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| Saints Row |
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| Action/Shooters |
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| Volition Inc |
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| THQ |
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1st September 06 |
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31st August 06 |
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18+ |
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(M) - Mature |
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Saints Row is a game that has a lot to live up to especially as it is perhaps going to be the next generation equivalent of Grand Theft Auto. While the Xbox 360 might not actually see a GTA game for quite some time especially with Rockstar pushing its Crackdown game instead, so all eyes are on Saints Row and having played some at X05 all I can say is fans of the free roaming gangster genre will be pleased.
The first thing that players will be able to do when they start the game is create their character which actually resembles something that you would find in a wrestling game. There are many sliders and options to tweak here from the 4 basic templates available which are Black, White, Asian and Hispanic. Once the race has been chosen you can then get into the fine tuning such as the characters build and what facial features they have. The options here are vast and some players could spend ages here trying to recreate their own face! I guess many players wont care and would rather get into the action as soon as possible.
Saints Row places a lot of emphasis on you reputation and in this respect the main aim of the game is to take control of the 50+ neighbourhoods in the game. To do this, players can raise their reputation in a wide variety of ways. Completing objectives, taking out rivals, pimping ho’s and racing cars are just some of the ways to raise your reputation.
Controlling the game character was pretty straight forward and switching weapons was pretty easy too as you could simply select from a directional menu whatever weapon you wanted. There were a range of weapons available in the demo ranging from an RPG to an Ak-47 and sub machine guns, the usual stuff you come to expect any self respecting gangster to carry! What was quite cool was the 360 degree aiming where you could easily target anything around your character (the character would animate accordingly).
As you would expect there is a comprehensive physics engine in place and so standing in the middle of the road means you are going to get run over. I found out the hard way and thus decided to pull out the RPG to exact my revenge on the driver who messed up my clothes!! However being a little too close to the car I actually managed to hurt my self in the process, ouch!
In the demo I don’t think there was any police presence because at one point I stood there at a crossroads with the RPG and simply blew up cars as they came near. The explosions are pretty spectacular and its great watching the debris fly. I also enjoyed shooting the drivers of approaching vehicles through the windscreens and then laughing at their slumped over the steering wheel bodies.
There is a random element to the game too because at one point I was simply admiring the scenery and then witnessed a fat hooker and a skinny hooker having a messy fight with each other. How this occurred I do not know, maybe they were fighting over turf, but it was extremely amusing to witness. What was more amusing was when I pulled out the RPG and decided to fire at the pair. The bodies flew and it was great seeing the rag doll effects in motion. It’s a shame the bodies didn’t splatter as you would expect from being blown up from a rocket propelled grenade.
Driving the vehicles at this stage seemed ok but a lot of work is needed on the game’s frame rate because whilst driving things were a little choppy. We were told that there would be many vehicles in game and that you can pimp your ride to max and not lose it. I think this is a great idea and it was a shame that in San Andreas once you lost your car that was it!
During my short play of the game I didn’t really get a feel of the gang element that the game has and I think that this feature will be pretty cool as you build your rep and recruit followers to commit more carnage or to help take out gang leaders. The online play is also something that will incorporate the gang element although the team were not wishing to talk about the live options at this stage other than a demo is planned to be available in the market place around Xmas this year.
Saints Row goes directly head to head with GTA and this fact can’t be ignored. I asked the team behind the game what makes this different and I think the game’s structure is one thing because it’s not so much mission based and also the online play will be a big feature. If I were to complain (other than the frame rate) then it would have to be the visuals and screen update at this time are not looking as crisp as the movies indicate. Having said that the build I played was only 60% complete and therefore with optimisation I am confident that the guys will be able to add the necessary spit and polish. Overall Saints Row plays well and will definitely be a great game for GTA fans.
Preview By: Robert Cram
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