Customer Reviews

Saints Row: The Third (Xbox 360)

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I absolutly love this game it has improved so much from the first and second game. The graphic level and the gameplay are great I finished this game within 5days as I was totally hooked. The side activites are still good and there are also some new activities. At this moment I cant think of anything that needs improving. Money well spent.

So I loved Saints Row 2 and have been waiting for The Third to come out ever since. How does it compare? Well - its similar but different; it keeps most of the good bits of SR 2 and improves on them and bins off the less good bits. There are a couple of disappointments, but I'll come to them later...

So the plot is fun - silly and occasionally jaw dropping. The second mission on the plane (I will say no more) is one of the most genuinely awesome gaming experiences that I've had; the gameplay was simple, but the visual effect... wow! Having worked my way through around two thirds of the main plotline, it is funny, kinda clever in parts. Not quite as engaging or dramatic as parts of SR2 (nothing to touch the SR2 Brotherhood plotline, certainly), but solid. Another nice touch is that, as well as the better graphics, customisation goes a bit further than SR2. As well as boosting your characters resistances and skills (with money, rather than by completing the minigames, with certain boosts locked until higher levels), you can customise your weapons to be better, including (in some cases) being able to shoot explosive or incendiary ammo.

One of the things I liked most about SR2 were the minigames and these are back in abundance - and most of them are a lot more polished and good fun than the ones in SR2. As well as the old favourites, there's also a version of Mayhem played with tanks, a survival maze where you shoot people dressed as hotdogs and a truly brilliant version of Escort which I won't spoil for you (but anyone who has seen Talladega Nights will love the reference). The tasks are all engaging but not of them are too taxing.

This touches on one of the issues that was a bit disappointing - the game difficulty (at least on normal) is very low. While this is kind of nice and means you don't end up playing the same tasks over and over again (like the higher levels of Trail Blazing in SR2), there isn't much of a challenge. Maybe the harder difficulty levels will be different.

Other good bits - better soundtrack than SR2 I reckon, less fiddly vehicle customisation, fun new characters (Oleg and Kinzi are both ace; Zimos is good in a quirky, Marmite-love-him-or-hate-him kind of way). Although some reviews elsewhere have criticised the cityscape as being too samey, I don't think this is the case; it isn't as varied as SR2, but that always seemed a bit over-artificial to me anyway. There is some variation, and it isn't as dull and samey as Liberty City in GTA 4 was.

Bits I didn't like - Shaundi has turned from cute stoner babe to Cheryl Cole semi-lookalike with a chip on her shoulder (although minus the Geordie accent) and the character is less engaging for it. There isn't as much out and out silliness in the same way that SR 2 had (fewer weird secret locations) and the gameplay isn't as rude or, for want of a better word, 'edgy'. This is played up to in some parts (when doing the minigame in SR3 that was, in SR2, drug dealing, your character is distributing naff Saints Row merchandise), but there is a definite feeling that aspects of the game have been toned down to avoid criticism. There aren't the same options to customise your cribs to the same extent either, which is a bit of a shame, but they're actually pretty sweet anyway so that's not so bad.

All in all - worth the wait and worth buying new. Great for dipping in and out of and playing casually, if you liked SR2 (and/or thought that the GTA series has started taking itself too seriously), then you should buy this game.

Just purchased this game before christmas, and i'm glad i did. It's really fun and very entertaining.
I would recommend purchasing this game.

This game is absolutely amazing I have played a great deal of it already and I have been laughing all through it:

Pros:
Good Character Custimization
Great Plot
Cool Characters
Can have a ZOMBIE voice!!!!!

Cons:
A little buggy
Homies wont go into your car in missions

I have a confession to make: I don't usually buy this sort of game and I'm definitely not its target audience, being more of an old-school RPGer. It just so happened that I was in a gaming doldrums of sorts, willing to try out something different, and let myself be dazzled by all the hype surrounding SR3 as well as the flashy aesthetics surrounding the game (great job from the marketing department, it has to be said).

Contrary to all expectations and much to the surprise of those acquainted with my tastes, this... ended up being a lot of fun. A whole 40+ hours lot of fun. The story is largely forgettable, the graphics aren't really up to today's standards - for an updated engine, no less - and the game can be a bit too silly at times, but it really just is a *fun* game. It gives you all the toys you could want on a city-sized playground and simply lets you have a go with the playstyle you feel most appropriate. A retro cybersteampunk dilletante? Check. A matrix-style vamp femme fatale? Check. Jason Statham wannabe? Check. Hardcore gangsta rap pimp with a zombie voice? Check. SR3 lets you go wild with your in-game persona and that's just the beginning. The over-the-top setpieces have been lauded time and again, and rightly so, and the voice acting is all-around excellent, with the main character voice sets (all six of them, plus zombie grunts) filled to the brim with personality, almost granting a new experience all by themselves should you choose to have another playthrough with a different voice.

