Saints Rows is the latest game from Volition (the guys behind the Ace PS2 shooter, Red Fraction) a Grand Theft Auto a-like that dares to muscle into territory already made popular by the Rockstar Game.
I’m sure one of your first questions will be how does Saints Row compare with GTA?
Well I will answer that question later, but for now I will just assume that you’ve all outraged Daily Mail readers who would never dare play a GTA title.

Saints Row is an open ended game set in the “nice, but you wouldn’t want to live there” city of Stilwater, a generic city set in Anywhere USA (though I’ve heard it’s loosely based on Illinois, so you know to avoid booking any holidays there).
Being an open-ended game means you can wander anywhere around the map, taking in the sights and completing missions at your own leisure.
The city itself is split in to many distinct areas, from factory, warehouse and port neighbourhood to the rundown tenement blocks of the red light district, Chinatown and a skyscraper filled financial centre.
Stilwater is a BIG city and the best way to see all of it is to steal a fast car and drive around it and even then driving around its outskirts would take you a good 5 to 10 minutes (without a single load screen…..thank you next-gen gaming).

After a rather close shave at the start of the game, you’re soon recruited into the 3rd Street Saints, one of the 4 gangs fighting for control over Stilwater.
The main game then follows your attempts (alongside the Saints) at trying to take control of Stilwater away from the other 3 gangs in the city, the West Side Rollers, Vice Kings and the Los Carnales. As you attempt to wipe out each gang the storyline is played out over a series of missions that cover that gangs particular territory. You’re not tied into any one storyline so you’re free to carry out any Gang mission in any order you wish.

As well as the main missions you also have to wrestle zones of Stilwater away from the other gang’s control. This is done by undertaking stronghold missions these normally consist of raiding a rival gang’s headquarters and killing as many of their lieutenants as possible. Once completed that particular area is yours (as well as any money you may receive from it) but be careful, because your enemies can just as easily take the area back from you, with a few gang members and a lot of guns.
As you’re standing within the 3rd Street Saints increases you can start to recruit homies to your posse, these guys will follow you around taking out any rival gang members who cross your path.

The game’s main missions tend to involve some shooting; driving or a mix of both. Each of the rival gangs has a speciality in a certain type of vice be it drugs, prostitution, gun smuggling or illegal street racing. Each storyline and mission normally involves you either trying to steal or ruin one of those businesses.

In order to stop you from jumping from one main mission to another you have to first earn a certain amount of respect to unlock the mission.


on’t worry as this isn’t as hard as it sounds, respect can be earned in many different and fun ways, from the simple act of gunning down other gang members to robbing the many stores in Stilwater or you can choose to carry out the numerous activities which are dotted across the map.
Most of the activities follows the basic premise of game, and finds you either running, shooting or driving from one point of the map to another, but on the whole they really are a great deal of fun to do.
A few activates stand out from the rest, such as Mayhem which involves trying to create as much damage as possible with a certain time limit, Insurance Fraud which require you injure yourself as much as possible in front the largest crowd you can find or Escort which involves you ferrying a vice girl around while she pleasures a client in the back, while trying to avoid the TV camera vans (the dialogue alone earns the games 18 rating).
Each activity has a certain number of levels to it, the higher the level you complete the more respect and money you earn.
Of course you could just wander the streets of Stilwater looking for the perfect place to spray your tag or just find the hidden CD’s littered through out the city (every 10 unlocks a hidden track). But just keep an eye on your noriety gauge, the higher it reaches with each of the gangs or the police the more likely they are to hunt you down and give you a whole world of hurt.

Customisation plays huge part in Saints Row; you get to customise your physical appearance at the start of the game (or during it via the handy plastic surgeries scattered around the map). Your appearance can also be changed by buying clothes or jewellery at the many stores dotted around Stilwater.
This can even have an effect on your respect point earnings, by purchasing clothes in your gang’s colours and getting cooler the outfits you are awarded additional points after any missions and activates you do.
Also most of the cars you buy (pah... as if) or steal can be given a make-over in any garage and not just a cosmetic one either your can fix cars with nitro boost and hydraulics which gives a helping hand with any street races you take part in.
Thankfully any cars that you’ve spend your hard earned cash on customising or guns that you’ve brought (of which there is a nice assortment off) can all be stored at your crib which also acts as a save point, wardrobe and money collection point.

A game with this amount of walking, running and driving really requires a control set-up that makes the act of getting around the map as easy as possible and thankfully Saints Row has just that.
You can pick from 3 different set-ups for use both inside and outside of vehicles, with all of them the act of running while shooting and controlling the camera at the same time is an uncomplicated joy.
Driving the various cars in Stilwater, all with their own handling characteristics, is a piece of cake and you’ll be racing along the freeway pulling handbrake turns, driving in reverse while gunning down gang members within minutes.
Another cool addition is the use of a mini map to get you from A to B, instead of just directional arrow the map highlights the best route to take in the form of a dotted line. Of course whether you choose to take the route or not is up to you, but with Stilwaters maze-like streets it certainly helps.

