NOTE: This is a Mature rated game. Underage members should avoid reading this review.
I have never heard of Saints Row: The Third, until it's release last November. I am not really a fan much of open world games except Assassin's Creed series and some of Grand Theft Auto games, and I bought this game and played it. It was an absolutely crazy, over the top and fun game.
Story
The story takes place after the second Saints Row game, where now the Saints have become a large organisation with commercial success, becoming a large part of the media now such as commercials. After a heist that went wrong, the leader of a group called The Syndicate wants to negotiate with the Saints about a business plan. The Saints refused, and all went to hell as only you as the boss and your partner, Shaundi survives whereas your other partner, Johnny Gat, dies. You managed to land onto Steelport, one of the cities that the Syndicate controls. Now it is up to you to get revenge on the Syndicate by taking over Steelport.
The story is simply absurd, but rather well-told with many crazy moments. You either will be laughing like hell when playing the game or not. Most of the jokes are pretty hilarious, although some people might get offended with the game's crude humour. Either way, I love the humour, and it is kind of hard for me take the story seriously.
The characters are pretty well developed, with their own unique personalities. It is not everyday you get to meet a guy who is a pimp and uses a vocoder (I think it is Auto-Tune) to talk every time, or a guy who cameos himself in the game as a president. I like all of the main characters in the game, as well as the villains too.
Gameplay
The game plays like GTA games, like driving vehicles, kill your enemies, etc. The main difference is that this game has many absurd, crazy and cool moments like the airplane mission (the picture shown above), and the game takes itself not seriously to the point that it will you laugh like hell.
You can change the gender, hair colour, hair style, eyes, or other areas of your character freely. You can also customise his voice, using a female voice or a zombie voice even if your character's gender is female, and vice versa. The freedom of character customisations is extremely fun, making many players worldwide to create their own character in the game. If you don't like to customise your characters, you can use the default characters set by gender if you want to. You can customise your character's appearance at a surgery shop called Image as Designed.
You can change your character's clothing extensively like changing your shirt, jacket, trousers, gloves, etc. You can dress your character in any way, and that is how your character will appear in all of the game's cutscenes. The freedom of character customisation in this game can be overwhelming to some people, but it is really satisfying to see your created character in action in all of the cool scenes in the game. You can even cross-dress your characters and have some fun while playing the game, or even create any absurd or crazy character models for some good laughs.
The combat in the game is mostly either gun combat or melee combat. You can have access to a variety of firearms, such as handguns, rifles, sub-machine guns, etc. All weapons have their own upgrades, such as ammo increase, firepower increase, etc. Again, weapon upgrades require you to spend a lot of money to maximise the weapon's upgrades, but fortunately, money in this game is easy to come by.
You can also use various melee attacks and weapons, and using melee attacks while sprinting will give you different types of melee attacks. They can be devastating, and one of the melee attacks can give you a good laugh since it is kind of hilarious.
You can also steal vehicles and store them at your hideouts' garages. Since your stolen vehicle is saved, you can call your gang members to bring it to you once you have the proper upgrade. You can also upgrade your vehicles to have better durability, nitrous upgrade, etc.
You can also call one of your gang members to help you while in a hard combat with gangs or cops. Just go to your menu and give them a call. Be noted that they are not available during main Missions. If they are down while fighting, you can revive them in a certain time limit. If you are unable to do so, they will be unavailable to be called for backup for a long period of time.
I have never heard of Saints Row: The Third, until it's release last November. I am not really a fan much of open world games except Assassin's Creed series and some of Grand Theft Auto games, and I bought this game and played it. It was an absolutely crazy, over the top and fun game.
Story
You as the boss of the Saints, will try to revenge one of your fallen comrades, Johnny Gat and take over Steelport.
The story takes place after the second Saints Row game, where now the Saints have become a large organisation with commercial success, becoming a large part of the media now such as commercials. After a heist that went wrong, the leader of a group called The Syndicate wants to negotiate with the Saints about a business plan. The Saints refused, and all went to hell as only you as the boss and your partner, Shaundi survives whereas your other partner, Johnny Gat, dies. You managed to land onto Steelport, one of the cities that the Syndicate controls. Now it is up to you to get revenge on the Syndicate by taking over Steelport.
The story is simply absurd, but rather well-told with many crazy moments. You either will be laughing like hell when playing the game or not. Most of the jokes are pretty hilarious, although some people might get offended with the game's crude humour. Either way, I love the humour, and it is kind of hard for me take the story seriously.
