by:	January 15, 2008

If you absolutely cannot wait for Grand Theft Auto 4 then Saints Row is the game for you. If you are a little more patient than all that, then you may want to hold off. Saints Row does a lot of things right and in some ways surpasses its source material. But there are some annoying bugs and a lack of depth that will annoy those who are expecting this to be Grand Theft Auto.

Basically, this is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas except you aren't forced to be black. Seriously, that's about all there is to it. Saints Row has a more arcade feel to it than Grand Theft Auto and it also has a lot less depth. But this rips GTA off in almost every possible way. The control scheme, the Forgive and Forgets (Pay and Spray), the amount of humor, the celebrity voice actors, the way the city is laid out, you should go into this knowing what you're getting into. That isn’t to say Saints Row isn’t a fun game - it can be an absolute blast. I had a great time playing. The game is funny, the characters are cool, and there are plenty of things to do. I absolutely love some of the side missions that you complete throughout the game, though playing a certain number of them to progress the story can get old.


I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the insurance fraud mini-game, which is quite possibly my favorite mini-game of all time. The cars range from lame to amazing, just like in real life. Find yourself a car with the flip up doors, you’ll love it. I also love that you can store insane amounts of cars in your garage which adds to the slightly more arcade feel that this game has over GTA. I also appreciate being able to have a car repaired; if you really love a vehicle and don’t want to find another one, there’s your solution. Taking hostages can be fun as well, especially the things they’re yelling at you as you go. There’s a lot of gameplay variety here. However, you won’t be base jumping and you won’t be piloting any planes or taking boats. Some of the things here are cool, but there just isn’t the variety the leader in the genre has made gamers expect.

The online aspect of Saints Row was its real chance to stand out from the pack, but it’s almost broken. There are some cool modes and the core gameplay is solid but this has to be the most lag filled game I have ever played. I’ve played my fair share of online shooters but you should not be dead, announced dead, and then wait fifteen seconds to die. You should not be run over by a car that you don’t see until you’re laying down and it’s halfway across the level in the other direction. This is in an open area! The lag in this game is ridiculous on so many levels. The less players the better, but even in small games it runs poorly. There’s also a long wait for each game and a poor set up so that you don’t choose the game you’re joining unless you make a custom game. The whole online interface stinks. I’ve often said a game could have been a lot better had it had another month or two of work. Saints Row’s online modes needed six. They’re a mess.

The graphics in Saints Row are extremely colorful and everything looks nice, though it isn’t really pushing the 360. Some of the effects, such as vehicle explosions, are glorious but there are some muddy textures in certain places and animation just looks unpolished in general. There’s a lot about this game that’s unpolished, despite the extra eight months it spent in development after its delay from the 360 launch. How Volition ever thought this was going to be out at launch is beyond me - it wouldn’t have been playable.