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Rating

First and foremost, I won’t even compare this game to GTA IV because it’s not MEANT to; Volition has come out and said long before the game’s release that it’s not trying to replace GTA.

One of the biggest selling points for me was that I could play as both a man or a woman. And once I learned that I could visit a plastic surgeon at any time and change my gender back and forth, I was even happier. I also appreciate the fact that Volition supplied six different voice tracks for the protagonist, each with its own personality and nuance, giving the game a distinctly different feel for each playthrough. For example, the British actor would read one line as “hey mate” when it’s supposed to be “hey man.” Little touches like this give the voice tracks their own personalities. I was struck at how different a cutscene feels when the hero has a different voice and attitude.

Pros:

-Be male or female (or a freak; be a man with a high, female voice!)

-Great VO work, engaging supporting characters with personality

-Variety of missions and activities (especially Septic Avenger; spraying sh** on people is hilarious!)

-New features such as human shield, cruise control, fine aiming, dual wielding

-More customization options (clothing, tatoos, hairstyles)

-Excellent GPS is back, plus now you can place “bookmarks” on the map as reminders (i.e. during a mission you find a tag spot, and want to remember its location for later)

-Stores are now open 24/7, meaning you no longer have to wait around endlessly to buy that one specific shirt you want

-Fresh soundtrack with songs you haven’t heard in other games

-Instantly warp between a store and your wardrobe, making it easier to mix and match your clothes

-Some cool easter eggs to be found

Cons:

-Bugs/glitches from first game are back (such as cars disappearing, NPCs getting stuck in your vehicle)

-Idiot homie A.I. (guys, did you know you can walk AROUND obstacles?)

-No way to give commands to homies

-No auto-lock on or aim assist of any kind, making shootouts harder than they need to be (the option to toggle it on or off would have been nice)

-Digital music player from SR 1 has been canned (you can’t listen to music when on foot anymore)

-Melee fighting system (Brotherhood style, Ronin style, etc) largely feels gimmicky and wasted; outside the “fight club” activity, there is no reason whatsoever to use fisticuffs when you could simply shoot your enemies

Rating

If you are looking single player only and don’t care about all the achievements this is a good game. On that basis I would give it 4 Stars. But if you like co op and achievements don’t even bother unless they finally release the patch they claim they released in Dec of 08. Played the game 4 times now in co op and still no achievement because it randomly decides to give it to you or not. At best 1 of the 2 of you will get the achievement leaving the other cheated. This is on top of missions that just stop mid way through, 11 out of 12 boxes loaded then nothing. I can live with a glitch or two but there are so many at this point it has soured my view of what started out as very fun and entertaining game.

Rating

Seeing that there are quite a number of reviews for this game already, I’ll keep mine short.

After being frustrated and bored (in no particular order) to near-death by GTA IV, I’m glad to be back playing a “gangster sandbox” game that’s actually fun. Saints Row 2 is not a perfect game, and Stilwater isn’t exactly a “living, breathing city” that got pro reviewers all over the world to engage in a “who could write the best 10/10 review” competition. What it lacks in presentation, however, SR2 compensates with lots of fun. I don’t want this to sound like a GTA IV-bashing session, but since it’s a known fact that the SR franchise is basically a GTA-clone, I’ll do this off by listing some stuff that you’ll enjoy in SR2, vs GTA IV:

- Mid-mission checkpoints: no more driving half the map to die, only to be told to drive half the map again.

- Regenerating Health Bar: you’ve an option not to die now.

- Three difficulty levels: so that even your five-year-old cousin can play this game and complete it, even though he shouldn’t actually be doing so.

- Driving that actually works: you can do an Initial D drift with ease, without crashing into something or everything.

- Shots that actually register on your intended target: and not on someone (or thing) else just because you’re pressing LT with five enemies ahead.

- Co-op on the fly: havoc is guaranteed as your friend and you could appear on different parts of the map to do whatever you want to do, including beating the whole campaign and completing all the side quests together.

- Customization: so that you can play the game as Megan Fox, your Homies can be dressed in ninja uniforms, and your cribs will have dance poles.

- Side Missions: favorites like Insurance Fraud and Escort are back, but check out the reality show-style Fuzz and the “like spraying s*** on buildings” Septic Avenger. Guaranteed to tickle a bone or two.

- No “couzan” to call you every five minutes for bowling: nuff said!

The game has its share of flaws. Ugly graphics, co-op completion glitches, pop-ups and all, but I’m sure you know these already. I’ll end by saying how glad I am for SR2 to resurrect my interest in this genre. Being able to kill Julius for revenge just makes it all the more sweeter.

Rating

OK, this is one of the best games around, so I’m sure that the makers (Volition, THQ, Havoc) will be laughing all the way to the bank while I bash the bugs in the game. After all, I bought/play the game anyway, and I recommend the game to others.

But, I guess it’s just the frustrating reality that they don’t HAVE to finish debugging a game nowadays in order to make money on it. This game definitely falls into the “good enough to sell” category, even though there are TONS of code problems.

First of all, good stuff:

- Regenerating life meter.

- Great story line in the game play.

- Tons of fun to play.

- Totally customizable (if you spend enough time tweaking the appearance, you can make the main character look like anyone on earth, and you can even be a female… even though I’m sure the players are 98% male).

- Brought back the same ‘hood as SR1, with some cool additional areas and stuff.

- Got rid of stupid activities from SR1, kept fun ones and made the difficulty more reasonable.

- Helicopters, airplanes, etc., you can fly ‘em all!!!

- Physics engine is not TOO realistic (like in GTA4, frankly I thought driving the cars wasn’t fun enough… I want to be able to pull unrealistic 11 g turns in my car if I want to… but in SR2, they definitely got the unrealistic-but-fun formula correct).

- I could go on and on and on, but you get the point.

Yes, you should buy this game (if you are of legal age)!!!

Now, bad stuff:

(This is where the manufacturers laugh… they can listen to me complain all day long, but in the mean time, I still bought it and tell others to buy it too… so WHY should they fix these problems?? Well, maybe just because it would be nice to actually FINISH a game, and to keep fans happy?? Sigh, somehow something tells me that’s not a good enough reason for them.)

Anyway, bad stuff:

- Bugs.

- Idiot homies (they can’t seem to jump 6 inches over something to get where they need to be).

- More bugs.

- Tons of bugs.

- Idiot homies (they often STAND THERE and do NOTHING when they’re supposed to follow you).

- Game freezes galore.

- More bugs.

- Did I mention there are bugs in code?

- Idiot homies (they blow themselves up with rocket launchers).

- More game freezes.

- More bugs.

- Ooops, did you stop a mayhem activity before finishing all levels?.?.?. Good luck finding it. It’s gone until you figure out the magic trick to go back to the original place it was, then it’ll appear at its new place. (bug)

- Are you driving fast? Oh, nope, not any more, you stop DEAD in your tracks while the game loads the new area (even from HARD DRIVE!!!).

- Bugs.

- Oh, finally, you finished that tough level… oh, no, wait, WHAT???!!!!?? Now the game says “mission failed”!!!??? (another bug)

- Oh, you made $802,000 in damages in mayhem level 6 (minimum required damage = $800,000)… oh, no, wait, WHAT??!!! It still said “mission failed”??!!! (another bug)

- Oh, go and kill that gang in “fuzz” missions… oh, no, wait, WHAT!??!??! The gang members are somehow 5 feet lower on the “y” axis than they should be, and are buried in the pavement, and you can’t kill them???!!!?? (oops, another bug, I guess you’re starting that mission over again.)

- Hmm, did your game freeze again now?

- And, well, aside from game bugs, I will say that I can live without the stupid diversions… looking for secret areas, trying to find hidden jumps, etc. I think the game shouldn’t have as much “hidden” stuff and should do a better job of leading you through all of the goodies.

- The helicopter “point the stick in the direction you want to go” controls leave something to be desired… should have stuck with normal controls.

Anyway, I play this game from my XBOX hard drive, so it’s not merely the occasional bad optical drive that causes issues. The game is plainly unfinished. Another “rush the code out the door for the release date” winner of a game. Argh. I wonder when video games will start being subject to the same level of quality controls as the rest of the products we purchase in life. If you buy a pair of shoes and the sole falls off, you can return it. If you buy a new car and 12 things don’t work, they fix it. If you buy a parachute and it has 57 holes in it and tears to pieces when you open it, well… ok, maybe YOU won’t be getting your money back, but they will go out of business in a hurry. Even video games of the 80s and 90s had pretty good quality control. A bug here or there, sure, but largely bug free and much more rare to have a game freeze. But, nowadays things are different. Video games aren’t held to a very high standard. And, spare me the nonsense about the code being that much more complicated now. As true as it might be to some extent, the truth is that these bugs are plainly evident if these manufacturers would just test the game a little more before selling it.

But, as usual, nope, they’re modifying the code all the way up to the release date, and they just didn’t leave themselves enough time to finish debugging. It seems that they NEVER do nowadays.

But, anyway, hypocritical rant over, because here I am loving this game and telling you to buy it too!!! Totally a 5-star game except for the nasty bugs.

Rating

Saints Row could be considered a sequel to GTA San Andreas. Really fun huge replay value. Graphics are great I do not know what everyone is talking about. Also if you liked Red Faction Guerrilla you will love this.

Rating

This is what GTA IV should almost have been like. The game is really, realy good. The graphics are great. The customization is outstanding with almost limitless amount of changes from your character to your gang, your cars and and to your base. The story is interesting. The hand-to-hand fighting is truly nice. The gun fighting is really good but could be little bit better & the driving a little more realistic. But overall, SR2 is definitely A Must Have.

Rating

I think the game is one of the best games for the 360. It’s fun, crass and full of violence… It’s definately not for a 3rd grader or ultra sensitive soccer mom. The co-op mode is a blast(2 player co-op only). It allows you and a friend to play the missions and side activities.

If you don’t want to do that you can just run around exploring the city. Along the way you can shop, steal cars(and customize them), and fight with rival gangs or cops. Through out the game you are allowed to customize yourself, your cars, your houses, even your gang(I chose gangsta style and gave them sweet sports cars to drive)

As you gain control of the city your gang grows in power and you have even more options. You befriend several people and they will help you out. You can call your ‘Homies’. They include the gangs high ranking members as well a few others…

After you take over the city in Singleplayer/Co-op.You can take the fight online in multiplayer competition. You can either play deathmatch(FFA or Team) or strongarm(Completing objectives)Party up with your friends and meet new people online. I’m impressed by the online community. Alot of them are nice people. There’s alot less annoying kids and trashtalking than alot of online games.

I’ve had two problems out of Saints Row 2.The first that it has locked up a few time in co-op.(I save often for that reason). The second is that people frequently get ‘lagged out’ of online game resulting in uneven teams.

Other than that it’s a great game. It’s crass. It’s satirical. It has a great cast of characters. If you were dissappointed with GTA IV don’t let that influence your decision on Saints row 2.They are worlds apart.

Rating

the shooting is God Aweful, the missions are Boring, and some of the smaller cars handle like Complete Garbage the graphics were alot better on the First Saints Row =/ and the game was just put together Terribly, period. should have never been released..

..but the Customization is Awesome the Trucks and Bikes handle really well…and are a pleasure to modify to your liking at the mechanic shops…and you can save over 10 automobiles in your garage. the side missions alone will keep you busy for a long time..but this game also has…STRIPPERS any game with Strippers is Alright With Me i liked a few of the songs in the game as well…and was glad you could Customize which songs you wanted to hear. i spend all my time customizing jacked vehicles and riding around listening to my selected tracks, it really feels like real life. and i LOVE going to the strip club i hated this game at first but its really growing on me because its so Fun to just pick up and immerse yourself in it…and you dont even have to Shoot anyone for it to be Fun…

overall, this game is Great Fun, a Lot more fun than GTA4′s Single Player. dont take it so Serious…as it was ment to be a wacky, corny game filled with Fun and no casual gamer should miss out on atleast renting it.

iLL .

Rating

With a variety customization options, an interesting storyline, and more whimsical take on the sandbox genre, Saints Row 2 clearly outdoes Rockstar’s GTA IV. Getting into the game is relatively easy, despite it being a sequel. There are vague references to the original peppered throughout the game but, despite not having played the first, it did nothing to dampen my experience. Overall, this game was a fun romp made doubly so with the co-op mode. Nothing was more fun that jumping on with a friend and tossing satchel charges onto random pedestrians and watching them panic and scream before eventually pulling the trigger and creating some street level fireworks.

The only drawbacks to the game are the glitches, occasional, but rare lockups, and the fact that you can only play two players in co-op. Several times I had to jump to other games because I happened to have more than one friend on Live with me at the time. Here’s to looking forward to Saint’s Row 3′s four player co-op.

Rating

I have both GTA IV and SR 2. GTA IV Sucked! SR 2 is like the original GTA and GTA 2 meets the 3D interface. Its alot of fun, but does have alot of bugs. The game will crash on you xbox 360, many times. But it is still worth playing, again and again. It alot of fun.

Rating

As the title implies, I found certain things between this and the GTA series that made the game great, and few things between the two that made me want to grind my teeth down to nubs.

SR 2 picks up rather well after the end of the initial release. You, a Hispanic/African American/oddly hispanic looking but with a cockny accent, awake in a maximum sercurity prison after being blown up at the end of the first game. After an alarmingly easy prison break (I’d expected the tutorial levels to consist of cafeteria fights and an eventual guard bribe, or at least something to reestablish the background other than a 2 minute dissertation), your character proceeds to rebuild the 3rd street saints. You’ve apparently also had a significant amount of facial reconstruction, as its commented on by just about everyone, and also manages to help you free your best friend and head lieutenant after walking past 40-something cops and security guards.

This highlights my only real problem with the games, which is its storyline difficulty. Its far too easy. I expect games to increase in difficulty as they progress, and to a degree it does, but not enough to be more than barely noticeable. Story missions can all virtually be done on the frist try unless you happen to stumble by an exploding car. Your health regenerates if you manage to dodge enough bullets, and you can take more punishment than Robocop, despite having no kevlar or any armor, even on normal difficulty. The diversions and jobs however, more than make up for this. They all consist of 6 levels, the 3rd of which can be completed with 1-3 retries, and the 6th apparently can only be done by people who obsess over these kinds of games to a degree thats unhealthy. The difficulty is also variable, as enemies vanish and appear at random.

Despite this nit, which is a big one, this game is fantastic. The jobs are fun, and some of them could make a game on their own. A few will make you wince, nmely the one where you spray poo on everything that moves, but aside from, the side missions are almost more fun than the story missions. The story missions are also fantastic. While none so far have made my jaw drop, they are unique enough to not feel repetitive, they are well voice acted, and have a compelling storyline for each of the gangs, and a few you’ll gleefully replay over and over, as the villians get theirs in rather entertaining ways (Case in point: “Get up.” You’ll know it once you reach it)

The customization is fantastic, and creative, though a few points are obscure, namely why some items are more stylish than others. The guns are entertaining, and a bit too easy to acquire. Items are cheap, so you won’t have to grind for 10 hours to buy new gear or houses. The AI for enemies and your allies is vastly improved. All told, if this was made a little harder, and a little gritter, just a drop or two, this would’ve been 5-stars, and probably a top ten of all time.

Rating

The game says I’m 45% complete. I own 7/11 cribs and lots of cars… I’ve messed around extensively with the customization of the character, the cars & cribs. Below is my current impression of the game.

Pros:

* Customization of the characters, cars, your gang, and the cribs are awesome, even more extensive than SR1.

* Cruise control

* All sorts of real-time facial expressions.

* Peds aren’t totally suicidal anymore (they don’t readily jump into the street like SR1).

* Now there are motorcycles, helicopters & planes… and many more interesting vehicles. One I like is the “Bear” which you can steal from the police ~ it’s an armored vehicle with a powerful machine gun on the top, and you can customize it =)

* Lots of fun things to do. Many of the old activities are still there, plus new ones.

* There are lots of interiors. The scope of the city, inside & out is impressive.

* Both a pro and a con ~ your character doesn’t remove the body when killing someone and taking their car. Sometimes results in weird overlap… other times it just looks funny and realistic.

Cons:

* Cars disappear and appear right next you… so if you spot a car that you want to steal, don’t take the camera view off of it, even if it’s right next to you. SR1 also had psycho car pop in/out… and I was REALLY hoping they would fix that for this game, they didn’t.

* Customization is completely buggy, it often doesn’t save or view properly. That goes for both the cars & the character (especially the character).

* Physics in SR2, or should I say “physics” is terrible. Everything about it is unrealistic. Generally this doesn’t affect the fun-factor, but it would be nice to have some realism.

* Anybody can pull you out of your car, even if you’re going 20mph and you’re flooring it.

