Saints Row 3

[FelixofMars]

surprised there is no existing thread but I can't see one, I can kind of understand that it might not be considered as important as GTA but still a great open sandbox game. I think that the first Saints Row was pretty awful but Saints Row 2 seemed much more tounge in cheek rather than the gangsta lifestyle while Saints Row 3 almost does away with this all together and focuses on the more insane and out there plots that two touched on.

As its been shown in the trailers the Saints are top of their game and now are superstar criminals who have films, tshirt and drinks emblazend with their image but not content with quitting their criminal ways do a final bank robbery that goes terribly wrong. This is pretty much the start of the game and against saints row 2 shows already a more polished and over the top action game.

The action parts kind of would feel at home in a Bond film or Call of Duty MW2, but of course its not even trying to have a serious edge.

so far it really feels like a progression of Saints Row 2 maybe coupled with games like Conkers Bad Fur day, there are a lot of popular culture even making some references to the previous games in the series and what can only be described as crude humour. As stated already the previous title was very rough around the edges but had plenty of content, challenges and customisation.

I do feel that the quality has certainly risen and the storyline challenges feel really awesome and over the top, but I feel that some of what made Saints Row 2 awesome has been cut to make sure this was as polished as possible but I kind of miss some of the rougness not in terms of the broken gameplay,glitches or awful LODs that plagued the the previous game in a number of places but more the stuff that game it character.

I am kind of missing things like the music discs you had to find to unlock sets of tracks from the radio, area of the city like the casino and mall from the previous games and some of the more manic challanges.

Overall I am happy with Saints Row 3, it offers more of what I enjoyed about the series and a rounded experience, however I do miss some of the content and venues from the previous Saints Row. I could recommend it to anyone that played the previous Saints or who though that the GTA series has gone a bit stale and miss the classic Vice City or enjoyed Conkers bad Fur Day.

[Bassman]

I seem to be varying between liking the game and getting seriously annoyed with it.

In SR2 I used to get the cars theft cars into my garage before doing the activities. I have done the same on this and on some cars it allows me to take the car out of my garage and deliver it (on one I had to go to another area before the game let me deliver it) without Police interference. Strangely on other cars it just not let me do it.

Tank Mayhem was quite fun, but I think I prefer the destruction activity from SR2.

It looks as if Infinite Sprint (a useful win from SR2) is no longer in the game, unless you can buy it from a higher level upgrade. Not sure I am a fan of the new upgrades system.


I hit the initial Transfer Limit by getting some cash and buying shops etc. before doing any more of the story. I must say this artifical limit (upgraded after a few main missions) was a serious annoyance and seems a contrived way to force you to play the game the way the devlopers wanted.

After seeing a Youtube video, I was convinced to by that Shark Gun which is suitably over the top. If not for the cost of ammo, I could get some good use out of that. I also have yet to try that Mollusc Gun!

I think I prefer the car and bike handling from SR2 (I know that it is not a driving game) as the cars seem to have a rather large turning circle and need some manouvering to get them into your original garage.

I am not sure whether there is less map to explore on SRTT, but there seems to be fewer open spaces compared to SR2 and the "motorway network" is notable by its absence... not sure how (if?) this impacts on the Insurance Fraud activities as there were some good places on there for the activity on SR2.

I may seem to have come out with a lot of negatives but I have yet to be convinced that the game is a retrograde step over SR2. I have yet to try the co-op play (I only discovered the Online Pass by accident when I had a brief glance at the manual).

[Neon Ignition]

I really hated the first game and never really clicked with SR2 (will be retrying with this weeks free download) so was wary of this. So far I'm really liking it though I can see why fans might be annoyed. To me it feels like the game has become more linear despite still taking place in an open world. After 2hrs 45m I'm a third of the way through the main game as the main missions are lined up like a standard linear title however so far every mission has been lots of fun which I can't say for it's predecessors or GTA4. The engine, improvement or not, is still ropey as hell. I like the random glitches which fling people about etc as it reminds me of old GTA but the game is very rough around the edges and really shouldn't be by now. I prefer the driving model in this to SR2 as a problem with the past games is cars often felt too much like driving dodgem cars.

On foot is the main star as it's fun, simple and completely wipes the floor with GTA's on foot sections. The scale of the action and the over the top nature adds a lot of appeal and the scripting can be quite fun and entertaining when it's not too focused on the crude humour. There's a mass of collectables etc but the structure of the game really makes them feel like padding so I don't think I'll bother and will use the SR2 download as an expansion of the main mode. So far, short lived but fun.

