Saints Row

September 8,2006 - Since it was publicly shown off, Saints Row has been compared time and time again to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series. The similarities cannot be ignored, however. It is obvious that development house Volition, best known for the Red Faction series, and publisher THQ copied heavily from the sandbox gameplay formula that made GTA so popular.

While Saints Row is nearly a carbon copy of GTA, it stands tall on its own merits, taking what made GTA such a fun game and building on its few shortcomings while adding a bit of freshness, and focusing much more on gangland warfare. Although GTA had its share of gang based gameplay, especially in San Andreas, the entire world of Saints Row hinges on gang activity while GTA only uses it as a stepping stone to reach the upper echelons of organized crime.

Unlike in GTA, you are free to create your own character from scratch, defining characteristics such as your ethnicity, hairstyle and even your nose size. It’s not as in-depth as Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but it offers a wealth of options to tweak to your liking. When you get the money, you can change your clothing at a variety of clothing stores, go to a plastic surgeon to change your appearance entirely, and even add modifications to your ride at Rim Jobs.

Once released into your virtual playpen you are tasked to “clean up the Row,” as in wipe out your rival gangs, which include The Rollerz, Vice Kings, and Los Carnales. As a newly canonized member of the 3rd Street Saints, you have to work your way up the ladder gaining respect as you go along. The entire game revolves around the aspect of respect. The more respect you earn the more storyline driven missions you unlock and “homies” you can recruit to travel with you through the streets of Stilwater. Unfortunately, reaching the top only takes less than 20 hours, as the game isn’t extraordinarily lengthy.

You gain most of your respect by doing activities scattered throughout the city. This is where Saints Row differs from GTA. A much heavier emphasis is put on side activities and missions not related to the story, since it is necessary to complete them in order to progress in the main storyline.

Activities range from Hijacking and Street Racing to Drug Trafficking and Demolition Derby. Our favorite was Insurance Fraud, which charged us with jumping in front of cars to create the most gruesome accidents in order to get away with a higher payoff; the rag-doll physics makes it all the more satisfying. Aside from the standard activities, if you have gained the respect, you can visit rival gangs’ strongholds and take them over in order to claim that district as your own, eventually growing the Saints’ empire to encompass all of Stilwater. The more districts you control, the more money you collect in your “stash.”

Although the system of having to perform these activities in order to unlock the main storyline missions may seem like an unavoidable chore, it forces the player to explore the other avenues available to them instead of simply playing through the main story and nothing more.

The A.I. must be formally recognized as well. No matter what wanted level you achieve, the police are relentless when it comes to chasing you down. In GTA you don’t get a quality high speed chase until you at least reach a level three wanted level. Anything less and it almost seems too easy to escape, unlike in Saints Row where even on level one the police will be riding your bumper if not along your side attempting to ram you off the road. Your homies’ A.I. is also well done, being as they are actually useful. In San Andreas they seemed to be more valuable as human shields. In Saints Row, however, one follower has the ballistic prowess to take out two to three rival gang bangers single handedly.

For those familiar with the GTA series, the city of Stilwater is larger than Vice City, but not quite as huge as San Andreas; however, it’s certainly more concentrated. Volition seemed to have put a bit of work into designing the three heavily urbanized locales that the city is broken into. In San Andreas, despite the fact it was larger, even the heavily condensed areas weren’t quite as vibrant as they are in Saints Row. The level design seemingly puts everything on top of one another, with highways and byways snaking in and out. Although the city is broken up, all of it is accessible from the start unlike GTA.

Much like GTA, Saints Row features a host of radio stations to listen to while cruising through the streets. Volition was sure to touch on many of the same bases as Rockstar, offering 12 stations that cover classical, rock, talk-shows, and most definitely hip-hop. 130 tracks in total, with a few being exclusives, act as the musical serving. A nifty feature is how you can hear the car stereo from outside of the vehicle.

If you want to take a break from the single player story mode, take the action online with up to 11 other players over Xbox Live. There are six online game modes, including Gangsta Brawl, Big Ass Chains, Blinged Out Ride, Protect Tha Pimp, and Co-op. Protect Tha Pimp seems to be a fan favorite, and is basically a form of VIP mode, with the player controlling the pimp having access to a devastatingly fatal pimp slap.

Saints Row isn’t exactly original, but it succeeds in being the first to take the GTA gameplay formula and create a well-executed gaming experience. If you are fan of the GTA series, or simply an Xbox 360 owner looking for the next best pick up and play title, then Saints Row won’t let you down.

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