* Car handling is like SR1 ~ unrealistic. For those that complained about GTA4′s realistic driving, you’ll be pleased with SR2′s arcade style handling.

* Car damage is as unrealistic as SR1.

* I don’t remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure the police work exactly the same way – they know where you are no matter what, they can warp instantly, their cars are ridiculously fast, and the stars are removed by simply killing time (or going to Forgive & Forget).

* The game freezes (not often though). Save often.

… and a whole host of other bugs I won’t bother mentioning. Some of them are huge, most small.

It’s hard to compare this game to GTA4… I’d say it’s more fun in the sense that there’s more to do… but when it comes to technical issues this game is just sad. The thing that really bothers me is how cars disappear/appear so quickly and easily. That totally drives me nuts, especially when I spot a car that I want but I can’t stop it immediately. Taking your eyes off of it means it’s probably going to disappear.

I would recommend waiting till the price drops. This game is good (and better than SR1) but not $60 USD good.

Rating

Well if you watch TV, read magazines or anything, you probably saw GTA IV raved about. The reality is from most gamers points of view that GTA was a solid game but extremley repetitive and lost its luster after the first 25% of the game.

Saints Row is the opposite. It isnt as hyped of a game but from the moment you play it, it is just fun. The controls are solid, not great but thats not the lure of this game. There are three main gang stories and Ultor missions(The company that has taken over the city) you need to tackle which account for only about half the game. The rest of the things to do include all sorts of acticty rangng from drug traficking, being a cop on a tv show, blowing thigns up for cash and even spraying poop on Ultors property.

All of the mini games are fun and have their own charm. They give you respect which allows you to play missions, as well as give you cash and achievements.

The story isnt as in depth as a GTA game but it is still solid enough to carry the game. You are the character who seemed to be blown to bits at the end of the original and you are motivated to take back whats yours and get revenge against the entire city.

There is no denying that this game has a few flaws and some glitches but at the end of the day, this is a more enjoyable and more rewarding experience than GTA IV.

Rating

I really wish Volition would’ve had a demo version out like they had with the original SR. Why? Because, i was intially disappointed with this game when i frst turned it on. It didn’t seem to be as compelling as the original. But i gave it a chance and played it a lil’ more the next day. I decided i judge the game too fast.

Something to note is that this game is not like GTA 4 at all. This game actually doesn’t even try to be. It feels very arcadey. I’ve still yet to finish the game but i’ve completed all the Brotherhood missions. SR 2′s dialouge is just as engaging as the first game. When i started the Brotherhood missions, i only wanted to play them to see more of that story! It’s great. The charecters don’t seem to curse for no apparent reason as much anymore, which is good, because it was annoying in SR 1. The voice acting isn’t bad, but it isn’t as good as SR 1, which is strange seeing as the first one had A-list Hollywood actors.

I’m not gonna go into what’s good with the game, because if you’ve played the original or read the other reviews you already know. Crazy amounts of customization, Activities, Diversions, Free-Aim, etc. Here are the bad things. This game is BUGGY!! Not to the point where it’s unplayable, but it’s really infuriating. The one-button weapon select feature was great in SR 1, but it’s bugged here. I’ve been in Stronghold battles where i died, because, the game WON’T allow me to change to the weapon i’m trying to select or eat the burger i’m trying to eat to stay alive. The vehicles drive like crap. I mean, you’re suppose to control the vehicle with the analog stick, and therefore should be analog, but it’s way too loose. Wether you lightly tap and hard press to the left, the vehicle will manuever the same. Sometimes my charecter will get caught on an invisible object and even visible ones. I once couldn’t proceed forward because a life preserver was in my way… Really? Bullets travel thru walls and doors at times.

I had to vent. lol. This is a good game. But Volition really needs to put out patches to fix these bugs and glitches. If I had to make a choice though, i’d have to pick GTA 4.

Rating

I finished Saints Row 1 (“SR1″) with 92% completion and I enjoyed it very much while waiting for GTA IV to be released. I thought that SR1 introduced several new features for the sand-box genre and that it looked very good at the time. Now, having finished GTA IV three times (twice with 100% completion) and while I wait for the downloadable content, I decided to buy Saints Row 2 (“SR2″) in hopes of having as much fun as I did with SR1 and more, since I assumed the game would improve from SR1….

After 3 painful hours of looking at SR2, I needed relief fast, so I popped in GTA IV and just drove around Liberty City so that I can cleanse myself of the nightmare of SR2. I came to realize yet again what a game released in 2008 for the 360 SHOULD look like, or resemble at the very least. I sold SR2 back to GameStop the very next day.

Pros:

Lots of features, side missions to earn respect and customizations, including vehicle customizations

Difficulty Levels

Cruise Control is a cool new feature

Improved combat system over SR1 but still, you can’t take cover, other than via “human shield”

Cons:

Cartoonish-style, non-polished, choppy and stiff graphics with very little fluidity or smoothness.

Lots of bugs, including cars despawning from the streets constantly (turn your character 360 degrees and chances are the car(s) driving down the street have already disappeared).

Sometimes when a cop-car approaches you, the cops warp/teleport out of their car as opposed to actually opening the door and coming out.

While surrounded by cops with 3-4 star cop-notoriety, I was able to beat down 7-10 cops using only a nightstick and saw my health go down by 10%, at the most, despite getting shot at by cops with a shotgun at point-blank range. And this was on “normal” difficulty mode. I assume on “hardcore” mode, it’s possible to lose half of your health, at most, but then watch it regenerate back up again – wow, how realistic and how challenging is that?

Driving looks and feels absolutely horrible. Cars are big and bulky with loose, unrealistic handling. When you hit any object with your car, whether it’s another car, tree or pole, you simply bounce off like a pinball and just keep on going.

No secondary camera angles. While on foot or in a car, you can not zoom out to see more of the world, leaving you with just one camera angle with a close and intimate look at the atrocious graphics, considering an October 2008 release for the 360 console.

SR2 is a poorly made game and the makers should be ashamed to release it in late 2008 and compare it to or compete with the quality and the realistic feel of GTA IV, which is not perfect, of course, but it is still the best. The open-world sandbox genre will always belong to GTA. Yes, SR2 has many features and customization options but what is the point when the game looks and feels so terrible? Again, I finished SR1 and liked it a lot but SR2 is one of the worst looking games I have seen in a very long time.

Rating

While I really enjoyed some of the story and cinematics of this game, it was mostly spoiled by the continual freezes that caused me to have to reset the game. Also, the driving physics are incredibly frustrating. Once you own all 45 neighborhoods, there is not much motivation to continue or re-play. Rent instead of buy.

Rating

This game feels and looks like it was thrown together by a bunch of people with horrible attention to detail. There are repeated glitches throughout the game. The graphics look last-gen. The combat system is difficult to manage. Your teammates are bullet-sponges that are ineffective at returning fire. Missions are ill-designed and not explained to the user, causing unexpected twists that immediately result in mission failure. Interiors of buildings are confusingly and maddeningly designed.

After missions, you are transported to the place where you started. Only your vehicle has disappeared. Since the city in Saint’s Row 2 have as many cars as a hick town with dirt roads, you have to sprint around hoping a car spawns. When you see one, don’t look behind you to see if one spawned there. The one you saw originally in front of you will probably disappear. And what is up with the mission that, once completed, spawns you inside of a building without visible walls?

This game will help you waste time on a weekend, but it will frustrate you at the same time. It is more entertaining than Mercs 2, but the glitches and quirks may make you wish you could just blow stuff up instead of playing missions.

Rating

Please be warned that this game has extremely adult content in places. It has a feel very much like the old Grand Theft Auto. The story line if very mature as is a few of the mini games. If you liked the GTA games, you’ll love this one too. Fast shipping.

Rating

First off I’ll list the things I don’t like about this game since there are only a few. First off would be the arcade physics. I was used to playing GTA Gay Tony so when I started playing this and I got into a car I was like “W.T.F.? This is lame.” The only other thing I dont like is the non responsive or unrealistic police chases. In the second mission when you are helping Gat escape from the courthouse and youre making your getaway, both characters just have a casual conversation about stuff like nothing going on. I liked it better on GTA wherre you have to loose the cops before it lets you end the mission. Other than that I like the game.

O.k., now on to the stuff I like about the game. First off I love the soundtrack, actually I think I like it better than the GTA soundtrack. Car customazation is cool, love most of the activities. I was able to make it to the Brotherhood mission where you have to raid a cargo ship before I had to start using cheats. That mission is just crazy you have like three waves of enemys coming at you. I like how you can have 3 homies help you on the missions and also if you are being pursued by an enemy and one of your crew happens to be walking down the sidewalk, they will attack your enemy. Overall, if you can get used to the arcade physics this is a fun game just not quite as good as GTA.

Rating

I will be brief

Pros

- Deep customization

- a lot of variety will keep you distracted

- many ways to earn hidden goodies to keep you playing

- stoyline a bit over the top

-great co op mode

- interface is better than GTAIV

Cons

- a lot of pop ups and wierd bugs may keep you from completing missions

- driving controls are a bit too rigid

- AI can be really off at times

- Graphics could have been tighted up

- Radio can be funny but not as funny as GTA IV

Rating

I loved the original saints row. I think think this one is better because the city is more detailed. and the game is more violent. i love that I get to rebuild everything ive lost. You get alot more respect on your meter also. You even get double guns. The city is alot bigger to. Lots of stuff you can do in this great game. please pick this wonderful title up.

Rating

A lot of people have waited a long time for this game, and the question, as with many others, was, will it live up to expectations/match the hype? For me, it does. There has been a lot written about “Saint’s Row is a GTA ripoff,” and things to that effect, but I have always seen it differently–I will try to explain what I mean in the course of this review. I was not really intending to write a review of GTA IV here, or a comparsion, but when you consider Saints Row 2, or the first game, for that matter, it’s really difficult not to compare the two. I feel that they are all good games in their own right; I happen to prefer Saints Row 2, and will do my best to expain why.

Now, to the review: The original Saint’s Row was the reason I purchased my 360-I had read all the previews and was so interested to play the game, I purchased a new console to do so (like I bought my PS2 so I could play Vice City). At the time most people disparaged the first Saints Row as a “GTA clone” or GTA ripoff,” but, I didn’t see it that way, in fact, to me Saints Row instroduced some things that I think GTA IV incorporated, so from my view, GTA IV is a Saints Row ripoff–for example some things Saints Row had first-

1. GPS

2. Cell phone interface, including easy access cheats

3. When you die you lose some money but NOT your weapons (thank god, finally)

4. NPC’s look more liike people, than cartoon characters

But, that’s just my view. I always have felt that, Saints Row is more “FUN” than the GTA games. The new Saints Row, even more so. The game begins with your character in the prison hospital; at this point you get to choose the gender and ethnicity of your character, and pick his/her voice. I’m just wondering how many guys made their character a female, and ran around in their underwear for awhile (I know I did, lol). The cut scenes can be very amusing, that way.

Anyway you make your character, then an NPC who is a 3rd St Saint, gets himself stabbed so he can get into the infirmary, and help you bust out of prison. The first “mission” involves you two fighting your way off the prison island, and getting back to town, which has changed a lot since you have been away. From here, gameplay is similar the to the first Saints Row-you do side missions of various types to build up your “respect” gauge, once your respect indicates at least “1x” you can then play missions and try to beat strongholds. You gain “respect” by completing the various levels of activities, killing cops, klling enemy gang members, and now, new features-you can gain respect by skillfull driving-coming close to other vehicles without crashing into them (“near miss”) getting air, going on 2 wheels, driving on the wrong side of the street without being hit, etc. The cleaner the near miss, or longer you are on the wrong side, higher you fly etc, come more “stars”–sort of like “kudos” in the PGR games. This is cool!

Now, here’s my main point. this is why in my opinon Saint’s Row 2 is a better game than GTA IV. It’s simply more fun. Now, GTA IV is a great game. But after awhile things about it get OLD-your “friends” nagging you all the time to hang out, and my LEAST favorite thing–all the damn “chase” missions–where you drive somewhere (usually way across town or, later, on another island), find a location, kill a bunch of people there, then, the final target escapes the area and you have to finish the mission by chasing him/her all the way BACK across town. After 5 or 6 of these you get SICK of it. In fact, just today I decided to play today, put the game in, and came across just a mission. I put quite a bit of time into GTA IV so that I could unlock all the islands, now, I just don’t care about playing it that much anymore because I know I will be facing a couple more dozen “chase” missions. There are a couple in Saints Row 2, also, but not as many, and not as frustrating, to me, anyway.

Anyway, here is why I prefer Saints Row 2 to GTA IV: (and what’s improved since Saints Row 1)

1. You can select your characters gender/appearance/voice, etc.

2. ALL AREAS OF THE CITY ARE UNLOCKED TO BEGIN. I have always HATED that in the GTA games, you are locked out of other areas of the city, sometimes till pretty deep in the game.

3. You generate money-once you have completed several story missions, and control a few areas of town, you are generating a couple of thousand dollars a day; then when you buy a couple of stores, another thousand or two; you can then buy clothes, weapons/ammo, etc

4.HITMAN and CHOP SHOP activities improved-now once you start a hitman or chop shop list, as you roam about the game will show you where the hitman target is (you dont have to have a specific weapon for them anymore, yay), and if you happen to jack a car that’s wanted, the game will show a message “wanted by the chop shop” and draw you a GPS route to the chop shop. Cool! (and both are good ways to make easy money and a lot of respect).

5. New activites: You can now drive a taxi for fares, drive an ambulance as a medic (instead of just picking up groups of people you actually go on scene and do CPR, etc- and many other things, including driving a flaming ATV into things and people, driving a septic truck and spraying poop on things and people, and many, many others. Also old favorites, like SNATCH, ESCORT, DEMO DERBY, etc. are still there, in more locations.

6. The aiming system: Saints Row has no “auto aim” or “lock on,” and I think this is BETTER. It does take some getting used to, after all the years of GTA, but the problem with GTA’a aiming, is it almost always “locks on” the wrong target. So while an enemy is pumping you full of shots, you are “locked on” to somebody else. Sucks. In Saints’ Row, you “free aim,” you have a gunsight on screen that changes size and shape, depending on the weapon equipped; when your shot will do damage the gunsight turns red; when you are aiming at a friendly, it turns to a green cross, telling you not to shoot. Easy. Once you get used to it, it really is better.

7. Retrying missions: If you fail a mission you can usually choose to restart from a checkpoint, if it’s a mulitpart one. This eliminates a lot of driving.

8. Easy use of cheats: Like GTA IV, once you enter a cheat code into the phone, you can bring it up again and select it. This is nice; you don’t have to remember it/key it in every time etc. To those that will say, “but that disables ome achievments” I don’t care. Achievements are OK, but I’m not that invested in them; I don’t care about getting 100% compeletion either; in games like this, I just want to play through the story missions enough to finish and get the ending.

9. The health system: One of my favorite things-if you are taking damage, take cover somehow, and gradually your health will regenerate. This can be helped by carrying food items. The game does not have “take cover” as such, but you can still crouch behind objects, go around corners etc. I still prefer this to the GTA health bar to 0- “wasted”

To give balance though, there are a few things I don’t like that much:

1. Damage modeling on the cars-I agree this isn’t so good…GTA IV does this better, no doubt. But I think the “spirits” of the game being different, vis. this game is for “fun” I can forgive that.

2. “Pushbacks” I didnt like these in the first game, and still dont. A “pushback” happens when, you get a cell phone call that an area your gang contols, is under attack from the gang you put out of there. You must then respond to that area, and repel the attackers–you win the “pushback” by killing from 5 to 12 “lieutenants’ of the gang that are marked on the map. “Pushbacks” aren’t especially difficult, just annoying because you are very outnumbered, and need to have max ammo for whatever weapons you are carrying. The good side of them is, once you’ve finished one, you have killed enough enemies to move your “resepct” up enough to do a new mission. The bad thing is due to the “numbers game” you will get killed a lot and have to retry. Two tips for this: always have plenty of ammo, and stay in the car as much as possible.

3. Flight controls. You can fly helicopters and various general aviaton planes. But the contols are awful. It is fun though.

Saints Row 2 is a great “sandbox” game. It’s not GTA IV but it’s really not rying to be. They are both good games for different reasons, but I can tell you, I will be playing this game a lot more, because it is FUN!

Rating

OK I’ve marked this review down to one star because I want to get my point across. One of the problems with SR1 was that when you drive past a number of gang members and you decide to turn around and fight them, they have disappeared, not because they ran off but because the game wants to delete the part of the world that is not in front of you. I’m really disappointed that they did not fix this problem in SR2, i would never have bought it had i known.

