After the tremendous success of Grand Theft Auto 3 back in 2001, many developers tried to capitalize on it by releasing numerous clones, such as Getaway, where the player is presented with the huge challenge of driving on the left side of the road, and True Crime, which traded free-roaming and side-missions for a combat system that would make John Woo cry tears of joy. Among those clones was the original Saints Row, a game far from bad, but still seen by many as a poor man's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
In October of 2008, after the slight disappointment that was Grand Theft Auto 4, the tables turned around as the world saw the release of Saints Row 2 , a game that without a doubt makes the good people at Rockstar soil themselves, a game that merciless nitpicker Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw said he got engaged to (lucky bastard), a Grand Theft Auto clone that's better than Grand Theft Auto. What makes it such a great game? Well dear reader, read on.
Story (spoilers ahead)
The story takes place in a fictional town of Detroit Stillwater 5 years after the events of Saints Row, which ended with the silent protagonist being lured to a meeting on a boat which was blown up, sending our hero into a coma for these long 5 years. He (or this time she if you choose) wakes up in a prison hospital along with Carlos, a fellow inmate. They bust out of prison after which the Protagonist sees a story on the news about the trial of Johnny Gat, a gangmate from the original Saint's Row, rescues him from the courthouse and after recruiting Gat's friends Pierce and Shaundi starts rebuilding The Saints.
The story progresses much like the original game. There are 3 rival gangs that need to be taken care of, which leads up to the final set of missions against the Ultor Corporation. This time around, the 3 gangs are The Ronin, a Yakuza-style Japanese gang, The Brotherhood, a tattoo loving biker monster truck gang, as well as the Sons of Samedi, a dreadlocked Caribbean drug cartel that has the whole town by the privates with their popular drug known as Loa Dust.
Those familiar with the Saints Row franchise will know that it's not a franchise that takes itself too seriously. In Saints Row 2 however, there is still a great deal of humor, but this time it's mixed up with a bit of drama as well, including scenes such as the death of a certain female character, as well as an enraged Gat beating the hell out of the underboss of one of the gangs and burrying him alive.
Johnny Gat, the ultimate role model for misguided youth around the world
Graphics and sound
Graphically, Saints Row 2 is a huge improvement over its predecessor. The engine has been modified in every way possible. The upgraded textures and dynamics make the city of Stillwater and everything in it look very detailed and colorful, aided by the greatly improved lighting and shadows.
Despite the obvious influence of gangsta rap, Saints Row 2 has a very diverse soundtrack with 170 tracks from genres including hip-hop, alternative rock, heavy metal and 1980s pop across 12 radio stations, including a custom station which allows the player to create their own soundtrack. The songs featured in the game are from a wide selection of artists including Run D.M.C, Young Jeezy, Duran Duran, My Chemical Romance and Ne-Yo, whose song "So Sick" is the object of a gag during one of the missions.
Human shields are just on of the many new combat techniques in Saints Row 2
Gameplay
Now that the trivial stuff is out of the way, it's time to focus on what really makes a game what it is - gameplay. There sre so many great things to say about Saints Row 2's gameplay that it's hard to decide what to begin with.
First of all, nearly everything in the game is customizable. Aside from your character's appearance suchs as gender, clothes and facial features, you can also pick from a variety of accents. These accents not only affect how things sound when the character talks, which he does a lot more than in the original, but sometimes they even affect what the character says. For example, there is one mission where you and your underling Pierce chase helicopters in a car and shoot them down. During this mission, Pierce turns on "So Sick" by Ne-Yo and starts singing along to it. If your character is a bloke with an Australian accent, he will ask "When did you grow a vagina?". A Spanish chica , on the other hand, will cuss him out in Spanish. Your character can also learn a variety of unarmed combat styles including martial arts, capoiera and pro-wrestling (Rock Bottom!!!). You can also customize what your gang members wear (from 1980s inspired outfits to private army-like fatigues) and what kind of cars they drive. You can also customize your vehicles with spinners, spoilers, exhaust pipes and much more. The Saint's hideout as well as Cribs (houses and other kinds of residences for you old people) can be customized with all kinds of accessories, such as stripper poles and expensive home theaters, which is one of the ways to earn respect needed to progress with the story missions
Apart from customization, there is also a huge range of ways to put your unfortunate adversaries out of their misery. Point blank with a shotgun? Check. Precision shot to the head with a pistol? Check. Using them as a human shield followed by a cold blooded execution? Check. Slashing them with a katana from a speeding motorbike medieval style? Check. The list goes on and on with things like improvised weapons from the environment and long flights from rooftops. There's over 40 weapons including new ones such as chainsaws and laser guided missles and yes, handguns and submachine guns can be dual wielded. Pretty much anything your sick and twisted mind can come up with, chances are Saints Rows 2 has it. Deliberately over the top violence at its best.
There's also tons of little things that make this game great. Boatloads of side missions such as celebrity escorting and FUZZ, a show about police brutality where you get to pose as a cop and execute suspects in a way that the producer tells you, which can become really over the top and brutal (protip: play the FUZZ missions while playing the Bad Boys song for maximum immersion) . All the side missions from the original also made their way to the sequel. The rewards are more than worth it. Lost that one of a kind reward car? No problem, completing a certain set of side missions will let you call a gangmate to bring the same one over from your garage, and yes, all the vehicles are saved in your garage and respawn there after you lose them. And speaking of vehicles, there is a huge selection of those as well, ranging from speedboats to planes and attack helicopters, from motorbikes to armored humvees with a gatling gun that can take a rocket hit and still keep running.
Most would agree that motorbikes are a welcome addition to the list of vehicles in Saints Row 2
In conclusion, Saints Rows 2 is the best Grand Theft Auto-style game (using the word clone would imply inferiority) available on the market. The question is why are you still reading this when you should be on your merry to your local game store to pick up this gem?
