Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Ron Burke

18 hours, 23 minutes.  I played through Saints Row 2 in 18 hours and 23 minutes, and I only ended up completing 66% by that time.  The first game took me about as long to hit closer to the 100% mark, but that was quite a while ago.  What have the boys at Volition been doing since then?  We’ve seen Grand Theft Auto IV come and go, posting up some of the highest scores of all time for any game on any platform, so they’d better be doing something big, right? 

As a quick recap, Saints Row places us as a new lieutenant in the 3rd Street Saints, one of four rival gangs in the city of Stilwater.  As you slowly take apart the Lost Carnales, Westside Rollerz, and the Vice Kings, you engage in all sorts of mayhem that eventually pits you against officials of the city itself.  After the assassination of the Mayor of Stilwater, the player is invited to a private yacht by Alderman Hughes where he reveals his plan to destroy the Saints.  As you prepare to put a bullet in his skull, the yacht explodes, supposedly killing all aboard.  There are tons of theories as to who betrayed you, how deep the police involvement went (Troy was obviously a cop as he flashes a badge at the end), and even one that supposes that the Saints were engineered specifically to cause sufficient chaos to allow the mayor to be executed, allowing the Ultor corporation to move in with a ‘sweep and clear’ plan. 

Saints Row 2 picks up directly after the first game, but with a twist.  Your character, after spending an unknown amount of time in a bandage-encased coma, awakens in the island prison of Stilwater.  Serving multiple consecutive life sentences, your character is all but doomed to a life in prison.  A prisoner risks his own life to get put into the infirmary with you and convinces you to engage in a blood-soaked jailbreak, serving as the tutorial and beginning of the game.

In the first review we said “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” – can Saints Row 2 not only duplicate the success of the first game, but also imitate the fantastic scores from Rockstar’s magnum opus? 

Often when you see a title released near the launch window of a console you get a somewhat lackluster graphical presentation.  When the sequel comes along, if it uses the same graphic engine, often the graphic update is minimal at best.  Saints Row 2 does use the same engine from the previous title, but the graphical update is significant. 

There will, of course, be comparisons to Grand Theft Auto IV, so let’s just get to it – Grand Theft Auto IV has better graphics than Saints Row 2.  There is more detail and the animations are slightly better.  You know what though?  I liked the graphical presentation of Saints Row 2 more.  Given that you can customize your character (more on that in a moment) to a ridiculous degree, customize your gang, choose which vehicles your crew drives, and far more, I think that Grand Theft Auto IV got the short end of the stick.  I had trouble identifying with the pre-made Nico, but I really enjoyed being my firey redhead ruthless leader of the Saints.  There is also significantly less fogging and pop-in with Saints Row 2 than in GTA4.  What Grand Theft Auto IV managed to pull off was amazing to be sure, but I found the brighter and less serious look of Stilwater more engaging.

I mentioned that you can customize your character in a number of ways.  There are an incredible amount of items that you can modify. You can adjust the body shape, masculinity, fatness, age, and skin tone in the 'body' tab, adjust your crown, forehead, brow, eyes, eye color, ears, cheekbones, nose, moth, chin, jaw, and far more in the 'face' tab.  The hair options are loaded with options including your hair's primary and secondary color, facial hair and color, head (long and wavy, 3 styles of dreads, medium length parted in the middle, messy, pigtail braids, pixie, ponytail, afro, clipped, comb over, combed back or forward, beehive, corporate parted left, curly short, draped over the shoulder, flat top, mohawk, shaved, shaved sides with spiky top, shaved with spiky bangs, skater cut, small afro, spiky dreads, punk, trival curls), and many, MANY more options than I've listed here.  Not enough hair options?  Let's talk about facial hair (and yes, you can put these on the women too - I confirmed this, of course) - bushy mustaches, a fu man chu, a khan, a tight goatee, a thick or thin beard, stubble, soul patch, mutton chops, pointy sideburns, and everything in between.  Still not enough of the hirsute madness?  How about angry, bushy, arched, angry, caveman, Evil Scientist, full, neutral, pencil thin, pointed, shaped, soft, straight, tapered and many more eyebrow styles. Further defining your character you can drop six types of eye makeup on your character in 35 colors, including Goth Crow, Hooker Eyeshadow, and Egyptian Eye.  You can drop freckles, smears of cheek makeup, or a gentle blush on your cheeks to go with your clown, oversized, smeared, or glossy lipstick options.  What amazes me is that all of this is simply customizing your character's face.  Once you manage all of these items, you can also tackle a similar host of options to modify your character's body. 

Once you've physically blinded yourself with the wealth of available sliders, you'll pick from six different voices split evenly between male and female.  Additionally you can pick your 'usual' facial expression including happy, sad, inebriated, surprised, and more.  You'll also chose a movement style including lady thug, pimp, bounce, sway, swing, and 10 varieties of 'thug' styles; you know, the 'busted-hip/limp/leg dragging' nonsense.  Rounding out the incredible list of customizations, you'll pick out your signature taunt move from a list including the chest bump, a hiked-leg dog pee move, the flex, ride the donkey, smooth criminal moon walk, and my usual - flipping the bird.  As you play through the game you’ll also be able to customize the look of your gang members ranging from Pimps and Hos to an all-ninja brigade.

The world of Stilwater has gotten bigger since the first game.  In fact, it is 45% bigger, containing expansive interiors, high rise buildings, and enough area to keep you busy for quite a while.  The expanded area isn’t without a cost though – while there is less pop in, there are some framerate issues.  The good news is that they are few and far between and they seem to be almost exclusively contained within the cutscenes.   The exceptions to that were thankfully fleeting.  There is a very large mall that you’ll explore in a few missions that served as a fairly bland backstop.  There are a few stores in the mall, but otherwise it is a very large and relatively empty arena – my least favorite part of the game, in point of fact.

Much like in Saints Row, Saints Row 2 features an all-star cast.  Daniel Dae Kim (he played Disciple Gao in American Shaolin which was also known as No Retreat, No Surrender 5, he also plays Jin Kwon in the hit series Lost) reprises his role as Johnny Gat, Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek fame) plays the leader of the Brotherhood, Maero, and Jaimie Pressly plays Maero’s girlfriend Jessica.  Neil Patrick Harris joins the crew as DJ Veteran Child, as does Eliza Dushku as one of your lieutenants named Shaundi.  Michael Rappaport also reprises his role as Troy, albeit in a small role.  I was surprised to find that everyone on this list, as well as those who played bit parts, turned in fantastic performances.  Sure, some of the cutscenes were over the top, but there was a great blend of genuinely funny moments mixed in with a few truly moving moments that show a great deal of depth for your character.  Granted, all of these moments are made instantly hilarious when you are dressed like a pirate or in a giant hotdog suit, but there is no doubt that the writing and voice work is top shelf.

The sound effects in Saints Row 2 seem fairly familiar – they sound exactly like they did in the previous title.  Tires screech, shell casings hit the ground, and car engines rev like they should – the only thing that really grates on my ears is the soundtrack.

Just like in the previous title, Saints Row 2 features music from several different genres including Electronica, Funk, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop, Gen-X and 80’s.  The music comes from artists including Tears for Fears, Paramore, Men at Work, Apache, Run DMC, Hot Hot Heat, Heads High, Niko Radic, and even Tchaikovsky and Bach.  There are over 120 tracks to choose from across all of the genres.  The hitch here is that over 75% of it is Reggae, Easy Listening, and classical.  If you are a fan of those three genres, you’ll be all set; otherwise you need to get prepared to listen to the same dozen or so tracks over and over.  You can purchase more songs, but the list is still pretty short.