I was chasing down a car, i went past it, turned around and it was gone. No it hadn’t just driven off because I would have seen it off down the road, it just vanished.

If this is fixable please fix…

Im sure there is a lot to be liked here, but this really annoys me and does not happen in GTAIV

Rating

I wasn’t planning on picking this up, but I’m glad I did.

It’s like the developers were watching the GTA series and noted everything that’s been wrong with it. The only thing that GTA4 does better is graphics. Everything else, I have to give to SR2.

This game reminded me that games used to be fun, as opposed to either a realistic simulation or an interactive drama. For the first time in the sandbox game I feel that side mission are actually interesting and are fun to do, rather then just “worth doing”. Second is your character customization. Can’t relate to an Italian Gangster in Florida or an L.A. Gang member? No problem – character creation is flexible enough to create anything you can imagine. Brilliant move on the part of game designers and will probably become standard in these type of games.

The game is just plain fun and at no point tries to take itself seriously, similar to early GTAs. Do yourself a favor and pick this up, just don’t let your 9 year old play it. From the first time I saw the loading screen, I realized that this is an “after-the-kids-are-asleep” type of game.

P.S. The side misiion “Septic Avenger” deserves to be it’s own game.

Rating

I bought this game for my boyfriend for Christmas but gave it to him early and he has been playing in non-stop for three days now. Grand Theft Auto has been his favorite game until now. He said that he gives Grand theft a 98 out of a 100 and Saints Row a 100!! The graphics are better and the music is much better. Its really cool how you get to create your own character to play the game. I even enjoy watching him play!!

Rating

I happened to like this game better than it’s predessor. I didn’t see SR1 as a GTA killer but the current incarnation of GTA isn’t as enjoyable to play as SR2. Sure GTAIV looks better graphic wise but once you complete it you generally don’t play it again and there isn’t the level of customization that you find in SR2 which contributes to high replay value. This being said, you have the option of playing a female this time, I guess the protagonist from the first Saint’s Row had drastic gender reassignment surgery while “he” was in a coma. You can also customize your gang’s style and overall look. The city of Stillwater is also bigger, not as big as it was hyped to be but it’s noticable if you played SR1. I hear that there’s already production on the 3rd installment of this series. Maybe Volution can work out some of the bugs which are many in this game. You better have a method of getting off the roof which doesn’t require jumping off, also if you happen to shoot a safe in a store it will start crawling up the wall or be throw directly at you by some unseen force. But if you ignore some of the bugs you’ll actually enjoy yourself with this game.

Rating

I’m not one of those regular people that compares one game to the exact same game as everyone else just because there seems to be some competition between those two game titles for some reason.

EXAMPLE 1: Infamous is always compared to Prototype. Not sure why when both games take a sandbox style just like GTA. Why aren’t these games compared to Spider-Man movie games/Web of Shadows, Hulk Ultimate Destruction, etc? Both games are great in their own way. Although Infamous has the best storyline however Prototype has zombies and I love zombies.

EXAMPLE 2: GTA 4 and Saints Row 2 are always compared. Again, why? Both games have their advantages and disadvantages. I love both games equally. If it wasn’t for the GTA series, THQ may have never even got the idea to do the same thing Rockstar did. GTA franchise paved the way for the sandbox type of game from GTA 3 all the way to Just Cause 2, Spider-Man Web of Shadows, Infamouse, Prototype, etc

The best thing to do is “stop” comparing games and just get them both or all the above as long as you have fun with the game. My review is based on the Xbox 360 as far as online play. I have yet to play the online with the PS3 version.

PROS: Driving around and doing random missions etc is alot of fun. The combat is alot of fun although I think the next installment should improve on it just a little more. The homies and character customization is great although I wish you could choose a common name in a list and name your character. THQ should give the freedom it does in the WWE games with customization. The missions themselves are quite a challenge and can be even more frustrating when not playing online with someone. The co-op in this game is great.

CONS: Graphics look too cartoonish (at least on the Xbox 360). The co-op online play is very buggy and freezes often and will boot you offline on random days. You will have many online sessions with no problem though. The cars are very buggy and you will be standing but stuck inside a car, have a hard time getting in a car, or once in a while your car will take a moment or two to move forward even though you are holding down the gas button on the controller. The story is okay but rather weak. It’s basically just battling a few gangs that don’t like the Saints. Their is no plot twists or turns or anything to make you feel connected to the character. You and your co-op online friend “MUST” have the same downloadable content otherwise you cannot play online together.

Despite any cons, this game is alot of mindless fun and I really do recommend it if you love sandbox type games.

Rating

this game is very fun and you are very free in this game but thats it. also great multiplayer. A MUST BUY.

Rating

I really enjoy this game, its what I wanted. I loke the graphics all of the customizing you can do makes it extra fun.

Rating

This is the best game ever! You can drive a motorcycle, fixed up cars, helicopters,and airplanes. This is the best $60 I have ever spent!

Rating

As someone who loved the original Saints Row, I was glad they made a part 2. I am glad the player gets to talk this time around, though the British accent for a white male is really weird in a game like this. The concept is basically the same as the first game except now you are more of a leader than a follower. I like how they tied together the first and second games with all the characters as I was worried they were going to make this game its own entity with the “same character”. I love Johnny Gat and he looks even cooler this time around. The graphics are a disappointment – I know its a cartoonish game, but the first one looked a whole lot better in my opinion. There seems to be this haze that makes it even worse when looking at things, no matter the time of day. I think fighting and the weapons are much cooler in their effects and how they are represented.

That being said, the originality between this game and the previous really isn’t there. It’s basically the same story and goals – earning respect, doing missions against rival gangs, conquering rival strongholds, etc. There is more variety with the respect challenges which I like and its not as easy to succeed in the early level of the respect challenges either. This game is fun, but still seems to be lacking something. I wish I got to choose how to attack the rival gangs for once in a sandbox game. It would also be nice to have the AI of my gang be smarter and have more of an effect with their guns. I watched Johnny fire 8 shotgun blasts into someone and it didn’t kill the guy. Forget it when he uses a regular pistol. It’s like the computer controlled gang members really have no effect.

I like the game, but I honestly felt more of a connection and interest in the original rival gangs than this one. These gangs seem very far fetched and weird to see on the streets just walking around like everything is normal. I like that my character is the leader and not just a silent runner for the big guys. I like that the respect bar adds up faster this time around through various methods besides respect activites. It’s better than GTA in fun and replay ability but still not a perfect “gang” sandbox simulation.

Rating

You’d think RockStar and THQ traded places after playing this masterpiece. This is exactly what GTA IV should have been, an extension of San Andreas. Unlike GTA IV which removed everything from San Andreas, Saints Row 2 keeps it all, and yes, I mean ALL. Unlike in GTA IV, in Saints Row 2 you have planes, parachutes, stores, property purchasing, gangs, full character customization, a huge city, a huge selection of vehicles, tons of weapons (way more then the lousy 12 included in GTA IV), tons of things to explode, almost everything can be picked up, and far more. Of course, thanks to the Xbox 360, in order to include all these great features there had to be compromises. The graphics of this game are certainly no where near as good as GTA IV’s, but the game is still amazing. As I’ve said in other reviews, when a game is developed for Xbox, the developers have to make a choice between gameplay and graphics, THQ chose right and picked gameplay, RockStar picked graphics. Although this game is way better then GTA IV, there are some things I still would have liked to see that aren’t here, mainly the ability to do more damage to the vehicles. Also, there’s no blood splatter in this game like in GTA, but thats about it. It’s a GREAT game. Please, at least rent it, you will LOVE it so much more then GTA IV, you may never buy another GTA again.

Rating

Saints Row 2 is the sequel to an xbox 360 only open world crime game. It is impossible to not compare this game to Grand Theft Auto 4 but if you give both of them an impartial look, they play very differently. Perhaps the best way to describe Saints Row is the “anti-GTA 4″.

GTA 4 was one of the most massive games ever created. The expansiveness of Liberty City can be a bit daunting. The whole game just oozes polish from every polygon. The amount of resources that Rockstar must have poured into the making of the game must have been staggering. If this is the case, why are so many people’s copies gathering dust? I can only speak for myself, but the game was lacking one very important thing. The game was just not fun. Despite all the polish, the voice acting, the story, I just didn’t enjoy it.

The reason why I say all of this is because Saints Row 2 is almost the complete opposite. It is one of the most fun games I have played in recent memory. Then when you bring a friend along in co-op it just gets insane. Playing with another person over PSN is a blast as you cover each other’s back blasting gangmembers, cops, and the Ultor corporation. It’s hard not to crack a smile when your partner is speeding down the wrong side of a highway weaving through traffic while your blowing away your motorcycle riding pursuers with a grenade launcher. Not to mention the heaploads of customization options you can make to your protagonist, your cars, your houses, and your gangs. You can invite someone over just to show them your super tricked out rides.

Not that the game is perfect. The graphics are good, but not necessarily great. The colors in certain areas can seem a little washed out. The shooting mechanics could use a cover system a la gta 4, but you can grab anyone nearby and use them as a human shield which works out pretty good as well. Also the game has a plethora of adult situations and very coarse language. I’m not very squeamish when it comes to exposing responsible kids to a some PG-13 or even light rated R kind of stuff, but the thought of playing this game around an impressionable child makes me uneasy and probably shouldn’t be done. So if you have young ones, definitely have them occupy themselves in another room or wait until after bedtime to bust this baby out.

All in all, if you even a casual fan of open world crime games, you owe it to yourself to at least give Saints Row 2 a try. Heck, you can even hit me up and I’ll play with ya!!! PSN ID RellPhoenix

Rating

I was amazed at how fun this game is. I know everyone keeps comparing this to GTA4 but here’s another one. I got really bored really quick with GTA4 because it got to repetitive and to frustrating after the first 4 hours of game play or so. I don’t think I’m alone with this opinion either. Sometimes you want to play something serious and sometimes you don’t. Well think of GTA4 as simulation mode and think of Saints Row 2 as arcade mode, A.K.A., the fun mode. Sure there are technical glitches but it doesn’t take you out of your experience. The activities never get old and the missions have a ton of variety. My girl even loves this game. She gets more into the customization. She spends hours just shopping for clothes, pimping out cars and decorating hoods. When she runs out of money she just does some activities and goes right back to shopping. I personally spend hours boosting cars and killing targets. There is so many things to get into it’s crazy. I also love the free targetting too. You never find it hard to aim at who you want rather than accidentaly aiming at someone you don’t want to, cough..GTA.. The co-op is extremely fun too. If you want hours and hours of entertainment that seems to never get old you’ll love this game!

P.S. Seek out the Demolition Derby, it’s a BLAST.

Rating

ITS TOO MUCH FUN I CANT EVEN TALK AM BOUT TO PLAY IT RIGHT NOW

GTA IS JUST DUMB IT THE SAME STORY OVER AND OVER THE STORY LINE SUCKS

SAINTS ROW 2 IS FUN AND LOTS OF CUSTOMIZATION AND NOT A WASTE OF MONEY

GTA THE MISSION ARE SOMEWHAT BORIING AND WHEN U R FINISH U WANT TO SELL IT CAUSE IT BORING

SAINTS ROW 2 U R GOIN TO WANNA KEEP PLAYING IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN

GTA U PLAY THIS UGLY BOXHEAD FRENCH DUDE

SINTS ROW 2 U CAN CUSTOMIZE AS CLOSE TO UR SELF AS POSSIBLE

GTA U CANT REALLY CUSTOMIZE SO FREELY EXPECIALLY THE THINGS U WANNA CUSTOMIZE LIKE A BIKE

SAINT ROW 2 HAS WAY BETTER CARS AND BIKE AND BIGGER PLANES

SAINT ROW 2 IS JUST TOO MUCH FUN ITS A GURANTEED TO HAV IT IN UR GAMELIST PILE

Rating

I am going to keep this sweet and short. I work in retail and have a lot of built up stress. This game, you can grab people and throw them against walls or over ledges. I did that for 3 hours straight and feel so much better. This game is the best!

Rating

I liked the game a lot, still playing it actually. The missions and story are much better than the first title, but not better than GTAiv… They only compliant i have about the game is that the side missions to earn respect aren’t as fun as the GTA iv side missions…

Cruise control… How was that never included in these games before?!?!

Rating

Everything that was cool in the first one is back in this one but with more!!! Helicopters, boats, jetskis, motorcycles, more cars, new weapons, alot of the roads have been fixed so you don’t have to drive completely around a neighborhood to get to a spot you want to. You can customize just about everything in the game too like your clothes you can pick the pattern, the color of the pattern, the logo, your car’s exterior no longer needs to be the same color all over the car. You can customize your crib, your gang, your gangs cars, your tag. Just awesome all over

small glitch I’ve found but when you’re on the kenshin motorcycle (I haven’t tried it with any others yet) if you pop a wheelie and stop and start doing a burnout (with the front wheel still in the air) and keep doing this until the camera tips back and is looking at the sky you then let go and it’ll launch the bike and you like 17 feet up in the air like you just hit a jump, I dunno I thought it was cool. Still funnest game so far.

Rating

Its a mediocre game with bad graphics and various glitches. the only good thing about this game is that you can buy different clothes, cars, houses, etc. not just hot dogs like in GTA. thats the ONLY good thing about the game. Everything else is a complete disappointment (if compared to GTA). you can’t even aim and shoot normally, like in GTA. There are alot of stupid side missions which are frustrating and annoying. Although I paid only $20 for this game, I’m still disappointed.

Rating

Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas were my 3 favorite games of all time. If you love the great driving controls, random races, character customizations, interactive world and varied side missions of those 3 games like I did, you will love Saints Row 2 (and 1). It’s like those games with upgraded graphics. That’s what I’d hope Grand Theft Auto IV would be. It just isn’t. I was a GTA loyalist for years. I thought both True Crimes, The Godfather, Scarface, both Driver games and other open world crime games were mediocre at best compared to them. The Saints row series is the only GTA imitator I have ever liked enough to beat. I even beat 1 twice. I plan to beat 2 on the 360 after beating it on the PS3 previously. The only other games I’ve ever liked enough to beat twice were Vice City and San Andreas. GTA IVs horrible driving controls, awkward foot controls, boring annoying characters, and dull colorless streets make the game unplayable. I tried to play GAT 4 or 5 different times this year and hated it more every time I tried to play it. I will never come close to beating GTA IV. It is so boring, dull and awkward to move around in. I can’t imagine anyone playing Saints Row or San Andreas who would say Grand Theft Auto IV is more fun. IF YOU LOVED THE TRULY GREAT GRAND THEFT AUTOS FROM THE PS2 AND ORIGINAL XBOX, YOU SHOULD LOVE BOTH SAINTS ROW GAMES.

Rating

This was one of those games that grabed a hold of me and would not let go unitil it was beat. I expected to play this game for atleast two months. When I started playing I just could not stop. To be honest I’m kind of glad I’m done I was spending way to much time with it lol. Now I can go back to playing the games I normaly play, fighting from SSFIV to King of Fighers 98 UM I am a fighting game fanatic! Anyway enough with that on to what I thought of the game.

This game manage to do something GTA 4 did not do hold my attention. You knew that comparison was comming. Even though this game is known for its over the top nature the story missions are anything that you would see in a GTA series. Escort somebody here, protect this, go in a building a shoot everyone up you get the picture. The story presented itself in a pretty realistic way. The game goes crazy with the side missions. I don’t want to get into them but the fight club, fuzz, drug trafficing and property damage was some of my favorites. If you never played a side mission and stuck to the maing story you would see this game a s being fairly serious. Being able to customise your character was fun. I liked being able to make a sexy woman causing all this mayhem. Usualy its a guy you see doing this stuff. Making a female character was a nice change of pace. The one major downside was how many times this game crashed on me. This game would crashed just about everytime I played it in the begining. That is completly unexceptable. I can deal with some glitches, like the one where my car got stuck in the road for no reason and I could not drive. But, the game just crashing no thats pathetic. The timing of the crashes was the worst. I had a tendency to crash after I beat a mission, right before the game would load back up it would freeze. Turn system off, redo the the mission over, that sucked.

Despite the flaws off the game it is really fun. For me atleast it managed not to get stale. It is not a five star game, but I enjoyed it so much I game it that high a score. Gta 4 managed to take itself way to serious and managed at times to be stale instead of fun. It got boring so I just quit playing. This game I could not put down. If you have a sense of humor you should enjoy this!!!!

Rating

saints row 2 is a very fun game with great customization opptions. i think the customization was alot better than GTA IV. i have had some problems with the game freezing though, as in freeze where you have to restart the system and lose your unsaved progress. other than that a great game.

