Gamingheap Review - Saints Row: The Third (PS3)

  Saints Row: The Third  (PS3)

First of all I will just apologise as it is January the 11th and this is only my second post of the year! I kind of got carried away with this game and finished it before talking about what it was like as I progressed through it. Yeah, so I thought I might do a review instead! :)

Saints Row: The Third is what I like to think as GTA but a whole lot wackier and in places less serious and much more fun! You play as the boss of the criminal organization known as 'The Saints'. The Third Street Saints are at the height of their power and are practically celebrities, selling their own branded energy drink, clothes, you name it! Then, some major crime gang called the Syndicate contacts you after you steal their big-ass vault in the bank. Chaos ensues and eventually you end up in a sordid city of sin called Steelport. Throughout the game you play through the story gradually taking over the city and neutralizing threats such as The Syndicate and STAG which stands for 'Special Tactical Anti-Gang' an 'above private-class' military department made to rid Steelport of its gang warfare.

The game is primarily a third-person-shooter and an open-world game allowing you to roam around the city taking out enemy gang members, buying from stores or driving really, really fast! The combat is what you would expect, however, it is not dull at all with the inclusion of literally dozens of crazy weapons and things to try out. One such piece of weaponry is 'The Penetrator' a rather exotic bat (need I say more?). One fun thing to try out is getting in a plane or helicopter, flying high and jumping out. Your character has an infinite supply of parachutes meaning you can airdrop into enemy territory from a high or land on top of buildings and snipe innocent pedestrians with a rifle. The designers obviously tried to make this game as fun as possible and include a lot of things to play around with. One thing I had a bit of an issue with was that there was NO cover system other than crouching and at times the game actually was really hard because of that. The graphics are pleasing overall with very few hiccups apart from a few trees and a couple of buildings I've driven past.

Customisation is a major part of this game. You are able to change what your character looks like completely at anytime - something you do not see in a lot of games at all. You can modify the dozens of cars, trucks, vans and bikes that spawn on Steelport's roads, customise what your fellow gang members look like and what they drive and also upgrade weapons so that they deal more damage or can shock enemies. All this costs money of course and there is a lot of ways to earn green in this game! You can play activities around the city such as Professor Genki's S.E.R.C., a gameshow where the aim of the game is to kill mascots and shoot boards that appear. There are 'Insurance Fraud' missions where you have to cause as much bodily harm to yourself in the time limit by jumping in front of cars and buildings, my personal favourite. There's even a game where you drive a tank and have to cause as much destruction as possible! However, the best way to earn cash is to buy buildings such as gun, clothes and tattoo shops which add to your income. This income is earned every 20 minutes by pressing the relative button on the phone you get in-game.

Unfortunately, this game is not without its negatives. The main storyline, although funny and amusing, can seem very tedious at times. Just under half of the missions are the before-mentioned activities embedded into the storyline which just sees you doing the same thing over and over. The voice acting and characters are mainly okay to be honest but sometimes the story missions don't really link together and you're left wondering how one seemingly calm cut-scene can lead to a random rampage across the city with a tank. 

I've also experienced 1 crash of the game and dozens of times when the garage freezing for a few minutes after I try to select a car.

Overall, the game is really fun with lots of great things to do and vehicles to collect. The activities are fun and just roaming the city picking fights with gang members is fun. The customisation really adds something to the game that a lot of recent games lack and its awesome to allow the player to have a free choice over what they look like, what they where and what they drive. The story can seem very weak at times and is pretty short. The characters and the humour that is displayed sort of makes up for it a little though. There are a few glitches and although they only appear occasionally they are annoying and shouldn't be there.

Oh yeah, running around naked is fun too!...

My Rating: 8.5/10