I was talking to a developer one day about the Havok engine and he showed me just what this middleware application is capable of doing to a game.  From ragdoll to vehicle behaviors, the Havok engine can make or break your game.  Saints Row 2 uses the Havok engine and it’ll be apparent almost immediately.  Characters ragdoll and fall all over themselves, vehicles powerslide and glide along the ground at high speeds, and occasionally those same people and vehicles go completely batshit insane.  Most of the game the engine works fine, but there are a few frustrating moments where Havok goes overboard, killing you for a minor fall or sending your vehicle vertical when bouncing off of a small curb. 

The camera in Saints Row 2 is controlled by the right thumbstick and is fairly responsive, and the other controls work like any other title in the genre.  The left thumbstick handles movements, the triggers fire or throw weapons, and the face buttons handle your interactions or weapon selections.  It works, and other than the havok engine occasionally losing its marbles, the controls work perfectly.

A wise man once said, “Pimpin’ ain’t easy, but it sure is fun”.  Saints Row 2 puts you back in control of the 3rd Street Saints (after you solve that little matter of incarceration) but there is very little to actually control when you start out.  Like in the previous title, you will have to run solo riding in crappy cars in your starter neighborhood.  With only a little money, you’ll be stuck with whatever weapons you can scrounge until you can start to build up some street cred.  Running a few missions will put you into a new home for the gang, and a few more will start to build its members.  You’ll be able to recruit a home, then two, and finally three to roll with you on your missions.  As you unlock and purchase other cribs you’ll get the opportunity to pimp them out with new gear including 100” plasma screens, stripper poles, or complete style makeovers.  New vehicle options, new looks for your gang members, and new missions open up as the primary story progresses.  As far as functionality, the game plays almost identically to its predecessor.

After wiping out the Lost Carnales, Westside Rollerz, and the Vice Kings, three new gangs have moved into their old territories and secured a foothold.  The Brotherhood represents the tattooed roid-rage monster truck rally hillbilly types, dealing mostly in the protection racket.  The Sons of Samedi are slinging a new drug called Loa Dust on the streets, addicting scores of Stilwater residents with its ultra-addictive properties.  The Ronin are a Japanese gang run by the son of a powerful Yakuza boss – they are looking to use the entertainment industry of Stilwater to control the streets.  All three gangs pale in comparison to the previous power of the Saints, but that gang is dead – you need to begin anew.  Taking missions (there are 42 in total) isn’t as simple as selecting them on the map – you need to build some respect first, and that is where the diversions come into play.

Saints Row 2 uses the same respect system as the previous game, giving players respect for completing activities in the game world.  You can act as a bodyguard for famous celebrities, engage in a demolition derby, race in the streets, sling drugs out of your van, provide escort services for the more deviant members of Stilwater, engage multiple fighters in a no-holds-barred Fight Club, create your own TV cop show in Fuzz, jump into a flame retardant suit and set bystanders on fire while racing in Trail Blazing, fly an assault helicopter and cover your crew while they sling drugs in Heli Assault, put yourself in harms way for pay in Insurance Fraud, crush the will of the populous and cause massive damage in Mayhem, spray septic tank contents on residents in Toxic Avenger, steal hookers for your own harem in Snatch, and that doesn’t even count just capping random gang members in the streets.  Everything you do in Stilwater earns you respect, and you don’t have to complete even half of them to complete the game.  This means, no forced races (I did two or three – they aren’t my thing so I didn’t do any more), and you don’t have to complete everything under the sun just to complete the storyline.  Even the clothing you buy and tattoos you get (and there are plenty of both) add to your style rank, giving a bonus to any respect you’d normally earn.

Now that you have enough respect to run a mission you’ll look at the map and simply set a GPS point.  Driving to the location starts the mission and you’ll be treated to a bit of backstory and a set of objectives.  Most of the time the objectives are as simple as killing a certain target or covering your friends while they do their business, but the storyline is engaging enough where you won’t likely notice some of the repetition.  In between the story missions there are sub-missions called strongholds.  The strongholds (there are 45 of them) represent the various hoods in Stilwater, and controlling them nets you $500 dollars per day.  Similarly, there are over 90 businesses that you can buy your way into which net you additional cash per day.  By the end of the game I was earning roughly $45,000 per day for my efforts, rolling in the finest vehicles with the best threads.  I do have to honestly say though…I wish there was more pimpin’.