Rating

I played through the first saints and loved it! The cut scenes are awesome (funny at times and overall very entertaining) and keep the player thrilled and begging for more! i have only on complaint about this game and that is the graphics arnt great but you will have so much fun with the perfect game play, fun missions and great story line that this problem becomes almost obselete! get this game its better than GTA 4!

Rating

I picked up SR2 a week or so after it came out (mid-October 2008) because I had some store credit to burn at GameStop. I didn’t know anything about the game or the series, but it looked and sounded cool. It’s now April 2010, and I’m still playing it. I did the SP mode twice, and I’ve been doing the MP mode ever since.

Many of the other reviews capture the details and quirks of the game, so I’ll spare you. I’ll simply say this game is what GTA used to be – FUN (a la Vice City). The SP mode has lots of off-the-wall and over-the-top things to do, most of which involve violence and/or destruction. The MP mode has an activity-based game (strong arm) in addition to the traditional MP death match and team death match games. This is where it’s at since it’s some of the off-the-wall, over-the-top things from the SP game able to be played with a bunch of your friends against a revolving door of victims. Maybe it’s just me, but that never gets old.

Rating

I purchased the game at the end of Nov.(2009) and then got it on Dec 3. I didn’t receive the original copy, but got the greatest hits version and it sucks. What makes it worst is that the drop the price the same week. I maybe just ranting, but like them, I don’t care.

DLC is not worth it as well.

Rating

Hands down one of the best games i’ve ever played 10 times better than gta and lots more fun stuff to do than gta, you can own properties, businesses, take over territory custumize your gang vehicles and clothes, customize your rides and create your own character gta 4 offers none of these aspects 10 out of 10!!

Rating

… that looks, sounds, and plays like this one… which is to say not very good at all. I had fun with the original, but I would much rather play GTA IV than this game. Actually, it helped me appreciate GTA IV again. So I guess it’s worth something after all.

Rating

I must say, before this game came out I was really getting sick of these “serious” game titles like GTA4 and MGS4. I thought both had great gameplay mechanics but I felt like they were trying to beat me over the head with “morality” and trying to make you feel bad for doing immoral things.

Thanks to Saints Row 2 we finally have a title that doesn’t take ANYTHING seriously (least of all itself ). The humor is VERY juvenile and the story requires no thought what so ever (though it is very stylish and well-voice acted). But I think this is a good thing. You don’t HAVE to feel bad about mowing over civilians and casualties in gunfights. You can just jump right in and have FUN.

The customization is awesome as well. The different clothing options are insane (and FAR more diverse than the overrated GTA4) as is your ability to customize (and keep) almost ANY vehicle to your liking. Also, you quite literally unlock different

clothes/vehicles/fighting styles/weapons for just PLAYING the game. I can’t think of any other videogame that does that

The only bad thing I can say about Saint’s Row 2 is that it can be taken as VERY offensive in it’s portrayal of different ethnic groups. I realize that it’s making fun of EVERYTHING it possibly can but be warned if you’re easily offended by stereotypes.

In any case Saint’s Row 2 is a game that gives players of sandbox titles exactly what they want: Fun without consequences

Rating

My title pretty much sums it up. If you like open world games, particularly if you are fond of the Grand Theft Auto games, you will likely find a lot to like in Saints Row 2. There is a lot more customization here. It’s more like GTA: San Andreas in that you can buy clothes and run around with your crew. Plus if you’re the type of gamer that doesn’t do the storyline quests but has more fun just running around causing chaos and doing goofy side quests, Saints Row 2 offers way more variety there than all the GTA games combined.

Yes the story is lame but you’re doing it wrong if you expect an amazing narrative from an open world game. For $20 this is a steal.

Rating

well i had been hearing about this game from one of my co-workers for about a month. he said it was sooo much better than GTAIV, so finaly one day while playing that classic Rockstar title & almost dozing off during I said heck with it and went out to buy this. my buddy was right, this game is loads of fun. if you liked GTA San Andreas, then you’ll love this game cause it’s basically the same thing except that you create your own player. this game’s similarities to GTA San Andreas almost makes me believe that maybe some ex-Rockstar employee’s help make it. you run a crew, you drive ho’s around, you own real estate all over town, man it’s great. when you customize a car and it gets blown up, when you get back to your crib, it’s back in your garage, oh and you can store alot of vehicles in your garage. i love that there’s semi trucks & tow trucks, & huge tractors & all of that that you can own. controls were a little difficult at first but once you got the hang of it, alls good. one thing this game really doe’s better is car handling which is a major problem on the GTA games where you flip upside down at the most simple contact. the races on GTA are almost impossible to win for that reason. and no disrespect but what if i didn’t wanna be a russian guy. the game of GTAIV doe’s have it’s positives but it’s not better than Saints Row 2, get this one instead…

Rating

I traded in gta4 for this game because I was really disappointed with the way it ended. It was wayy too short as far as the story, and it was way to short on the extra stuff outside of the missions. But it was still a very good games minus those negatives I just said, GTA4 was a rock solid wall as far as gameplay, it was just awesome. So i got this based on all the reviews saying that Saints Row 2 was the better sandbox. I was hesitant at first because the first SR sucked completely. It too suffered from terribly short gameplay and a horrible ending. I get about 20 min into SR2 and I realize just how bad it is. Not on par with GTA4 by a hair. The driving sucks, handling, everything. You can;t even get a behind the wheel view, you can only get the arcade style 3rd person view outside of the car. The gameplay is completely sloppy, no real finesse like gta4. You cant even change the view that follows your character, its stuck pretty much right behind him, which is annoying because you cant get a wide view of what going on.

I felt like I was playing an unfinished game, oh did I mention THAT ITS THE SAME EXACT MAP FROM SAINTS ROW ONE? NOTHING NEW BUT THE ACTIVITES AND MISSIONS, THIS COULD HAVE EASILY JUST BEEN DOWNLOAD CONTENT TO UPGRADE SAINTS ROW ONE. The graphics are good. Dont buy this game, rent it first. GTA4 was way better and it has Download content, there will be another add-on coming in october besides the Motorcycle one they have out now. It really comes down to this: There’s more to do in Saint Row 2, but it suffers from bad gameplay, which makes the experience not worth experience. I expected way better, Why do these companies keep cheating us out of our money with these extremely short games that dont meet expectations or live up to the hype? Because we dont do anything about it. This game makes me want to throw my 360 out.

Rating

Many people will tell you that this game is better than GTA IV, they are wrong. However this game is much more fun and enjoyable. This is a game for those of us that feel that GTA went too straight and realistic. This game loses realism and embraces full on crazy fun. If you are looking for a game with a serious story, realism in gangs go to GTA, but if you just want fun give this game a try.

Rating

Saint’s Row 2 is one of the funniest games i’ve ever played on the PS3. The game is right up there with GTA. This game might be even more fun to play then GTA.

PROS- Great divertion games, storyline, characters and diverse vehicles.

CONS- Vehicles quality not as good as GTA and controls not as tight.

Game not for kids, but that’s what i like about it.

Rating

I can’t say enough good things about this game. If you played the first one, you know the basic set up. You still battle gangs for control of the city, earning respect and then playing missions when you fill your respect meter up, etc

But the number and type of side missions has been doubled, at least. The cut scenes are better and longer. The story is more involved and you care more about the characters. Way more variety in the amount of stuff you can see and do; you can fly helicopters and planes now, and pilot boats. You can use a sewage truck to hose down people as part of a mini-mission

More clothes, more weapons, more vehicle types than before. You can earn respect now by doing things like driving on the wrong side of the road for an extended time, or jumping your car off of things. Every part of the game just makes more sense and feels more natural than it did the first time around

Plus they made the city bigger! What more could you ask for, seriously? If you liked Crackdown or any of the GTA games, you really should give this a try

Rating

Saint’s Row 2 is just about everything fans of the original could’ve asked for, and more! Right off the bat, you’ll notice just how many improvements have been done over the original. You start off in a coma, and you’re asked to either re-create your guy from the last game, or make someone new. And this time, you can have a girl play as Stilwater’s legendary gangster! You can go around the ‘Saint’s Row’ equivalent of Chicago as a male or female.

The character customizations have been far expanded, and rival that of another THQ franchise, The “WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW” series. You can fine tune just about any facial feature to your liking, and once the game starts, you can buy your way up to owning cool clothes, which are far superior to the first game’s clothing options. Even in Sloppy Seconds, you can customize color, material, and style of your clothing. Of course, keep in mind that Sloppy Seconds has some pretty awful clothes, too! I had my guy back in Saint’s Purple in no time! The women’s clothing is far less appealing though, although maybe I just haven’t unlocked the hot Victoria’s Secret wear, yet. The character cutomization truly is more advanced this time around, but a little bit of things irk me in the customization.

For example, you can’t choose height once again in your character. In the first game, the Protagonist was way too short. About 5’6″ or so. In this, he’s kinda too tall. Maybe 6’1″ or 6’2″, but he (or she, as females have the same towering height as your men) completely towers over everyone else in town. Also, the body options are kinda weird. It’s like, you can only choose a body “type” for them, like obese, or thin, and you can’t fine tune things, like their stomach or chest. For women, their breasts are kind of too pointy. For men, their body shape is kind of odd, with big arms and a slightly disproportionate body (assuming your guy isn’t an obese fellow). Some things are kind of too in-depth (like ear customization, for example. Who cares about ears?) While the body customizations could’ve been more expanded. Also, the “Personality” features aren’t as in-depth as I was hoping for. Basically, you choose voice, walking style, compliment taunt, and insult taunts. The voices are basically White, Black, and Hispanic male and females. The White guy voice is British, probably because the game developers are also, British, and they wanted a local guy in there. I’m guessing most people will end up using the Black Male voice or White Female voice. The gender equality goes beyond your main character though, and also shows up in the gangs, too, as before, only about 10% of your enemies were female, as now it’s about 40% of women in the enemy gangs. And it seems like the entire police force seems to made up of women, which is a little odd.

When you actually begin, you start off with a prison break, and get access to the newly expanded fighting system. While very simple to use, it’s actually quite hard to master, and I like that. Basically, you can punch two different ways, do combos, and block. There’s other things you can learn later too, like the new Human Shield option, where you can toss people acorss streets like they’re only 10 pounds light. Of course, this is just for your basic fighting style. You’ll learn new ways to brawl later in the game, as well! You also now also pick up inanimate objects like cinderblocks, trash cans, or virtually anything, and use them as makeshift fighting weapons. Your non-firearm weapons have greatly been expanded, and the variety of different melee weapons rivals that of San Andreas. However, in this game, you can make much cooler use of them! I stongly suggest once you hit the streets of new Stilwater, to find a Ronin gang member and steal his or her katana blade. That thing rocks! Both objects and newer melee attacks are also available in Grand Suck Auto IV, but Saint’s Row 2 makes much better uses out of all of them! It’s a complete no contest here in which game’s are better. With weapons, all your favorites are back, and the annoying habit of constantly having to switch out guns for ammo to get different ones that have been taken off of your enemies is gone! Because now, we have dual-weilding, baby! Your guy or girl will be able to shoot out two Vice 9′s, at once, now, and do it like the pro they are! Unlike San Andreas, you won’t have to level up skill points to earn advanced weaponry weilding because the game assumes your guy is already a master of the firearms from the first game! I love how convient Volition are! They’re willing to cut the crap (like having to swim miles to make it to shore) and just give you the fun gaming goodness you want from the get-go! When you deal with explosives, if you’re too close to the blast, it’ll blast out your character’s ear drums and they’ll be temporally deaf! It’s a nice touch with really shows you how much explosives can mess your character up! Saint’s Row 2 also gives you Autosaving, so if your game freezes on you or the power goes out, you can start off from the last mission or activity you completed. Autosaving at first doesn’t seem to useful, but once an unexpected something DOES happen to you or your game, you’ll be so glad it’s there! I made it to Lv. 6 of Drug Trafficking and didn’t save any of it when my 360 shut down on me. But with the Autosave feature, I was able to restart from the end of Lv. 5 and not lose a thing! It’s such a great and convient feature to have!

Once again, you’ll have to earn respect to do new missions, but the Activities now are a lot more fun, and many of the lame ones from the first game, except the stupid Insurance Fraud ones, which I’ve always hated, are gone. Activities are now divided by Diversions (the lesser, old Activities) and the true “Activities” now are the ones that take much longer time to complete, such as Chop Shop and Hit Man, which once again make a return. I hopped in a car with my girl and immeadially started a Drive-By activity on some Sons of Samedi. Now, in the Diversions, there are six levels instead of eight, and for some, you can continue up to each level without interuption. I didn’t even know I was on Level 5 in Drive-By until I actually checked up the top of the screen. The new diversion activities are awesome. “vehicle Surfing” is tricky but fun, until you fall of the car, that is! In “Trail Blazing” you get to race to a checkpoint all while on fire, blowing up cars on impact and lighting people on fire, earning time. It’s sort of a mix of Mayhem and Racing, and it’s very fun. “Fuzz” is the Stilwater equivalent of Cops and you get to play as the all-around corrupt police officer, hurting people breaking the law, and getting good and violent footage for the TV show. By the further levels, it gets really fun and interesting, like stopping a Pirate-Ninja war! “Crowd Control” has you playing as a celebrity bodyguard, stopping mobs of crazy fans from hurting your client! Depending on the level, you can trhow people into chopper blades, toss them into attack dogs, crush them with a bulldozer, cram them into an airport security x-ray machine, or chuck em into an oncoming el train!

There are more ways to earn respect now, too. Inspired by the Balls Meter from the “Scarface: The World Is Yours” game, you can now earn respect by doing ballsy things that Tony Montana did in his game, like driving in the wrong lane of traffic and taunting bad people like cops and gang members, and also now pimps and hoes, who are now official “enemies”, as well. The only thing missing is the ability to yell at people who crash into your car while driving. Just don’t get TOO much respect before using it up on missions, though, as after Lv. 99, your respect is Infinite, and that sort takes all the fun out of it, having Infinite respect and all.

The new Stilwater is a much darker, depressing place than the old Stilwater, which is ironic considering that the old Stilwater was probably much more violent. It’s about 50% larger, and the new places are less inviting to you than you’d think they’d be. They clearly don’t like your kind around there. The new gangs have a bit more unity than the old ones did, and respect each other’s territories, leaving the endangered Third Streets Saint’s pretty much their only common enemy. Many parts of old Stilwater have been rebuilt by Ultor’s multi-million dollar city renovation. With Ultor Corporation owning Stilwater and turning it into a bleak metropolis for the Upper Class and snobby, you’ll have the incredible feeling of both familarity and newness, all at the same time. Some old, favorite neighborhoods will look familar, but will be dark, barren and full of bums and prostitutes. Others, such as the humble Saint’s Row, have been completely taken over! Seems like at least 20 years of change since 2006, though, when our old familar Stilwater was Ultor-free. Only a few list of people actually return for the sequel, but luckly, it’s all the ones you would want to see return, including your best pal, Johnny Gat. Also in Stilwater are the new gangs. They also follow the same trend of having a Drug gang, a street punk gang, and a Corporate Business gang. Taking the place of the Latin Los Carnales, the Caucasian Westside Rollerz, and the Black Vice Kings are the Haitian Sons of Samedi, the Caucasian Brotherhood of Stilwater, and The Asian Ronin. The fourth, “unofficial” gang are the Ultor Corporation, themselves, and they run pretty much everything in new Stilwater, including all of the police. The Ronin are probably the deadliest gang, as they all carry katana blades and chase after you on high speed motorcyles, which comes off as a lot more vicious and scary than the standard street car pursuits the other gangs do. I won’t say too much, but there’s a little bit of “Kill Bill” as you progress through the Ronin storyline. They’re definitely the best to take on out of the three. The Brotherhood of Stilwater are basically just giant-sized bullies. They’re all very large people with even bigger vechiles. They like violence just for the sake of it. The weakest gang has to be the Sons of Samedi. Bascially, all they do is sell “Loa Dust” (a kind of cocaine you smoke out of broken lightbulbs!) to college students. They’re all very easy to take out and all of their vechiles are pretty weak. With these new gangs though, comes new vehicles, such as bikes, boats, and planes. They’re all just about as cool, if not better than the selection in GTA: San Andreas. There are also plenty of new cars, including three new ones that put classics like the Zenith and the Attrazione to shame. Even though they’re now a lot more common in a Stilwater that caters to the heartless and corporate republican Upper Class, you’ll probably want the three new luxury/sport cars even more. They are the ‘Hayate Z70′, the Ronin’s offical car, the ‘Bezier’, which is like a MUCH better Attrazione, and the ‘Superiore’, which is like a Lamborghini Countach. Just don’t own more than two of each or else, you’ll ruin their rareness of owning them.