The characters are pretty well developed, with their own unique personalities. It is not everyday you get to meet a guy who is a pimp and uses a vocoder (I think it is Auto-Tune) to talk every time, or a guy who cameos himself in the game as a president. I like all of the main characters in the game, as well as the villains too.
Gameplay
Basically, this is the 'over the top and crazy' game version of Grand Theft Auto games.
The game plays like GTA games, like driving vehicles, kill your enemies, etc. The main difference is that this game has many absurd, crazy and cool moments like the airplane mission (the picture shown above), and the game takes itself not seriously to the point that it will you laugh like hell.
Extensive customisation options for your character's appearance.
You can change the gender, hair colour, hair style, eyes, or other areas of your character freely. You can also customise his voice, using a female voice or a zombie voice even if your character's gender is female, and vice versa. The freedom of character customisations is extremely fun, making many players worldwide to create their own character in the game. If you don't like to customise your characters, you can use the default characters set by gender if you want to. You can customise your character's appearance at a surgery shop called Image as Designed.
Dress your characters whatever you like. The picture above can be used as an example.
You can change your character's clothing extensively like changing your shirt, jacket, trousers, gloves, etc. You can dress your character in any way, and that is how your character will appear in all of the game's cutscenes. The freedom of character customisation in this game can be overwhelming to some people, but it is really satisfying to see your created character in action in all of the cool scenes in the game. You can even cross-dress your characters and have some fun while playing the game, or even create any absurd or crazy character models for some good laughs.
Upgrade your characters to provide an advantage in combat and many other things.
Story progression in the game is all carried out by completing missions in the game. Needless to say, you can't progress if you don't complete the missions. Most of the missions in the game has a lot of variety, with some of the missions provide a starting point on playing side missions called Activities.
The combat in the game is mostly either gun combat or melee combat. You can have access to a variety of firearms, such as handguns, rifles, sub-machine guns, etc. All weapons have their own upgrades, such as ammo increase, firepower increase, etc. Again, weapon upgrades require you to spend a lot of money to maximise the weapon's upgrades, but fortunately, money in this game is easy to come by.
You can also use various melee attacks and weapons, and using melee attacks while sprinting will give you different types of melee attacks. They can be devastating, and one of the melee attacks can give you a good laugh since it is kind of hilarious.
You can also steal vehicles and store them at your hideouts' garages. Since your stolen vehicle is saved, you can call your gang members to bring it to you once you have the proper upgrade. You can also upgrade your vehicles to have better durability, nitrous upgrade, etc.
You can also call one of your gang members to help you while in a hard combat with gangs or cops. Just go to your menu and give them a call. Be noted that they are not available during main Missions. If they are down while fighting, you can revive them in a certain time limit. If you are unable to do so, they will be unavailable to be called for backup for a long period of time.
This is just one of the side mission. There is still a lot more of them for you to enjoy.
Activities in the game comprised of several categories, such as Tank Mayhem, Escort, Snatch, etc. For example, Tank Mayhem requires you to destroy things in the city and accumulate a specific amount of damages, such the target to complete that side mission is 100,000 dollars. Completing an Activity will rewards you Respect points and money. Respect points is like experience points for your current level. The higher your Respect level, the more Upgrades you can purchase, such as the ability to dual-wield pistols, health boost, sprint boost, etc. You can get Respect points by completing main Missions, Activities, Diversions, killing gang members, or completing Challenges.
You can also take other type of side missions called Vehicle Theft and Assassination. Like the namesake, Vehicle Theft requires you to steal a specified vehicle and bring it to a specified location. You will be rewarded with money and Respect points accordingly by the damage of the vehicle. Assassination requires you to kill a specified target in a specified location, but there is a condition to lure the target out, such as driving a specific car to the target's location.
There are two wanted levels in the game. The first wanted level is for the police, whereas the second wanted level is for gang members. Killing or attacking civilians or cops will raise your wanted level, and killing or attacking gang members will raise your wanted level. These two levels are counted separately, as you can be hunted by both factions at the same time. The higher the wanted level you are, more tougher and stronger enemies they will send to kill you, like calling the army and use tanks to kill you if your wanted level for the cops is level 5.
Money can be gained in many ways, such as completing main Missions, completing side missions, robbing civilians and stores, or by natural progression. Buying shops and other buildings will increase your money income generated. You will gain money in certain time periodically, like you will get income for every 15 minutes. The income system is like Assassin's Creed series income system, but more simpler and faster income generated than Assassin's Creed series.
I love the game's gameplay. Very chaotic, very fun to play, very absurd gameplay. The game provides a lot of freedom in playing, with no boundaries of killing anyone or doing anything. Not much to complain with the gameplay, since it is very well made.