When you buy up the various cribs in the game you’ll be able to customize them, but other than adding to your overall style bonus, they really don’t serve a lot of purpose.  You can store vehicles (including helicopters and jets – you paying attention Rockstar?) at your various cribs, but it looks like your gang is having far more fun there than you are.  With a game that has so much customization in the character creation, why can’t I shuffle my crib the way I want it?

There are two other things I want to talk about that plagued the first game as well as this game – pathfinding and uneven difficulty.  The pathfinding AI works about 85% of the time, but other times you’ll scratch your head as your sidekicks stand around while you get shot.  Similarly, you’ll see moments where the cops will throw themselves off bridges or commit similar suicide as they lose their way.  The other item is uneven difficulty.  There is a mission in the mall where you’ll have to square off against an entire private army of guys driving armored personnel carriers (just ignore that there is no way to actually get those vehicles into the building) that is hair-pulling level of frustration.  That said, the last boss was pretty much a joke by comparison.  I’m not expecting that the last boss be almost impossible to beat, but I expected him to put up a bit of a fight. 

Still, when you look at the complaints I just levied against the game, you can see that they are pretty arbitrary.  The game took me a bit over 18 hours to beat, and I completely and entirely loved about 16.5 hours of that.  Even Halo 3 didn’t give me that much entertainment.  The game isn’t Grand Theft Auto IV, but I don’t think it ever tried to be.

As I’ve said, this game took me over 18 hours to complete.  That said, there is easily double or triple that amount doing the distraction missions.  Even if open world games aren’t your thing, there is something else to love here – online co-op play.  The entire game can be played from beginning to end with a second player.  Volition was smart about the cutscenes, allowing each player to see their own creation in that role to keep immersion, while still allowing players to party up.  The missions are slightly different, giving players the chance to tackle missions together by changing it up a bit.  Sometimes it’ll add a second car for both players to chase a gang member, sometimes the second player will drive while the first player fires their weapons from the side windows.  Any way you slice it, the game is a blast to play with a friend.
 
The multiplayer in Saints Row kinda fizzled out pretty quickly, but I think Volition has brought some new hotness to the multi side of things.  At any point in the game you can blow up your friend, giving them the option of starting a cat and mouse minigame that puts one player in a car while the other player chases in an assault helicopter.  When the car is finally destroyed, the players switch sides.  There are also some full multiplayer options including a game called Hitman where both sides try to protect their VIP, and another called Gangsta Brawl where the players try to control the various neighborhoods in the city by murdering eachother.  It’s essentially deathmatch or team deathmatch, but there is a lot to be said for beating somebody down with a giant foam middle finger.  The Strongarm variant allows you to task your teams with the various diversions in the game including mayhem, theft, snatch, and more – each team fighting over stolen TVs as they fight to reach the merch fence is going to be a huge hit. 

Saints Row 2 is 45% larger than the original, features far more diversions and missions, and has a stronger story than its predecessor.  There is a lot to like here.  The game never takes itself seriously, and that is exactly how I like it.

The rivalry between Grand Theft Auto IV and Saints Row 2 was inevitable.  The delay for the Volition title may have been tactical as well as technical, but any way you slice it, there is no doubt that Saints Row 2 will rule the holiday season.  The game makes a lot of headway in terms of story quality, and the customization is beyond what we’ve seen in any sandbox title to date.  While Saints Row 2 doesn’t reinvent the genre by any means, it brings more than enough big pimpin’ gameplay to keep me busy for a while. 

Gaming Trend Score

92

1. Graphics: 92
2. Audio: 85
3. Controls: 90
4. Gameplay: 94
5. Value/Replay: 95
6. OVERALL:92