The graphics, which I’ve yet to mention, are incredible compared to the old game, and yet, still have that Saint’s Row “toony” look to them. They almost rival GTA IV in their beautiful lighting effects and such. Saint’s Row 2 now, also like GTA IV, has the “blurring” effect of when you go too fast in a car or quickly turn the opposite way while running. The beauty of the new Saint’s Row really makes you appreciate your 360. Name-brand artists are now featured for the music. No longer any obsure, underground third-rate Hip Hop stars. Arguably, it’s a better sounding soundtrack than Grand Theft Auto IV (At least in the Hip Hop department, anyway). This time, when you listen to the radio, it actually sounds like you’re listening to the *real* radio, thanks to the more mainstream artists and songs. The one thind thing that sucks though, is there’s only about half the number of songs on this game compared to the original. There’s also no more custom playlists, either. Instead, you get your own radio station to replace your old audio player. But at least the music is from people like 50 Cent, Nas, Fat Joe, Joss Stone, and Kelis. They’re not my favorites, but I know people out there like them. Unfortunately, Aisha singles are still circulating around… not much we can do about that, though. And no, Saint’s Row 2 doesn’t allow you to go to the Cabaret for a nice Sunday evening out, or have your character watch TV while you’re watching him watch TV!

Saint’s Row 2 is a bigger, better, more FUN version of the original! I’d rate it about a 4.75 out of 5! *JUST* slightly short of perfection! There are some little problems still around, like the ragdoll physics of your character, and the fact that a six foot fall can still pretty much kill them. Also, don’t expect EVERYTHING to be new and wonderful! But, would you really want the game to not have ANY shades of familiarity in it at all, anyway? If you liked Saint’s Row the original, then it’s virtually impossible to dislike Saint’s Row 2! It’s very, very easy to lose coutless hours in this game with all the fun, exciting, and crazy things you can do. It’s the FUN game Grand Theft Auto IV failed to give us! There are tons of enhancements and new features in the game which will make it THE game you’ll still be playing a year from now! (or at least, longer than you did with that Rockstar title!) This is a Don’t Miss! Buy it! Buy it now! You won’t regret it. I promise you.

Rating

Name-drop time. I had never heard of this game before the commercials, which I dismissed as a typical “gangsta-ass” Grand Theft Auto clone like “True Crime: Streets of NY/LA”, which I tried and found to be utter trash. Then came the video review by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, who thoroughly convinced me through the magic of getting points and money for everything from destroying and killing things to streaking naked and jumping out of flying vehicles.

And so I bought the game and discovered that indeed, this is a shameless clone of Grand Theft Auto IV. But where GTAIV disappointed some, Saints Row 2 ups the ante.

For example, colors. GTA IV is all the same shades of gray and dirty, gritty brown and gray like a real city would look if that city were run-down and perpetually so pallid that not even sunlight could brighten up the cityscape. Saints Row 2 flushes its large world with so much color that every neighborhood looks almost like an entirely different city.

In GTAIV, your character was the perpetually dreary, mopey, and fiendishly ugly Niko Bellic, who was dragged down by his fat cousin asking him out on dates that wasted gametime in between receiving tutorials on how to work anything with a keyhole or just a hole or a stick, and watching in-game TV. In Saints Row 2, you have the ability to play male or female (with the storyline equally satiating a bloodthirsty, merciless man either English, Hispanic, or Black, or a bloodthirsty, merciless woman either White, Hispanic, or Black), with enough customization to make your character a morbidly obese acrobat with a mohawk or long dreadlocks, or a sexy slim model with bright green hair and yellowish eyes.

If you’re sick of looking at them, you can get plastic surgery in-game, in which you can even completely change your character’s sex, race, body shape, and every customization option you had in the beginning.

In comparison with GTAIV, GTAIV wins out with realism, as the ragdoll physics in Saints Row 2 are highly entertaining (and seemingly never get old) but are ultimately cartoony in how ridiculously over the top they are; examples include the Insurance Fraud activity, where you take dives and throw yourself in front of cars for money. If you fill your adrenaline meter full enough, a speeding car can have you flying fifty feet in the air, where you can control your fall, and even bounce off the tops of other cars to go even higher, for even bigger bucks. Another crazy example I experienced was performing a wheelie on a motorcycle at fullspeed, and ramming into the back of a pickup truck so hard, the truck flipped over and landed several yards away from me, whereas I only suffered a headwound that a jelly donut easily fixed.

Yes, there is regenerating health, but I’ve found that even on normal mode (though even more so on Hardcore mode) this is going to be praised by the player for being a lifesaver—you take so much damage in so many missions, that without regenerating health, it would be utterly impossible to pass certain missions.

Again name-dropping Yahtzee, he mentions that whereas GTAIV spent much time not encouraging, or even punishing the player for causing wanton destruction and death, the game here encourages and rewards you for it, whether it’s sandbox mayhem throughout a neighborhood, or activities that gain you respect and money, such as assassinations, carjacking, jumping out of helicopters, Insurance Fraud listed above, racing, and one of the highlights of the game, spraying buildings with raw sewage.

I say highlights because it’s one of the most cleverly devised and hilarious activities in the game, in which not only do you cover things in sewage, but your truck is being driven by someone else, who deals out some of the best-written and most hilarious one-liners in any video game I’ve ever played.

And just like you, they are in it for the same reason: to have fun! For teh lulz. To blow stuff up and laugh at society.

That is what Saints Row 2 focuses on, and it succeeds wildly because of it. Even the missions are innovative and fun enough to have me wanting to track down every one to see what happens next in the entertaining story and the variety of challenges awaiting me.

With any game, though, comes the bad. Though thankfully I can say it’s not very much.

- Vehicle acceleration. There is a serious problem with almost every car that isn’t a luxury sports car or a police cruiser, and that is a seemingly scatter-shot “whenever i feel like it” acceleration in which you can press and hold the A button to accelerate, and within several seconds, the car will come to a complete stop, despite you never lifting your finger off the button. In the heavier cars, this results in your vehicle moving so sluggishly slow that you’d be better off ditching it, and running in search of a sports car to steal. This is also insanely frustrating when you’re supposed to be chasing someone or running from someone else, and you can’t get your fat POS to do more than 20 miles per hour without smashing down on the A button so much that it becomes lodged within its hole in the controller.

- “Bonding Experience” mission glitch. For some people online, I’ve found that this only seems to happen once. For me, this happened many times in a row, so frequently I almost killed my TV with my controller. In this mission, the useless character Pierce succeeds in bitching his way into coming along with you on a mission to shoot down helicopters. Since he’s driving, you expect him to do so on a set path. HOWEVER, a glitch occurs in which after the second helicopter appears, Pierce decides to do one of three things; either he rams straight into the side of a building, pulls back, and rams right into it again, continuing this until the car slides off the edge and continues on to option two, or does option two alone in which he rams straight into a powerline, then manages to slip past and ram right into ANOTHER building where he continues to perpetually ram into the building without ever escaping. Option three consists of him coming to a total stop by the side of the road, and never starting up again, despite nothing in his way.

- A seeming removal of gore after game development. From the sort of things you end up doing, it seems like they originally intended there to be a variety of gory options which end up looking like glitches themselves. For example: the katana, in which a special move can be delivered where you drive the sword up through your opponent’s chin and have it burst out the top of their head. While there is a quick blood-flow, the sword lodged through the head looks completely unrealistic, like an issue of clipping. Another involves the chainsaw, which is utterly useless for regular sawing unless you come up to people and apparently saw them in half as you catch their head, and slowly grind down to their pelvis. Except not only does the person NOT end up cut in half, but they sport absolutely no scar or cut of any kind from the chainsaw, or any bleeding outside of the blood-flow that occurs during the chainsaw. Similarly, limbs don’t come off, heads don’t come off or explode, and no scars, fleshwounds, or serious injuries appear on anyone.

Despite those issues, the game more than carries its own on pure entertainment value, and virtually all the buildings you can walk into are pre-loaded with the whole world so there’s no need to have the game load up the inside of a store every time you walk in.

Rating

The story picks up five years after the events of the first Saints Row. The player character has been in a trauma induced coma (players who finished the first game should know why) for the past five years, in which time the titular 3rd Street Saints have fallen apart and three new gangs have risen to power in their place. It is here that you’re introduced to the incredibly deep character creation system, which allows you to choose your gender, (the character was unchangeably male in the original) voice tone (he was mostly mute too), fighting style, appearance, and even their positive and negative taunts. Once the player and a new accomplice have staged a daring escape from the prison island where they are held, it’s once again up to you to bring the Saints back to their former prominence as the unofficial rulers of Stilwater.

In terms of storytelling, there are times when Saints Row 2 shows much improvement over the original and others when it seems Volition desperately needs some help. On the plus side, their skill in creating well directed and often wildly over the top cutscenes has improved, making Saints Row 2 a more cinematic experience than the original. Another positive is the efforts taken to bridge the gap between the original and Saints Row 2. Unfortunately, they still need a bit of work in the crucial area of pacing, which varies wildly throughout the storyline. For instance, there are a few moments in the story that tug at the ol’ heartstrings but are pushed aside in the very next instant and never brought up again. Those of you who have played the original Saints Row will recognize a number of familiar faces, either in glorified cameos, or, in the case of your psychopathic cohort Johnny Gat, slightly deeper roles.

The city of Stilwater itself has changed considerably in the five years the protagonist has been out of commission. Many neighborhoods have seen drastic redesigns, while others have received only minor alterations. Traveling around the city evokes feelings of nostalgia while at the same time providing a pleasant sense of unfamiliarity.

During the last five years in which the Saints fell from grace, three new gangs have arrived in Stilwater and have divided the streets of Stilwater among them, leaving the Saints in complete disarray. The Brotherhood, Ronin and Sons of Samedi all have their own story arcs that unfold independently of the others. Unlike the gangs in first Saints Row, these gangs seem to lack a certain personality. The narrative surrounding the new gangs is pretty weak overall, even though there are a few good moments here and there.

As a third person shooter, Saints Row 2 is thoroughly entertaining, if lacking in refinement and subtlety. Unlike GTA IV, and…pretty much every third person shooter these days, there is no environmental cover system, placing emphasis on running and gunning over tactical planning. Despite or perhaps because of this, rooms filled with a half dozen or more heavily armed gang members were barely a challenge, even on medium difficulty. In spite of there not being an environmental cover system, you do have the ability to take human shields with the press of a button, easing your progress even more. The main protagonist is not only gifted with a regenerating health bar, but also the ability to shrug off bullets and even the occasional RPG round as if they were Nerf darts, making confrontations almost excessively easy.

The original Saints Row was praised due to its physics engine which, at the time anyway, was among the best in its genre. Saints Row 2 takes no risks in terms of handling physics, which feel entirely unrealistic. Even the new vehicles, consisting of not only motorcycles but sea and air vehicles have their own handling quirks and take a bit of time to get used to. There are times when the physics can go suddenly awry during collisions and sometimes even while driving down the street or flying around but that has more to do with the physics engine as a whole.

At any given time, you are prone to random physics glitches. For example, I was once walking around in my downtown loft when suddenly, I turned toward a group of bar stools and they spontaneously exploded into a pile of splinters. Another particularly annoying instance of the physics bugging out occurred while I was in the middle of a particularly long mission. I jumped, rather haphazardly, into a shallow ditch and when I hit the ground, my body was flung a dozen feet into the air, causing me to die upon landing and forcing me to restart the mission. Cue frustrated controller throwing.

Saints Row 2 specializes in the absurd, not only granting you the freedom to do such outlandish things as base jump from the top of a skyscraper or run recklessly around town wearing nothing but a dopey grin but rewards you for doing so. The sheer number of activities to partake in is quite staggering and there’s never a shortage of different things to do. This sense of boundless freedom is one of Saints Row 2′s defining characteristics. It puts you in the sandbox, tells you to go nuts and doesn’t bother you in the slightest.

Like the original, Saints Row 2 features a number of side missions for the player to play in between story missions. All of the activities from the first Saints Row return in the sequel alongside several new ones to further expand on the already impressive variety. New standouts include the incredibly ridiculous Septic Avenger which puts you behind the wheel of a septic truck, painting the town brown with a steady stream of foul liquids and Fight Club, an obvious homage to the cult classic film, which shows off Saints Row 2′s deeper melee system. Stalwart activities from the original are as fun as they’ve ever been in the sequel and I must say, there’s something oddly cathartic about the insane killing sprees incited by the Mayhem activity and throwing yourself in front of cars in Insurance Fraud.

The ability to customize practically everything around you has expanded considerably in Saints Row 2. Along with the obligatory enhancements to vehicle, clothing and accessory customization, there are a wealth of new things just waiting to be customized. Around Stilwater, there are a number of safe houses to buy, all of which can be upgraded from dingy domiciles to classy cribs. Even the look overall style of the 3rd Street Saints can be customized and, I have to say, it’s awfully cool to walk down the street with a gang of well armed ninjas at your command.

The most brilliant new addition to the series is undoubtedly the co-op mode. As long as you’re not currently engaged in a mission or activity, players can join your single player game in progress and the two of you are free to do whatever you want in the streets of Stilwater. All of the activities, story missions and diversions have been optimized for co-op play and is greatly encouraged. Going through the game with a partner in crime is a joy that makes it the best way to take on the gangs of Stilwater, or just have fun doing whatever comes to mind, be it group drive bys or beating miscreants senseless in the FUZZ activity.

As far as the competitive multiplayer modes go, Saints Row 2 includes the Gangsta Brawl and Team Gangsta Brawl (deathmatch and team deathmatch) from the original and a new mode called Strong Arm. Strong Arm plants two teams in a neighborhood and tasks them with completing a certain number of activities to earn a certain amount of money to win the match. The activities are culled from the single player story and scaled down a bit to fit the confines of multiplayer. It’s a bit sad that the older modes like Protect the Pimp were cut from the sequel but Strong Arm makes for a nice replacement. Overall, much like the original, the competitive multiplayer experience is largely forgettable.

Saints Row was never much of a looker and in that respect; nothing has changed. Many of the same visual problems that plagued the original rear their ugly heads once more in Saints Row 2. Screen tearing is back in abundance, though it can thankfully be disabled in the options menu, although at the expense of the overall framerate. Scenes are also frequently marred by considerable aliasing, a relatively minor annoyance but an annoyance just the same. Pop-in was also an issue, more so with cars and characters than the landscape. It seemed that each time I moved the camera around, the cars off screen would disappear. Character models in general have received a noticeable visual upgrade in the finer details of clothing and skin complexion, making them look more human. Overall, the game is passable considering its sandbox nature but, to bring up GTA IV once again, the bar has been raised considerably in terms of the visuals we should expect from an open world title.

Audio presentation hasn’t changed much since the first Saints Row. There is a standard selection of radio stations, offering up tunes from various genres. The soundtrack isn’t exactly amazing but it gets the job done. Sound effects from the first game have returned once again, making for a relatively familiar sounding experience. Voice work is one of the audio highlights in Saints Row 2, improving on the first with a great voice cast. On occasion, it does sound like the voice actors and actresses are going through the motions in delivering their lines, but these occurrences are thankfully rare.

Saints Row 2 is, at its heart, obnoxious, crude and immature almost to a fault, capitalizing on the void left by the Grand Theft Auto series, providing mindless entertainment that rarely fails to deliver. By embracing and expanding on this premise of mindless fun, Saints Row 2 has moved out of GTA’s immense shadow and made a name for itself. With all of the additions Volition has made to Saints Row 2, it almost feels like an entirely different game. What it lacks in terms of polish and refinement, it makes up for in over the top wackiness. If that sounds like your cup of tea, especially if you disliked the new direction taken by GTA IV, Saints Row 2 may be right up your alley.

Rating

I found this game to be more fun then most games I’ve played now I’m not here to start a flame war but I like Saints Row 2 more then Gta IV now I know you guys must be thinking you’re crazy but to me a game isn’t about graphics it is about gameplay and how much fun you have theres my review enjoy this game guys and one more thing Saints Row 2 on Ps3 seems to be almost glitch free compared to the pc and Xbox 360 version hope you enjoyed my review

Rating

Saints Row 2 is a sandbox style game, similar to the Grand theft Auto series. The appeal of sandbox type games is the freedom to move around and do whatever you want, without being confined to the storyline. For me, that means going about the city, causing chaos and destruction.

GTA4 left out a lot of fun things from previous titles, like the tow trucks. I never get tired of backing up to a police or civilian car, and towing them (driver intact) to the nearest railroad crossing and waiting for the train to plow into them. Also, in GTA4, you can no longer hitch a ride on top of a car, or in the back of a pickup truck. Having someone else drive while you shoot at other cars and people was a lot of fun in the older GTA games.

