Author Topic: Saints Row  (Read 6323 times)

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Offline Antares

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  • Author of The Shivan Manifesto
Any opinions on the latest offering from our friends at Volition? A demo of the game is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace, for those who have yet to try it.

The city of Stillwater is being ravaged by gang warfare. Rival groups openly battle in the streets, and innocent people are being caught in the crossfire. One small gang, the 3rd Street Saints, has decided to bring peace back to Stillwater and make the city a safe place to live again. The only way to do this is to wipe out all the other competing gangs... one neighborhood at a time.

First Impressions -

The Good: Excellent, if somewhat over-the-top voice acting by a professional cast (including the likes of Keith David, Michael Clarke Duncan, and David Carradine!) that is entertaining (and often hilarious) to listen to. The game puts an unusual spin on the Grand Theft Auto archetype, allowing you to recruit "homies" to help you carry out your mission objectives, so you don't have to act alone. The setting is the city of Stillwater, your typical urban slum (based on Chicago and Detroit), but with a campy, Jay and Silent Bob-style atmosphere; there's a fast-food joint called "Freckle *****es", a clothing outlet called "Sloppy Seconds", and so on. The city is open-ended (or part of the "open-world genre", as Volition has elected to call it), allowing you to follow the main storyline or complete any number of side quests for money and other benefits. You can fully customize your character, from skin and eye color to tattoos and the shape of your physical characteristics, although some features are unavailable in the demo. The game is easy on the eyes, making good use of the 360's processing power, and is strangely addictive to play.

The Bad: Comparisons to Grand Theft Auto are inevitable--and valid--and Saints Row has a hard time denying charges of being a GTA clone. Carjackings, explosions, and excessive gunplay are all hallmarks of the series, and even simple activities like eating food items to regain health just don't seem that innovative when standing in GTA's shadow. The "mission"-based gameplay, progressing from one task to the next in order to earn your keep, also seems very familiar. The demo is very short, containing only three story missions and one side quest to complete.

The Ugly: Controls are awkward, and take some time getting used to. All of the cars on the street (with the exception of the police cruiser) seem rather generic, with little to differentiate one vehicle from the next; none of them handle very well or go very fast. Aiming weapons from even a moderate distance can be frustrating, and you're likely to waste several shots before actually gunning someone down; get too close, and you're likely to end up on the pavement yourself. The physics engine sometimes exhibits some odd behavior: ramming into another vehicle may cause it to simply run off the road or hurtle through the air, and while hit-and-runs will always send pedestrians flying, these collisions are strangely bloodless, and don't attract the attention of the police. The low-brow humor and plentiful vulgarity may be a turn-off for some gamers; the "M" rating is well-deserved.

Speaking as someone who never really enjoyed Grand Theft Auto, I can safely say that Saints Row is a blast. I've played the demo from start-to-finish three times, despite its brevity. Fans of the genre will definitely enjoy causing carnage in the streets, and even those who don't have a taste for blood will find themselves laughing out loud at the game's rude, crude treatment of inner city life. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this game, but I stand corrected. Give the demo a spin; you may find yourself equally surprised.

Freespace easter eggs, anyone?  :D
« Last Edit: August 03, 2006, 11:44:18 pm by Antares »
We have returned to continue our purification of this galaxy. It is again your turn to be crushed beneath the great force that is the Antaran army. All your petty squabbling with the other beings in this galaxy is meaningless. The Antaran fleet will destroy you all, one by one. You may not surrender. You cannot win. Your only option is death.

 

Offline aldo_14

  • Gunnery Control
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Is this looking like being Vs first proper-good game since Freespace 2, then?

 

Offline Colonol Dekker

  • HLP is my mistress
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I'm having nightmares about True Crime here..........
Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
-Battle of Neptune
-Between the Ashes 2
-Blue planet: Age of Aquarius
-FOTG?
-Inferno R1
-Ribos: The aftermath / -Retreat from Deneb
-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

Your friendly Orestes tactical controller.

Secret bomb God.
That one time I got permabanned and got to read who was being bitxhy about me :p....
GO GO DEKKER RANGERSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Offline karajorma

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I enjoyed GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas. If Rockstar choose to be slow about porting to the PC I'm quite happy to see what V have done with the genre.

As for it being a GTA clone well FS2 never really added anything new to the genre either. They just did such a good job of distilling the entire genre down to a single kickarse game that we're still playing it now. If they can do the same thing with GTA's genre (whatever the hell you call it) then I'm up for giving a try.


Incidentally now that we have a GTA clone by V do we start calling it GTVA? :D

EDIT : Ah bugger it. I think they're X-Box only aren't they. I thought the game was PC as well. Pity. Some of the multiplayer additions (GTA never had proper multiplayer on the PC) looked quite cool.