Volition have definitely put a lot of effort into the presentation of Saints Row and it really shows, from the game’s cut sequences to the voice acting (supplied by some well known names, such as Keith David, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Carradine and many more) and the general look and feel of the game.

The graphics look suitably solid and while you may not be entirely impressed when you first play the game, after a while you will start to notice some really nice details such as the textures of your surroundings and the animations of your fellow residents (check out the humorous rag doll affects). The game also features some really cool lighting and weather effects for instance the lovely looking sunsets, the way the street lights illuminate the roads at night or the effect of a really heavy storm.
But the highlight in the graphic department has got to be the explosions. When any vehicle explodes the resulting fireball and flying debris (including anyone within it) is jaw dropping and I promise you’ll never get tired of watching it.
If there are any problems with the graphical side of things, it’s that the game can look a little twitchy at times when there is a lot going on. Then there is an issue with pop-up, especial on areas that require long flat distances (i.e. the freeway) the background and in some case even cars have a habit of popping into view. The game also leaves it a little late at times when it comes to filling in building textures.
While you do notice these glitches as you drive around certain areas of map, it rarely, if ever affects the gameplay. And anyway the explosions more than make up for it!

Sound effects are very good, from the various insults and cries hurled in your direction as you make your way through the city to the really cool noises made by the different weapons you get to fire. The game is crammed full of nice little touches such as hearing individual car radios as they past you by or the tinkle of shell casings as they hit the ground.
Music within the game takes the form of a selection of radio stations that you can listen to while driving around. Most musical tastes are catered for from rock to hip-hop, dance and even a classical music channel. But unfortunately the majority of the songs are by unknown artists and there isn’t that many licensed tunes in there which is a shame. But something that is most certainly worth tuning into is the Mike & Dave radio chat show , featuring some really funny tongue in cheek debates with a really wicked sense of humour.
Throughout the game as you listen to any of the radio stations both news bulletins and adverts play at regular intervals. These can actually help you play the game, the news bulletins will inform you any important events that has happen in Stilwater (a big gun battle that you may have just had for instance) and the adverts notifies you of any special offers that certain shops are currently having, a great way to pick up bargains. Again this is another neat touch that helps create a more involving gaming world.
Of course if you don’t fancy listening to any of the radio stations or you just what to listen to a bit of ABBA while going on a killing spree then you can select your in-game audio player and listen to any playlists that you may have stored on your Xbox 360 hard drive.

Saints Row also offers a range of multiplayer modes that can be played via Xbox Live, a first for this type of game on a video console. Most of the modes are a variation of a deathmatch game but there are also a few missions that can be played with a friend in a co-op mode.

While I’m glad to see another game developer tackle a game genre that has until now been so associated with the Grand Theft Auto series, you really can’t help but compare the two games.
So for all those people who wanted to know how Saints Row compares with GTA, here is my attempt at trying to answer that question.

The game that I feel Saint’s Row is closest to in the GTA series is GTA III.
Both games have a similar use of location (Stilwater is very much like Liberty City) and gameplay mechanics. And like GTA III, Saints Row features a fairly straight forward mission structure system.
My main problem with Saints Row is that it can feel a bit restrictive as the game is limited to just one theme, gang warfare, which can get a bit laborious after awhile .

It’s also a shame that Saints Row doesn’t build on the innovations or variety of missions that were found in Vice City and San Andres, for instance there are no bikes, boats or planes in the game, which could be considered a step backwards.
While I did find some the missions in Saints Row becoming a tad repetitive at times, they were always fun to do and you always find yourself coming back for more.
The game’s learning curve fairly well balanced, apart from a tricky few missions near the beginning of the game you will find that the difficulty of the missions are set at just the right level, somewhere above a “challenge” and just under “frustrating”.

My only other gripe is that Saints Row lacks the personality of the GTA games. The game takes itself a tad too seriously and the city of Stilwater can often be a dark and nasty place to visit. It a shame the game lacks the sense of humour that was part of Vice City and San Andreas, but that really comes down to personal taste.

There are many things that Saints Row adds to the genre. The use of news reports and in-game advertisements is a great step forward for this type of game and really helps create a more believable city in which to play in and you can have great fun with the games customisation. Another area that Saints Row certainly improves on is a workable control system, something that the GTA series has never really managed to master.

And of course Saints Row also allows you to take the gang related mayhem online with a selection of multiplayer and co-op modes, something I’m sure that Rockstar will copy and include in GTA's next outing.

If you have never played a GTA title before and you aren’t easily offended, then Saints Row is a must for the Xbox 360. If you are a die-hard GTA fan, then you may not be as easily convinced.
Saints Row may be a step backwards from the freewheeling epic that was San Andreas. But what Saints Row does, it does well and it will fill the gap for your crime related antics until GTA 4 is released next year