After being disappointed with GTA4, I searched for something to fill my appetite for unrestricted fun. I am happy to say that Saints Row 2 fills in the void left by GTA4, tow trucks and all. As a bonus, the ability to create your own custom character is a nice touch.

In summary, GTA4 is geared toward more serious gamers who care about graphics and the storyline.

Saints Row 2 is better suited for the casual gamer who wants to cause mayhem and could care less about the storyline.

The reason for my 4-star rating, instead of 5, was for the annoying camera rotation, minor game glitches and weird car physics.

Rating

There is so much more to do in SR2…

-4 different campain choices= 4 gangs to choose from

-lots of new guns and vehicles

-Planes

-Bikes

-quads

-helicopters

-Better custimization

-custimization of cribs

-way more activities

-way bigger city/ new city

-cruise control-very helpful

-good car handling unlike GTA 4 which sucked

-better graphics

-male or female

-your guy talks

Also if you have like 4 gang members following you and you hope in a 2 seater vehicle your 3 other gang members will steal another car and follow you — very very helpful when doing missions. Also you get this awesome little dune buggy in the game and you can custimize EVERY vehicle in the game.

Cons-

*not a lot of hair choices

*missions are kind of short

*the clothes arent as cool as SR 1 but still good

Thats all the things i didnt like in the game. Overall i would recommend this game to ANYONE especially if your a GTA fan this is 10x better.

Rating

Simply put, Saints Row 2 throws you into the action right from the get go; There is a huge variety of missions, and the customization of your character, pad, and car is simply addicting. The graphics are colorful and the detail is at times overwhelming. The cars and gang members are nicely presented, from the Ronin to the Huggy Bear Pimps. The missions can be pretty standard at times, but it’s the ever increasing intensity & diversity that makes them so fun; And unlike the missions in GTA4, you’ll have to try some of them more than twice; A nice checkpoint system also saves frustration….

While colorful and action packed, it isn’t without it’s flaws. Throw physics of all kind out the window–which can be both comical and annoying at times; Cars disappear after you pass them and turn around; Sometimes there are no cars when you really need one…

I was pleasantly surprised by how addictive this game has become; As sandbox games go, it almost has too much to see and do, esp. if you expect to pick up any of the other great games coming out in the next few months. It reminds me not only of the GTA games, but a little bit of ‘True Crime: Streets of L.A.’ and ‘Total Overdose’…Great at what it does, if not a little ‘arcade-y’(spelling?)at times. But that’s not a bad thing.

Rating

Sweet Baby Jesus this game is awesome,I played the first Saints row and found it a bit “meh,” the sequel takes all the complaints I had and fixes them and then breaks them for my amusment. For all of you who compares this to GTA4, you are wrong, this game is a better game in almost every way, let’s list the reasons why shall we?

Storyline: Ok I’ll admit GTA4 has a much deeper and more serious storyline then Saints Row 2 or any other GTA game. Do you see the problem? I’m all for open world games like this having a deep thought provoking story, but not in a GTA game. When I first heard the words “GTA” and “deep, serious storyline” I sat there for ten minutes waiting for a punchline. But I’ll still give this to GTA because it’s really a great story, even if it is out of place in the GTA series.

Graphics: Saints Row 2 is so much more colorful then most 360 games I thought the mushrooms in the salad I had just eaten had gone bad. The Graphics are colorful and slightly cartoonish, I had almost forgotten what those colors looked like in video games. The explosions are nice and firey, and the people give the most delightful red spray when you get a headshot. GTA looks good don’t get me wrong, but it’s just to dull.

Gameplay: It’s sort of a tie here, cause they both nail it. The controls work brilighntly for what each game is trying to do, GTA4 feels hard and realistic, Saints 2 is flashy and over the top. It feels like a real fight when you have to survive the cops for 3 minutes in GTA, and it is a blast to run down the streets in Saints Row 2 armed with a missile launcher.

Overall though both games are great buy them both, I just think this one is better.

Rating

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of open world games. However, I just didn’t find SR2 to be exciting at all. The wierdest part is that I didn’t like GTAIV and I did like the action that started off in SR2. But then is dragged and it dragged hard.

Gameplay

Let me say that the game play is really fun. I did enjoy the fighting mechanics. They are easy and really fit on the PS3 pad. Shooting was a bit of a hit and miss but enjoyable as well. I only wish that they had a auto target system, but it still got the job done. Headshots were interesting to come by. The driving was really fun. It reminded me of GTA San Andreas. The cars are all great and the cop cars are really fast. It helps when you are on chases. Taking over helicopters reminded me a bit of the original Mercenaries. It is easy to do.

Story

This is where things got a little wierd for me. Now I know that most games don’t always have you doing righteous things, but I really felt bad playing this game. We have all seen the bad guy that wants revenge thing before so this should be no surprise. But I was a little shocked when your partner guns down what appears to be some 60 year old judge. It just didn’t feel right. Also, I didn’t like the fact that you can’t play the game straight. What I mean is that instead of the open design of GTA, where you could do only story missions or sidequests whenever you choose, this game forces you to do a whole bunch of side quests and mini games before it opens up the next story mission for you to go through. I found that to be extremely frustrating especially when you were getting into the main story and then you have your attention diverted to do sometimes pointless side quests. Being a cop with a film crew like COPS was interesting until your umptenth time of trying to get enough points to move the game forward.

Overall

I would say that there are some great online mechanics in the fact that you can actually take someone with you to help out missions during play. That was fun. But overall, the pacing is what killed me. Breaking up what was an interesting story from time to time just to do meaningless tasks in order to continue was really annoying. Especially when you get to the juicy parts of the game. But if you can stomach that, then there is a chance that you might enjoy the game. I would say that GTA might be a better fit.

Rating

The story line is good but could be better but how much there is to do in this game almost makes it endless. There are missions that branch into multiple groups and there are a ton of extra side missions. Very good game that I’d recommend.

Rating

So I ordered this game after I have been playing GTA4 for a while. WHAT A DISSAPOINTMENT. I feel like I’m playing a game that was made ten years ago. The graphics suck and the gameplay is just stupid. SR2 is like a kid version of GTA4. GTA4 is so much better on every level..it is just pathetic that SR2 is even considered in the same league. If your like a tween than get this but if you’re a mauture gamer then cut to the chase and get the real deal…which is GTA4. I’m going to Game Stop to sell my SR2 today. It’s lame.

Rating

I do admit, this may not exactly be THE best game for the PS3, but it is one of the most addictive games for the console. Being able to play as a female character definitely gives me plenty of eye candy to keep me in the game. Think of Saints Row 2 as being Grand Theft Auto 4, The Sims 2, and Deus Ex, all wrapped up into one. Definitely allows you to do the same things you would do in a real city, that’s for sure… Not disappointed at all, and I find myself playing this game more than GTA4, if you can believe that. Kudos for an almost perfect sandbox game, THQ and Volition. Definitely a quantum leap from the original Saints Row, at the very least. Playing this makes me want to retire the X360, and go to the PS3 as my console of choice.

Rating

If you’re a GTA fan, you have got to get this game. It will truly give the GTA series a run for their money. Better weapons, better cars, and with the missions and customization of your person, you can’t lose!

Rating

I was highly disappointed. I know people compare this to GTA4 and being a big fan of GTA, I was hoping it would be a similar twist on gameplay. However (and this is already stated clearly on PR), there is no realism really to the game at all. The reason I like GTA is because of the physics and the damage you can see to the cars, etc., but SR2 is nowhere near that. And for me, that ruined the game. I couldn’t play it. It might not bother other people, but the “fun factor” for me is smashing stuff and seeing the damage. Also, the acceleration and control/feel of the cars was awful, nothing real about it. I know GTA has bugs too in this area, but the physics factor in it is so high, that the bugs don’t even matter to me.

The customization was cool, but that’s icing on the cake, and this cake was horrible.

Rating

I love this game. There is just so much sheer fun to be had, right from the get go. One the first things I did after getting into the sandbox mode was drive to the airport, steal a private jet, and parachute down to my crib. It’s little things like that that make this game so awesome. No beating half the missions in order for a “bridge to be fixed”.

Also, the side missions are awesome. If you don’t like one or two, don’t bother. There’s plenty more. From fight club to insurance fraud, there’s plenty of fun stuff to keep you entertained.

I only have gripes with this game:

1. It crashes. Not all the time, but enough to notice, and have to reboot your xbox. This would be completely unaccptable to me if the game wasn’t so much damn fun.

2. There are minor bugs, like things disappearing when they go behind you. This makes missions like chop shop much more annoying.

If the bugs and kinks were worked out of this game, I’d say its the best 360 game I own.

Rating

This game is great. All my junior Marines always want to watch me play because it’s that’s intertaining. Love the game….

Rating

GTA Vice City did not hold my interest. This has. And I’m a gamer girl, for what it’s worth.

I’ve had a lot of fun with this and that’s without doing very many of the over-arching plot missions. I love the hit-man assignments (though I’ll admit I’ve had to look up online how the heck to get some of them to spawn the target) and also the chop-shop car stealing runs, though I suck at identifying some of the makes that are similar to each other so that makes it more of a challenge. Stealing one of everything on the map is helping with that; got most of the vehicle types in the game stashed in the garage of endless space now (edit: rats, finally ran out of room at around 60).

Character customization is great and so is are the options when you go to buy clothes for them. You’re not just buying clothes in a pre-set color or pattern, but you can usually customize the heck out of them to the point where the same clothing item can look like anything from a black open long-sleeved sweater with white buttons (formal chic, anyone?) to a gangsta basketball jacket-shirt. And yes… with the initial character customization settings you can very definitely make a she-male (yay for the M rating lol) and then crossdress the heck out of things if that’s your thing. It’s mine, so rock on.

I would have liked more options in the voice choices, which for a guy are ghetto/gangsta dude, pseudo-British goon, and mister bad Spanish accent. So my obviously Asian guy sounds like Antonio Banderas… the least not-like-my-character choice there was. I’m actually finding it pretty humorous, but yeah, could have used a few more options there… though you can also choose from the three girl voices too. XD

So yeah, everybody plays a game differently, and a sandbox game is the most true to that concept. That’s how I’ve played it so far, and I look forward to doing more of the actual plot missions so that I can finally take over more neighborhoods. Priorities, y’know.

Rating

This game is a HUGE let down. It is awful and in no way is an improvement on the first Saint’s Row. That’s probably why there was not a big PR event on the release of this game. Do NOT waste your money buying this game!

Rating

Let it never be said that the Saints Row franchise is merely riding the GTA Franchises’ coat-tails. With SR2, it has gone in an entirely different direction, one of a little less realism and a lot more FUN.

You play an open world game like this for the freedom to move around and do what you want. I still felt constricted in GTA4, but in SR2, you can really do as much or as little as you one. Linearity is pretty much gone, and I found myself this time around playing a lot more of the respect missions because they were fun, not tedious like many in SR1. The depth of Stillwater is massive, and now you dont just drive around the surface, but navigate miles of caverns, oceans, and the like in your quests. Having solved it, I am aware that there is still a chunk of the land I havent even seen yet. The crib customization is a really cool idea as well, and brings a lot of ownership to the game for the player.

The thing I like the most about the SR games is the lunacy of Stillwater. Things are just wide-open all the time, and its a lot of escapist fun to reside there for a few days. I highly recommend this title.

Rating

This whole game should of kust been an addon. I mean the graphics are poor, and terribly pathetic compared to GTA4. It has a lot of great ideas but gives a poor delivery. I wouldn’t recomend this game to anyone with a 90IQ or above. I mean really its stupid. From the story to the way things just disapear when your not looking at them.

Rating

Okay, let me preface this review with the fact that I have been a died-in-the-wool GTA fanboy since GTA III first graced the gaming scene and literally changed the way the world previously thought about gaming. GTA was the pinnacle of the sandbox genre where you were thrust penniless and friendless into the open cesspool of a major urban jungle, or more accurately, a jaded, cynical, and extremely comical metropolis. The series has always led with humor and about the most outlandish, over the top, unbelievably unrealistic gameplay you can imagine. Yet, with the “living breathing city” that Rockstar imbued their sandbox with, the games actually managed to feel somehow more real even with the seemingly contradictory lack of realism.

Fast forward to 2008, and Rockstar decided to make GTA an exercise in pomposity with GTA IV, a game that actually has the audacity to preach to you. Gone are the days of rags to riches, now replaced with the boring snoozer of a “rags to better rags” metaphor. Where GTA used to be all about light hearted and zany fun coupled with riotous guffaws of laughter, thanks to GTA IV, it is now an exercise in excruciating mind-numbing tedium intermingled with a lugubrious sense of realism. The game has the impudence to almost scream “crime doesn’t pay” at you every time you saddle up and drive this so called “Euphoria Engine” nightmare. The story is so agonizingly depressing that I really believe the game would have been better off euthanizing Niko, the main character, about halfway through the story. The whole affair is like a Greek tragedy without the poignant writing. Near the end you are presented with two choices which branch off the storyline. Clever idea, except that either choice punishes you with a morbidly depressing outcome that all plays out like poorly enacted production of a Euripides play.

Right about now you are likely scratching your head in wonderment as to why I am reviewing GTA IV. I can assure you, I’m not. I wanted to set up the prelude for my Saint’s Row 2 review. If I had to boil down my review of this game to one sentence, I would say that “Saint’s Row 2 is everything that GTA IV could have been, should have been, but sadly wasn’t!”

Where the sandbox in GTA IV was made out of an amalgam of steel and and titanium in its utter constriction, the one created by Volition for SR2 is made out of the golden sandy goodness of utter fun. It is riotous, exciting, diverse, engaging, immersive, and often gut wrenchingly fast paced. The guy below me put it aptly when he said that “Saint’s Row 2 is the Anti-GTA IV” because Saint’s Row is what happens when you get a bunch of programmers together who like to laugh until they cry and spend their nights dreaming of absurdly stupid and insanely fun ideas to make their game soar to the stratosphere with raw unadulterated fun. While GTA IV is what happens when you decide to condescend to your fans and deign to inform them, through your game, that realism is the new fun.

It isn’t, not even close. Again, the reason for the constant references to GTA IV is because SR and GTA IV are the first true sandbox games of this generation, and truly they are the antithesis of one another. Where GTA IV puts you behind the wheel of cars that are absurdly tedious and laborious to steal, ridiculously slow to accelerate, and that slip all over the road as if the entire landscape had a sheet of ice covering it, Saint’s Row 2 vehicles are easy to steal, handle like they are on rails, turn beautifully, and can be completely customized. One of the marvels of the Saint’s Row universe is that because the customizing is so incredibly diverse, you can see the same exact car ten times and it will look so different that until you really get to know the game they will look like en different cars!

While the main character from GTA IV is a slow moving, horrifically heavy, plodding guy who walks and runs (if you can even call it running) like his clothing is made of led, your Saint’s Row 2 character’s movements are fluid, smooth, organic, and again, fun. Speaking of the main character, in SR2 you can now COMPLETELY customize your character right from the beginning of the game and change him or her at will. That’s right all you feminists out there who wanted to get in on the fun. You can play as a girl. Let me just state something categorically: I have never, and I mean NEVER, been a fan of customizing. I used the first default character and profile in every game I played, spending MAYBE the obligatory two minutes with a few superfluous tweaks, and off I went into the game. Well, the first time I played SR2 I spent no less than an hour customizing my character before starting the first mission. You would not believe the variety you are presented with. It is almost overwhelming. I chose a girl and quite a little hottie I might add. Hell, she’s a lot easier on the eyes than Niko’s big, hairy, slavic butt. You can change everything from body type, hair style, voice, hair color, a plethora of skin tones, make up if you like, and on and on. I managed to get myself a stunning little cutie and dressed her like a total slutty sex kitten. Nice! You can also purchase and unlock a plethora of clothing and jewelry items, some of which will have you rolling on the floor laughing in their absolute absurdity.

While we are on the subject of the character, this is another area where SR2 shines, people’s faces. One of the problems with GTA IV is that all the faces of the people, both main characters, bosses, and side characters all have pushed in faces that look like a cross between a pit bull and a pancake. Not so in SR2. The women in this game are pixelated honey’s! If you want to have some serious eye candy to look at, then you are going to love the faces and bodies of the women of Saint’s Row 2. Now, this is not to say that SR2 has better graphics overall than GTA IV. It doesn’t. GTA IV, because of its rather right wing fundamentalist realism, and its lackluster “crime doesn’t pay” fortune cookie wisdom, naturally has as its primary boast, some pretty incredible graphics and visuals.

