints Row 2, and when the day came when a Saints Row reboot was announced, I was excited despite the disappointments of the last few years. Could this be the time to take up the series once and for all?
The game begins with us putting ourselves in the shoes of a new hire at a security company called Marshall Industries. Your first week of work isn’t going well because you get promoted only to get fired the same day. And what are you doing then? Well, of course, starting a gang of criminals to ease the pain of defeat and failure. During this prologue, movement is restricted and you’ll be herded like cattle on their way to the slaughterhouse while shooting anything that moves. The basics of the game are also learned here. the prologue seems unnecessarily long because I feel “locked in” at all times and just want the opportunity to get out and explore, stretch my legs and really look around. When the time finally comes, the city of Santo Ileso spreads out before us, promising much chaos and madness.
Now we can find out how The bossan adrenaline junkie who acts first and thinks later, and to help us climb the criminal ladder we have our three best friends and cronies: Elithe nerd of the group who, instead of fighting with his fists, uses his developed brain and acts as a strategist and planner for the gang. DJ Kevin, who appears to be allergic to t-shirts and constantly wears palm hearts on his chest, is our public relations work. And last but not least we have Nah, our driver who is crazy about cars and their mechanics. These three form the core of our little gang as we work every day to build a criminal empire and rise to the top, and they are essential because being alone in this world is not a wise choice, at least not against the others gangs.
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Speaking of bands, there are many in Santo Ileso. On the one hand we have the rough gang of Los Panteros with their sports cars and their red colors. In the other we have Los Idols, a group of anarchist “ravers” who like neon colors and baseball bats. You’d think that these two great bands would be enough and we’d already be treated as enemies, but no. Last but not least, we have the Marshalls, a large private army of mercenaries with tons of resources and weapons to back them up. For those of you who were hoping for some familiar faces, I’ve got some bad news, because this Saints Row reboot has a whole new story and characters, so We won’t be seeing Johnny Gat this time (although hopefully it will appear in a future DLC).
Instead, it’s clear that Volition wanted to appeal to the new generation of millennial gamers who grew up playing Fortnite and posted on Snapchat. It’s enough to see the characters’ looks and how the menus are offered as mobile applications to understand the age group the studio had in mind from the start.
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The open world feels quite large, with a total of 17 districts packed with things to steal, photograph, or destroy. Unfortunately, I think the game developers could have done a little more to make the city livelier, because Santo Ileso really lacks a lot of that. When you’re speeding through the streets in your car you don’t notice it, but when someone like me who likes to research starts to explore on foot and cautiously, immediately notes that you can see the stitching throughout the set. I found many interesting places during my explorations, like a big casino and a power plant, but none of them can really be explored inside. There is nothing to do in the buildings and you can’t enter them unless you want to get a tattoo or buy clothes and I seem to find that a bit difficult There are only about eight different character models for passers-by and just as many for enemies. It’s like fighting clones over and over again. Gangs seem to have four different types of members, and sometimes when you team up you can fight ten identical tall mustachioed guys.
Even if the game world lacks life, that does not mean that you go through the game like a headless chicken. If you want to dive straight into the main quests, there are quite a few side quests that you can have fun with. How about a App called Wanted
The game developers have toned down their sick humor a bit and it seems they’re planning on making one Play a little more mature that fits a broader market, but the sad thing is that I admit I really miss silly moments from old games. Of course, the humor is still here and there, but it’s not as vulgar and wacky as it used to be, which maybe says more about why I miss it. There are many missions and some of them are really fun, like when you have to help someone escape from a prison or when you have to do a big robbery on a train. Or even when you go to an island and have to fight to the death everyone you meet, with the weapon you wield being random.
However, the graphics could be better, although it’s not an ugly game at all. But for the new console generations I expected a little more. Being able to play the game early, I encountered a few bugs, some minor ones and one major one. The worst was in a mission where you had to eliminate the police contingent moving to a certain area of the map. Unfortunately their cars got stuck on a bridge and they never showed up and when you tried to get to them the mission ended because you left the mission area. This was very frustrating as I was on a main quest and forced me to reload a previous save, which is never a flavorful dish. However, I can tolerate other minor errors, such as the disappearance of GPS markers on the road. But I hope these little things will be fixed with the release patch.
I have to say that this game is terribly divisive as to what I really think. A part of me sees that it could have been done much better in many aspects: more variety, a livelier and more vibrant city, better graphics, more charismatic characters, and better vehicle physics. Maybe Volition should stop looking crooked at GTA and go his own solo way. But another part of me really enjoyed playing for the title and for me that’s the most important thing. It might not be the new Saints Row 2 I wanted, but still is a step in the right direction and I find it entertaining. And it’ll probably keep me entertained until it’s time to start cracking skulls with Kratos and Atreus in November.
