I remember as a kid when games had a simple responsibility to a player, and that was being fun. Since then I've noticed the generic increase in games having a bigger focus on pushing the boundaries of hardware with overly detailed narratives delivering less than fun interactive media. When did all the focus from games being pure fun drain away into trying to turn every other game into something it's pretending not to be? Don't get me wrong, I like a serious story every now and then, but the increase has only showed me how glutton it can get, like thirty days before Christmas it devours everything within the industry. Too many times I've just wanted to pick up my controller and just go all out having fun, not sit through the occasional five or ten minute cutscene or even worse, scripted interactive cutscene to get to the actual gameplay, all for the sake of the story. The child in me screams and throws tantrums at what he had been so used to, and the adult in me can only sit there and try to accept the inevitable that has become of this generation. However, Saints Row: The Third, showed some light in that aspect of all that's dark and depressing. A franchise that for many years was ridiculed for being nothing but a GTA clone, out of the blue reinvented itself and put a primary focus on fun and unique gameplay while realism and a serious narrative took the backseat. After about fifty hours of gameplay, beating the story and reaching a percent of eighty. I can happily say Saints Row: The Third actually made me smile, it had a sort of charm to it. It's by far my personal game of the year.
Upon arriving at Steelport I was open to the "Initiation Station" where I developed my character to be a punk metalhead with a mohawk, purple collared shirt, with black jeans. After about two missions in I was already blown away by the insanity of the gameplay. The cutscenes were short during any narrative set up and the gameplay missions were long and choice riddled. I found the introduction to some of the activities as missions to be a bit cheap as far as adding to the gameplay, I may as well had been playing a tutorial with no idea until completion. Onto the sound, the radio stations feature some very nice tunes to listen to while driving around or causing chaos, even some missions have songs playing during an intense moment such as Kanye West's Power and Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero. The voice acting is also very well done, for a game that offers the choice of six voices to use from, they all sound like it's true interaction between all the other voice actors. The vehicle controls have been completely overhauled and perfected. Quick turns no longer feel like I'm driving a corvette like an 18 wheeler, occasionally however cars would spawn in front of me rather than see them from far away, sometimes leading me to crashing into them at high speeds. As for the characters, I have never seen such a mix matched bunch of people under one building. To avoid giving away any spoilers I'll simply leave it at that.
In conclusion, Saints Row: The Third is a great reminder that a game in this day and age can still be fun with no tired focus on realism or seriousness. A growing fad among games that simply needs to take a cat nap. Volition has crafted a great quality title to end the year with, not only earning well deserved scores and sales, but giving their franchise a real identity.
Great job Volition, can't wait to see what you make next!
GF365: "We all love experimenting with character creation to make unique protagonists. These are the games with the best character creation systems."
Slightly disappointing game but Wo Long had a good creator. I was impressed by Oblivion back in what 05, 06? But the worst i have ever seen, clearly, Valheim.
What was up with Wo Long?
Not looked at any reviews and did download it on my Xbox before I sold the console but never got around to playing it. Saw it drop in price on PS5 and was thinking of picking it up.
RE: Character creation
Oblivion hold a special place for me, when it came out on PS3, it was the first game of its kind that I had played and the character creator took was amazing.
I do like Monster Hunter: World & FFXIV, personally.
Cyberpunk did good in that department, despite its numerous flaws.
I played Oblivion day 1 on 360 and was impressed with the creator. Damn near 20 yrs ago, it was impressive at the time. Special game, unfortunately 90% of current gamers on social media have not a clue about the older stuff. Elder Scrolls is just Skyrim to many. They know not of Gothic and the old guard that paved the way. Flimsy ass rhetoric and recycled opinions about the same bs is what garners attention. Meme culture. Insight and intellect hold no place on the current day internet. Fuck likes, follows, BS. I say what i believe is relevant, what i'm interested in, and following means fuck all bc i don't respect 99% of the ppl online anyway.
For the "TLDR" bs. I'ma not space it out on purpose. Fuck you very much folks.
Honestly the one I remember being easiest and flexible enough to make any character I imagined was the PS2 WWE games, and Saints Row 2. I did really enjoy Dragons dogmas character creation too
I was gonna mention Black Desert but the game is horrible so...
Creator was the best part.
Lol CP 2077 is one of the easiest and less detailed editors around. It's all a mish-mash of presets.
GF365: "Whether it be style, speed or firepower, these rides are sure to satisfy. Here are our picks for the ten best vehicles in video games."
The Suzuki Escudo Pikes Peak from the Gran Turismo series
Nissan Skyline from Need for Speed Underground
Motorcycle Steamroller from Dead Rising 3
And finally a car you never drive but saves your ass over and over : Honey Badger from COD MW2
I was thinking of Mad Max. That V8 felt really good to drive around in, especially with upgrades.
I don't know... It was a strange addition to the game, and the parts of the game where you had to fight in it were tedious. But driving it around Gotham felt brilliant.
In a recent podcast with Wassup Conversations, Scott Phillips the director of many games such as Immortals Fenyx Rising, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Saints Row The Third and Saints Row 4 talks about behind the scenes of those games.
How is the co-op?
I always wanted JC2 to have co-op... but the closest thing I could get was Mercs 2. I played the hell outta that game, alot of which were in co-op online.
deja view? nice wording kid
Ha...great review.
And yes the two player coop should have been 4 player coop.
You should have mentioned "Whored mode". lol
Edit
Like the different type of sessions.
Nice review. I'm 25 hours in and I'm still on act 2. There's so many activities to do around steelport, my favorite is tank mayhem. The driving mechanics are perfect, flying is fun too. The character and car customiziation is really deep. This game gets alot of things right that GTA has been getting wrong all along. Saints Row: The Third is a must play for fans of open world games.
My choice for goty. Been playing too many serious games that I've thought to myself that it's me getting old and tired of games. Now that saints row 3 is here I realize that it wasn't me but the games. Nothing else like it out there, not even gta4. Anyways, great review and I'm happy this game isn't being overlooked because it really really deserve every point and sale it gets.