[dvdx2]

put a few hours into this last night and its great fun - quick question is the multiplayer just joint co-op/whored mode with waves of ememies? No deathmatch/capture the flag style games?? Couldnt seem to find anything else

[Neon Ignition]

Yup, only seems to support Co-op which doesn't hold much appeal for me but well worth using the code so you can claim SR2 this week.

[dvdx2]

Yup, only seems to support Co-op which doesn't hold much appeal for me but well worth using the code so you can claim SR2 this week.

interesting

what day is it available?

[Neon Ignition]

They've not specified yet but seems likely to go live with the usual Wednesday store update.

[Riskbreaker]

My thoughts are pretty much the same as Felix, the game has alot more polish than it's predecessor and the story missions are much more focused and more fun for it. At the same time, it seems to lack some of the little quirks and features SR2 had.

The combat is alot better this time round, both melee and firearms modes just work. In fact melee makes that sudden decision to jump a random bystander, rival gang member or policeman far more fun that it should be. After reading a review that mentioned normal gets too easy later on I opted for hardcore, which by comparison does kick you in the teeth a bit once you start the game proper (funnily enough the intro is fine). Fortunately, the new upgrades system does level the playing field a bit, once you get your hands on a few character and weapons upgrades the combat is a decent enough challenge especially without first aid items onhand.
For this reason I don't mind the artifical limit on how much you're able to earn per hour, I'm getting access to alot toys as it is and I think the upgrades need some means to spread their access across the playthrough.

The vehicle handling feels pretty good, if anything it's the larger, slower vehicles that really suffer on corners but since I generally avoid them everything else seems fine. The drift button lets me easily throw cars and bikes round corners at speed, which is handy seeing as the cops and rival gangs are quite persistant, happy to chase you across half the map if you agravate them (by agravate I mean elbow drop one in the head and killing their friends ). My one gripe would be that the best bike is DLC, I use the Canoness from the Nyteblade pack pretty much exclusively.

On the negative side, alot of the character customization is unlocked from the off, and there are only five or six shops that contain the items you'll need and that includes shops providing your firearms and vehicle repairs. The music is also unlocked from the get go too. They seem redundant but the diverse choice of stores, music collectables and tags made exploring Stillwater more compelling. Hell, if you didn't go back and find the mall several shops weren't available elsewhere on the map. The small cash sums offered by the new collectables aren't enough incentive to track them down and explore shortcuts around the city.

Having multiple cribs is a bit of a waste because you can't do anything with them, it was a silly little throw away feature in 2, but I liked being able to change the design and interact with the radio and TV. It's not that it lends a huge amount to the game, but sometimes it's the silly small things that make the difference. The absence of a mission replay also seems a bit bizarre when the missions have been designed better.

These are small grumbles though, ultimately it's still Saints and full of all the Saints absurdity that the series is known for. I've spent about 15 hours getting to 25% completion because it's too easy to get distracted on random tasks and playing havoc. It's difficult to give impressions on the humor because it's completely subjective. I know the sense of humor can be crude, crass and offensive but the game thrives on being a bit of a guilty pleasure. You shouldn't laugh at someone riding a pedestrian like a surf board, but you know what, it is funny. Funny enough to do the same to his friend, before beating a ganger about the head with a dildo and taunting his body while naked. And if you find that funny, then it's likely that the story, dialogue (even the throw away comments) and the radio stations have/will amuse you too.


"MRRRR XXXXXXXXXXXXXX!"

[FelixofMars]

Yeah I totally miss collecting the extra music tracks and thought that there was a bigger and better selection in the last game and looking at the variety of some of the locations like the prison, mall, university areas and the power station on the island. I actually strangely miss the poo spreading game but they did replacing it with proffessor Genki so not all bad.

As for the car handling I didn't really notice there was a massive difference, and certainly not as much as a ship as the GTA series in fact I am more annoyed that there is less options to customise the control schemes, especially the copter which I would prefer where more like the BF3 setup.

Also the dildo bat and Shark Gun are immense.

[Bassman]

I get the feeling they tried to hard to be OTT with this game and have lost some of the fun of SR2 on the way.