Volition, on the other hand, decided to lay back on the graphics (perhaps just a little too much) and concentrate on packing this title with some absolutely awe-inspiring gameplay. Instead of just the run-of-the-mill “drive here, pick up character A, shoot some people, drive him or her to point B, pick up character B, shoot some more people, fall asleep, and then drop off your AI partners,” SR2 brings a palpably fresh perspective to the table. In addition to the normal sandbox GTA’esue missions like the ones I listed above, you can hijack a sewage truck and you must squirt liquid feces all over the buildings (AND THE PEOPLE!!!) and deface public property, causing enough monetary damage to pass the level and discredit the local politician who your would-be boss has targeted. Then there is Insurance Fraud, which rewards you for racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bone breaking damage to yourself, all accompanied with ghastly bone crunching sound effects as you chain together your rather bizarre stunts. You begin a chain by throwing yourself in front of a moving car or truck and are rewarded with more and more dollars, stringing your damage combos together, based on how long you can keep the damage meter going without timing your combo out. If that sounds like fun it is because it is.

Are you feeling a little stressed and want to cause uncountable damage to people and property? Then go to the Nuclear Island (yes there is a Nuclear Island complete with those cool looking giant steam cylinder generator things!) walk into the “Mayhem” activity and you will be given a damage goal and a time in which to achieve it. You also have a combo meter which keeps going up as long as it doesn’t time out or you don’t take any damage. This is made even more fun by the absolute plethora of breakable items in the environment that keep on adding to your damage total. You can work for local mob bosses who give you hitman contracts, which you can choose to put on your HUD while searching for your targets. Each “client” has a particular area where they like to hang out and the game sort of hints you toward. Another area where GTA IV failed is in its almost painful lack of viable rewards for the maddeningly boring tasks the game asks you to perform. So unlike the thankless tedium of GTA IV, Saint’s Row 2 rewards you with a lavish array of uncountable weaponry, infinite ammo, wild and pimped out vehicles, tons of money, and a slew of other unlockable items. This truly is San Andreas on steroids, because SA was famous for its awesome rewards and devilishly wild variety of gameplay crossing into every single genre you can imagine. Saint’s Row 2 takes what San Andreas did best up yet another notch. The game also features three difficulty levels, but I found that Hardrcore, the highest, worked fine for me. Another absolutely beautiful addition to this game is co-op. The way Volition created this game you can go online or just link two consoles together in your home and play through everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, with a partner in co-op mode. Get your USB headsets ready, folks, because I can assure you that this is a blast. Having trouble getting through Level 6 on “Mayhem” because you cannot damage enough property? Just saddle up with a partner and do it together. Best of all, BOTH OF YOU get full credit for the completed activity as well as whatever unlockable reward the activity, diversion, or career mission happens to open.

So with all of these virtues, what are the flaws of Saint’s Row 2? Well, for starters, the game is inexcusably glitchy, prone to random freezes now and again. It isn’t as bad as some games, but to be quite honest, it is quite annoying, Thankfully the autosave feature will have your progress backing up far more often than you would remember to do manually, so at least on the occasion your game does freeze, you won’t lose a whole lot of progress Hint: KEEP THE AUTOSAVE ON!! The pop-in’s are annoying, to be sure, and should NOT be a part of a true next gen title like this. By pop-in’s, I mean those annoying times when you are driving down the road and the system doesn’t draw it completely, and sometimes you don’t see certain structures until you are right on top of them or crash into them. Again, this is not something you expect to see on consoles as powerful as the PS3 and the 360, and it is NOT as bad as it could be. In all honesty, it doesn’t really get in the way of the game, but it is definitely a chink in the proverbial armor. One other issue is that the PS3 version does not have Trophies. Now, while I am not exactly a Trophy whore, Trophies on the PS3 and Achievements on the 360 are definitely a nice addition to the gameplay. So if you have both consoles and are into Achievements/Trophies, I suggest you consider the 360 version since it does have the Achievements. There is speculation on a Trophies DLC pack in the future, but Volition is quite tight-lipped about this. So, a bird in the hand is worth…well you know. I have the PS3 version and I do not feel cheated, just so you know. A minor niggle I have with the game is definitely nit-picky, but here goes anyway: There is no reward for 100% completion! Seriously. Given the insane variety of rewards for everything from spitting on the sidewalk to accumulating tricks with your vehicles in this game, one is left puzzled as to why you get literally NOTHING for achieving 100% completion. The truth is that if the game were not so shamelessly generous with rewards and unlockables this might be a bigger problem. As it is now it’s more of a cute little idiosyncrasy that makes me believe that Volition was so busy stuffing rewards into this game that they simply forgot about 100% completion. Oh well, trust me, you won’t miss it too much. It’s just a tad little anticlimactic is all. The next weakness of the game, and this is somewhat more serious, is the lack of humor and variety on the radio stations. Now this was truly puzzling to me, because the in-game dialog during missions and cut-scenes is well written, top notch, and often funny as hell. This leads me to believe that Volition absolutely has the ability to write excellent comedy, only they made it a conspicuously sparse on the radio stations. Oh sure, there are some funny commercials, DJ bits, and other radio witticisms, just not nearly enough for my taste. I should mention at this time that the actual music on the various radio stations was damned good. You really get the feel and variety of the panorama of a big city’s musical and cultural diversity from the stations. Even genre’s of music I normally never listen to, like Rap, Hip hop, and dance, were quite enjoyable in this game.

In closing, I know this game is six months old, but I HIGHLY recommend it. The replay value alone is fabulous.

Rating

Bought, Played, And Enjoyed The Game As Well As The Fact That I Got It Early And Enjoyed Every Minute.

Rating

This makes up for the disappointment Grand Theft Auto IV was. If you loved the first Saints Row, you will absolutely love Saints Row 2. Saints Row 2 is everything that was advertised. This game is all about the fun and not about being super realistic. If you want to have fun, buy this game. After playing this game for 30 minutes i knew it was better than GTA IV. GTA IV lost the fun factor in favor of realism. I am a hardcore GTA fan. I still consider GTA: San Andreas to be one of the best games ever made. I must say after the fuzzies went away while playing GTA IV, i got bored very quickly and i was glad when the game ended. Saints Row 2 is so much fun that you don’t want it to end. If you watched all the Saints Row 2 trailers like i did and were hoping it would deliver as advertised, you can put any worries you might have had aside. Saints Row 2 delivers. if you are not a fan of sandbox games you will probably not enjoy this game. As for everyone complaining about the graphics, i think the graphics look great. I would say that the graphics are on par with the first game and perhaps a little better, in certain areas. If you were disappointed that GTA IV was not funny and lacked fun activities and missions, you have found what you were looking for. Saints Row 2 is a great game, with lots….. of customization, crazy side missions and activities, and it is a lot of fun……….

GTA IV eat your heart out…. I am still mad at how crappy GTA IV really was. GTA IV was simply an upgraded version of GTA III from the PS2 days.

Enjoy Saints Row 2!! As for all the supposed glitches, i have yet to come across anything major. I have noticed some occasional pop-in, but that is about it. I have played the game for like 5 hours, with no freezing whatsoever. it should be noted that Saints Row 2 has already been patched. When i got the game, i popped it in and there was already a patch that needed to be downloaded. I installed the patch and i have not had any issues so far. So, go buy Saints Row 2 and have fun!!

Rating

Okay, let me preface this review with the fact that I have been a died-in-the-wool GTA fanboy since GTA III first graced the gaming scene and literally changed the way the world previously thought about gaming. GTA was the pinnacle of the sandbox genre where you were thrust penniless and friendless into the open cesspool of a major urban jungle, or more accurately, a jaded, cynical, and extremely comical metropolis. The series has always led with humor and about the most outlandish, over the top, unbelievably unrealistic gameplay you can imagine. Yet, with the “living breathing city” that Rockstar imbued their sandbox with, the games actually managed to feel somehow more real even with the seemingly contradictory lack of realism.

Fast forward to 2008, and Rockstar decided to make GTA an exercise in pomposity with GTA IV, a game that actually has the audacity to preach to you. Gone are the days of rags to riches, now replaced with the boring snoozer of a “rags to better rags” metaphor. Where GTA used to be all about light hearted and zany fun coupled with riotous guffaws of laughter, thanks to GTA IV, it is now an exercise in excruciating mind-numbing tedium intermingled with a lugubrious sense of realism. The game has the impudence to almost scream “crime doesn’t pay” at you every time you saddle up and drive this so called “Euphoria Engine” nightmare. The story is so mind numbingly depressing that I really believe the game would have been better off euthanizing Niko, the main character, about halfway through the story. The whole affair is like a Greek tragedy without the poignant writing. Near the end you are presented with two choices which branch off the stotyline. Clever idea, except that either choice punishes you with a morbidly depressing outcome that all plays out like poorly enacted production of a Euripides play.

Right about now you are likely scratching your head in wonderment as to why I am reviewing GTA IV. I can assure you, I’m not. I wanted to set up the prelude for my Saint’s Row 2 review. If I had to boil down my review of this game to one sentence, I would say that “Saint’s Row 2 is everything that GTA IV could have been, should have been, but sadly wasn’t!”

Where the sandbox in GTA IV was made out of an amalgam of steel and and titanium in its utter constriction, the one created by Volition for SR2 is made out of the golden sandy goodness of utter fun. It is riotous, exciting, diverse, engaging, immersive, and often gut wrenchingly fast paced. The guy below me put it aptly when he said that “Saint’s Row 2 is the Anti-GTA IV” because Saint’s Row is what happens when you get a bunch of programmers together who like to laugh until they cry and spend their nights dreaming of absurdly stupid and insanely fun ideas to make their game soar to the stratosphere with raw unadulterated fun. While GTA IV is what happens when you decide to condescend to your fans and deign to inform them, through your game, that realism is the new fun.

It isn’t, not even close. Again, the reason for the constant references to GTA IV is because SR and GTA IV are the first true sandbox games of this generation, and truly they are the antithesis of one another. Where GTA IV puts you behind the wheel of cars that are absurdly tedious and laborious to steal, ridiculously slow to accelerate, and that slip all over the road as if the entire landscape had a sheet of ice covering it, Saint’s Row 2 vehicles are easy to steal, handle like they are on rails, turn beautifully, and can be completely customized. One of the marvels of the Saint’s Row universe is that because the customizing is so incredibly diverse, you can see the same exact car ten times and it will look so different that until you really get to know the game they will look like en different cars!

While the main character from GTA IV is a slow moving, horrifically heavy, plodding guy who walks and runs (if you can even call it running) like his clothing is made of led, your Saint’s Row 2 character’s movements are fluid, smooth, organic, and again, fun. Speaking of the main character, in SR2 you can now COMPLETELY customize your character right from the beginning of the game and change him or her at will. That’s right all you feminists out there who wanted to get in on the fun. You can play as a girl. Let me just state something categorically: I have never, and I mean NEVER, been a fan of customizing. I used the first default character and profile in every game I played, spending MAYBE the obligatory two minutes with a few superfluous tweaks, and off I went into the game. Well, the first time I played SR2 I spent no less than an hour customizing my character before starting the first mission. You would not believe the variety you are presented with. It is almost overwhelming. I chose a girl and quite a little hottie I might add. Hell, she’s a lot easier on the eyes than Niko’s big, hairy, slavic butt. You can change everything from body type, hair style, voice, hair color, a plethora of skin tones, make up if you like, and on and on. I managed to get myself a stunning little cutie and dressed her like a total slutty sex kitten. Nice! You can also purchase and unlock a plethora of clothing and jewelry items, some of which will have you rolling on the floor laughing in their absolute absurdity.

While we are on the subject of the character, this is another area where SR2 shines, people’s faces. One of the problems with GTA IV is that all the faces of the people, both main characters, bosses, and side characters all have pushed in faces that look like a cross between a pit bull and a pancake. Not so in SR2. The women in this game are pixelated honey’s! If you want to have some serious eye candy to look at, then you are going to love the faces and bodies of the women of Saint’s Row 2. Now, this is not to say that SR2 has better graphics overall than GTA IV. It doesn’t. GTA IV, because of its rather right wing fundamentalist realism, and its lackluster “crime doesn’t pay” fortune cookie wisdom, naturally has as its primary boast, some pretty incredible graphics and visuals.

Volition, on the other hand, decided to lay back on the graphics (perhaps just a little too much) and concentrate on packing this title with some absolutely awe-inspiring gameplay. Instead of just the run-of-the-mill “drive here, pick up character A, shoot some people, drive him or her to point B, pick up character B, shoot some more people, fall asleep, and then drop off your AI partners,” SR2 brings a palpably fresh perspective to the table. In addition to the normal sandbox GTA’esue missions like the ones I listed above, you can hijack a sewage truck and you must squirt liquid feces all over the buildings (AND THE PEOPLE!!!) and deface public property, causing enough monetary damage to pass the level and discredit the local politician who your would-be boss has targeted. Then there is Insurance Fraud, which rewards you for racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bone breaking damage to yourself, all accompanied with ghastly bone crunching sound effects as you chain together your rather bizarre stunts. You begin a chain by throwing yourself in front of a moving car or truck and are rewarded with more and more dollars, stringing your damage combos together, based on how long you can keep the damage meter going without timing your combo out. If that sounds like fun it is because it is.

Are you feeling a little stressed and want to cause uncountable damage to people and property? Then go to the Nuclear Island (yes there is a Nuclear Island complete with those cool looking giant steam cylinder generator things!) walk into the “Mayhem” activity and you will be given a damage goal and a time in which to achieve it. You also have a combo meter which keeps going up as long as it doesn’t time out or you don’t take any damage. This is made even more fun by the absolute plethora of breakable items in the environment that keep on adding to your damage total. You can work for local mob bosses who give you hitman contracts, which you can choose to put on your HUD while searching for your targets. Each “client” has a particular area where they like to hang out and the game sort of hints you toward. Another area where GTA IV failed is in its almost painful lack of viable rewards for the maddeningly boring tasks the game asks you to perform. So unlike the thankless tedium of GTA IV, Saint’s Row 2 rewards you with a lavish array of uncountable weaponry, infinite ammo, wild and pimped out vehicles, tons of money, and a slew of other unlockable items. This truly is San Andreas on steroids, because SA was famous for its awesome rewards and devilishly wild variety of gameplay crossing into every single genre you can imagine. Saint’s Row 2 takes what San Andreas did best up yet another notch. The game also features three difficulty levels, but I found that Hardrcore, the highest, worked fine for me. Another absolutely beautiful addition to this game is co-op. The way Volition created this game you can go online or just link two consoles together in your home and play through everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, with a partner in co-op mode. Get your USB headsets ready, folks, because I can assure you that this is a blast. Having trouble getting through Level 6 on “Mayhem” because you cannot damage enough property? Just saddle up with a partner and do it together. Best of all, BOTH OF YOU get full credit for the completed activity as well as whatever unlockable reward the activity, diversion, or career mission happens to open.

So with all of these virtues, what are the flaws of Saint’s Row 2? Well, for starters, the game is inexcusably glitchy, prone to random freezes now and again. It isn’t as bad as some games, but to be quite honest, it is quite annoying, Thankfully the autosave feature will have your progress backing up far more often than you would remember to do manually, so at least on the occasion your game does freeze, you won’t lose a whole lot of progress Hint: KEEP THE AUTOSAVE ON!! The pop-in’s are annoying, to be sure, and should NOT be a part of a true next gen title like this. By pop-in’s, I mean those annoying times when you are driving down the road and the system doesn’t draw it completely, and sometimes you don’t see certain structures until you are right on top of them or crash into them. Again, this is not something you expect to see on consoles as powerful as the PS3 and the 360, and it is NOT as bad as it could be. In all honesty, it doesn’t really get in the way of the game, but it is definitely a chink in the proverbial armor. One other issue is that the PS3 version does not have Trophies. Now, while I am not exactly a Trophy whore, Trophies on the PS3 and Achievements on the 360 are definitely a nice addition to the gameplay. So if you have both consoles and are into Achievements/Trophies, I suggest you consider the 360 version since it does have the Achievements. There is speculation on a Trophies DLC pack in the future, but Volition is quite tight-lipped about this. So, a bird in the hand is worth…well you know. I have the PS3 version and I do not feel cheated, just so you know. A minor niggle I have with the game is definitely nit-picky, but here goes anyway: There is no reward for 100% completion! Seriously. Given the insane variety of rewards for everything from spitting on the sidewalk to accumulating tricks with your vehicles in this game, one is left puzzled as to why you get literally NOTHING for achieving 100% completion. The truth is that if the game were not so shamelessly generous with rewards and unlockables this might be a bigger problem. As it is now it’s more of a cute little idiosyncrasy that makes me believe that Volition was so busy stuffing rewards into this game that they simply forgot about 100% completion. Oh well, trust me, you won’t miss it too much. It’s just a tad little anticlimactic is all. The next weakness of the game, and this is somewhat more serious, is the lack of humor and variety on the radio stations. Now this was truly puzzling to me, because the in-game dialog during missions and cut-scenes is well written, top notch, and often funny as hell. This leads me to believe that Volition absolutely has the ability to write excellent comedy, only they made it a conspicuously sparse on the radio stations. Oh sure, there are some funny commercials, DJ bits, and other radio witticisms, just not nearly enough for my taste. I should mention at this time that the actual music on the various radio stations was damned good. You really get the feel and variety of the panorama of a big city’s musical and cultural diversity from the stations. Even genre’s of music I normally never listen to, like Rap, Hip hop, and dance, were quite enjoyable in this game.

