- This is the time of year when tend to reflect on where the year started when how we got here. When I wrote my post looking ahead at 2011, Saints Row: The Third was nowhere on my radar. At most, the game was an off hand joke because of its childish "Strap It On" tagline. I knew about Saints Row 1 & 2, but they never sounded like anything that I wanted to play. But then the hype for this game started to build and I got super curious. That, plus the fact that I had enough gift cards to buy it for five dollars, was enough for me to try it out.
- I am so glad that I tried this game. Saints Row: The Third is the game that every pseudo-nanny thought that GTA was, only played entirely for laughs. Sure the gangster story is played straight, but it is in service of making the over-the-top gameplay stand out that much more. There is really nothing ordinary about the missions. That's not good enough for Volition. Either the mission is crazy or it's not worth putting in the game.
- And while it emulates the GTA formula, it doesn't suffer from the hazard of poor controls. Whether it was driving, shooting, or just running around, I haven't ever felt like the game was fighting me. Truly, I'm do die a lot and end up losing more missions and activities than I care to admit. But I've never been able to blame that on anything other than my own poor abilities.
- As much as I'm enjoying the game, let me make one thing clear: the QTEs suck. I hate them so very, very much. They don't come up that often. Only in two places: whenever you fight a brute or when you perform a flashy melee takedown move. But they flash by so quickly that I rarely have to ability to react. Just no, folks. No.
- Barring that one idiocy, I love Saints Row: The Third. The only thing keeping me from finishing it is that I have to take care of my family and work first. Every other bit of free time, though, will find me in Steelport, expanding my criminal empire, laughing the entire time.
© 2011 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
Had the same experience. I did hate the controls a bit (played it on the pc), but loved everything about the game, especially the missions. It feels like they took everything that was great from GTA San Andreas, added a layer of polish and then enhanced it with lots of drugs.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't on my radar either, but hearing about the over-the-top humor in it has tempted me to give it a shot. I'm not sure when I'll have time but eventually I will.
ReplyDelete@ Mite - Exactly! I'm so glad Volition picked up this thread that Rockstar seemed to have dropped.
ReplyDelete@ Blue Kae - Well worth it if you like that style of open world game. I haven't enjoyed one this much since Red Dead.