I tried the Insurance Fraud and of course all the traffic decided to go away as i was close to my target. That is not to say that the same thing couldn't happen in SR2, it just felt more difficult to achieve in SRTT. I think the most I got out of any one jump into traffic was abour 15K. In SR2 100K was not out of the question.

Tried some of the Assassinations. For some reason the Policeman would not appear (may have been doing something wrong I suppose) but I'll try again at some point.

Why is it that if you get Police Heat and take to the water there are no Police there. SR2 was more than happy to bring the Police boats into play. Having said that you do get them when you do a car theft of a boat, though for some reason with the Shark it was insisting that I take the thing back by road on the GPS. Not that it was much better subsequently as it was not overly generous with arrows.

Finally got around to the Mollusc Launcher which was quite good fun for "recruiting" some help (though they died after a short time). I think I also managed a two for one with the Shark Gun. Shame the ammo is so expensive.

Out of some of my frustration with the side missions I took to beating up Saints to replenish my Ammo. Do that in SR2 and you get a fight. In SRTT they just let you beat them up. I also got into the habit of doing a save after delivering a vehicle followed by a load as the heat did not die down on reaching the drop off point (unlike SR2). I must say after one or two thefts it was increasingly difficult to steal the next vehicle as it seemed to be rather too well guarded (I must say I much preferred the way that it was implemented in SR2). I dread to think how bad it will be for the last vehicles. Bearing in mind my lack of ability I am playing on a low difficulty level, this is slightly worrying. At least things were not quite so bad with the main missions.

At least the Airport and Dock Cribs are cheap now. I was quite surprised to find myself outside the hanger on one load.

I am not convinced the vehicle physics are any better in this game. I was driving the Sovereign (low 2 seater) and found it fun seeing how many other vehicles I could launch into the air when I drove into them.

I must say that I am almost tempted to fire up SR2 for a little light relief.

[Kaosu]

I have spent so much time doing side tasks instead of missions, but it pays off because I can work on getting everything unlocked for when I do choose to continue. I already have the

->Open Spoiler<-

VTOL Jet Homie

and I haven't even started Act 2 properly yet. It is awesome. It makes the Survival challenges a pushover... scratch that, everything is a pushover when you use it.

It looks as if Infinite Sprint (a useful win from SR2) is no longer in the game, unless you can buy it from a higher level upgrade.

Infinite Sprint unlocks at Level 36 (or near it). You need to buy four upgrades beforehand.

[Neon Ignition]

As a heads up for those who have redeemed the online pass. On the PSN Store, go through the alphabet listings to find Saints Row 2 and it's now available for free

[Bassman]

I must say, that having done some more missions (12 hours and 22%) I am enjoying the game more.

No more worries on income as with all the mission cribs I have so far, I can now transfer $150,000 I think (pity I am still getting less than 10K!).

I managed to finish all the Tank Mayhem. The rest unlocked after finishing one of the missions.

Definitely not a fan of the flame throwing Brutes!

Typical, I see Professor Genki on the street and do nothing about it. I subsequently find that if I had managed to kill him (not easy I presume) he drops a good amount of money. Needless to say I have yet to see him again.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Anyone playing this on the pc? Volition said in a press release that they are going above and beyond to make sure that it doesn't turn out like Saints Row 2 did. How is it?

The performance on Saints Row 2 dreadful even on great machines & that's without mentioning the bugs and other issues.

[Bassman]

Sorry, I am playing on the 360. Does anyone know if there will be a free download of SR2 on the 360?

Definitely getting into the game now. Managed to do some more missions... eventually.

I was dealing with some waves of enemies when, of course, Professor Genki show up. I must say he was somewhat annoying as he kept stunning my character. I abandoned the enemies and concetrated on him. I was using the rifle (only Level 1 at the moment) and it took rather a long time to dispose of him. The good part was the wad of cash he dropped... 100K... very useful. I now have levelled up the money drops so next time...

I now have an income of almost 35K an hour (pretty crucial seeing the cost of some of the upgrades) as I have bought all the shops and properties (mostly thanks to the Professor).

I have my first Level 4 weapon, albeit a Pistol. In most cases it is now a one shot kill... even when it is not a head shot.

I finally got the Achievement (I presume) for discovering all of the map. At least the Achievement for Duke's style car hijacks was fairly easy (when I figured out the button presses to do them. I ought really to have taken more notice when the game told me, as there are no clues in the control options.