Quote
Q: What is Protect tha Pimp (PTP)

A: Protect Tha Pimp (PTP) is a Team Game played in rounds. In PTP, one Team must escort a Pimp to safety while the other Team tries to stop him.The Pimp's Team has to escort the Pimp to a location indicated on the mini map within the time limit. One player on the team is randomly chosen to be the Pimp; this player wears the Pimp Hat. When you are the Pimp, you are not allowed to carry any weapons and your stamina is reduced; however your Pimp Slap Melee Attack kills anyone instantly.

:lol:
« Last Edit: August 04, 2006, 06:51:10 am by karajorma »
Karajorma's Freespace FAQ. It's almost like asking me yourself.

[ Diaspora ] - [ Seeds Of Rebellion ] - [ Mind Games ]

 

Offline Night Hammer

  • I Can't FRED
  • 29
  • You'll shoot your eye out...
Is this looking like being Vs first proper-good game since Freespace 2, then?

i rather liked the Red Faction games and i swear at the end of the first one a deimos/iceni hybrid shows up
Stop... Hammertime :hammer:

 

Offline aldo_14

  • Gunnery Control
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Is this looking like being Vs first proper-good game since Freespace 2, then?

i rather liked the Red Faction games and i swear at the end of the first one a deimos/iceni hybrid shows up

When that's the sole highlight you pick out, surely you know it's a bad sign?

 
I've been dinking around with the SR demo for the past couple of hours now. It's fun, but a blatant (and good) ripoff of GTA. I just wish the handling of the cars were tighter (really, they handle looser than Paris Hilton's cooch) and there was some sort of lock on for the on-foot combat. Aiming in thirdperson with a gamepad = teh suck. I'm loving the physics. Some good times there. Oh, and if you are going to tear through the streets, make sure not to hit anything head on; I did earlier and I got ejected through the front windshield, flew over the bridge, hit the ground and bounced a few feet, and then got ran over by a couple of people. Yeah, I died... But man was it funny.
tianjun1298 > Your this only the fine insect which escapes from the condom

 

Offline Fineus

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Offline Ace

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Well, I'm going to say it still: Volition lost their touch.

Descent was very creative, FS was a well executed fusion of Wing Commander and X-Wing.

Summoner had an excellent plot, but a poor combat system.

Red Faction was... ....

...and to be honest from what I've seen and played Saint's Row is a well done GTA clone, but doesn't add anything new at all to the genre.

Volition has a habit of trying to fuse different games together, Summoner was mediocre due to trying to mix western and easten RPG styles together. Really the only game where this tactic worked was with FreeSpace, and that's simply because it's a niche genre.
Ace
Self-plagiarism is style.
-Alfred Hitchcock

 

Offline Deepblue

  • Corporate Shill
  • 210
Actually they added multiplayer.

 
Actually they added multiplayer.

GTA: Liberty City Stories on PSP had multiplayer. Also, there are dozens of multiplayer mods for the PC GTA's as well.
tianjun1298 > Your this only the fine insect which escapes from the condom

 

Offline Deepblue

  • Corporate Shill
  • 210
Well done multiplayer.

 

Offline aldo_14

  • Gunnery Control
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Liberty Cities multiplayer was pretty highly acclaimed, IIRC.  I know it's on a sony machine and you don't like that sort of thing, but 'well done' would seem rather incorrect.

 

Offline Deepblue

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I've read differently, and I could care less if it was on a sony machine or not.

  

Offline achtung

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I still say the PC ports to multi are better :p

I mean running around in a server with nearly 100 people flying, driving and shooting can be kinda fun.  The Team Deathmatch modes are fun as well.
FreeSpaceMods.net | FatHax | ??????
In the wise words of Charles de Gaulle, "China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese."

Formerly known as Swantz

 

Offline Ferret

  • 28
  • A very hungry Fiona.
well FS2 never really added anything new to the genre either.
Fzzzooooooooop..-..BZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAZZZAAaaaaZAZAZZZZZZ-woooooooppp......

 

Offline Colonol Dekker

  • HLP is my mistress
  • 213
  • Aken Tigh Dekker- you've probably heard me
    • My old squad sub-domain
well FS2 never really added anything new to the genre either.
Fzzzooooooooop..-..BZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAZZZAAaaaaZAZAZZZZZZ-woooooooppp......

Ahoy me hearties, tis' true, The might beam beast cometh ........
Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
-Battle of Neptune
-Between the Ashes 2
-Blue planet: Age of Aquarius
-FOTG?
-Inferno R1
-Ribos: The aftermath / -Retreat from Deneb
-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

Your friendly Orestes tactical controller.

Secret bomb God.
That one time I got permabanned and got to read who was being bitxhy about me :p....
GO GO DEKKER RANGERSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
President of the Scooby Doo Model Appreciation Society
The only good Zod is a dead Zod
NEWGROUNDS COMEDY GOLD, UPDATED DAILY
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