In closing, I know this game is six months old, but I HIGHLY recommend it. The replay value alone is fabulous.

Rating

i got this game for the ps3, and i am going to offer other new or potential owners of the game some good advice: save, and save often. save after every mission and considerable accomplishment. the reason? freezing. this game, as infectiously fun as it is, freezes, and you never know when it’ll happen. and when it does, it infuriates. especially because of the massive reward system the game offers. you will rack up money and points and features and outfits and countless goodies as you play. as long as you remember to save, you’ll be alright.

other then that, this is a game that will take A LOT of time out of your day. yes, it is that fun. particularly because of the vast customization (your character in particular) and rewards. i pretty much bought the game because of the ability to create your own character, and, for the first time in this ‘sandbox’ game genre, a female! i must say, my girl is quite the looker, and totally badass. being able to run around as a severely hot chick and kick dudes in the balls while wearing stiletto heals and barely anything else is one of the reasons i prefer this over gta. my girlfriend even got addicted to the game, to the point where we’d argue who would play first.

it’s not a mature game by any means, and often the graphics look last gen, but its fun factor more than makes up for it. just remember, SAVE!

Rating

The game itself is a lot of fun, but it suffers from a primary flaw. I lost about 8 hours of progress because someone connected to my single player game who had cheats enabled. Even though I kicked this person as soon as it said that, it stopped saving my game. I didn’t know it was doing this so I lost all of that progress.

Apart from that, the game crashed twice. The second time it crashed was when I found out it hadn’t saved my progress when I restarted it. Saints Row 2 has too many problems, and GTA 4 isn’t very fun. I’m still looking forward to a decent sandbox title that is actually made by gamers for gamers.

Also you only get a choice between Australian, black, and mexican for voice choices. I’m a white guy. That’s incredibly racist that they would leave that out of the game.

Rating

this is riddled with issues, you only have to move the right analog stick and the picture tears and jumps, cars will randomly dissapear, pedestrians walk on air, jump into the sea and your greeted with silence and then a few seconds of wierd noise and then more silence, you’ll hear cars driving by when the streets are empty, its a shame as this game could have been really good, but its just a poor mans gta

Rating

Saint’s Row 2 was an odd duck for me. I’ve heard almost ad nauseam about how it’s a sandbox title more about the spectacle and fun of it all, but the aesthetic really, really pushed me off. The ghetto speak vibe and really disgusting culture behind it is kind of a turn off compared to Rockstar North’s too serious, but at least pseudo classy and well written GTA series.

On a whim, I picked it up upon hearing it had full co-op play, something lacking in PS3 titles.

I can’t say I’ve been impressed. Really, it’s not any more fun or full of spectacle, it’s stupid and it’s amateurish. The mission design is bordering on the worst in genre history, the city is terrible, the gun play is terrible, the driving is terrible and worst of all IT STILL TAKES ITSELF SERIOUSLY

For every crude joke, there are three scenes of voice actors speaking HORRIBLY stilted, deathly serious hood talk about rebuilding and reclaiming. It is an embarrassment.

I went in expecting something like GTA mixed with Just Cause, I came out with GTA smashed with a sledgehammer and a pimp hat set on top of it’s shattered carcas.

Rating

this game doesn’t just kill gta. it beats it to a bloody pulp, shoots it’s children and puts the severed heads in it’s den as paperweights.

this game is fun in every sense of the word. the cars drive great and varried. the supporting characters are actually interesting this time around, and the customization has gotten ten times better.

in saints 1 the characters looked kinda cartoony and the hair was not really fantastic, the hair looks much better and while the suits don’t fit quite as nice the other clothing in the game is alot less gang banger friendly so there’s semi classy clothes to wear without them. the bodies are alot slimmmer overall but look more apropriate.

i loved saints 1 but the problem with it was it was a little too gangster low brow at times. this time there are multiple voices for your character, and they say things worthwile which is a nice change. being able to make a woman is actually a plus because the female clothes are well thought out and it’s easy enough to make a chick who looks like a streetwalker or a class act.

fans of saints 1 though i have to tell ya one of the most disapointing things about saints 2 is the lack of rattlers, as a car the rattler was one of my favorites i had one painted up to look like a freaking batmobile and i loved that car. no rattlers in saints 2 is one thing that won’t strike you until you play it for a while but it’s still there. Mags, the trucks that drive nice and are basically tanks are really hard to come across but are indeed in the game.

and the co-op, oh the co-op, if i went to a game designer i could not have asked for better co-op, every mission and activity can be done co-op, free roaming is co-op, and there’s no limit to where you can be. i set up with a sniper rifle on a hill while my friend did street races and i just wasted the other cars in the race. he got credit and i got to blow up cars. win/win. the cheats also work co-op though if a cheater joins your game and uses a cheat code it will void your acheivements unless you reload. which isn’t a big deal playing with your friends.

to anyone who gave gta a perfect 10, i’d like to introduce you to a better game called saints row 2

Rating

Yes, it’s that good. I got this game this morning and I noticed a few tweaks to the whole thing, some good, some bad. One of the good points of this game is that they have included air play. You know, planes, army helicopters and such. That’s pretty cool. Oh and the large number of random things to do is also heavily great. You can play a game called trail blazing which is a game where you’re set on fire and have to ride on a quad and hit as many people and cars as you can. Also a game called crowd control is pretty cool, you’re a body guard for a famous celebrity and have to get rid of the crazy fans. How do you do this? Pick them up and throw them over a cliff.

So the story is set a few years in the future (I’m not sure exactly how many, I haven’t gotten that far) and you are in a prison hospital and have just woken out of a coma. This is where you enter into the character customisation which is quite dense. I chose a terrible cockney accent for the voice and haven’t gotten around to changing it. Word to the wise, don’t choose this voice, I think it was voice number 3. You should check.

Being a few years later, you find that the Saints are no more and Stillwater has been taken over by a new law known as Ultor who have given it a completely new skyline. Now you and Jonny Gat must re-unite and get the Saints back in the ruling position they once had.

Well I guess the only game comparison that can be made is to GTA 4, but honestly this game has so much over GTA. GTA has the reality factor whereas Saints Row 2 has the fun factor and that in my eyes places it above GTA. There is simply so much to do, not just in the leisure activities but there are a lot of things you can find and do that isn’t even labelled on the map. That in my eyes makes this game that much more fun. Not only to find the hidden games and general secrets, but just giving you something to do aside from the initial missions. I’ve also hears there are a ton of easter eggs to be discovered at your leisure including a Merman and a mysterious “Cabbit”

I have yet to try the co-op plays and stuff like that so can’t really touch on it. I will update my review once I have experienced these different things.

The graphics are a bit crummy, but in all honesty I would trade graphics for a dense game with a hell of a lot to do any day. Buy it, you won’t be disappointed.

Rating

I got this for my boyfriend (who’s 25) who rented this game from Hollywood Video and kept on playing it, even though he had late charges on it. So I got it for him for Christmas and he absolutely loves it! The graphics are amazing and you can do so much in it, from creating your own gang, gang colors, create items you have in your house, earn money, change cars and many details of cars, including the color tint you have. I can never get him off of it. Highly recommend to anyone who is over 18 years old since it’s real violent and doesnt make anyone in it or the person playing it, look like an angel, lol.

Rating

I am a reviewer who never played the first game due to seeming like a rip off of GTA with part 4 being said it would be released sometime. The graphics were bad too. But I got this as an impulse buy and man oh man, I think I will burn out my 360 due to playing this all night.

The co-op is insane and so fun.

This game is awesome since you can create your own character. Not being stuck playing some scumbag russian douche.

If you’re a guy you can play a WHITE, BLACK and BROWN guy. Though the white dude is british for some unknown reason.

If you’re a chick, the same applies except the british part.

This game would have gotten a 5 star rating but I dropped it down one for a huge reason.

There are many glitches in this game. One huge one was that I jumped into the water and went way under not even visible then all of a sudden I was falling from the sky with a chute in tow.

Pretty wild. But all is fun. No matter what happens. My 360 froze 3 times while playin, but I was playing from 8pm to 3am so I think it might have been my 360 saying “chill the funk out playa”. Get this game. You’ll dig it.

Smaller cut scenes that get to the point not drag it out. Cheers.

Rating

The comparisons to GTA are obvious – but I find this game to be a more light-hearted version than the line of GTA games. Not to diss GTA – I love all of those games – but this one is somehow more fun to play. The missions are more varied – you can customize your actual character endlessly – you can do everything right off the bat (fly helicopters, get awesome weapons, etc). The main missions are fun – messing around on your own is equally awesome. I like that this game isn’t as “serious” as GTA – the driving is easier, the physics are more forgiving – your health comes back on it’s own. It makes it much more less-stressfull to play. I highly recommend this game!!!!

Rating

Easily comparable to Grand Theft Auto but think of this as a more immature little brother. Offers open world gaming with challenges and missions that are very fun. Unlike GTA, it is easier to kill people and get away from cops which means you can go about causing more mayhem! The graphic and controls aren’t as tight as GTA but the fun factor is definitely there. I didn’t like it at firsts because of these reasons but one I got myself used to the game and its story, I was hooked!

Rating

Saints Row 1 had many of the ingredients needed to ‘beat’ the GTA franchise; more cars, more variety, more fun and I especially liked the unique activities (insurance fraud was my favorite). But it didn’t have everything; it didn’t have the unique jumps, the stats, the planes, bikes, huge playable area and so on and in my opinion just missed the mark of greatness.

SR2 addresses a lot of that and it’s great to see bigger and better and more varied activities along with a much bigger sandbox and considerably more vehicles. Add to all that you also get the diversions – kind of like mini activities, they’re simply things you can do any time without going anywhere to start it off – car surfing, base jumping etc. In fact, I’ve only completed 4 missions so far with 11% of the game completed, but I’ve being playing for nearly 20 hours, bumming around jumping off buildings with my parachute, wheeling, flying, stunt riding. Since the entire area is available to you off the bat, the missions aren’t initially as important as they are in GTA.

SR2 also employs a stat system similar to the Burnout range – getting a near miss, bike flips, multiple pile-ups, headshots or driving on the wrong side of the road gives you gold stars and can reward you with clothing, permanent reduced damage, better accuracy and so on. The game encourages you to have fun going crazy as every rotation, flip, and angle of a crash is recorded and displayed on screen. Even being thrown through the windshield during a high-speed crash can garner extra bonuses! In fact, pretty much anything you do in the game results in these stars. Unique jumps are also included, although you only have to find them, whereas in GTA you have to perform them well.

So really SR2 should beat GTA IV as the car-jacking sandbox game of the year right? Well, despite it being massive amounts of fun, with more to do than ever before (more than any GTA title) there’s a couple of very important problems with SR2.

Firstly, the graphics aren’t very good by today’s standards, and by the standard set by GTA. It looks strangely washed out and flat during the day and boring at night. The level of detail isn’t any higher than SR1 (which came out three years ago), and putting in SR2 into your 360 right after playing GTA IV is a big step down.

Secondly, and this is the biggest sticking point I have with the game… the physics. You’re simply spoiled by the engine in GTA IV. Walking through a crowd of peds in SR2 is like hitting trees and the basic ragdoll of your main character is no better than the first game. In other words it’s kind of lame. The killer though is the car handling. I get the feeling the programmers looked at GTA IV and its 180 spin outs when taking turns and said ‘let’s get rid of that’, leaving you with very wooden, on-the-rails handling. Seriously the cars can turn 90 degrees on the spot and the bike handling is bizarrely bad. The driving mechanics in SR2 is worse than SR1 – gone is the real-feel of driving only to be replaced by crude, unrealistic motion. Come on, you spend a lot of time in vehicles in this game and sure GTA IV’s cornering could be frustrating, but some semblance of realism is vital. And in SR2 it’s obviously missing.

So I love the stuff you can do, the variety, the stats and I embrace the character creation and ultimately the game is a great deal of fun. But the car handling ruins any chance of this game being anything close to a GTA killer. Shame.

*** Additional *** Since I wrote the above review I’ve put in around 40 hours on SR2 with over 50% completion. I still stand by my comments on the graphics and car handling – in fact I noticed exactly what is wrong with the driving aspect; it’s digital. Gas is on or off, as is the brake. Sure you can configure the controller to use the left and right trigger buttons to accelerate and brake, but the car/bike/plane is still being propelled digitally. It’s a major issue for me in terms of control and so that’s still bad.

But the reason for this update is to say how much I’m enjoying this game. The missions are massively varied – you take hostages, steal cars using tow trucks, take out farms from the miniguns of helicopters, get into brawls, and so on. The missions are a joy in SR2 and make GTA IV’s “drive to location X and kill guy Y” look positively boring. And man – missions checkpoints! Yes! Love it!

Rating

I bought the CE of this game at launch (Major waste of money, very cheap extras) and lost interest within a few days of playing for reasons I will note below. I’m writing this “review” now as I’m ’bout to start playing it again to just get through the game and feel I must get off my chest the problems. Not a review so much as a rant as I’m sure everyone has a fair idea of what this game is.

For starters, GTA IV lacks in comparison to GTA:SA. IV was a major step backwards in comparison to SA. Saint’s Row I was a huge fan of as it was the same concept of GTA but taken to a higher level in terms of customization. Of course much of the praise for SR could be attributed to the fact the last GTA wasn’t on a current-gen system but considering how GTA IV was a major setback, not valid. After the release of GTA IV, as hyped as I was for it, I was really looking forward to SR2 even more which sadly was a greater let down than GTA IV.

SR2 is the exact same game as SR. From the start I knew it was going to be set in the same city some years later. Very nice idea as opposed to GTA that goes from city to city, especially the larger map size and claimed underground areas. The game itself failed to deliver on this. At the start of the game I was wondering what changes were made to the city as it felt and looked exactly the same until I seen the new college area. Okay, and there are a few other new areas but for the most part the entire city is pretty much the same thing and it doesn’t feel too much larger at all. The underground areas are very limited and nothing as it was said to be in interviews before the release.

So basically this is the same game from controls to graphics to location to everything as the first. The only difference I noticed was the music wasn’t as good as there is absolutely no Chat Radio. Since GTA 3, a staple of this “genre” of game has been the chat radio station as it really bring the city to life and immerses the player into the virtual world. In SR2 there is no chat radio. In fact, out of the few stations there are I really don’t care for a single. Upon this revelation of there being no chat radio station was when I stopped playing the game as I just couldn’t tolerate this overpriced, lesser repeat of SR. (Yes, it took me a good number missions before I realized the lack of a chat station as I just couldn’t believe it)

Another issue is how short the game is. My brother played through the game in a few days and was done, another reason I didn’t care to finish. Was really disappointing.

Overall this game is an immensely disappointing sequel. As I said, SR in comparison to GTA had so much more going on especially in comparison to IV but SR2 totally dropped the ball. This game could’ve probably been released a week after the first SR considering the very, very little things done to it. The only really noticeable change is the character customization at the start which is far more robust but it feels that is the only improvement other than the numerous de-provements. On that, I don’t care for the voice overs either.

You have three voices to choose from and for the male character you have one that sounds black, one that sounds Hispanic, and one that sounds British. The Hispanic voice is the most annoying as it sounds totally “white” except for certain phrases that suddenly sound Hispanic. Very, very poor job from the “white” guy feigning a Hispanic gangster.

Overall I must urge you to rent this. Obviously I regret buying the CE due to the extreme cheapness of the extras made in China but even the standard edition, with what I knew moments after playing it I wouldn’t have bought this title whatsoever.

You may find this a fun game, which it is, but do yourself a favor and save the money. You can easily run through this within a week. As for me, I didn’t find this game fun at all as I was looking forward to the sequel and this just totally takes the cake at worse, least-done, cheapest sequel.

Another thing, aside from the lack of a chat station the radio advertisements are nearly non-existent. Aside from the chat station it is fun to listen to the ads inbetween songs and the DJs chatter (True in both GTA AND SR), in SR2 you have no chat station and you have barely any commercials and almost no DJ chatter.

Very, very weak sequel.