Saints Row: The Third is not the type of game you commend or respect. It doesn't want to be respected, nor does it need to. It's unapologetic in its craziness but somehow manages not to be gratutious on its own (that's up to the player). What it lacks in memorable characters it mostly makes up for with nice character moments and a number of quotable one-liners. It's an easy game with fluid controls and a gameplay that seldom - if ever - gets in the way of fun and will never be a top game contender in any chart, nor will it be fondly remembered as a great piece of storytelling. It's the gaming equivalent of the craziest, booziest night out you've ever had, of which you can only recall bits and pieces.

And that is not necessarily a bad thing.

The game play is brilliant and really fun. That's pretty much all this game is about:

Stupid, funny, wild ass fun.

If your looking for a good story and such then this game isn't really for you, but if you love hectic and fun game play then give this a go. The game is actually quite short but the game adds plenty of hours if you choose to play coop and the "Whored" mode.

Great game play, descent graphics/sound, predicable/poor story. But it does what it says on the tin.

What's wrong with this game? A shorter list surely, would depict what is righ with it.

I have played Saints Row from the 1st one, and waited with eager anticipation for the release of this game, as Saints Row 2 was such an improvement on the 1st, I could only presume the 3rd would be something else entirely! And it was. Something else, being the operative phrase.

It doesn't play or feel like SR, it's cold, and lifeless, the new city of "Steel Port" doesn't have the pull and life that "Stillwater" had. It doesn't feel like Saints Row. You don't play a game like this for the story, it's thrown in to tie up the characters an give them a purpose and direction. SR1 & 2 created such colourful characters and gangs that you couldn't help but like them, even the ones you were supposed to be kicking out of your city. The characters were well written, funny, and added something to SR that GTA had lacked for a long time; depth.

But in this, none of this "feeling" has made it into the latest intallment. The characters who you once knew and liked, are no linger likeable, or even recognisable; Shaundi who was a stoner with dreads in the second game, is some sort of glamour puss in this one, not even the same voice actress. The whole game feels rushed and unfinished, sure the graphics are nice, but the story is non-existent and ridiculous. I know SR wasnt the face of regularity, boasting some pretty outrageous "activities", but in this one they went all out to armour glad "storm trooper" type police/military, and zombie outbreaks. It's just too ridiculous.

And in this vein they (the developers/writers) have left the rest of the game so poorly finished it's a joke. The driving physics are horrible, the crash physics are terrible too. There are only anfew clothing stores on offer, the clothing is now sold in sets as opposed to bottom-mid-top layer, so the customisation aspect of this game has taken a hit. The missions don't make any sense, because the story doesn't, the gangs (which are the main feature in SR) are poorly written and voiced. You just dont care who they are, because they are so un-memorable. And in the ridiculous vein mentioned before, the gangs bow have huge muscular 7th tall clone guys, that arrive on the back of trucks and invisible roller blading women who wield what can only be described as a "gravity hammer" (Halo).

The game is on the whole a poor effort, anyone who played and hugely enjoyed the first 2 games, will be sorely disappointed by this. If this is your first time with SR, no doubt you'll think it pretty good, because what you have missed out on you will never know.

Such a shame, that such a series with so much promise has eneded up with this as it's latest installment, I dread the forth one.

Is one of the most entertaining games of the year-end...fun in your gender makes you spend hours in front of your xbox and never get bored.

Saints Row: The Third is a brilliant game and well worth the hype and anticipation. I was a big fan of Saints Row 2, mainly because me and my friends could have endless fun and laughs with it. Also this type of gameplay suits my style well.

The storyline is as unrealistic as it gets. Within the first 10 minutes, you'll realise this. But, this is definitely not a critisism. It's a compliment. Too many games of this nature are engaging with realism and this game gives you a well needed break, and just lets you relax and have fun. To put it another way, it resembles an action movie (where everything is very unrealistic). The graphics are also a nice touch. Again, non-realistic and cartoonish. It has a nice style that I never get sick of.

The multiplayer I see/hear a lot of people complain about. Even though I agree with them to a certain extent, there are still "multiplayer options". What I mean by this is that there is a "co-op campaign" which does what it says on the tin. You and a friend can share the story mode together and help each other with side missions and such. This can be done online(confirmed). I'm not sure about offline(split-screen), someone else may confirm this. The other "multiplayer option" added is "Whored Mode", which is a generic 'horde mode' Saints Row style. Also a very fun new feature.

I think this game is highly enjoyable for the amount of content provided and the endless hours of fun you and a friend can share. I'm sure the future will bring fun DLCs.

I would have given the game 5* had it of included bigger multiplayer modes such as 'team deathmatch', 'free for all' etc.

EDIT: I can now confirm there is no way to play OFFLINE co-op. Me and a friend tried this using two different profiles on the same Xbox AND signing in as a Guest, but no luck. The bottom line is, there needs to be two Xboxs involved to achieve co-op. This is an annoyance for those who either don't have Gold or simply just wish to play the game together on the same console. A big let down in my opinion.

Over the top, cheesy, childish, immature, tacky and a slap in the face to almost every fan of the original two. The only reason I haven't given it one star is the graphics, they're the only improvement over the previous titles.