Saints Row: The Third

Okay, don't get me wrong. Speaking as someone who is 100% behind the Saints all the way, I was very disappointed by The Third.

For one thing, notice how they hyped up customization? Customize cribs, clothes, cars, "you can make a blue guy with a zombie voice", everything. Well, the developers actually REMOVED some of the customization features.

1) You CANNOT customize your crib. Once you enter a crib's building, you press a context button labeled "access crib" and it opens the wardrobe, weapons, garage, etc menu. This can be annoying, seeing as how opening a door is also a context button, leading to accidental opening of the menu if you are not standing completely against the door. This might be a nitpick, but it is still slightly aggravating.

2) Players who played previous SR games will remember how you could completely customize an outfit - have a hat tilted in specific directions, choice to tuck shirts in or out, layer clothes, etc, etc. That's gone- they give basic underwear, one top (shirt OR jacket) and one bottom, but multiple options for accessories like jewelry and piercings. The game gives you several outfits that are essentially the same. Seriously, they give you the same button down shirt at least 3 different times under different names. It's very similar to the sims 2 (without player created content) versus the sims 2 console as far as player customization. Also, when picking colors for things, some sections of the clothes apparently have a dark overlay on the textures because the color is mostly black or distorted. These are usually on small sections of the clothing or underwear, though.

3) I really don't mean to offend anyone by this statement but it needs to be said. As a black female myself, I was very disappointed by the exclusion of a black female voice option. Let's be real here- This is Saints Row, a story about gang bangers working their way up from the hood with a rags to riches theme, and the voices for a female are a white chick constantly talking about 401k plans and massages, a clearly foreign woman with a heavy accent, like northern european/Russian, and a Latina woman. And the voice acting isn't very good either. There are noticeable cringe worthy moments where the dialogue is simply garbage, no matter what the voice option is, and you are waiting for everyone to SHUT UP. BTW, I hate the new angry/PMS Shaundi, and miss Eliza Dushku. Cars do not have spinner rims nor hydraulics and it is hard when you are personalizing details both on your person and the car because it does not zoom in enough.

Also, driving is a little different. Again, it might be a personal thing, but I didn't mind the old driving scheme. For me, holding down the x (a for xbox users) button for the gas make shooting and driving a little easier. When I found it was different, I thought, "no problem", and went over to the control scheme to change it. I found that due to the lack of manual, the controls are listed in game, but you cannot change them. SIGH. As a side note, when you put in a gps marker, the game produces racing game-like arrows around the city to direct you to your destination.

Chop shop missions are stupid. They want you to get the car from a certain location, then drive all the way across town to the chop shop. So, for example, they tell you to find a Zimos in Bridgeport. You cannot find one in The Grove and go from there- the chop shop is triggered only when you get the car from the specific location, which in this case would be Bridgeport. A similar method happens for the Hit list, but I find that situation a little more intuitive instead of looking for and chasing some random guy all over town.

Okay. Now here's the good!

Better graphics, better driving (cars feel heavier, but those with good acceleration feel REAL good), guns feel powerful, the upgrade system is pretty cool, and minigames are still pretty fun. Defend your territory has a mini arcade thing going on where you either survive for X amount of time or kill X amount of people in X amount of waves. Which brings me to another point. Rival gangs will overwhelm you in this game. There are no friendly saints walking down the street to help you out when you get ambushed. if you start trouble with one gang member, you have approximately 10-20 seconds before a carload of guys come to find you, which quickly multiplies until you have at least 4 flaming cars on screen fighting off 15+ attackers. I am not kidding- there will be multiples of times where your map will show a thick red knot of enemies with you at the center. Thankfully, one of the upgrades is calling for backup homies, and it is very satisfying to see those purple cars roll up when you are one bullet away from respawning at the hospital.

Buying properties really helps the money system. Im 1/3 through the game, and bought around 65% of the buildings and am making $20000 every 15-30 minutes. Upgrades for weapons and player skills and such are not cheap, so the extra money really helps. You also do not make nearly as much money from diversions/activities, but clothes and vehicle mods are cheaper too. The weapon upgrades are cool and helpful, but it is kinda funny to watch your character dual wield pistols in the dark, with lights coming from the ends of them flicking up and down as your characters sprints away.

There is no Forgive and Forget, you run into a building/crib you own and all notoriety disappears. I found this to be useful, especially when you have a lot of real estate scattered around the city, and also because, like I said, you WILL be swarmed. There is also no food in the game to get you out of a pinch, so you really have to depend on your street survival.

All in all, there are some improvements, a few major setbacks, and some things that went unchanged (dialogue, annoying car glitches where sometimes the player character won't get in, etc). I can't really say that the game is a positive improvement, they took away a lot of little things that I liked. But as far as over the top stuff and "addictibility", it does satisfy, and I will be playing it for a while.

-EDIT 3/12: Minus a star. After beating this game about a 3 weeks after I got it... I lied. Honestly, since the credits rolled, I haven't looked at the game since. I feel like even after I've collected the weapons and used them to create a mini war zone in the street, I still only halfway want to finish the trophies, and only then just to get my money's worth for the game. I was so looking forward to this game being a masterpiece but all the letdowns (including the endings! Wow Volition, REALLY?) really hit home with me, a vet of the Row. I feel like it is now an open world sandbox for all the crazy things you ever wanted to do... but what about the feelings of being an untouchable badass without a high tech suit? There are moments when you vaguely feel it, but... no. The one thing I can say is the Professor Genki missions were a lot of fun!

I recommend this game to people who have not played the previous SR games, but fans of the series WILL be disappointed if you enjoyed the feel of the last games... You won't be missing too much if you play other games that compete with this one.

Saints Row The Third is great fun. Something GTAIV was missing for me. It's got a better engine this time, and the game runs pretty smooth unlike Saints Row 2 which got pretty choppy at some parts. Graphics have a major overhaul. Character creation is some of the best I've ever seen. Controls are also tighter and driving is better. I picked up Saints Row The Third at Midnight and played it for nearly 6 hours straight. Story based missions are awesome. All and all I would recomind this for anyone who likes a open world game and likes a lot of varied side-missions.

I'd like to start by saying, I bought this game with exceptionally high expectations based off the great impression SR2 left, so all I have to say is... This game blew me away!!! I love the opening story it's directly falls in line with SR2 ending as The Saints regaining their spot and respect as top gang and expanding it into an empire and becoming a celebrity brand. This game comes on with action as you robbing a bank which goes bad and leads to you getting locked up. But some bigshot the leader of The Syndicate gets you released in hopes of you doing business with him and you decide not to then a huge gun fight takes place on his airplane. The Syndicate somehow finds a way to start messing up your money and the war is on from their. Now without giving you anymore spoilers Of course in true Saint Row fashion you have new gangs to face and more obscene gamplay, missions, weapons, customizations and more. This game truly defines open world gaming. The Saints are back and they've proved their here to stay with comfortable controls, better graphics, more comical aspects and much more to offer than past titles. If you looking for an open world game... get this, if you liked Saints Row 1 and Saint Row 2... get this because it won't dissapoint you. Now for my ratings... GRAPHICS 4stars it looks better than the previous titles but not perfect, GAMEPLAY 5stars it feels great, easy and familiar controls, STORYLINE 5stars based upon what I've played so far it's great new gangs in a new city, NEW FEATURES 5stars, SAINTS ROW: THE THIRD 5STARS.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 113 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars